Spoon River NAVHDA Chapter

With opening day coming on Saturday, I am getting excited.   What do you do when your dog gets on the scent of a running pheasant?  How do you slow him down, so he does't track that bird to the next county and pass up a bunch of huntable ground.   Do you call him back to you, give him a quartering command, or let him run the bird down and try to catch up?    Just curious.  I have ran into this a few times and nothing good seems to come out of it yet.  

Ah, the running Pheasant. Makes a bird hunter want to kick the dog , sell the gun and hang it up. I know a few bird dog guys (trialers) that just will not even hunt them because they get too frustrated and the dogs get too confused.

As noted before I have not hunted alot of wild Pheasant. But here is the observation that I did make.

The warmer it is the more likely they are to run.There is not much you can do to help the dog. You may be able to relocate the dog, and after they have gotten to close and bump 1 or 2 (hopefully not many more) they learn not to get too close. This just takes experience. Every once in a while a genetic miracle happens and a dog is whelped that has the natural tendency to smell a running bird, it will cut the bird off in front and hold it while you high tail it in to flush and shoot. These dogs are literally 1 in a million.

If you suspect that your dog is tracking a running bird, perhaps you can try to determine the escape route its running. Then circle that way and try to block it off. Sometimes it helps to size up the ground you hunt and run the birds in a way that would deter them from running all the way to the next County. Easier said than done. This is the exact reason why most people hunt in groups and post blockers at the end escape route. Not much sport for the pointing dogs....but it evens the war on the running little devil of a bird.

In South Dakota you hear of guys shooting thier limit everyday and then some. That is just because for every bird that held there were 600 that ran ahead unseen and another 400 that flushed wild. They are tricky, frustrating and yet fun. Dont discourage your dog from tracking. Hopefully he will learn the balance of getting too close and weaker running scent. I had to relocate my dog several times before she finaly learned to just keep on it. And for what its worth... during the hunting season if she trails a runner, works her butt off to not lose it and it flushes up on its own.......I will shoot the bird even if she didnt get to end it with a point. I know what her intentions were. If it would have stood still she would point it. But I did let her bump a couple first with no shots just so she knew. If this bothers you then you might have the dog stand steady while you retrieve the bird yourself (no point, no retrieve) You just have to read the situation.

Thanks for the advice John.  Hopefully I get to use some of it this weekend, because I am sure they'll be running.    You were missed at the youth hunt.  We had a great time.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it. And Duke did all right for his first real hunt of the season.