Posts from — August 2009

I often hear about how well their dogs do on pen raised birds but have a tough transition to ‘gently handling’ wild birds. My reply is that this is normal and you should expect it.  Usually a few pointed questions reveals that the dog has some bad habits on pen raised birds, habits that wild birds will not tolerate.  These habits include crowding and creeping.

Wild birds are not very forgiving unless it is early season, before they’ve had any real pressure put on them.  This is a good time for your young dog to learn.  As the birds begin to react more quickly due to pressure, your dog will progress with them.  Do expect mistakes on wild birds and do expect to ‘train’ in the field.  This is just how it works and there is no way to get around it.

I realize that many folks cannot or do not have time / finances, etc. to travel to where there are wild birds.  That’s a tough situation to be in because wild birds DO make a bird dog realize their fullest potential if properly trained and properly / consistently corrected when mistakes are made.  Consistency being emphasized.

I tell my clients to not even think about shooting wild birds for table fare the first year afield.  The first year is all about doing it right without breaking any spirit in the dog.  I tell folks not to shoot anything not properly pointed and held for your arrival.  If you just do that much, your young dog will quickly learn to handle wild birds gently so that you have time to arrive and properly shoot game without being rushed.  If you run all the time, the dog will expect you to run to every point.  Having said that, there are some species that require you to run!  But for the gentleman’s bird, bobwhite quail, it’s usually not necessary.

Have fun getting ready for the seasons this year!  Dove season is just around the corner in most states so get busy!

Give that dog of yours a treat for me and tell ‘em Dave says “Good Dog!”

Dave

brittanys.com

Update: To clarify my position on Garmin and battery life, you should understand that I think the technology is awesome!

However, if you hunt for days on end and plenty of hours on your Garmin, you better keep it charged and be worried about when your rechargeable Garmin battery will fail.

The BIGGEST point I’m making is that KNOWING where your dog is and GETTING to where your dog is can be quite difficult!   If your dog gets on to property you don’t have permission to travel on, and/or there are locked gates, and/or there are streams – obtacles to get to your dog, YOU HAD BETTER BREAK THE TRESPASS LAW before your batteries go dead.  Do so at your own risk but if I had an expensive dog and a collar that had been on all day before my dog was lost, I WOULD ALMOST PANIC!!!!!

You had better get to the dog, even after dark, because the batteries AT BEST only last 36 hours IF fully charged and that is IF they were ‘just charged’.

I think the 3rd generation collars will address this. The other thing is this, if you train a lot or use these things alot, you know as well as I know that at some point rechargeable batteries will lose ‘life’.   So the ‘36′ hour rule that Garmin puts out to the public (30 sec. sampling on full charge)  is definitely a soft rule that will, in my humble opinion, eventually bite your butt.

It’ll take a while for those stories to come out…but leave it to a pro to field test stuff and tell you what really can go wrong…I’m one of ‘em!

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Well folks, I lost 2 dogs 2 days ago wearing fully charged Astro’s.

I lost them on FLAT prairie.

The bottom line, Battery life. I’ll say no more.

Battery life is the key in finding lost dogs. Battery life on the Garmin lost
my dogs.

Yesterday I “lost” a dog and my old faithful tracker which bounced signals and
made me zigzag over coulees and prarie brought me to my dog. Overnight? Signal
strong. Signal reliable.

RETHINK your needs. All-age?  (big running dog) Tracker. Period. Don’t risk it. I’m still
missing one dog.

Gun dog? ok.