what do you do

[DuckDog]

I went out pheasant hunting yesterday with my 2 year old lab. While she is not perfect in the field nor am I.

Well she got a strong scent and poof out come a pheasant - she jumped grabbed it and brought it back to me. I was rather impressed at the effort until I realized it was a hen. She brought it to me and i praised her for her efforts and then let it go. It was not wounded and was able to fly away - whew!

Made me think what if the hen was too wounded to fly or came back dead? What do you do? I do not think I should scold her for her actions.

Oh and you should have seen her face when I let the bird go - you could just tell she was thinking... what the HeL! Thats just not right..

[candiru]

I would eat the evidence.

It is something that is going to happen. Probably just best to drop it and move on. I would hope the CO would understand.

[MNUser]

My dog caught three last weekend. They were holding really tight and when I came up and kicked the grass the bird would run instead of fly and he tackled them. Hard to break. We just called him off. Two flew away, one fed a coyote that night. Not sure you can do much.

He did catch a rooster once that was running for its life. When he brought it back it had zero tail feathers. It was kinda funny to imagine that bird being nipped at while it tried to take flight. This all took place in a slough that was no bigger than half a football field. That bird ran circles around us.

[CRAZYEYES]

It happens with my friends springer all the time. Not much you can do. He has tried to train the dog a million ways not to do this and has gone through a lot of game farm birds training him but if that bird doesnt jump fast that dog will get it. To the dogs credit for the few hens he's killed he's caught a lot of wounded runners for us. He also is not real intrested in giving us the bird back though when he gets it. A little electricity gets that problem fixed.

[BobT]

Okay, so here's the opposite scenario. You work with your pup and finally achieve success. It no longer will jump to catch a bird as it takes flight.

You take a few steps further and a bird gets up, you take your shot, and you wing it. Unfortunately, it can still run. Dog takes after the bird, which is running around on the ground too fast for you to keep up. Since the dog has been taught not to tackle live birds, you live with the knowledge that you just lost a rooster spouting a 28" tail that your dog could have handled.

Naturally it had a 28" tail and I'm sure I'm being conservative.

[fivebucks]

I don't correct my lab for catching birds. It's basically what I want him to do except most of them fly away (hopefully only a short distance). If a couple of hens become coyote food, so be it. I'll keep the roosters as part of my bag even though I would rather not.

[castmaster]

I have never encountered this myself, but if I were to have it happen I'd keep the hen and take my chances. To me there are times in life were legal and illegal, and then right and wrong dont always jibe with each other. To me the "wrongness" of leaving a wounded or dead bird to rot or feed a coyote or whatever outweighs the illegality of keeping the hen. If I was ticketed I'd take the ticket and pay my fine knowing in my heart I was doing the "right" thing.

[WARRIOR 2090]

as long as you don't get your hunting privialages pulled and not be able to hunt sometimes right is wrong even if not ethical

[Tom7227]

If there's no shot in the bird can it be said that you took it 'hunting'?

[rmkod]

Easy solution, get a pointing dog

[Mr.Seaguar]

If your dog is responsible you are responsible. My dog caught a rooster last year. One guy who only shot one bird that day said, I`d sure rather shoot one and tie the dog than shoot zero and loose to him. Hes never caught a hen so I guess I will cross that river when we com to it. He has a soft mouth sos I imagine they will survive.

[matthothand]

You should call a CO. It's never a good idea to interpret unique instances like this and handle them on your own.

[MNUser]

Can you picture it, "Yea, CO, I'm out in the middle of a slough with my dog and my buddies and my dog caught a hen pheasant. I'm sorry to say that it has passed and will no longer be out making other baby pheasants. So, can I keep it and bring it home to eat?"

It happens. I'm sure more often then one realizes. Just mark it up to having a dog that hunts with you.

[Dilly]

It would do no good to call a CO...do you actually think he's going to tell you to keep it??? Toss it in the weeds and move on, it happens and you just need to accept it.