Pheasant wings for training?

[Kylersk]

I was given a couple of pheasant wings that were vacuum sealed and frozen. I cut open the bag and Wow, did they smell. So, I placed them in the garage thinking they might air out a bit, but they still smell pretty bad. Looks like the wings were cut off bird and just frozen. I assume they need to preserved or something?

[pureinsanity]

I was given a couple of pheasant wings that were vacuum sealed and frozen. I cut open the bag and Wow, did they smell. So, I placed them in the garage thinking they might air out a bit, but they still smell pretty bad. Looks like the wings were cut off bird and just frozen. I assume they need to preserved or something?

Yes, you just need to let them dry out. Clip the wing at the furthest joint from the body. and make sure to clean as much meat out of the wing as possible. I am sure whoever clipped them probably clipped them closes to the body so there is lots of meat in there yet.

[drewevans]

ive always just let hang in garage for a while and they have always dried out never rotted on me but i guess you could get too much meat...... i will then strap them too a dummie with big rubber bands or some sort of string/rope to work with for training you can get small dummies for puppies, give it a little body and they tend to last longer too.

[pureinsanity]

I just used zip ties to attach them to dummies. Puppy teeth seem to cut into just about anything.

[gspman]

Personally I'd throw them away. You really don't need bird wings for any kind of training. What you need are real birds. Join a dog club now and start training on real birds when our world thaws out this spring.

[MidwestArcher]

Agreeing with GSPMAN We have always frozen the birds whole until needed for training, using smaller birds like quail for training puppies-this trick will ensure that your dog will have a "soft" mouth in the field. They wont get used to biting into the bird if it's frozen. Everyone knows how frustrating it can be when you make a perfect head shot on a rooster and then Joe Shmo's Lab turns it into swiss cheese by the time he retrieves it..

[pureinsanity]

swiss cheese is the owners fault not the dogs.

[gspman]

Not necessarily. Some dogs just naturally have a hard mouth and will chew the daylights out of any bird they get their mouths on. That's just a trait of the dog and not the owners fault.

[MidwestArcher]

this is correct for an adult dog, but if a bird dog is trained from a pup on frozen birds the "trait" will never be seen by the owner. It's worked time and time again with many different breeds of dogs including chesapeake bay's and every bird hunter knows that they have a hard mouth "trait" if you will..

[pureinsanity]

hmm.I recall one of my labs over the years biting down hard on birds. We fixed it in the off season when training with hard dummies

[870Express]

I'll use the wings on bumpers when working on retrieving. But if you have a pointing dog I wouldn't use the wing to teach the dog to "hunt". Dog needs to learn at an early age that bumping birds mean flushing and losing birds. Haven't seen a wing flush yet...

If you have a flusher, by all means have at it.

[H20fowlr]

I have softened quite a few hard mouths for friends and a 3 yr old I rescued. I used them for retrieving only! Using the softer bumpers with wings and attach them with the zip ties. Angle cut the zip ties to get a point. Dull the point so as not to be too sharp and put enough of them on the bumper so that if the dog bites down hard he feels it. I tried the frozen birds on already hard mouths and had very limited success.

I am not as experienced with pointers but using wings for retrieving allows for training flexibility.

Just my $.02

[LABS4ME]

I agree with the statement you do not need wings to train.

My pups are exposed to wings for their first 'bird and feather' experience... not attached to dummies and just when they are 12-16 weeks old. Just throwing out fresh or freshly frozen wings for them to carry and rough up a bit... From there we move on to frozen pigeons or chuckar and eventually live birds. No birds or wings are used during forcing until the very latter stages. When doing multiple retrieving drills bumpers w/o wings are fine. For some simulated tests, we throw frozen ducks and pheasants... of course live birds are interspersed when available... everything fom pigeons to quail to chuckar and pheasant and ducks. Look around and you'll be surprised how generally available birds are. After you use them, they freeze well and are great for training. Throw them in brown lunch bags in the freezer, the wife won't have a fit and the feathers won't freeze down on the racks.

If the ones you have stink, pitch them. No use using rotting meet to train with... don't know exactly what that would mimic... unless you are training a cadavar dog...

If the wings aren't freshly cut off when using them or immediatley frozen after cutitng them off, and you are adamant that they are needed for training, use no more than the last joint on the wing where the primaries are... there is almost no meat there and packing some salt on the little bit there is will immediatley dry it so it doesn't rot... for those who insist tht the entire wing is needed... throw it in a dehydrator for a few hours to 'jerky' the meat... that will keep it from rotting.

Good Luck!

Ken

[pureinsanity]

I have seen guys use a hard dummy and put nails into it. Then the dog learns to have a soft mouth fast.

[gspman]

I've used bristle brushes which can help too.

[Brain_Melt]

i use zip ties also but i leave a little length on the cut end. it helps with my hard mouth chocolate labs so the dont chew the wing off right away.

[SportFishin']

Get joined up with the MN Chapter of NAVHDA and get the pup on live birds plenty of good guys & they train right out in Glenco on thursday night starting soon..

Regards,

Chris