Bird dye and planting birds

[LatLong]

I've got some quail for dog training and in the DNR dog regs it says that bird used on public land must be marked with either a streamer or dye. What kind of dye should I use? Could I use food coloring?

Also how do you plant the bird? I've seen guys shake them slowly and plant them. Do you put the head under the wing?

[klee]

I've never trained dogs on public land, but one thing I will warn you about using quails is that you don't need to spin them before planting. It might depend on how big or strong of a flier they are to determine if you should spin them. I learned from experience a few weeks ago when I spun the quail around like I would spin a chukar before planting. Before I planted it, the bird had blood coming out and the eyes were red and gasping for air. I had killed the bird. So the next few birds I just threw them in the grass. These birds were suppose to be good fliers, but they did not fly at all. My dog would catch them on the ground. Quails are good for training pups, but I wouldn't use them for older dogs. Sorry I didn't answer your dye question, but I read about the quails and thought I share my incident. Oh, I was using bobwhite quails I bought from a guy who raises them for game farms. I spent a lot of money on them thinking they were good. I only bought them because of the chukar shortage.

[GSP4ME]

What I do when planting quail is just to hold them in one hand and twist your had back and forth like you are going left to right with it. You will be able to tell when the quails neck starts to loosen up and at that point just toss the bird butt first into the cover you are using, You dont want to plant them hard and you dont want to cover them up as they wont fly well. For the other poster he might have gotten some breeders and they wont fly well. Quail are great for pups but they die eaasily and are not normally great flyers, you will get some that are but a lot of us have went over to chuckars just for those purposes

[zzammon]

I buy a roll of orange ribbon/flagging from any hunting store, tear off a foot or two and tie it to a leg. I also have used chuckars. Haven't tried dye, sounds messy.

[GSP4ME]

In wisconsin the DNR has tags available that you just put right on the birds leg works great

[LatLong]

thanks guys. i'm training a pup. i bought these because the guy said they don't fly very well. i'm going to be working on solidifying his point. he wants to rush in a grab the birds so i thought these would be good to get multiple contacts per bird. and i paid $3 per bird so if they don't work out i don't have a ton of $$ in them.

i think the blaze ribbon sounds easier.

[Jeffstally]

I would just use the ribbon as was stated above. Strong flying quail are hard to find. If you have a pointer pup, make sure he can't catch them!

[MuleShack]

i'm going to be working on solidifying his point. he wants to rush in a grab the birds so i thought these would be good to get multiple contacts per bird.

[870Express]

Tie a knot around a zip tie with any type of string and loop the zip tie around the ankle of the bird and tighten. Leave 4-5 ft of string hanging from the zip tie. I'll put some duct tape around the end of the string so you can see the string better when they land. Here's your flagged quail. Orange flyline works well too because it's so light. I'd keep my dog on a check cord if he wants to pounce because pen-raised quail can't be trusted to wild flush. Once you advance your steadying you'll be able to pick the quail up by the end of the string and have it trying to flush a couple feet from the dog for 10-15 seconds before you let it go and fly away.

[LatLong]

The pup is @6.5 months old. i was at a NAVHDA training and the guys there showed me how to start bringing his point out better. i want him to point as soon as he hits scent... that's why it's no big deal right now if the quail don't flush real well.

my plan is to get him pointing on scent and then start flushing the birds.

thanks 870...good ideas, I will put those to use.