live birds

[Bigcat1]

Anyone know where i can buy some chukkars or pheasants this fall for working the dog? anywhere between perham-fargo? the guy who would sell me some last year lost a bunch of his this summer to skunks or something.

[Tom7227]

It would be a lot cheaper to use pigeons? I live in the Twin Cities and found a pigeon racer that sold me some of his culls. I have learned that with a pointing dog you want to flush the bird and not shoot it so the dog realizes that it can't win by trying to catch it himself.

Using pheasants to train could also cause some problems if the bird starts flailing or spurring the dog.

[rundrave]

Quote:

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I live in the Twin Cities and found a pigeon racer that sold me some of his culls. I have learned that with a pointing dog you want to flush the bird and not shoot it so the dog realizes that it can't win by trying to catch it himself.

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this is what we use, not to mention the homer's fly right back to the pigeon loft and you can just keep using the birds over and over

[NELS-BELLS]

What do you do to the bird to keep it from flying away as soon as you let go of it?

[cw642]

North American Gamebirds Association (NAGA) has a web search for birds in any area. I think the area SE of St. Cloud has to be the meca of gamebirds in the state. I think within 20 miles from my house I can name 7 or 8 people who raise for sale not to mention the guys that do it for themselves.

CW

[Tom7227]

In order to keep the bird from flying away you tuck the bird's head under a wing and swing it around in a circle 5-6 times. Then you put it in some grass so it has some cover. It should sit there as long as you don't disturb it.

I've learned that when training a pointing dog you want to have two people. One holds the dog by the training lead while the other goes in and flushes the bird. With a pointer you want to let the bird fly away, but let the dog chase after it. Apparently the dog learns that it can't catch the bird and so the pointing is reinforced rather than having the dog jump the bird and flushing it. I am not sure, but I suspect that you just let a flushing dog get at the bird.

There's a whole line of training involved in this process and it also involves introducing the gun while the dog is excited about the bird. You'd be well advised to get a video or read a book about it. There's a great thread at the top of this forum where a very thoughtful guy has listed all sorts of training materials. Check it out.