Clipped Wings

[JPowell]

I am trying to do some refresher for my 3 Yr yellow lab. Can anyone tell me how to clip the wings on a pheasant so that i can use it to help him scent trail a little better. Also, if you have any other ideas on how to get him to hold to the ground more instead of running with his nose up that would be great. thanks for any and all help.

[MinnesotaMongo]

Black tape on the wings works....

[311Hemi]

What exactly are you trying to do a refresher on? Specifically trailing downed(shot) birds....or just finding birds in general while hunting? I would assume your speaking specifically about trailing downed birds based of your wanting the dogs nose to the ground?

[JPowell]

I am looking for both. I want him to keep his head down a little bit more when just searching for birds but also work at locating downed birds. In general too, i guess i want to just get that instinct back in him before the season starts. i am probly go out and purchase some game farm birds and use a couple of them to help get the instinct back before season.

[311Hemi]

Well....to me it seems like two different things. Maybe some other will chime in here also.

For trailing work I would use a dead bird and drag it across some area and have him work the scent trail to find the dead bird. This is more of a specific thing you would work on.

For overall instinct.....mainly just a refresher to get him back into the swing of things go hit up a game farm a few times. He just needs to get back on some live birds. You could buy some and plant them for him also......but having a game farm plant some may be a better option. Less chance of your scent being involved.

As far as the head being low/high....I would not worry about that. It all depends on the scenting conditions. A dog running with his head up is scenting the air for prey, where when on the ground the dog is tracking a ground scent. The dog will use a combination of both. If he has been on enough birds he will know whats going on and what he is looking for....and the best way to do that. The more experience on live birds the more aware/better the dog will be.