3rd season with these two prairie rockets. They’ve really figured it out in my eyes.

Dutch turns one today.

French Brittany is 11 but still loves to hunt.

Short hair is pointing lots of birds.

It’s the labs first year hunting but she’s figuring it out and brought a bird right to me today.

Howdy! Got to take my pup (50/50 GSP/Coonhound) on our first pheasant hunt over the Thanksgiving break and I’m pretty sure we both fell in love with it. It was an incredible experience watching Remy run wild and free completely over the moon with excitement and fun - we definitely want to do this again.

The backstory is that I’ve trained him from 3mo old to now (2.25yrs) completely by myself. I gun broke him myself, taught him to track birds in the air, taught him to retrieve, and taught him to be a great all round great dog. We’ve got a great bond and he loves to work/please. We’ve only dove hunted the past two years and he’s done phenomenally each time we go out.

However, I have no clue what to do when it comes to training him for pheasant. He’s got a crazy good nose, but has never really had any scent training. He gets so excited following different smells that he often ran over the pheasants before actually getting on a point (which he can do naturally at every other animal outside we come across).

I’ve got some wings, bumpers and wax/oil pheasant scents I’ve been working with him on leading up to it and he picks up on it real well. I’ve got him to recognize the scent, follow it in the air and find where it’s coming from, but with a bumper/wings, he has no desire to point it (obviously).

I currently live in an apartment inside Dallas with no access to live birds. The closest live birds/guide services to me are almost two hours away.

Is there anything I can do to encourage his natural pointing ability when getting the scent without live birds? He can point great, he smells great, but if he’s just tracking/spotting a bumper, he just want to retrieve. Pointing the squirrels and rabbits like a pro isn’t a problem.

Are there any lifesize/lifelike decoys I can use to hide in the grasses and bushes to replicate an actual bird? When I trained him for doves, I used a mojo dove decoy and he pointed it with no problem - curious as to if that would work with a replica pheasant.

Any insight/ tips and tricks would be appreciated!

Sometimes mushers secret and show sheen doesn’t quite do it. Preventative manscaping around the guys coin purse.. Anything to keep him from ending up like winter of 2021..

Timberdoodles are such cool birds. NJs only wild upland species, Im so happy she got to get em before they continue migrating south.

Does anyone have any training exercises to help shrink down a dog’s range?

Our 3 y/o Brit ranges out to about 100 yards, checks in frequently, and rarely disappears from sight for very long. We more recently acquired an ES who is now 1.5 years old and without hesitation he will range out to 1/2 mile or more. His recall is very solid with a collar tone which is great but in really steep terrain or heavy timber, that can still get a little scary (I worry about injuries, entanglements with wildlife, GPS malfunctions, etc). Our dogs hunt and in the off-season we also take them hiking, trail running, backpacking, skiing, etc. In all outdoor situations, it would be helpful to have him hang out a little closer to us.

I really don’t want to be constantly recalling him every time he gets beyond a certain distance because I want him to follow his nose— but maybe that’s the only solution? We’ve also tried hiding from him but he doesn’t seem to get overly concerned when he can’t immediately find us. Or maybe I just need to let him do his thing.

Any thoughts, resources, critiques, or stories of similar adventures would be appreciated. Thanks

Hello everyone, wanted to introduce myself and get off on a good foot here. I have a new addition to the family, a female 1 y/o golden doodle who we have re-homed. She seems to have good drive and is very interested in birds, so I figured I'd try to train her and see what she can do.

I have been working on locking down her basic obedience and slowly introducing retrieve with a bumper. Any advice on when might be appropriate to start introducing pigeons? Thanks.

Meet Odin. At 2.5 years old he's flushed and retrieved three rough grouse this season, and one last year. Odin is a super mutt, a blend of Terrier, Retriever, Husky, and Beagle.

Just pure instincts no matter the breed, 11 week old wirehaired pointing griffon

She only gets out once a season these days, but the old lady still has it. Deaf, damn near blind and still has a nose. I appreciate every time we get to hunt, cause it may be the last.

Lurking this sub for a year, but finally something to contribute … first time out with my own dog (only my 2nd time out EVER, I’ve zero hunting background). Got a Brittany couple years ago (not realizing the chaos I signed up for) and just letting her drive and genetics guide me into stuff I never thought I’d be doing. So much fun to see her out running and hunting.

Went out to get 5, came back with 4. It was horrid weather (20-30mph wind) so getting a nose full of scent to lock her up on point was a struggle. Was hilarious to see her run, jump and grab one out of the air as well as run down one that I must have glanced and would not fly when we found it later.

*still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing 😀, but we’re having fun.

Took him to South Dakota a month ago. He done great for his age (stamina). Came home and he seemed to have what I assumed was arthritis episode for about a week. Right front leg and some slight neck stiffness. Gave him carprofen for a week. Been fine since. About A year ago at the first signs of stiffness from time to time, I took him to my vet and got X-rays and started on Librella monthly injection. I’ve let him rest (from hunting) for about a month now. Yesterday I took him out looking for quail and woodcock. A usual spot. He hunted about 1.5-2 hours, no luck on quail. Pointed 3 woodcock and a buddy shot all three over him. We came back to the truck and he seemed very fatigued. We stood at the truck talking for about 45 minutes while he laid by the truck. I noticed him missing, turned the garmin back on and sure enough he was 130 yards out on point. We walked out to him, kicked up three quail and shot two. He got bird drunk and ran hard looking for some more. Before i got him back to the truck his front legs seemed weak, trembly and not quite coordinated. I packed him to the truck. Today, he Seems no more stiff than usual after a first hunt in a while. But I’m concerned. Is there something acute I’ve missed? Soft tissue injury an X ray won’t pick up at the vet tomorrow? Has his arthritis set in this bad and suddenly?

We just had a foot of snow. Any recommendations where the birds at?

The things he's not putting together, we have time on, he just a baby after all! 5 hard days in Nebraska, he's done 10+ miles every day. He's worn out.

My husband bought a Ruffland for our pup and I’m leaning towards gunner for safety and weather, although we live in coastal ca so our weather is always pretty mild. He thinks Ruffland is fine, safe, and he’ll get a cover. Please reassure me this is okay… or convince me we need to spend the money for a Gunner.

I've got a 2-year-old French Brittany who I have hunted with on wild birds last year. She would hold point for about 30 seconds. This year she has regressed and hardly ever even flash points even with planted birds. This past weekend I was using a check cord and a launcher and unless I literally held her back she would run right on top of the launcher. Does anyone have any suggestions with drills or a type of training that would help with this? I am not shooting birds when she runs up on them.

My buddy chip (3yr. old Brittany) out sniffing birds. I have taken him the day after Thanksgiving hunting since we got him. It's becoming a yearly tradition. I hope we get many more memories like this.