Dogging In

Claire · Dogging In

I have been dogging in a few times with Whistle and its been good experience for us both. I would really like to do more but as I work full time Monday - Friday, getting up early is just not feasible as there is not enough time to get up, get down to our shoot, dog in, get home and then get to work by 9am.

Gary is part of a syndicate and this year we've put down 1500 birds. Our syndicate don't do a lot of dogging in, I think mainly because no one is able/willing to do it.

I understand the purpose of dogging in but what I don't understand is this - what is the best time of day for dogging in ? Can it be done on an evening whilst still a little light ? What types of shoots would not really need anyone dogging in or do they all benefit from it ?

My thinking is that I could go to our shoot on an evening after work whilst the nights are still staying reasonably light until 8.30pm. Our shoot is 40 mins drive from me.

sako75

Claire ,

In my experience there is little or no need to dog in early in the mornings.I do it in the first days of release but this is only to get the birds used to flying back to the pen from day one.

I usually let the birds wander throughout the day and then chase them home at night. The idea is to get them roosting in and around the pen. The next day , the process starts all over again. Dogging in is the most important part of my shoot because it is such a small area that if it is not done then my birds will simply wander off the ground onto my neighbours land and be gone for good.

Large scale shoots could probably get away without doing too much dogging in because they have such a large area with multiple pens that the birds will simply wander from one pen to another.

Later on in the season , the idea is to get your birds to where you want them during the day. This is done by providing cover with plenty of feeders and the idea as I'm sure you know is to posistion the guns in between where the birds will be flushed from (the feed areas) and the pheasant pen (home).If you have dogged in properly , the birds will be well used to flying back to the pen and should provide good sport. In the case of rough shooting or dog training it is better to get the birds spread out as much as possible - this is done by placing many feeders all over the land in numerous small areas of cover. Ideally you only want one or two birds in a certain area at any one time. Training could be made difficult with 20-30 pheasants flushing at once !!!

Dogging in also gets the birds used to flying (something a pheasant will only do as a last resort) and this in itself helps them become stronger and higher fliers which is important if you want a testing days sport.

This could be a lengthy subject but I think I have covered the basic principles. Other people may disagree with what I have written but this is all based on my own personal experiences.

Barry.

weima

I dog in every morning usually starting at 6.30am. It takes me a few hours to get around the shoot. The owner of the shoot dogs in in the evening to save me going back. However, it is important not to disturb the birds too much on an evening as they go to roost. If they are getting disturbed too much they will bugger off for a quieter life Very Happy

Doggin in is an important part of a shoot IMO as if the birds weren't dogged in, they then wander.
Hedgerows, ditches, lanes, stubble fields all need to be checked. The weather has a bearing too as if it's foul weather, the birds will stay under cover.

sako75

Sorry Claire ,

I forgot to mention the time that I do it. I usually dog in about 2 hours before the birds get up to roost. This allows the birds to get settled back in the pen and have a good feed and drink before bedtime.My usual routine is to do the dogging in and then dump the dogs back in the car. This allows me to go down to the pen and simply "walk in" all the birds that are around the perimeter. The more birds that are safely in the pen , the better I feel.

Give me a shout on your next free weekend and you can come up and I will show you how I do it. You can use Whistle but if she pegs one you will be due me a tenner !!!! ONLY JOKING !! Laughing

Cheers

Barry.

sako75

Hi Claire R,

It seems that we have a difference of opinion again !! Laughing

I don't need to dog in in the mornings because the birds will not wander too far from the time that they have left the roost and the afternoon , well not across my boundries anyway.

I have never had a problem with doing the dogging in a couple of hours before the birds roost. As long as they have time to settle then they seem to be fine. Maybe I have been doing it wrong all these years Embarassed

.

I must admit that I usually give the boundries a good going over in the mornings at the weekends but this usually fails to produce much.

Barry.

Do you honestly produce a lot of birds at 6.30am in the mornings Shocked

- the boundries must be hell of a close to your pheasant pens. I was always advised to place the pen/pens on or as near the centre of the shoot as possible .

weima

sako75

I think the difference in shoots and indeed gamekeepers play a part. I know gamekeepers who do NO dogging in whatsoever and others who do it morning noon and night. I think it comes down to what works best for your particular piece of ground.

Right , I'm off to do some dogging in !!! Laughing

Claire

I never got back to posting again on this thread for some reason Rolling Eyes

But I do have another question.

Is there any point in dogging in on the morning of a shoot ? Reason I ask is I have done this in the past and it seemed to work in that the birds flew back over into the wood that the beaters were going to go through but some people say that once a pheasant has got up and flown it is not as keen to fly again that day. Thoughts please ?

weima

If there was any day that I was going to dog in it would be the morning of the shoot. It is important for the birds to be back in the wood otherwise what would the guns shoot?!

IMO you can tell a shoot that dogs in on a shoot morning & one that doesn't & I am party to both. Also, the birds start flying better. All the pheasants that I see daily are quite happy to fly especially when they see my dogs coming up the a**es Laughing

If they didn't fly, they'd get pegged Rolling Eyes

If you want to go dogging in beforehand Claire, then do so.

tashap

we do early in the morning on shoot days to make sure the birds are in the right place or at least near by its a good few hours before the shoot starts though.