sako75
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Pointing Snipe ????I have had Millie at work with me this week due to being in season. I have discovered a piece of boggy wasteground right next to my work , this is where I exercise/hunt Millie during lunch. Over the past few days Millie has bumped approx 50 snipe (no exageration - the place is moving with them!  ).
My question is this - why will Millie not point snipe ?? 
I have let her investigate the haunts after the flush etc but still she will not point the snipe. I thought it might be with her being in season but she has continued to point well on pheasant the past few evenings so that rules that out (losing sense of smell whilst her hormones are raging). She has never to my knowledge pointed a snipe or even a woodcock for that matter , would this just be down to lack of exposure ??
Cheers
Barry.
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Claire
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Aren't snipe and woodcock supposed to be difficult to point anyway? Which to me means an inexperienced dog may not point them but as the dog becomes more experienced it may eventually start to point.
Whistle is in season too and being rather hormonal  Harris has had the tardak injection 
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sako75
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| Quote: | Whistle is in season too and being rather hormonal Harris has had the tardak injection
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Logan and Christine have vacated the premises again for a week or two - HEAVEN !!!
I have heard that snipe often prove difficult where pointing is concerned but after 3 days of constant exposure , I thought that Millie might start to acknowledge them in some way - maybe I am expecting too much too soon...............AGAIN
Barry.
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windem bang
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My Brittany used to point snipe with no special or extra training involved. My other H.P.R.'s have all needed encouragement. Buck sometimes points them and other times does not. I am in contact with some guys who do a lot of snipe and woodcock work. They say they find if there is a lot of pheasant scent about it is less likely that their snipe and woodcock experienced dogs will point these birds, they preferred to work on pheasants.
My experience is that the more game there is around the less likely it is a dog will point snipe.
Bill T.
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Bareve
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Snipe are difficult to point. Freddy has always pointed them (did so again today) whereas Calvin doesn't always even acknowledge that they were there. Likewise Freddy does point woodcock and Calvin just indicates on them. Both are very hard hunting dogs but obviously Freddy is more in tune with the varying scents than Calvin is.
Other than this - I can't offer anything else - sorry
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sako75
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| Quote: | My experience is that the more game there is around the less likely it is a dog will point snipe.
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Bill , On this particular piece of ground (no bigger than a football pitch) there is absolutely NO other game present - only snipe , dozens of them !! I thought that she might learn to at least acknowledge them before they flushed but she doesn't .
Barry.
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Marjolein
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Snipe is difficult for dogs, that is common knowledge. Mine have always pointed it, but the point has only intensified after retrieving a couple of these birds.
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Marjolein
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This snipe was retrieved by Daan btw, last season.
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sako75
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| Quote: | | This snipe was retrieved by Daan btw, last season. |
Marjolein , Are you sure that is a snipe ? - it looks more like a woodcock to me unless I am mistaken. It is maybe just the photo...........
Barry.
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Lynn
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It looks like the Woodcock we have around here as well 
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josie
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I was going to say that it looks very big for a snipe, but then I thought that maybe you just have bigger snipe in Holland??
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sako75
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| Quote: | but then I thought that maybe you just have bigger snipe in Holland??
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 - SNIPUS GIGANTICUS !!
Sorry Josie but you do make me laugh - I still remember your SPIKUS GRASSUS comment from the W.B's spike grass thread - It still cracks me up ...........
Barry.
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Mike
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Could it be a Jack Snipe? I haven't seen one in the hand but don't they have a shorter bill?
or maybe Mar has small hands
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josie
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Oi, there must be different species of snipe, right? What's wrong with my snipus giganticus suggestion??
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lagopuslagopus
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A jack snipe is tiny - about half the size of an ordinary snipe.
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DesO'Neile
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Lets put one thing to bed. Snipe are no more difficult to point than any other bird. Any dog getting sufficient exposure to snipe will point them, quite often they will hunt them in preference to other species. Experienced snipe dogs will dwell in marshy areas in the hope of a find rather than take on the hill to look for a grouse. The dog, however, needs to know that you WANT that bird. This is most easily got across by shooting a few.
I have no scientific basis for the following assertion but I believe that pointing dogs do loose their nose when in season.
I know of three types of snipe. Great snipe, common snipe and jack snipe. The jack is the smallest with the great snipe being the biggest and would be the same size as the woodcock in the picture. Although great snipe are not found in Ireland I shot a snipe easily the size of (in length) a woodcock but unfortunately it was eaten by a cat before it could be sent to the Q.U.B. lab for identification.
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windem bang
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The bird shown looks like a woodcock to me. I agree that bitches can lose their sense of smell during their season , it has certainly happened to my bitches, but just to confuse matters a little further, I believe the loss of scenting ability to be an intermittent affair during that season.
Bill T.
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Helen
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Going to say woodcock as well.
All mine will point snipe but it does take experience for them to do so.
Helen
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sako75
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I like Des's post relating to the dog learning that snipe are desired by the handler and by shooting a few (something I have yet to do over this particular dog) should culminate in the dog eventually pointing.(makes perfect sense to me).
I did wonder about the dog "losing" her nose during her season but all this week she has had some great points on pheasant. Only this evening did she have her best yet - 150 yards away and she held her point until I reached her and then she flushed on command - I was delighted !!
I guess that I just need to get out there and shoot some snipe in future and also carry on exposing her to them and see if this will help. I suspect she will have a long wait as I can't hit the B*****S..................... .
Barry.
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DesO'Neile
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Even attempting to shoot the snipe will start to get the message across to the dog but nothing works better than holding the bird to his nose to let him have a good long sniff accompanied by lots of praise. To my way of thinking the snipe is just too small to set it on the ground to let him sniff for ages as there is too much temptation to pick it up, it being so small.
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Marjolein
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Hehehe, what a discussion in only 24 hours time....
I was wrong, you are right. The thing is, this little bird is called woodcock in the UK, but "wood snipe" in the Netherlands.
But my first part of the story remains the same. They've always pointed both snipe and woodcock but after the point and retrieve of this woodcock, things have changed in the way they point.
I looked up the Jack Snipe and we call that "Bokje" here. I got my very first FT qualification when she was on point on a Jack Snipe first and then a pheasant. Never forget that moment.
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Marjolein
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About losing their nose. Nose mite is more and more common. Have you already seen it in the UK?
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windem bang
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I have read that nose mite causes chronic sneezing and nasal discharge but up to present I haven't seen any dogs affected by it.
Bill T.
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Stubblemere
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| Marjolein wrote: | This snipe was retrieved by Daan btw, last season.
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Yes as others have spotted this "Snipe" is infact a Woodcock!
Some dogs are not keen to retrieve Woodcock and even more so snipe.
I have found that a few retrieves help the dog to relate to the scent better and then they start to point.
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