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weima · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject:

Experience, experience, experience! Event he best of dogs can point a wounded bird so I wouldn't get hung up on this. Out of the season you will have to do lots of work on cold game, like hiding it in rushes etc I hunting her on to it.

She'll get there but she may have to pick well over 100 birds before she gets confident. Pagan was a bit like that & even at the start of the season her retrieves were dire but she soon got back in the swing.

Don't expect too much too soon. She is very young mentally IMO so has plenty of time.

_________________
Claire Smile

Minstergate Dual Purpose Weimaraners

Claire · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:47 pm Post subject:

Well at least she has had some experience this season, much more than she got last season. Although she turned 2 at the end of September she is still very immature, both physically and mentally. I've been thinking back and trying to work out how much warm game she has actually retrieved this season and I think it is in the region of 35 - 40.

Out of the season, Gary has agreed with the local farmer that he will shoot pigeons. Mostly to help improve his shot Wink

Could I make use of this with Whistle by instilling steadiness until the pigeon is shot and then sending her for the retrieve? Or perhaps just using the pigeon as training with cold game?
_________________
Hunting is natural, even foxes do it !

Whenever life hands you lemons, grab the salt and add the tequila

sako75 · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:56 pm Post subject:

What sort of shooting is it Claire ?? Is Gary shooting over decoys or just shooting ferals out of barns etc??

If he is shooting from a hide over decoys then you could possibly use whistle sat at heel and send her for birds but not sure if it would be a good idea ??

I think Bill has done this so he would tell you more - I have never decoyed with a HPR as the retriever for the day. OOH tell a lie , I once took Logan out when he was very young and he ended up dragging my whole hide out across a stubble field in persuit of a pigeon (he was tethered to my hide poles) - never again Embarassed

Barry.
_________________
"Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them.
It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu.
But I think it's Colin."

Helen · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject:

Claire · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:23 pm Post subject:

Yes, the feather thing was in the back of my mind too tbh.

I'm not sure how Gary is planning on doing this tbh.
_________________
Hunting is natural, even foxes do it !

Whenever life hands you lemons, grab the salt and add the tequila

sako75 · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject:

One other negative aspect could be that Whistle would find it hard to mark birds down whilst trying to peer through a cammo net. Also when decoying you normally have dead birds as actual decoys so this could confuse Whistle unless she had a really positive mark on a bird. The loose feathers on woodies would worry me too !!!

You could always dress her up in a ghillie suit and have her sat absolutely still outside the hide and that way she would have clear view of the downed birds Idea

Happy decoying !!!

Barry.
_________________
"Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them.
It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu.
But I think it's Colin."

windem bang · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject:

Your story of the hide getting dragged made me laugh Barry. It happened to a friend of mine 35 years ago, his young springer did the same thing. Laughing

Claire, I've done pigeon, duck and goose shooting from hides with several H.P.R.'s. You need to have the dog sit or lie down with minimal movement in the hide and you need to sit quietly too with a wide brimmed hat on to obscure your face, (not that there's anything wrong with it! Laughing

)

Some dogs just are not suited to this. Bucks uncle Dirk was one of these, he would begin to whine quietly after just a few minutes of remaining stationary. He thought it was utterly boring! I suspect Buck would be the same.

Some sort of cammo coat or netting on Whistle might be a good idea, a weimaraner is a big expanse of silvery grey, I think pigeons would spot that even through a cammo hide.
If it does work out O.K. for you, then you will have to teach her to pick only the fresh shot birds and ignore the shot birds placed out as decoys. If it has human hand scent on it it must not be touched. This could work against you on cold game retrieve practice or even on dummies.
I found my dogs quickly understood what to do or not do when pigeon shooting and I had no problems later with hand scented retrieve practice. You would have to "suck it and see."

Woodpigeon feathers are very loose and sort of powdery, some dogs do not like them. my old G.S.P. Taz is one of these dogs. Most dogs get used to it though and make the retrieve with a minimal amount of feathers left sticking to their mouths.

Bill T.

Claire · Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject:

Pigeons sound too complicated Laughing

Yesterday was a mixed day. Because it was the last driven day of the season, some of the beaters were shooting. So instead of me standing behind the guns all of the time to pick up, I had to take my turn beating. Which was fine, except I refuse to put Whistle into the beating line, so I didn't. I mainly acted as a stop which was fine for Whistle because she wasn't allowed or able to run out of control, but it did mean that she got less picking up Sad

She picked 4 birds out of a bag of 32, but I was fairly happy with her retrieves so that is something.

Her first retrieve was a pricked bird Rolling Eyes

I came out of a wood having acted as a stop and she was off lead, suddenly she winded something and ran straight on. One of the guns said that a hen had gone down into some cover, he thought it was pricked, but he had just left it there as he doesn't like despatching birds Rolling Eyes

Anyway, I thought Whistle was about to go on point, but she didn't! She slowed right down, thought about it, then went straight into the cover and brought a hen out which she brought straight back to me, I took it off her and quickly despatched it. So I was really pleased that firstly, she didn't try to mouth it and brought it straight back to me, and secondly my despatching skills are improving Shocked

2nd retrieve was a straight forward blind from about 150yds. I was told a cock had gone down and it was stone dead. I could eventually see the bird and sent Whistle out for it, she located it fairly quickly and brought it back in her usual manner of dropping it a bit away from me.

3rd retrieve was another easy one, a marked bird that landed about 70yds away. I waited for a few minutes, then sent her out for it and she brought it back, again dumping it near my feet.

Her last retrieve was actually from horrid gorse. I saw a cock come down right in the middle of some gorse bushes that are hideously thick. At the end of the drive I hunted Whistle around the gorse until she located where the bird was. I got on my knees and saw that it was right in the middle of the bushes and there was no way I could reach in. So I managed to push some of the gorse out of the way with my leg, making a tiny entrance for Whistle, and bless her she went straight in and dragged this bird out for me. So whilst probably not the best of retrieves to watch, she certainly enabled me to get the bird as there was no way I could have got it without a dog.

Interestingly, 3 of the birds she picked yesterday she picked up by the head/neck. She has done this before. Handy in that she can't damage the bird but she did struggle with one of the cocks because it was so big and heavy as it was one of the older ones that she almost dropped it Laughing

What I also noticed yesterday was just how much she is switching on and how much she has learnt this season. It is great to see her so keen and eager and yet I never feel she is out of control. Funnily, she has started to sit to the sound of the beaters Embarassed

You can't always hear the beaters until they get closer to you because the woods they are bringing through are quite large & dense and I've noticed a few times that when she starts to hear them getting louder she sits. She must be working out that beaters = birds fly out of wood = gun is fired = bird drops and Whistle gets a retrieve Laughing

I also volunteered to hike up a bloody huge hill to pick up a bird that I was told was stone dead. A gun had saw it come down, probably a good quarter of a mile away, over a burn and in a field full of sheep. He watched it through his binoculars and said it hadn't moved at all. So off Whistle and I went. I wanted to hunt her in this field to see if she was distracted at all by the sheep, she gave them a couple of glances and seemed to keep an eye on them as they started to run, but other than that she carried on hunting and not once did I get the feeling she might give chase. Anyway, we were being watched through the binoculars and this bird apparently got up and ran up to the stone dyke wall, neither Whistle nor I saw it as we were too far away. It then hopped over the wall. So much for it being dead! Twisted Evil

Whistle worked really well and I popped her over the wall and she tracked it for a good distance and then she seemed to lose its scent. The bird wasn't seen any more and so I suspect it must have been VERY much alive, saw Whistle coming and buggered off as sadly we never found it Sad

Shame we didn't find it as it will undoubtedly go off to die and it was a shame for Whistle because she had hunted so well and we were both blooming knackered Laughing

So that was our last day of the season Crying or Very sad

Although Gary and I might go out for a cheeky rough day on Friday, just the 2 of us so that we can control what we do and where we go.
_________________
Hunting is natural, even foxes do it !

Whenever life hands you lemons, grab the salt and add the tequila

sako75 · Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:45 pm Post subject:

Nice one Claire , sounds like you had a decent sort of day with many positives !! Hope you have a good day on Friday , I am out on my local estate on Friday doing a spot of picking up / beating. Beaters day , but there ain't many birds left - still , I am looking forward to it. Very Happy

Barry.
_________________
"Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them.
It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu.
But I think it's Colin."

Helen · Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject:

Sounds like a good end to the season. She is doing really well.

Helen