Bird Work!

[NCMTNHunter]

Not much happening on the bird forum so I thought I would throw this on here. I haven’t done any live bird work since late summer (not counting hunting in season) so I made a couple launcher sets this weekend. Izzy really steadied up during hunting season this year. She has been steady to shot and my goal is to get get her steady all the way through to release.



I wasn’t sure how she would do, having not seen a bird since February so I kept the check chord on her for the first set. Turns out there was no need for that. She locked up about 20 yards away and made no attempt to move. I walked circles around her, took pictures, and kicked the grass around the launcher. When I hit the launcher remote it attempted to release but failed. Izzy continued to stand while I worked on the launcher and eventually made it flush. She stood for the flush but broke with the shot and I was able to stop her with a whoa then released her for a nice retrieve.

The second set was pretty much the same as the first other than getting rid of the check chord and the launcher actually working properly. It’s obvious that I’m going to have to recruit some help for further work. I’m not coordinated enough to work the chord, collar, launcher, and shotgun all at the same time. I do feel like we are in a good place to move ahead with steadiness though!

 

[spring]

I so admire a a hunter that emphasizes their dog being steady to wing and shot. It takes some work, as you described, but it's so much safer for a dog than allowing it to charge out and try to catch the birds as the hunters are shooting.
Well done!

 

[NCMTNHunter]

I so admire a a hunter that emphasizes their dog being steady to wing and shot. It takes some work, as you described, but its so much safer for a dog than allowing it to charge out and try to catch the birds as the hunters are shooting.
Well done!

Thanks. I had never put any effort into getting a dog past steady to wing. Hunting wild birds I never thought it was a big deal. Now that my kids are getting old enough I would like to do some fun hunts with pen raised birds or maybe some plantation hunts where they can do some shooting. I felt like it would be one less thing to worry about if I knew the dog wouldn’t be chasing low birds in front of the kids, or catching pen raised birds or anything else problematic. Plus it’s fun to always have more dog work to do.