Well that's a disrespectful name for a noble bird
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Bird dogs
- Thread starter macdad
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I've been having good luck with Tuff Foot for the pads. A lot of the hound hunters I know run the wax and have good luck with it. The booties work good if you can keep them on. Mine keep filling up with snow and than he looses them.
Kentuckywindage
Well-Known Member
My old Lewellyn used to get those ice balls on his feet. Most bird dogs are dedicated that's for sure. I did have one that flat out hated water. Come to a creek and my hunting buddy would say, watch ol' Ace run the creek bank trying to find a shallow crossing. He's one of them purdy boys. 
He actually was a beautiful black and white belton.
He actually was a beautiful black and white belton.
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
Started using King Kalm + Balm last year and seems to work well but needs applied more frequently than what I used before.
My lab is female so I don't have worry about any ball sack dragging luckily and this stuff would probably work on what's dragging @idcwby but I wouldn't let my buddies see me rubbing it on! lol
I use ruff wear booties. I apply a self adhesive bandage (coban) around their legs. Then put the boots on and wrap duct tape around the boot and the ankle to the coban. Not too tight to restrict perfusion but tapered so they won't fall off. Their boots are red incase they happen to come off they're easier to find.
Montana'eer
Well-Known Member
Well they are from Ch'jina. Communist invaders. And chukars are from the Middle East. Watch out for the ones wearing suicide vests. Take looooong shots on those terroristsWell that's a disrespectful name for a noble bird
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
We actually call them ditch chickens. There's only a couple small areas of the state that have wild birds and the stocked pheasant are quite stupid and hang out near where stocked. But if they survive a week or so they learn and are much more fun and challenging to hunt. It seems like most like to shoot birds and not hunt them.
I like to do both.
With my success I'm definitely a hunter. I kept going after years of chukar hunting without a dog. My pup has seen his share of planted pigeons and chukar during training but he's been on strict training diet of wild birds only. Here he is at 5 months. As you can see in the bottom pic these planted chukar hold even when he stands directly over it. Wild birds obviously won't allow him to get so close.
Kentuckywindage
Well-Known Member
Awesome photos. Here we had grouse, quail and some woodcock. I trained with pen raised quail. Problem was some just weren't good fliers. I would tuck them and wind them up, set and work the dog into the wind. Of course the dog had to be broke to command. Tapping the bird would get it up. I would then hook the bird with the toe of my boot, kicking it into the air. Good pen raised birds were hard to find. Sprayed and with a decent fly way. Last dog I trained was a GSP for a buddy. He had the launch and control. She turned out to be a good dog. Here a good quail dog doesn't necessarily mean a good grouse dog. Because of bumping up the grouse before point. On the other hand, I entered a Lewellyn pup in a Field Trail at Bob Bailey's which got put in the broke dog class, (which was dirty). 7 month old took second place only because my buddy worked the pup perfectly but missed one bird on the flush using my shotgun. My health came into play, (bronchial pneumonia, still went.) . Problem was that pup had already pointed it's own grouse for me in the bush. Pointing a very good distance from the set quail making it hard for my buddy to find and flush. That pup was out of my dogs stock. Dashing Iron Mike pup. I hunted a few dogs and every one out of Bailey's Mike were good dogs. Might not like water like my Ace dog. Pretty boy.
I finally just threw him in a few times. Problem solved.
Montana'eer
Well-Known Member
Awesome photos. Here we had grouse, quail and some woodcock. I trained with pen raised quail. Problem was some just weren't good fliers. I would tuck them and wind them up, set and work the dog into the wind. Of course the dog had to be broke to command. Tapping the bird would get it up. I would then hook the bird with the toe of my boot, kicking it into the air. Good pen raised birds were hard to find. Sprayed and with a decent fly way. Last dog I trained was a GSP for a buddy. He had the launch and control. She turned out to be a good dog. Here a good quail dog doesn't necessarily mean a good grouse dog. Because of bumping up the grouse before point. On the other hand, I entered a Lewellyn pup in a Field Trail at Bob Bailey's which got put in the broke dog class, (which was dirty). 7 month old took second place only because my buddy worked the pup perfectly but missed one bird on the flush using my shotgun. My health came into play, (bronchial pneumonia, still went.) . Problem was that pup had already pointed it's own grouse for me in the bush. Pointing a very good distance from the set quail making it hard for my buddy to find and flush. That pup was out of my dogs stock. Dashing Iron Mike pup. I hunted a few dogs and every one out of Bailey's Mike were good dogs. Might not like water like my Ace dog. Pretty boy.
We only get wildbirds. Just young ones every now and again. Most are wild and runners.
Kentuckywindage
Well-Known Member
Our population of wild birds was on the decline when I sold my last dog. Making pen raised birds a great option for training. Wild birds after training were then the only birds hunted. When I left the sport, I would surmise in an average 3 give or take mile walking, you may find one grouse. A covey of quail was usually birds I had bought and turned into the wild. I turned a large number loose around here. Hunters sometimes lucked up on them. What really bothered me was the run down of the covey and killing of most of it. I found out, if you take one bird, it was just as good as every bird in the covey. Days I couldn't find a grouse anywhere, I would swing by where I had turned birds loose and end that day with a bird to my dog who had worked hard. 20 to 25 years ago I would ask all my deer hunting buddies where they had flushed a grouse and got some great hollers to hunt. Today deer hunting isn't as popular here but even asking and deer hunting myself grouse and quail are few and very far between. With Kentucky wanting the wild turkey population, scratching out grouse nest and clearing large hillsides didn't help. Coyotes and raising rattlesnake populations, (to help control turkey population? ) didn't help either but we were already on a steep decline. Going to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources meetings only to find out our Corp of Engineers were trapping grouse to trade for river otters on state property? In short involve yourself in your areas wildlife commissions.
Those who haven't run a good gun dog and watched him work up to a beautiful 1 o'clock tail, staunch on point and flushed a thunder bird, (grouse) bursting through the thickets and timber with you trying to get a clean shot are missing something very special. Some of the best eating I've experienced in my years.
To those of you still able to enjoy this, take all the working and pointing beauty in. Next time you and your dog do everything right, think of this old crippled up Kentuckian and how much I envy you at that moment.
God bless and Happy New Year!
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
Ruffed grouse is our state bird and has seen a huge decline. After doing numerous studies they have decided that West Nile virus is to blame and all of our grouse will be gone in 10-15 years. This could be the problem in Kentucky also.
We've never had many quail but in the 80's and 90's we would easily get 10 grouse flushes a day. I've had 2 in the last 3 years and couldn't even fathom shooting one nowadays.
We've never had many quail but in the 80's and 90's we would easily get 10 grouse flushes a day. I've had 2 in the last 3 years and couldn't even fathom shooting one nowadays.
Our population of wild birds was on the decline when I sold my last dog. Making pen raised birds a great option for training. Wild birds after training were then the only birds hunted. When I left the sport, I would surmise in an average 3 give or take mile walking, you may find one grouse. A covey of quail was usually birds I had bought and turned into the wild. I turned a large number loose around here. Hunters sometimes lucked up on them. What really bothered me was the run down of the covey and killing of most of it. I found out, if you take one bird, it was just as good as every bird in the covey. Days I couldn't find a grouse anywhere, I would swing by where I had turned birds loose and end that day with a bird to my dog who had worked hard. 20 to 25 years ago I would ask all my deer hunting buddies where they had flushed a grouse and got some great hollers to hunt. Today deer hunting isn't as popular here but even asking and deer hunting myself grouse and quail are few and very far between. With Kentucky wanting the wild turkey population, scratching out grouse nest and clearing large hillsides didn't help. Coyotes and raising rattlesnake populations, (to help control turkey population? ) didn't help either but we were already on a steep decline. Going to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources meetings only to find out our Corp of Engineers were trapping grouse to trade for river otters on state property? In short involve yourself in your areas wildlife commissions.
Those who haven't run a good gun dog and watched him work up to a beautiful 1 o'clock tail, staunch on point and flushed a thunder bird, (grouse) bursting through the thickets and timber with you trying to get a clean shot are missing something very special. Some of the best eating I've experienced in my years.
To those of you still able to enjoy this, take all the working and pointing beauty in. Next time you and your dog do everything right, think of this old crippled up Kentuckian and how much I envy you at that moment.
God bless and Happy New Year!
I still hunt them because I have bird dogs, but I too cannot seem to pull the trigger on the one or two birds we flush a season. Never would have thought that I would witness the decimation of huntable populations of bobwhite quail, pheasant and perhaps soon the venerable state bird in SC PA. What's next?
