# Fact or Fiction: Dog not in blind will flare birds



## weuk (Dec 19, 2010)

I don't have a dog blind for winter wheat fields and was wondering if having my dog is the reason for birds flaring or not. I've heard they don't at all and actually may attract birds when they are retrieving birds in fields and birds dont really notice them if they are still, and have heard they scare birds just sitting there with no movement. What is yall's consensus on this? Because if so I'll need to buy a blind


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## striped1 (Aug 17, 2005)

The exposed dog is not helping. It will flair birds.


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## GooseSlayer14 (Mar 15, 2010)

we had our yellow lab outside of our blind this weekend on the weary december ND geese and they didnt seem to mind landing into the decoys we were in corn and a very open wheat field with snow


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## dsm16428 (Feb 19, 2009)

Gonna be situational for sure. I hunted with a guy and his son this past early Sept. season and their chessie was green and would hold in the blind for anything. Even when we did get him to sit still (after a few healthy tics on the e-caller) the birds still flared like we were dancing in the spread in flourescent orange jump suits. Other times with my friend Ed's black lab, we had no trouble finishing birds with him sitting right next to him by his layout in the open...but he may as well have been a rock in the field that dog was so good.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

I say why take the time to hide your blinds so well and make your spread perfect to leave your dog sitting out in the open. Why go through all of that and possibly give the birds something to flare at.


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## weuk (Dec 19, 2010)

We hunt very hard fields in Oklahoma wear the winter wheat is 1/2" tall from cattle grazing it off and red dirt, so many times we opt to not put out blinds and just lie in the fields with bigfoots between our legs and between our feet. We have tried raffia and the works to not a lot of success finishing birds. I talked to a group that hunted near us with 6 blinds in a field with dog out and shot a 6 man limit. 
The only difference we do is put every blind together in one blob and they spread their blinds from one end to other 30 yds. Is that better than one blob? I always heard make one pile if it's hard to conceal.


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## HugeBurrito2k6 (Oct 25, 2011)

Have you ever seen a natural flock of living honkers in the wild with a dog running around in their area? I sure as hell havent. Use your brain of coarse it will flare birds it is not natural.


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

I've sent my dog out for retrieves and had to whistle her back when other flocks came over the hillside towards us. This has happened enough times that I swear they don't seam to mind seeing the movement. Of coarse she then jumps in the blind with me and hunkers down as the birds finish,but like I say I know they had to see her. Another time of interest, I had a field where the geese were hitting real heavy I mean hundreds and hundreds of birds. The field was too close to houses so we couldn't hunt it, anyhow I cut out a plywood coyote silo, painted it and put an old tail on it for that real movement. This was to deter the birds from landing there (it was a small field) and send them back our way. Anyways the birds flew over us to the X and never returned. When we packed up later we drove by the fields too see birds all over the place. I walked out, spooked the birds and picked up my coyote silo that was now laying on its side in and amongst the birds. They had actually walked on top of it. How it fell over I'm not sure I still think they attacked the SOB! lol


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Shots plenty of birds(late season) with with a Dog laying in the field. They camo naturally better than a blind. My 2 cents.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

I've had it go both ways many times.Many times a black lab retrieving birds has seemed to act like a flag.Certainly no worse than a man wearing a 'goose suit' running around waving at em and then going to his hands and knees while they close(with his gun laying under him of course) and I've seen that work.Sad but true. :withstupid:


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## weuk (Dec 19, 2010)

I was thinking my chocolate labs coat and low profile lying down might be less noticeable in the 1/2" tall wheat with no stubble than a ground force blind covered in raffia


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

Rick Acker said:


> Shots plenty of birds(late season) with with a Dog laying in the field. They camo naturally better than a blind. My 2 cents.


Ditto. I had Remy out field hunting on several occasions. Sometimes he was in his dog blind, sometimes he was laying next to my layout blind. In either case, we had birds finishing the exact same way. Of course, Remy is trained to stay put. I suppose if your mutt is running around off the handle, that's a different story.


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

Duckslayer, Why bring the "your mutt" into it? This guy's just trying to ask a question. He never mentioned his dog was running around,"off the handle" as you put it. If you can't answer and help out a guy, don't reply. This guys just asking for help.


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## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

The dog does not matter. The wind does. If birds want to be where you are, the dog is not going to slow them down as long as there is a good breeze. If the wind stops, it does not matter if the dog is in a blind or running laps, they are going to pick you to pieces.


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## weuk (Dec 19, 2010)

The only movement my dog does it watch the birds do her head moves. I'm no dog expert but I never felt this was a huge issue and thought a little excessive to not allow a dog move their heads. 
This helps guys thanks.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

cut'em said:


> Duckslayer, Why bring the "your mutt" into it? This guy's just trying to ask a question. He never mentioned his dog was running around,"off the handle" as you put it. If you can't answer and help out a guy, don't reply. This guys just asking for help.


Tongue-in-cheek there buddy. Never once referred to the OP, just a general comment. Maybe I should have said "if a hunter's mutt"...that clear things up?!
BTW, I've had a feeling for a while that Nodak users' panties have been getting collectively more bunched up recently, but this is getting ridiculous.


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## DuckZone (Nov 19, 2010)

I have a black lab and had him sitting right beside me outside the blind and had geese and ducks land 10 yards from my blind. In my opinion, as long as they are not doing alot of moving around the birds will still decoy. It seems like they will flare more from the hunter than the dog sitting there.

DZ


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

Our panties may have been getting up in a bunch due to a lot of guys trying to stir the pot. You've been around long enough to see the ups and downs that this forum has had. I'm just trying my best to stop any posts from heading South. Remember any responses are to "the OP" Now reading your intent, I apologize, lets keep this post informative. Lets learn and teach each other.
Cut'em


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

That post was so far from stirring the pot..Not sure how you came to that conclusion. We all call our dogs mutts now and then don't we?


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## Horker23 (Mar 2, 2006)

x2


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## Wetland Warriors (Feb 22, 2011)

As long as they sit still we've shot lots of birds with my buddy's yellow lab sitting in plowed wheat fields..


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