# New to pheasant hunting



## reidrhollander (Jan 4, 2009)

First time post!

I recently took up pheasant hunting and the group I go with never has dogs. I have two labs that are used to being around shooting but are in no way trained to hunt. I was wondering if it might be worth it to bring them with us just to root through the thick stuff and scare up birds.

Both of them stay fairly close when in the field and respond to basic commands of sit, stay, go get it, etc. And I have Dogtra collars I use with them when we are hiking and they come right back when they get the vibrate signal.

Is this asking for trouble? I figure if it doesn't work out I can always just put them in the truck where they will happily sleep they day away. Any thoughts from some experienced bird hunters with dogs would be valuable.


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## gamberc (Mar 10, 2008)

id bring them if they stay close and respond and listen to you, you should have any problems, i think your in the perfect postion your dogs are trained obiedience now all you need to do is introduce them to the field, they will scare birds up just by running threw and once they pick up the scent they do just fine, who knows you may have a dog that loves to pheasant hunt and you dont know it, it wouldnt hurt anything IMO


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

try to set up a situation where you can find the birds in low grass whcih means roositing at dawn and let the labs flush them shoot one they are chasing and you will have a instant hunting lab.

They just have to know that pheasants are what you are after and "boom" means falling bird.

Never shoot around them without birds flushing, and limit it to only one shot per bird until they show sings they expect a bird to drop at the shot.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2009)

How old are the dogs? have you had them waterfowl hunting? Hunting of any kind? If it was me, I would go out to a agame farm, have them hunt a few birds and see how they do. Also, if the guys you hunt with are not used to hunting with dogs, don't hunt the dogs with them unless they agree to only shoot at birds that are well up in the air as opposed to swatting them on the ground or shooting at a low flying bird. You wouldn't want anything to happen to those labbies! :beer: Good luck and have fun.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

reidrhollander, welcome aboard! You will love pheasant hunting with your dogs once they get the hang of it. And it won't take long. I would consider going by yourself with your dogs the first few times. That is school time for learning. Labs are naturals at trailing and flushing, the retreiveing is the frosting. Pheasant hunting with a lab is not rocket science.


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## reidrhollander (Jan 4, 2009)

Thanks for all the comments. I think I will give it a try given the encouragement.

My chocolate is 6 and has been rabbit hunting a few times which was pretty natural for him, he just ran around like he always does and chased things out of the brush that I would rather not walk! But I couldn't get him to retrieve reliably. The other one, a yellow, is about 1.5 years old and hasn't done anything except watch me shoot trap.

I just wanted some expert opinion about whether I was inviting disaster which it doesn't sound like is the case. Either way I think I will take the advice of going by ourselves a couple of times so I don't have to subject my buddies to their behavior if they both hate it.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

I wouldn't have any desire to go pheasant hunting without a dog. That is the part I get the most enjoyment out of. Not to mention all of the birds that would have been walked past or lost after shooting without a dog.

Like others have stated, if they are obedient and have hunting instincts, you have nothing to lose. It really isn't complicated with labs. Good luck.


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