Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Should I get a gun/sport/hunting/bird dog?

I've not been a dog person all my life, but got a dog about 11 years ago and got totally immersed in it. He was bred for a protection sport and we trained, did the clubs, and competed, titled etc. in obedience, tracking, and protection (Schutzhund or IPO) and ring sport. I traveled all over the US and Canada to train and do stuff with him like seminars, competition, clubs. We didn't achieve any special notoriety or even a very high level of success on an objective basis, but ultimately a dog to me is a life companion and not just a partner, tool, or equipment for an avocation. A much greater portion of our time together is just being together in life. He lives in my house, my kids grew up with him, I take him just about everywhere I go near and far. I work from home and we never really leave one another.

He doesn't do hunting. I don't hunt big game with dogs and he doesn't point or retrieve birds or anything. He still goes with me but he stays in camp or in the 4x4 or if I just go out for the morning he'll stay with my wife and kids at home.

Right now where I am, deer season ended and it's open for quail, chukar, duck, and rabbit. I went out the other morning for a few hours and saw two ducks (red heads) and one cottontail. I really wanted to find some coveys but didn't see or hear anything but some Stellar's jay. I was seeing and hearing quail all summer long but now I figure I won't see a thing without a dog. My neighbor (from somewhere in the neighborhood) has been raising a English Setter pup that will always point on the covey that roosts in the spruce next to my house when they walk by. (can't hunt them in my neighborhood though).

Still, I can't see myself getting a dog just to point birds. I don't even care if my chickens give me eggs. They all have names and if they're content to follow me around the yard and sit in my lap every once in a while they'll stay with me long after they've stopped laying. Nevertheless, I've been around dog sport enough to know that you can't expect to do anything with the wrong dog for the job.

I don't even know if I have a big job for a bird dog. My town is surrounded by more than a million acres of public land but I don't even know how many game birds are out there. I'm out there everyday but just see the quail in the summer and the rest of the time it's mostly jackrabbits and coyotes. There's deer and bear but the tags are scarce and if I get a tag it's usually for a unit that's a few hundred miles away. It occurred to me to get a couple blue tick hounds to hunt mountain lion but I figure they'd be bad news for my otherwise pretty suburban neighborhood.

Do you enjoy bird hunting, even a little bit? If so, get a bird dog. Once you start hunting over a bird dog that you've trained, it becomes addicting. I love watching my girl work, her enthusiasm, focus and drive when we're on birds is amazing. She's my first bird dog and I can't imagine not having one now. I would almost rather go out and hike all day with her looking for birds than hunt deer or elk. You've got the experience training and handling dogs, so transitioning to a bird dog wouldn't be hard. Life is better with a dog!

Bird dogs are awesome! Two are on my lap in the recliner as I type, a third is trying to snuggle her way on too. The fourth is a sleep in the guest bedroom.

Check out a Navhda Chapter to see different breeds in action.

No NAVHDA in my current state. I'd have to go to California which I increasingly loathe to do (I'm a refugee from there). To be fair, I doubt I'd seriously consider getting a dog without also being willing to criss-cross the nation looking for the right one. It's not that it's necessarily that difficult, but that it's worth the trouble.

In the dog training clubs, I'd occasionally come across people involved in field trial retriever training. Everyone was always looking for super high drive. The retrievers were usually sought after for police tracking and detection K9's. The sports (and KNPV which I suppose is not really considered a sport) were the main source for dogs and training methods.

I haven't been able to bird hunt meaningfully in a long time, but I know I'd rather eat quail as much as anything else. Yeah, from memory, I enjoyed quail and turkey hunting as much as any big game I've hunted, maybe more. I know dogs aren't typically used for turkey, but I never had a dog for hunting anything.

I wish I had more confidence that I could work a dog on birds often, even if I can't shoot the birds. I don't know what really happens to the birds. They just disappear. Maybe when the season opens they disguise themselves as jackrabbits. Always plenty of those.

If you are not going to seriously hunt Birds, why would you get a Dog whose genes are centered around hunting Birds????

You going to seriously hunt Birds or not is the question....If not get a rescue and go for walks....

If there are no Birds were you live....then you go to the Birds....again, how serious are you????

The answer doesn't take four paragraphs and a bunch of this and that.....You are either into the game or not....yes or no...Until then you don't need a Bird Dog....

Those are good points well taken.

I think it's a bit of a Catch 22 or chicken and egg thing. It's hard to get serious about birds without a dog and I have no real business with a (bird) dog if I'm not serious about birds.

It's not clear to me what it takes to be serious about birds, besides a dog. If there are not enough birds here, it's not clear to me where to go from here. If I can find birds in a one or two-hour drive, I'd go. If it's a 4 of 5 hours drive, I know it won't work. I did that for about a year with a different dog sport, driving 3 hours each way to a club every weekend. Six hours driving back and forth every Saturday, and the end result wasn't that great because you can't really get good at something if you're only training once a week. It was like martial arts or bird hunting. You can't get good just practicing it alone in your basement.

I think I need to find out where the birds are.

Where do you live? To the best of my knowledge, there are huntable populations of birds in (almost) every state, although some states are much better than others.

This is where UR @.....

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/15335186/1

Remember, even the most devoted amateur bird hunter has a dog that is just a friend 90% of the time. You can take the hobby as far as you want, or not. Sounds like you are good to your dog and that's all that matters. Bird dogs are great buddies and they don't know what you don't know and believe me, they will teach you far more than you will teach them.

A good friend of mine has shot boxcars full of birds and couldn't train his dog to eat a hamburger. He just takes it hunting. I will admit they can be annoying to be around because the dog is barely controlled. But, they are having a great old time.

If you want a dog, get one. Sounds like the dog will make you into a bird hunter, if your first dog is any indicator. Have fun and don't let the hardcores scare you off.

Get one of good breeding with a reputation for doing what YOU want. Beware of folks who want you to be just like them.

Yes.

Oh snap...maybe I've hunted with Oldtrapper...

The thing, to me about bird hunting with dogs...is it's awesomely addictive. Going to navhda or club events (even one per year), scouting and pointing in the off season, training with farm raised birds...it's like cub scouts for dogs. Really fun for me, my wife and the dogs.

And, you'll rarely lose another cripple again. My dogs have come back with lots of birds that I thought I had missed with a retrieve to hand. Come to think of it, maybe I better practice more on some clays.

Personally, I only hunt when my dogs can go with me. It's just not enjoyable stepping into the swamp or woods or on the bays without a dog by my side. Heck I even take one fishing most times and they enjoy that too.