Thread: Bird hunting question...

Back to the original question.

Generally I like the dogs to stay within sight. My goal for their range is to have them cover as much ground as possible without going out of sight. Often in the course of hunting they are out of sight for a limited amount of time such as when they go over a dune ahead of me but that's about it. My dogs wear remote activated beeper collars so I can quickly locate them within their practical range.

Unlike pig dogs, the bird dogs in NZ don't range too far because pheasants are little bastards, even with a staunch, steady dog with a good nose, the birds will often run on the dog so it pays not to leave your dog standing on point too long.

In the US, I ran huge running dogs and they wore GPS collars and before that radio tracking collars but that was on bobwhite quail which hold very well for dogs.

For bird dogs in NZ they just aren't necessary.

Down south in the braided rivers the cover is high and thick . So you try and huntan area with low fringes . The birds ( quail) can be anywhere . Most of the time you can't see your dog, it sucks . The ideal is to flush them to low cover . On most occasions easer said than done . Quite often you have no idear where your dog is and the dog is pointing , it's so frustrating to walk past and miss out. So a gps would be ideal . Also to keep tabs on a young dog keen on tracking a hare when he's not supposed to .