Dog Training and Performance Tips
For over two decades, George Hickox has shown all levels of owners how to train great bird dogs. As the hunting season nears, it’s incredibly important to reinforce good gun dog training procedures and attempt to break bad habits. Below, find some of George’s best tips and tricks on bird dog training.
Training a dog does not have to be a Herculean challenge. Most often it takes more time and effort to fix a problem than it requires to train a dog from the get-go if the training is done right.
I have outlined a few tips that will hopefully help with the training and performance of your dogs.
1. Dogs learn by association.
As trainers, we need to fully understand how strong the powers of association are for the canine. The dog is going to associate – pure and simple. Therefore, if we want a dog to respond a certain way all the time, we as trainers must be consistent. If a trainer sometimes commands “Here,” sometimes says, “Let’s go,” and other times says “Come on,” that is not consistent. Pick one command and stick with it.
2. Dogs were not born understanding the King’s English.
Incessant talking to a dog only teaches the dog to tune you out… “Over here, c’mon boy, that’s a good dog, let’s go, hop in the car” is a bunch of rhetoric that the dog cannot possibly understand. You might as well said, “Go get the keys and start my car.”
Habits are hard to break, but constant yakking at a dog will not develop a dog that responds to commands with reliability.
1. Introduction to the gun is a big deal.
Just because Fido has a million dollar pedigree does not insure he cannot be made gun shy. Gun shyness is one heck of a serious problem. A gun shy dog is not much of a gun dog. Err on the side of caution and assume the dog will have a problem with the gun. Be paranoid. The proper window of time to introduce a dog to the gun is not a question of age. The benchmark I use to tell me when to introduce the dog to gun shot is as follows: when the dog is questing for game confidently, has been introduced to birds, and is aggressively chasing birds. This is the benchmark I use whether evaluating a pointing, retrieving, or flushing prospect.
2. If a dog has a tendency to self-hunt or ranges too far out, carry a bird in your vest.
Take the dog to an area void of birds. Preferably an area that you can see the dog when he is “out there.” When the dog is out in front, plant the bird that you are carrying in your vest close to you. Call the dog back. When he comes back, he finds a bird. After a few consistent repetitions of not finding birds down the field and finding birds near you, he will get it.
3. The number one criteria for selecting a pup is genetics.
Do not shortchange yourself for years to come by accepting anything less than the best family tree you can find.
To read more go the original article: http://www.filson.com/filson-life/2014/07/dog-training-hunting/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fbook_073014_dogtraining
Conservation’s Invisible Birds
As hunters, we often look to conservation organizations to protect and enhance hunting opportunities or address the critical habitat issues facing upland birds. Yet, many of us are not even members of the organizations we look to for support. For example, the nation’s largest quail organization recently announced its membership topped 15,000. This represents 1.8% of the country’s 841,000 quail hunters. According to the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, there are 1.5 million pheasant hunters and 844,000 grouse and prairie chicken hunters. Only 8% of pheasant hunters are members of Pheasants Forever, and just 1% of grouse hunters are members of the leading conservation organizations focused on the species they hunt.
In contrast, an estimated 47% of the nation’s 1.4 million duck hunters are members of Ducks Unlimited or Delta Waterfowl. In addition to membership in conservation organizations, duck hunters consider it a normal cost of doing business to purchase both a federal and state duck stamp. Since its inception in 1934, the Federal Waterfowl Stamp has raised over $800 million for conservation. Restoring wetlands and waterfowl was the single mission of a small group of sportsmen. Despite the daunting biological, political, industrial and sociocultural environments of conservation today, do upland bird hunters represent a small group of thoughtful individuals capable of reversing unprecedented decline with a singular focus on uplands and upland game?
Based on the responses to Ultimate Upland’s article It’s Time for a Federal Upland Stamp, we learned that many hunters would like to see conservation organizations receive additional funds and lead the effort to reverse declining upland game populations. We followed up by asking the various organizations involved about their programs, accomplishments, goals and challenges to provide a side by side comparison. Their complete responses are available by clicking logos below.
Most of the organizations we spoke with agreed the biggest issue facing upland species today was loss of habitat. According to Pete Muller, Public Relations Specialist for the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), “We lose 6,000 acres a day, with a total of the size of Yellowstone National Park each year.” The NWTF Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. is a 10-year initiative with a commitment to conserving or enhancing 4 million acres of habitat, creating 1.5 million hunters and opening access to 500,000 acres. To understand the magnitude of the losses we face, if we continue to lose habitat at the 6,000-acres-a-day rate, even if NWTF conserves 4 million of those acres, we suffer a net loss of 18 million acres of habitat over the 10-year period.
Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever Vice President of Marketing Bob St. Pierre points to the Farm Bill as the organization’s current national focus. “Through 2018, it is estimated that $24 billion will be available through the conservation title of the Farm Bill for habitat opportunities.”
Although the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) embedded in the Farm Bill provides large scale, direct and measurable benefits to wildlife and habitat, the Farm Bill is a politically-charged piece of legislation addressing food, farms and jobs and is tied to agricultural interests and commodity demands. Funds allocated for conservation in the latest Farm Bill have decreased by $4 billion over a 5-year span. If we do not fund habitat recovery with sportsmen’s dollars, are we willing to become political activists and rely on an indirect source of government funding for upland game?
Don McKenzie, Director of the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) acknowledges that, “Neither the NBCI nor any other game bird organization, initiative, institute or association has taken serious steps to address the bigger, broader need for new, larger, stable funding for upland game bird conservation at the national level.” While species-specific initiatives, such as the NBCI, Sage Grouse Initiative, and the Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative demonstrate new paradigms in wildlife management that epitomize the value of partnerships, if we want to see meaningful conservation outcomes for upland game, we must come together as a community and support proactive partnership over larger landscapes.
Fundraising through the banquet model is an important source of unrestricted revenue for most conservation organizations. Woodcock Limited told us, “Direct habitat work is our biggest initiative, and that comes from increasing chapters/members.” Jay Stine, Executive Director of the Quail Coalition, points to their unique model that maximizes the use of private dollars, “We minimize organizational overhead with no headquarters building, no offices, and only one contract employee.” Upland hunters are often a fractious group who focus on the differences between dogs, guns, game and methods. We come together in support of conservation for the particular species we hunt. But, how do we overcome the distinctions between the various organizations and build trust amongst ourselves as a broader community to tackle habitat loss as a single initiative?
In order to create greater participation in the issues, we have to recognize that hunting as we know it is a fragile proposition. Upland birds are often nesting in our neighboring woods and fields. They are elusive and camouflaged to their varied environments. While we may be secure in our own access to hunting grounds, there is a national crisis involving the loss of our nation’s vast grasslands, early-successional habitats and forests along with the wild birds that rely on them that we seem content to ignore.
The accomplishments and goals of conservation organizations must be understood in the broader context of long-term population declines and a trend toward future habitat loss and degradation. If we accept the status quo we are not going to change the trajectory for upland birds. The future of the game birds we hunt and the wild places they require to survive depend on overcoming our distinctions to join a collaborative conservation partnership that crosses the sometimes controversial boundaries between states, species, organizations, and agencies.
We may believe that it happened all of a sudden when we find ourselves in fields without pheasants and mornings without the sound of bobwhite. If we see the problem clearly, we can begin to move towards changing it through our passion, commitment, and singular focus. The time is now. Where would we be today if we had taken steps toward a dedicated funding source for upland birds 20 years ago?
Did you know?
The bobwhite quail has been called a “walking hors d’oeuvre”. This is because of being particularly liked by dozens of predators including snakes, raccoons, opossums, fox squirrels, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, dogs, cats, hawks, owls, rats, weasels and ants. Even deer have been documented eating quail eggs.
Quail experience enormous pressure from predators from the time the chick hatches – and even before.
Only about one-third of quail nests hatch with success. More than half the chicks that do hatch die within two weeks, mostly from predation. Of those quail that do survive until autumn, 80 percent will be dead by the next autumn.
Crows:The Unexpected Killer
Have you ever watched a pair of mockingbirds fighting crows near a tree? This is an indication that the birds have a nest nearby and the crows are trying to rob it of the eggs or baby birds. This is happening all too often. The crow population is extremely strong now and growing because they are not being hunted.
Crows spend most of their days looking for prey. They hunt from daylight to dark. They rob any kind of bird nest they can find. I have seen crows catching baby quail chicks at the edge of a weed field. and watched them prey on baby rabbits. These crows have a huge impact on the decline of song birds, small game and quail and doves and are doing more damage than we realize!
UWC plans to make crow hunting a popular sport so that we can knock the crow population back somewhat and increase the upland game population. We plan to organize crow shooting tournaments when crow season begins. There will be more information on this in the near future.
A note from Frank Lever, longtime Sportsman and friend of Founder, Kenny Lucas
For the last several years Kenny has had this idea to form an organization
of upland game enthusiasts to work towards protecting their environment and
hopefully increasing their chances for survival and growth. When he first
spoke to me about it he was mainly speaking about dove and quail but he has
realized that not only our game birds but our song birds and other small
game are in jeopardy.
His vision is to form this organization of concerned individuals, sportsmen
and non-sportsmen, to come together and discuss the issues effecting our
upland game and birds. He envisions having representatives from all the
counties in SC who can build local groups or chapters. These chapters would
work with farmers and landowners to take positive steps to improve farming
practices, planting of food plots, and protecting nesting habitat. The
groups would also work with conservation groups, federal and state
governments and local governments to preserve programs which benefit our
upland game and wild birds, initiate and pass legislation to protect them
and volunteer time to assist in creating an environment to enhance the
growth of these diminishing species.
As with any organization it will need volunteers and contributions to begin
to develop these local chapters. We will form a non-profit organization with
tax benefits for contributions but more importantly, we need to find a core
body of people willing to give a little of their time and energy to organize
the organization then work to identify through their networks like-minded
individuals who will work to form the local chapters
I have been hunting for over 50 years and I have witnessed the decline in
dove, quail, rabbits, ducks and even songbirds. Most of us spend a lot of
money, time and energy in joining Hunt clubs both in SC and out of our
state. Can we spend some of our time, energy and resources protecting and
ensuring that we, our children and grandchildren and generations to come
enjoy and experience what we experienced as young men and women in our
beautiful state?
Let’s work together to protect our resources.
A. Frank Lever III
Quail in South Carolina’s Coastal Plain
Lee and Anne Ballard own 328 acres in Williamsburg County, South Carolina. Historically, the property was farmed for cotton
Lee Ballard
before Mr. Ballard purchased it in1993. After 1989’s Hurricane Hugo the majority of the timber was cut leaving sparse trees throughout the tract. From 1993-1995 there were 12-15 northern bobwhite coveys and then the number of coveys decreased markedly as plant succession progressed. In 2000, Mr. Ballard retired and began managing the property for wildlife, especially quail. After 2001 coveys again began increasing to 12-15 coveys across the property.
Mr. and Mrs. Ballard have been avid hunters and are wildlife enthusiasts so they understand the importance of managing habitat for wildlife. In 2005 they enrolled 33 acres of the property’s cropland into the Conservation Reserve Program’s (CRP) CP33 Upland Quail Buffers. These field borders have provided valuable nesting habitat and cover on field edges. Mr. Ballard has found up to three different brood coveys in one buffer. Only one year after the installation of field borders three times as many quail were reported calling in these areas during the annual quail call counts.
They have also utilized the USDA’s Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) to create wildlife openings, thin timber stands, chemically treat encroaching hardwoods, plant native warm season grasses, install firebreaks and implement a fire regime. As a result of these management practices native groundcover diversity has increased markedly providing nesting habitat, brood-rearing areas, cover and food for quail. A regular fire regime maintains the habitat in early succession vegetation favored by quail.
Benefits of prescribed burning are many, but managers finding it harder to burn
DNR News
The use of prescribed fire as a land management tool has deep and ancient roots in South Carolina’s heritage. However, conducting prescribed burns is becoming increasingly challenging due to a variety of factors, according to a state wildlife biologist and forester.
Johnny Stowe, S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) representative to the South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council and a certified wildlife biologist and forester, said properly conducted prescribed burns (also called “controlled burns”) have multiple benefits. Stowe is also a landowner who burns his own land. Prescribed fires help restore and maintain vital habitat for wildlife, including bobwhite quail and other grassland birds, wild turkeys, white-tailed deer, gopher tortoises, and red-cockaded woodpeckers. Besides the many wildlife species that require fire-dependent habitat, many plants thrive only in regularly burned forests. The demise of the longleaf pine forest and associated grasslands, which once made South Carolina one of the best quail hunting states, is tightly correlated to the decrease of woods-burning. Also, plants like the insectivorous pitcher plants, sundews, and Venus’ fly trap—as well as many other plant species, some of them rare—require frequent fire.
“Fire-maintained lands also have a special unique beauty,” Stowe said. “The open, park-like vistas of properly burned lands appeal to many of us.”
Stowe can be reached via e-mail at StoweJ@dnr.sc.gov or by calling (803) 419-9374 in Columbia. For more information on prescribed burning assistance, call your local S.C. Forestry Commission office or visit the South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council.
Prescribed fire enhances public safety, according to Stowe, by reducing or even eliminating fuel loads, thereby making wildfire on that area impossible or unlikely for some time afterwards.
And wildfires are usually less destructive on areas that have been prescribed burned. Wildfires often either lose intensity or go out when they reach areas that have been prescribed burned.
Prescribed fire is also, along with hunting and agriculture, an essential part of the heritage and character of the South. Every culture that has ever lived in the South has had an ancient tradition of woods burning. The Indians transformed the Southern landscape for thousands of years with fire, and the Africans and Europeans brought with them from the Old World the time-tested practice of using fire to mold the land to their needs.
Sadly, one of the main threats to prescribed burning is the legacy of Smokey Bear. “Smokey is one of the best-known icons in the United States,” Stowe said, “and while part of Smokey’s message always has been, is, and always will be wise—that no one should carelessly or maliciously use fire under any circumstances—Smokey’s legacy is that several generations of Americans view forest fires as universally destructive.”
Another key threat to the Southern tradition of prescribed burning as a land management tool is South Carolina’s increasingly urban population. Many South Carolinians now come from backgrounds that did not expose them to rural land management activities such as burning, hunting and agricultural operations, according to Stowe. Often these folks do not appreciate the multiple benefits to society that these practices provide, nor the long-standing role that they play in the state’s natural and cultural history. Noted conservationist Aldo Leopold correctly observed that one of the dangers of not living on a farm is that you may get the idea that heat comes from the furnace and food from the supermarket.
Stowe says that one of the many public benefits of the DNR’s Heritage Preserves and Wildlife Management Areas is that they provide folks with a chance to see on-the-ground land management—how it works and why it is vital to protecting the state’s natural landscapes.
Bobwhite Call Count
I am hearing Bobwhites calling in many locations as I’m out and about on the farms all day. Usually it’s just 1 or 2 at each spot but that is hope!! Will you take a few minutes and do a call count on your farm or hunting land? Do this at several spots and email us or comment below telling us your state, county and a brief report of what you heard. Our observations and attention to what’s going on with the small game is important.
Predator Control
I overlooked predator control for years. In years past, farmers provided the small game and quail a safe haven to thrive and grow in by the practices of leaving strips of uncultivated land around the edges and thru prescribed burns. In addition to these practices, If a quail’s nest or other small game was destroyed, then the predator was taken out.
This is one of the main objectives with the establishment of this organization. No one follows those old practices anymore. We’ve got to get back to making the land more wildlife friendly. We should get back to doing it the way our grandfathers did it. We need to build a network of contiguous acres all across the land as much as possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s 50 acres or 5000 acres, we can make every acre count. Whether it is agriculture land or forest land, there are some small simple steps that can be done to greatly protect the habitats of quail, rabbits, squirrels and songbirds. But once again, let me emphasize that while providing the habitat is essential, predator control is an absolute MUST!
UPLAND WILDLIFE COALITION 