How To Plant Birds For Your Pointing Dog
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How To Plant Birds For Your Pointing Dog







[Introduction]

0:31 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dog.

Brought to you by George Hickox Bird Dogs. 

0:45 Hi I'm George Hickox. I'm talking to you from our summer training grounds in North Dakota. Today, we're going to talk about planting a bird for pointing breeds. When I plant a bird for a planting breed, I like to have a piece of orange survey tape down so I know exactly where the bird is.

1:00 What I'm going to do is bring the bird by perpendicular to the scent cone. And in this case, the wind is blowing from me to you, from this way so I'd bring the dog in perpendicular to the scent cone. The reason I do that is I want to know exactly when the dog smelled it. If I bring the dog in straight into the wind, I can't tell exactly when he smelled it.

If I bring him by perpendicular, as soon as he turns his head, I know that that's when he smelled it.

1:28 When I plant a bird, I like to use a locked wing pigeon. I believe pigeons are the best bird to use for pointing drills. They're always going to be where you planted them. In order to do that, I'm going to lock the wings of the bird so it can't fly. I simply take one wing, put it under the other, and lock it over the elbow joint. That way the bird is going to be exactly where I put it.

1:52 I like to sweep a lot of scent around to help the dog smell it further away. I'm going to plant the bird down in cover where the dog can't see it. I don't want the dog to see the bird. So that's my plant bird. Then I'm going to use a bird and I'm going to put it in the launcher. It would not be a lock wing; this is a fly bird. I simply put it in the launcher, and what I'm going to do is walk it out and plant my launcher out here. I never use the bird in the launcher for the dog to smell. In other words, my scent bird is always this lock wing pigeon and I put my launcher outside of that area. When the dog is pointing, I then launch this bird. And if the dog is not stayed to wing and shot, he's going to chase that bird.

2:37 The reason I don't put a bird in the launcher for the dog to smell is every dog would have to be closer to a bird in a launcher. The closer he is to smell it, the more volatile that is. So I like to use a lock wing pigeon and then I will walk out and plant my launcher outside of the scent area. Then when the dog is on point, I walk out in front of him and then I'm going to launch.

And that's also more exciting for the dog. Where's the bird coming from? Oh boy, this is a lot of fun. And that's what we want. We want to create style that the dog is saying, this is fun. So let me get a dog and I'll show you how we do it.

3:17 The dog smelled it. He was perpendicular of the scent. He went on point. This year old pup is not stay to wing and shot yet. I'm just trying to show him that I want him to stand here and look good and look stylish. I'm going to get a foot in front of him. As soon as I walk in front of him, I'm then going to launch a bird and he's going to chase. He's letting me get in front of him already. I launch the bird, (bird launcher)(bird flies) and off he goes.

3:51 You always want to pick up this bird after you've launched so he doesn't come back around and grab this bird. We don't want him to catch it. So he's off chasing. He's having a good time. Down the road we'll make this dog stay to wing and shot. But right now we're just showing him that we want him to point this bird. So we use a lock wing pigeon. Once I unlock the wings, the bird can fly off. And in that case the dog's going to chase it again. And because he's not stay to wing and shot, it's perfectly okay for him to chase the bird, at this time in his development.

4:24 Alright bud! (whistles)

4:27 [Closing]

4:49 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dog.

Brought to you by George Hickox Bird Dogs.

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