# Need Advice For First Hunt



## MikoMN (Nov 29, 2016)

Hey everyone,

I will start by clarifying that technically Miko has been through 18 days of "beginning" training with a professional hunt trainer out here. There they gun broke him and let him chase down injured chukar. They placed chukar (open site) and shot over him, letting him retrieve the birds. (this was all done at about 6 months)


I have since, one time, taken him out and shot, then thrown frozen pigeons, letting him retrieve. I was just hoping to make sure he didn't regress with the gun noise. He didn't even bat an eyelash with it.

He will be 8 months this week, and next week we are going to a hunt club where he will get a chance to actually "hunt" I will be placing 4 chukar, and shooting over him anything that he jumps.

Here are my worries/concerns/questions

1. He likes to run. We have been working on recall quite a bit, and he is pretty good at in the yard (the yard is 3.5 acres) I am worried that he will run the field to far in front of me. Is this possible, and really is this a problem for the stage he is at? The way I look at it is, if he jumps the bird too early, not the end of the world right now.

2. Is there something I need to be doing with teaching him to "quarter" I have seen instructional videos on using a check rope to help guide them back and forth down wind from the birds. Should I be keeping him on leash this first time, or should I just let him go?

I am not new to hunting, but I am new to owning a dog. In fact I have only hunted over a dog a couple times in my life. Any advise, suggestions would be very appreciated.

Also, next month (at 9.5 months) he will be going back to the trainer for a month for the next step in training. They will also introduce him to the e-collar at that time. I have one, but because I am so inexperienced as a dog owner, I have chosen not to try and use it on him, until they introduce it correctly. (and then teach me how to use it correctly) I am trying my best not to make irreparable mistakes. The trainer said he likes to wait for this second step until about 10 months on Vizslas because he feels they are a little slower to mature and be ready for it.

I have joined the local hunt club so that I can be sure to get him on birds a least a few times a year from this point on. 

*Thanks again for any help*. I am soooooooooo excited to get out there and let him have some fun on birds. (and if all works out, get to have a little fun myself.)


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

First hunts are about the dog. Don't ask them to do anything they haven't already learned, and don't be tough on them if they forget part of what they have learned. Let him run and enjoy it. 
If he points, and lets you go in and flush, by all means shoot the bird.
I'm not sure where he is on gunfire, and you want to keep that in mind. One shooter is best, so no inviting your friends just yet. Has all gunfire been in front of him, or has he ever been with the shooter behind him, and gunfire in his direction. Keep it the same , and don't be tempted to unload the gun on a bird.
If he bumps a bird and chases, don't shoot, and don't correct him for it. He's not at that level of training. Let him chase till he gets a ways out. When you see him start to give up the chase, call him to you. Praise him for coming, and release to hunt again. The praise is for recall, and I always offer the dog water at that point as well. If he does something wrong, its better to say nothing, than to correct at this point of his training.

Don't know if there is multiple fields with other hunters. If there is, and he knows gunfire means birds, he may decide to head over to where someone else is shooting. I like to have a big area to myself with young ones , so I'm not competing with them hearing gunfire from a shorter distance.
If he is use to running with a checkcord, and the vegetation is not to thick use one. If he is not, or its lots of think cover I would not use one.

I always forget, and leave something out when I make these posts.
Hopefully someone else will add to it.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

If the cover is suitable and you keep him on check cord than you certainly can help guide him into a quartering pattern, but I wouldn't focus on it above other factors. However (based on my gross inexperience) they quarter naturally. You can encourage this with your bird placement and by working with the wind. 

I would keep at least one dead chukar on you to toss for him in case you miss a shot.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

quartering is a skill best left to the dogs I reckon, if we have a backwind I'm more than happy to let them range further out and then work it back to me quartering as they come in closer, a head wind they tend to work closer and not range as far ahead and quarter all the way. I've never used a check cord, but we tend to hunt on open moor/fell land where covering ground without inhibition is a good attribute.


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## MikoMN (Nov 29, 2016)

Thanks everyone! Great advice. 

One more question. I am planning on putting the e-collar on him when we go out. Won't even take the remote, just thinking it would be good to start getting him to associate it with a great time. Any thoughts on this?

He has been on a line basically since day one. Starting with a 4 foot, and gradually getting bigger as he got stronger and didn't notice pulling it. Because we don't have fences in our neighborhood, and we have a fairly large yard, (as stated 3.5 acres) we keep him on a 100 foot 3/8" rope and he barely notices it there. However, it is all on yard grass, and it would get tangled in the weeds in about five seconds. I will probably start with a check cord and see if I need to ditch it. 

I am excited to see him quarter.....or not quarter. If it comes natural great! If not, i guess that is a bridge we will have to cross when we get to that point, but I don't think this trip will be that time.

Great idea about the dead chukar. I do tend miss every now and then 

Good point about shooting over him vs. from the side or in front. He has been shot over in the past, but not a lot. I guess we have to start somewhere though. I will be the only gun there for that very reason.

I have been working on recall with a whistle for a few months now, and he is.....pretty good when not too distracted. I assume his first hunt will fall in the "too distracted" category though.


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## MikoMN (Nov 29, 2016)

Just wanted to update everyone who helped. 

Miko did great! The hunt trainer we are using for him came out with us. (Didn't charge, just wanted to see Miko work) He helped with the placement of birds and guiding Miko downwind a little. But really, we just let him do his thing. He had a blast. 

We ran him with 100' check chord that he didn't even notice. I put his e-collar on him, but did not take the remote. 

We shot whatever direction the bird flew, regardless of Mikos position. He didn't care if it was over, to the side, or in front of him. We did see him point at all 4 birds. With each bird, the amount of time he pointed got a little longer. We didn't try to get him to hold or wait. We let him flush when he wanted.

He retrieved great, but at times didn't want to give up the bird when he got back. There was one injured bird that went a good 100 yards before going down, Miko chased it, found it, and retrieved it.

He did jump into a little pond and broke through the ice about 5 feet from the edge. I moved in close so I could grab the check chord if needed, but just let him work his way back out of the hole and keep going. Tail never stopped wagging.

All in all, the only negative is his shooter missed a bird. :-[ I might take him out to shoot a few more in the next month. Otherwise April first (at 9.5 months) he will go back and they will introduce the e-collar to him, and teach him to respond to whistle. They will keep him for a month at that time.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

That is a first hunt to be proud of.
Also sounds like you have a excellent trainer.


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## MikoMN (Nov 29, 2016)

Thanks TexasRed,
Your advice really hit the nail on the head. We stayed quite a ways away from any other hunters, and I think if we hadn't he might have taken off. He spent a fair amount of time too far for a shot even if he had found one. But between you and the trainer, I was able to let him just have his hunt and enjoy it without expecting too much. (you both gave about the same advice)

All in all I was like a school boy with a new bike, just excited to see what it can do.


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