# Blues



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Anyone run their dogs on blue quail?
I have the opportunity to take mine on a hunt in two weeks.
These birds love to run instead of fly. I normally won't pass up a chance to run mine on wild birds but it may undo some of my training.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

TexasRed,

Running birds have caused me more heartburn in field trials and hunt tests than almost anything. Pen raised birds don't fly well anyway and walk away lesurely. 

Let me know how it goes, but with where Bailey is in training, it would be two steps back.

RBD


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I finally found a place last year with better flight conditioned birds. They only feed and water at night so the birds have very limited human contact. They have been better fliers and don't just walk out and look at you. Its not like having coveys of wild but better than the other birds I was getting.

Blues are notorious for being big runners and will probably run 50 yards out while my dog is still standing on point wondering what happened. If I take him it should make for an interesting NSTRA trial in March.


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

We (Pumpkin, hubby, & me) are way behind y'all in knowledge and training, but one thing I understand well is the importance of quality birds. We usually have P on bobwhites and have been lucky to have good fliers. Maurice Lindley told me to never put Pumpkin on poor fliers & be very picky about birds. I know P would give chase, and I would not be sure the best way to respond. Once the chase was on, I bet P wouldnt recall either :-\ Anyway, that's interesting about blues. I did not know they are runners.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

Kellygh,

If you ever train for field trials or hunt test you'll HAVE to train on runners. 50% of the time the birds they buy for these events are terrible fliers. Yesterday, on Bailey's second point. I flushed the bird with my foot by putting my toes under the bird and flicking it toward the air. It "flew", without flapping its wings, 3 feet and then walked away. Bailey had been on point three minutes while the gunners got in position. One of the gunners gave chase to try and get the bird to fly. When it did, Bailey had had enough and took off after the bird. We had spent 25 minutes in the field of a 30 minute Senior Hunt test and that caused us to fail. He had worked his first bird very well and ran the field perfectly.

Don't let Pumpkin chase and catch. Once they know they can do it, it is TOUGH to break later.

Good luck with your training. Maurice sounds like a wonderful trainer.

RBD


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Front end chatter was the first issue, solved with additional compression. But then we had squat issues. Changed the spring and then had cold tear follow. So we dropped the head angle, raised the low speed ramp up and settled it all with some high speed rebound.


I reckon my answer will make as much sense to you as your question did to me.    :-[


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Kellygh
One day I was going to work a young pup on pigeons. My daughter didn't realize what I was doing in the backyard. She opened the door and released all the dogs including the pup. The young pup grabbed the pigeon. Started crunching on it and running around the yard guarding it from the other dogs. Nothing I would have did at that point would have been right. Yelling at her or chasing her down to take it away would have been wrong. I would be telling her birds are Bad. Praising her in hopes of getting her closer would have been equally wrong. I would have sent the message its good to eat birds. I did the only thing I could, I said nothing. I walked back in the house and she had bird for lunch.
RBD
That sounds like a tough break on the hunt test.

Ozkar this link is for you. The Nationals at Ames is running this week. Tell me what you think of it. You can also look at past years winners and braces.
http://www.amesplantation.org/field-trial/2012 national/synopsis.asp


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

RBD-That does sound like a tough break at the hunt test  Bailey sounds like he is well on his way though. He was patient to wait as long as he did and run well otherwise. I did listen to Maurice tell another guy (w/a Brittany pup)the same thing he told me about being picky with the birds. No bad fliers; however, he elaborated with this guy saying dogs will face the duds, but you try and prevent it to avoid introducing bad habits to novices (novice would be a nice way to describe us ). Maurice has encouraged us to allow Pumpkin to chase, because he wants her very excited about the birds. No catching though! She will hold point for while. She recently started breaking in when she thought someone else was going to move in, so we check cord her until the bird is flushed. A bird launcher is on my wish list.

TexasRed: Pumpkin has had 2 birds : Both were accidents. One got loose in the garage and Pumpkin caught it. My husband got it from her, and killed it, because it was hurt. We did not allow Pumpkin to do the killing, BUT after it was dead, P had no interest ??? Not sure if that is a bad sign for retrieving. The other bird was a mongrel or something. Part of the last batch available when P was a young pup. I think the older the bird (later in season), the worse they fly. Anyway, Robert broke it's neck also, because it was not flying/on its side almost paralyzed (not dizzied). Anyway, Pumpkin carried that bird all over the place. Prancing around. Then she plucked all the feathers out. It was strange looking. Clean as a piece of chicken from the grocery store-lol. In both cases though, she did not maul the bird. I'm sure your pup had a memorable lunch


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