Decided to be spontaneous Saturday

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
We took our 3 yr old dachshund beagle mix to the woods with us. He’s a shelter dog that had been abused and adopted n returned by 10 different owners. Yup...TEN. No real expectations just wanted to see what he’d do. Only concern was deer as I’ve seen that little dog run 2 full grown does all over the mountains before lol. Working scent trails he was slow and methodical. Almost like how a cat stalks prey. Lots of deer sign so I kept calling him back and breaking him off the scent. Each time I called him off , he would be at the base of a stump working his nose. Kept thinking “is he smelling a grouse.” Kept convincing myself otherwise. Finally accepted that I won’t know what he wants to do if I don’t let him just go. Sure enough he slowly worked his way into some pretty “birdy “ looking timber. Right in front was a pretty fresh deer scrape. Said screw it and let him work. He went past the deer scrape and stopped and did somewhat of a point. Lol. For him it was a point, but I wouldn’t go showing it off to some guys with pointer dogs or anything haha. Anyways I didn’t see anything and he worked his way another 5 yards...to another stump. Sniffed all the way around it and up on top. He got 10-15 yds in front of me and jogged into some thick stuff. BOOM! Winged dynamite explodes from the ground and disappears before I could get a shot off. It was absolutely a grouse and I praised him. It flew into some trees on the private side of a fence. I let him look around on public side and when he was satisfied the bird was gone we kept going. I instantly second guessed myself for breaking him off more than once earlier in the day. He was wore out so my wife and I swung by our woodcock spot with 5 min LST left. Told her she had first dibs. She shot and missed 2 and I killed one that she spooked on her way out. Dog is definitely a bit gun shy as I expected. Can’t blame him as much as he was beat on when he was a pup. He didn’t run tho. Just stayed close to us with his tail tucked. He did lead me right to the dead bird tho. Tried to reward him and let him grab it but he just kept looking back n forth between my gun and the bird. I had zero expectations (or at least zero optimistic expectations) and I was pleased with him. He’s a lot like me. Been thru a buncha bad stuff and it was never imagined that he’d want to be in the woods and hunt. Least we can do is keep trying like folks did with me. We will get him out Saturday for the woodcock closer and as much as we can in February for the remainder of grouse. Wife and I were joking that covid be damned...taking our little misfit dog in the woods and trying to blast some birds is our idea of a perfect date. Thanks for reading. Here’s the one really bad pic I got of him in the woods and one right before we started
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nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Being a "bit" gunshy is much easier to deal with than being full blown gunshy. Usually if you don't over do it and just shoot when it is interested in game and then reinforce everything is ok after the shot if it acts a little funky it will come out of it.
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
Being a "bit" gunshy is much easier to deal with than being full blown gunshy. Usually if you don't over do it and just shoot when it is interested in game and then reinforce everything is ok after the shot if it acts a little funky it will come out of it.
Thx for suggestion Tim. I woukdve
Liked to get a shot off at that grouse earlier in the day but it all worked out. See what we can’t come up with next weekend. If it don’t work out I guess I’ll resort to driving to Tennessee to hunt with @Bluedogman and his new curr or cur or currrrrr or whatever the hell y’all call em
 

Rubline

Twelve Pointer
We took our 3 yr old dachshund beagle mix to the woods with us. He’s a shelter dog that had been abused and adopted n returned by 10 different owners. Yup...TEN. No real expectations just wanted to see what he’d do. Only concern was deer as I’ve seen that little dog run 2 full grown does all over the mountains before lol. Working scent trails he was slow and methodical. Almost like how a cat stalks prey. Lots of deer sign so I kept calling him back and breaking him off the scent. Each time I called him off , he would be at the base of a stump working his nose. Kept thinking “is he smelling a grouse.” Kept convincing myself otherwise. Finally accepted that I won’t know what he wants to do if I don’t let him just go. Sure enough he slowly worked his way into some pretty “birdy “ looking timber. Right in front was a pretty fresh deer scrape. Said screw it and let him work. He went past the deer scrape and stopped and did somewhat of a point. Lol. For him it was a point, but I wouldn’t go showing it off to some guys with pointer dogs or anything haha. Anyways I didn’t see anything and he worked his way another 5 yards...to another stump. Sniffed all the way around it and up on top. He got 10-15 yds in front of me and jogged into some thick stuff. BOOM! Winged dynamite explodes from the ground and disappears before I could get a shot off. It was absolutely a grouse and I praised him. It flew into some trees on the private side of a fence. I let him look around on public side and when he was satisfied the bird was gone we kept going. I instantly second guessed myself for breaking him off more than once earlier in the day. He was wore out so my wife and I swung by our woodcock spot with 5 min LST left. Told her she had first dibs. She shot and missed 2 and I killed one that she spooked on her way out. Dog is definitely a bit gun shy as I expected. Can’t blame him as much as he was beat on when he was a pup. He didn’t run tho. Just stayed close to us with his tail tucked. He did lead me right to the dead bird tho. Tried to reward him and let him grab it but he just kept looking back n forth between my gun and the bird. I had zero expectations (or at least zero optimistic expectations) and I was pleased with him. He’s a lot like me. Been thru a buncha bad stuff and it was never imagined that he’d want to be in the woods and hunt. Least we can do is keep trying like folks did with me. We will get him out Saturday for the woodcock closer and as much as we can in February for the remainder of grouse. Wife and I were joking that covid be damned...taking our little misfit dog in the woods and trying to blast some birds is our idea of a perfect date. Thanks for reading. Here’s the one really bad pic I got of him in the woods and one right before we started
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Enjoyed reading about your hunt, good luck with your dog!
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
There's been a lot written on breaking a dog in to gunfire. It's easier to prevent a gunshy condition than to correct it afterwards.
 

41magnum

Twelve Pointer
WTG Chris, invest in a cap gun and shoot it a few times 50 yds from him when he is eating.......see how he reacts........hopefully not too negatively......typically, closing that gap every few days/week, until you can stand beside him while he eats and it does not phase him.

If he don't like it, ......I'd have to refer to my copy of Gun Dog, a great book for training hunting dogs.
wish I could help more
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
I'm just glad he's found a forever home, ten prior owners is just terrible.
Yeah there was one family that adopted him after they were told he wasn’t trained or house broken and brought him back the next day because he peed on the floor 😑 oh well if it weren’t for folks that gave up easily I wouldn’t have him!
WTG Chris, invest in a cap gun and shoot it a few times 50 yds from him when he is eating.......see how he reacts........hopefully not too negatively......typically, closing that gap every few days/week, until you can stand beside him while he eats and it does not phase him.

If he don't like it, ......I'd have to refer to my copy of Gun Dog, a great book for training hunting dogs.
wish I could help more
I had read something similar. Thanks for the suggestion!
 

Bluedogman

Six Pointer
We took our 3 yr old dachshund beagle mix to the woods with us. He’s a shelter dog that had been abused and adopted n returned by 10 different owners. Yup...TEN. No real expectations just wanted to see what he’d do. Only concern was deer as I’ve seen that little dog run 2 full grown does all over the mountains before lol. Working scent trails he was slow and methodical. Almost like how a cat stalks prey. Lots of deer sign so I kept calling him back and breaking him off the scent. Each time I called him off , he would be at the base of a stump working his nose. Kept thinking “is he smelling a grouse.” Kept convincing myself otherwise. Finally accepted that I won’t know what he wants to do if I don’t let him just go. Sure enough he slowly worked his way into some pretty “birdy “ looking timber. Right in front was a pretty fresh deer scrape. Said screw it and let him work. He went past the deer scrape and stopped and did somewhat of a point. Lol. For him it was a point, but I wouldn’t go showing it off to some guys with pointer dogs or anything haha. Anyways I didn’t see anything and he worked his way another 5 yards...to another stump. Sniffed all the way around it and up on top. He got 10-15 yds in front of me and jogged into some thick stuff. BOOM! Winged dynamite explodes from the ground and disappears before I could get a shot off. It was absolutely a grouse and I praised him. It flew into some trees on the private side of a fence. I let him look around on public side and when he was satisfied the bird was gone we kept going. I instantly second guessed myself for breaking him off more than once earlier in the day. He was wore out so my wife and I swung by our woodcock spot with 5 min LST left. Told her she had first dibs. She shot and missed 2 and I killed one that she spooked on her way out. Dog is definitely a bit gun shy as I expected. Can’t blame him as much as he was beat on when he was a pup. He didn’t run tho. Just stayed close to us with his tail tucked. He did lead me right to the dead bird tho. Tried to reward him and let him grab it but he just kept looking back n forth between my gun and the bird. I had zero expectations (or at least zero optimistic expectations) and I was pleased with him. He’s a lot like me. Been thru a buncha bad stuff and it was never imagined that he’d want to be in the woods and hunt. Least we can do is keep trying like folks did with me. We will get him out Saturday for the woodcock closer and as much as we can in February for the remainder of grouse. Wife and I were joking that covid be damned...taking our little misfit dog in the woods and trying to blast some birds is our idea of a perfect date. Thanks for reading. Here’s the one really bad pic I got of him in the woods and one right before we started
View attachment 59673View attachment 59674
Man I didn’t know he was adopted that many times... kinda puts me in mind of ol Rocky “unadoptable “ Glad to see him in a good home and even better in the woods working.
 

timber

Twelve Pointer
when had the dogs that I bobcat and fox hunted with they were all for most part gun shy. That’s way I wanted them in case they got on busy road and needed load them fast. Just shoot 22 pistol with rat shot in the air and they about knock the back gate out of dog box getting in. Our goal was to catch the bobcat on the ground but occasionally they would go up a tree and shot them out with pistol. Very few would leave the tree even tho they were gun shy. They learned the difference
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
when had the dogs that I bobcat and fox hunted with they were all for most part gun shy. That’s way I wanted them in case they got on busy road and needed load them fast. Just shoot 22 pistol with rat shot in the air and they about knock the back gate out of dog box getting in. Our goal was to catch the bobcat on the ground but occasionally they would go up a tree and shot them out with pistol. Very few would leave the tree even tho they were gun shy. They learned the difference
Thx for sharing tips . You shared a few cat and fox stories with me in another thread. Much appreciated
 

timber

Twelve Pointer
Thats awesome!! I hope there is a special place in hell for people who abuse dogs.



Not sure if you were referring to my post or not but there was no abusing dogs involved. When you got 50 or 60 dogs hit the middle of a busy highway you do what you can to get them in the truck. The dogs want shot but they knew when they heard that sound they knew to get in the truck.
 

haywoodhunter

Eight Pointer
I'm just glad he's found a forever home, ten prior owners is just terrible.
X2. My sis in law has one that was adopted and took back a similar number of times. Basically spent the first 1.5 yrs of her life in a shelter, never being kept for more than a week or two until my sil got her. She’s a precious dog too. Sweet as can be and just wants to get a head rub. Dumb as a box of rocks... I chalk that up to no good happening during her formative times. But a good dog for her nonetheless.
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
Not sure if you were referring to my post or not but there was no abusing dogs involved. When you got 50 or 60 dogs hit the middle of a busy highway you do what you can to get them in the truck. The dogs want shot but they knew when they heard that sound they knew to get in the truck.

read 2nd sentence of original posters post ...........dog was abused !!
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
X2. My sis in law has one that was adopted and took back a similar number of times. Basically spent the first 1.5 yrs of her life in a shelter, never being kept for more than a week or two until my sil got her. She’s a precious dog too. Sweet as can be and just wants to get a head rub. Dumb as a box of rocks... I chalk that up to no good happening during her formative times. But a good dog for her nonetheless.
Yeah I hear that. Our 11 year old Zeus was given a permanent residence at the shelter. He was there for 4 years. When he was 8 the director said it was time to put him down. My wife asked why and they said there’s just no reason to have him there anymore taking up kennel space. Oddly enough, he never had a kennel. He slept in a dog bed in the office. I’m sure some shelters are good and make good decisions more often than not. Believe me when I say it would take all day to write out all the ass backwards stuff we’ve seen at ours. Most of which results in dead dogs
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
Not sure if you were referring to my post or not but there was no abusing dogs involved. When you got 50 or 60 dogs hit the middle of a busy highway you do what you can to get them in the truck. The dogs want shot but they knew when they heard that sound they knew to get in the truck.
I think he was referring to my dog being abused. You can see how small he is now at over 3 years old. Hard to believe someone beat on the little guy as a pup. And I understand your sentiment about hounds on the road. Had similar situations bear hunting. I agree...Totally different than beating on a 20 lb dog with a broom handle cuz he pissed on the designer door mat
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
Took Jackson to the woods again yesterday. Decided to leave the guns at home and just focus on encouraging his prey drive and building his confidence. We covered about 4 miles and he did great. The first time I took him out he was getting out pretty far. A Minus the one he flushed at 10 yds last week, there were a few times he was so far out in front that it would’ve been hard to hear/see if he flushed one. Planned to work on this with him yesterday, but he decided to fix it on its own. There were times where he’d turn up the heat and start covering ground quicker than I could catch up. But I’d holler at him and he would stay where he was until I got closer and told him “go ‘head.” We jumped up a whitetail but it was a good learning experience for me as far as “early warning” indicators go. His whole scent trailing and tracking style changed as he got on that deer track . Basically the exact opposite of the slow, low to the ground, methodical way he worked the bird last week. He ran that deer maybe 60-100 yds. Hard to tell being in some thick vegetation going up a steep slope. Once I saw what was going on and really hollered, he came back. More than once he went into “bird mode”, and ended up on a log, stump, or pile of leaves with some bird crap on it. I will keep working with him. Can’t encourage his prey drive or break him off deer by sitting on the couch and using wishful thinking. Thx for the suggestions
 

Bailey Boat

Twelve Pointer
Talking about running deer, I always worried that Bailey (my previous choc lab) would get on a deer and disappear over the horizon. Had her down in the sandhills one day and cast her into one of the bomb craters to look for birds. Just as she got to the bottom she jumped a HUGE doe and it scared the hell out of her so bad she squatted and peed and crapped at the same time!! Ever since then if she smelled a deer she would come back to right beside me like she wanted protection. Perfect solution!!
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
Talking about running deer, I always worried that Bailey (my previous choc lab) would get on a deer and disappear over the horizon. Had her down in the sandhills one day and cast her into one of the bomb craters to look for birds. Just as she got to the bottom she jumped a HUGE doe and it scared the hell out of her so bad she squatted and peed and crapped at the same time!! Ever since then if she smelled a deer she would come back to right beside me like she wanted protection. Perfect solution!!
Man that’s awesome ! Sounds like it worked out good.When we first got Jackson I had taken him on a hike in the woods. There were 2 does about 100 yds away side hilling along a ridge, quartering away from us. The wind changed and he put his nose up and looked around n saw em. That little dog wagged his tail and went into a full sprint. Him and the deer disappeared into the rhodos. I started walking in the direction they went. 5 min went by and I heard leaves crunching and I looked up on the ridge line and he was galloping along with them 2 does in front of him. He didn’t come back till he was done lol. So although I need to get him to the point of not working a deer track at all, it was nice that he broke himself off it this time and circled back to me. When he came back he had his tail tucked and a guilty look on his face. Next time I won’t give him the opportunity to even work it like that
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
Went to Pisgah yesterday. Roads were closed where we wanted to go. Went to a different area nearby. Not ideal for bird habitat. Turned into more of a scouting adventure. Deer were in the area and the dog didn’t run em this time (no correction from me either). We did 4.5 miles. Dog was tuckered out . He had is nose to the ground the whole time, except for when he’d stop to look at me as if to say “I know what ya want me to find but it ain’t here.” Found a great spot for deer season. Seems like the access road for the spot I was wanting to go will be closed for the rest of grouse season. Prob take him back to game land next time. It wasn’t a waste of a trip tho. Just focused on command stuff, seeing how far he’d go out in front of us if we didn’t stop him, etc. It was a great day. Funny enough he had that dang pink collar on him cuz that’s what the wife picked out for our female dog. I was anxious to get in the woods and didn’t care enough to swap colors. I’ll also be getting him a TT15 mini.

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Bluedogman

Six Pointer
Went to Pisgah yesterday. Roads were closed where we wanted to go. Went to a different area nearby. Not ideal for bird habitat. Turned into more of a scouting adventure. Deer were in the area and the dog didn’t run em this time (no correction from me either). We did 4.5 miles. Dog was tuckered out . He had is nose to the ground the whole time, except for when he’d stop to look at me as if to say “I know what ya want me to find but it ain’t here.” Found a great spot for deer season. Seems like the access road for the spot I was wanting to go will be closed for the rest of grouse season. Prob take him back to game land next time. It wasn’t a waste of a trip tho. Just focused on command stuff, seeing how far he’d go out in front of us if we didn’t stop him, etc. It was a great day. Funny enough he had that dang pink collar on him cuz that’s what the wife picked out for our female dog. I was anxious to get in the woods and didn’t care enough to swap colors. I’ll also be getting him a TT15 mini.

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Looks like a good day in the woods brother! I’ve used pink collars and leads many of times one thing Is for sure no body will steal them I’m hunted with guys in the past that every time we hunted I had an orange collar or lead go missing of course they denied it but when I got pink leads they magically stopped going missing haha
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
Looks like a good day in the woods brother! I’ve used pink collars and leads many of times one thing Is for sure no body will steal them I’m hunted with guys in the past that every time we hunted I had an orange collar or lead go missing of course they denied it but when I got pink leads they magically stopped going missing haha
Haha I remember you telling me that. And the dogs sure don’t know the difference. I’ll need it for Lady anyway for that glorious spring squirrel season y’all got
 

SnowMaker

Eight Pointer
Good on you man. I'll never understand some people. When I bring an animal home from the shelter it's a commitment I've made. There is a true lack of fortitude is to many people. Glad y'all found the dog. 👍
 

SnowMaker

Eight Pointer
Thanks for posting it up. Look forward to hearing more. I may run into your beard out in the pisgah. Will definitely give a shout if I do bud
 
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