Training to find & pick woodcock

[4Pawsmagraw]

Guys, I apologise if this has been on here before, please point me to it if it has..

I was out rough shooting yesterday and put up a woodcock, usually I'm not quick enough to hit the little blighters but yesterday I did, I marked it and sent my ESS to where I thought it had come to rest. She hunted the area but I'm unsure if she was oblivious to it or she just couldn't scent it.

We did eventually find it so I've taken the wings and put them in a sealed bag with a small dummy, is this the right thing to do or should i just accept that she can't scent woodcock?

Any helpful advice is greatly received...

[Naj]

Might help but I'd have tried giving her the woodcock as a thrown retrieve or trying it as a cold game retrieve a few times. If she hasn't come across them before she might just have found the scent unfamiliar & not acknowledged it, although most spaniels I've had were keen to work woodcock scent the first time they came across it.

Naj

[Judy]

A lot of dogs won't or can't pick them, one of mine was great at finding them but if she picked them she gagged and dropped them, Snipe had the same effect with her and she would ignore them.

The three Cockers go up a gear if they scent woodcock and love to retrieve them, I guess its in their genes. I would attach the wings to the dummy and encourage her to retrieve it, may help.

[4Pawsmagraw]

Thanks Naj & Judy! Yeah should have done the cold retrieve, didn't think of that at the time, have attached the wings to the dummy in a sealed bag so hopefully it won't loose the scent... Hopefully i may get another chance this coming weekend.

[Stihl 090]

Thanks Naj & Judy! Yeah should have done the cold retrieve, didn't think of that at the time, have attached the wings to the dummy in a sealed bag so hopefully it won't loose the scent... Hopefully i may get another chance this coming weekend.

How did you cut the wings off?

[pontbeck]

I'm guessing, a chainesaw?

[Stihl 090]

I'm guessing, a chainesaw?

Umm messy!
My point being that he has already touched the bird, it has his scent on it. Is a dog to look around smelling for his scent only?

A pro friend has a friend who has cocked his dog right up because of this. The dog will only retrieve what has his scent on it. It will blink all other game shot, thrown or otherwise as the dog is so conditioned to his smell as being the one to pick as "dad" has touched it.

[4Pawsmagraw]

Fair points, hasn't thought of it having my scent on it now... Bugger!

Back to sq 1...!!!!!

[Naj]

That's quite an unusual reaction from the dog. I've never had a dog that didn't transfer from stuff I'd handled/thrown for it to picking shot game.

Naj

ps. instead of bundling the wings up in a bag with the dummy - hope they're not putrefying! - I'd have sooner bound them & used them as a retrieve.

[Rookie]

I was at a shoot last year with my then young dog in her first shooting season. We were looking for 2 hen pheasants and a woodcock in dense partly laid bracken. I wasn't expecting the dog to find either pheasant and had dismissed the woodcock altogether, planning to enlist help for that one. Well, there was nobody any more surprised than me when the dog popped out the bracken onto the path with a very much still alive woodcock, head up, in her chops.

You shoulda seen the grin on my face!

It took me a while to realise that that dog had regularly been given retrieves of a puppy dummy with woodcock wings attached. That dummy has been handled and used at least as often as any other dummy I own. I might even replace the wings for the next new recruit.