Looking for good training ground

[jim239]

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on finding some decent training ground to take my dog too. I have access to some farm land where they run a small shoot but I don't want to take the dog through the cover where they keep birds and the rest of the farm is very open and barren.
The country park is getting to be an issue now too as there is so many people over there and I have had my training interrupted by other dogs on many occasions.
I am having issues with my dog absconding too which doesn't help being at a busy country park where there is too many distractions which I have no control over.
I was thinking of maybe renting somewhere local and contained and offering it up to other local people who want to train their dogs.
Not sure if any others do this or it's not really a good option, any suggestions would be appreciated

James

[AJS]

I am looking to buy just that.
A field of approx 1.5 - 2.0 acres that I could stock fence and install a retrieving lane.
At present they all seem to be commanding a lot of money as fields that size are snapped up by the horse folks.

[Longy0710]

I think there are many of us in that position, I would love to but/rent some rough land but I have no idea of where to start!!

[jim239]

I have had a little look near me and the land is very expensive. I don't think it would be financially viable for the amount of people who would want to use it. Unless there was another interested party who would use it for something other than training Gundogs.

[Rascal]

Have a drive around your local area and look for likely places, then find out who owns it and ask the question, the worst that can happen is they say no. But a bottle of wine and a smile often works. Take your dog too it's helped me more than once to demonstrate the level of control especially if they have livestock mind you I never go anywhere near coos....

I have several farms locally that I have permission on, I take them a hamper at Christmas and tomorrow they are going to get a brace of trout each all gutted and frozen. I also pick up and beat for them on the little rough shoot they have for free.

I keep my eyes peeled as I'm driving about and a couple of times have managed to get photographs of fly tippers much to the landowners delight and word spreads..

This time of year I'm wary of where I take them as I found this afternoon there is a brood of ducklings on one of the places I go..

Once upon time I did look at buying a field but I'm not sure I'd want to train in the same field every day and we couldn't afford it either....

The other useful places to look are industrial estates, Wullie taught me that one and there are often rough pieces of land in between buildings that can be utilised...

If you have a local Gundog club talk to them too...

Rascal

[jim239]

I will have a look into the industrial areas, it's certainly something I have never thought about before. I would prefer to have a selection of different areas to stop him getting too familiar with the ground and being bored if that would be an issue.
I know from getting land to hunt and shoot on it can be difficult but once one door opens it does become easier.

[nigelb]

I'm looking for around an acre of rough ground for training and exercise, but it's like looking for rocking horse poo. Pastureland around here is around £15000 per acre. Rough ground is considerably cheaper, but there's just no small plots for sale.

We have the same problem with local parks as James, disrupted training, too many distractions, the small dog brigade, and joggers.

[Mike A]

It is often about finding the right landowner and approaching them in the right manner . Many landowners are keen sportsmen but often wary of people they don't know . It's mostly about getting that first contact . Talk to the guns on your local shoot ,they may own some land or know of somebody they will introduce you too . This was the approach I took when living in Kent and it worked for me . Good luck

[trekmoor]

I do almost all of my training in local parks and in the rough grass and weedy areas in between factory and office buildings.
In some ways this is a good thing. The parks can be used to get pups used to working where distractions are present and around here the poachers have wiped out the game in the countryside areas but cannot usually poach between office and factory buildings so it is there that I find the rabbits living.
I also hunt my cockers and HPR'S over this areas old shale bings left over from the mining era. Those areas produce rabbits , occasional hares, woodcock, snipe and pheasants ....but almost no partridges ? It is amazing just how much land local councils buy up when planning for future developments and those bits of land become my hunting and training grounds until they are eventually ....often several years later, built on. These areas are also very good places to train retrieving on.

Here are a few pics of my regular hunting and retrieve training grounds.












There usually is ground suitable for training somewhere around or even inside major towns . It can actually be more difficult to find a good variety of training ground if you live out in the country.

Wullie

[Rookie]

Have you tried using the public areas at unusual times? Early morning and late evening, or even at normal peoples dinner time. How about getting off the track and going to the less accessible parts of the public areas. I will often take a dog to work with me at the weekend and go to the local woods or river at lunchtime with it. It's quite easy to avoid people even at that time of day if I want some peace and quiet. If I want to use the other dogs as a distraction, I go to the busy areas to try and teach some heelwork. (Not that anyone would know from looking at the dogs!)

Other people tend to stick to the same routine almost every day so you get to know the dogs you meet and soon learn which dogs need to be avoided.

I don't think I would like to be confined to just one or two acres of ground. It just ain't enough and I would probably get bored before the dog did.

Annoyingly, I keep seeing some great areas when I'm driving then more often than not I realise that they are just too close to the road.