shed hunting with dogs?

Smarta Way · 01-27-2009, 05:55 PM

i bought a copy of Oregon Hunter. theres an article on shed hunting that included the use of dogs. does any body here do such a thing?

WiskeyJaR · 01-27-2009, 06:04 PM

I have taken me dog along when out looking for sheds, she seems to find more then I do.

Snug 2 · 01-27-2009, 06:10 PM

I bought a "book" on training your dog to find sheds. Basically, it was find a fresh shed and let the dog play with it. Every time it brings it back you reward it. Then you start to hide the shed and each time the dog retreives it, you give them a treat. Sounds reasonable.

huntsforfood · 01-27-2009, 06:34 PM

havnt trained my dogs to do this but they seem to find lots of bones out back haha sure they would find sheds

Beaglehunter · 01-27-2009, 06:49 PM

My beagle was raised with sheds as chew toys so he loves to find them in the woods. He can smell the blood on fresh ones

Roguerunner · 01-27-2009, 06:56 PM

You have to be sure to teach them to bring the shed to you when they find them or else they will just chew it for a bit then leave it. I have witnessed my friends dogs doing just that several times while shed hunting

TonTo · 01-27-2009, 06:57 PM

Apperantly we have a shed hunting retriever some where in my nieghborhood.Cleaned me out of the sheds in the flower beds.

duckboy · 01-27-2009, 07:41 PM

Here's a leg that a deer shed,
does that count?

Stu · 01-27-2009, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duckboy

Here's a leg that a deer shed,
does that count?

Is that a flat coat?

duckboy · 01-27-2009, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu

Is that a flat coat?

We are not certain what Alex is, He's got some kind of retriever in him, and I think some Border Collie..
He's a hard worker with a lot of stamina (like a cow dog) and is a good hunter.

Tilla · 01-27-2009, 10:17 PM

Sure looks contented. A good dog is a great dog.
One friend lost some arrows in a field once, we got my dogs a few hours later and waved the vanes in front of them and sent them out in knee high cover. Watched their tails, when they indicated, they found every one. I figure the plastic vanes = training bumpers. Antlers might not be so different.

Hunt'nFish · 01-28-2009, 07:34 AM

I saw a bit on the Outdoor Channel on training labs for shed hunting.
Seemed about as straight forward as training them to find & flush upland birds.
They'd just cast them this way & that until all the ground was covered.
They also hunted the same dogs for birds, but sometimes they'd come back w/ bone instead.
Nice bonus.
Hunt'nFish

rimrock · 01-28-2009, 07:41 AM

I have never personally done it, but seems like that would be something some breeds could be quite good at.

shedfreak · 01-28-2009, 08:47 AM

you hit it on the nose train useing bumpers and teach them to force fetch! Im currently training my 1 year chocolate lab and she is doing a pretty darn good

Fur n Feathers · 01-28-2009, 11:31 AM

Here is my shed hunting dog. Surprised me with this one, wasn't coming when I called him, little did I know he was trying to bring this thing back to me. I was about to get mad then here he comes out of the brush "hey dad look what I found over here" he was very excited and so was I. It was awesome. Then sometimes he will walk right between a set of antlers and not even stop?

hilclimber · 01-28-2009, 11:50 AM

I have worked with my Lab quite a bit. She does pretty good. I hide them in a field, then work her till she finds them. But you get her in the woods, its off to the races and all is forgotten! HOwever, she did point one (the only good one) BT shed i found last spring.

WiskeyJaR · 01-30-2009, 11:28 AM

was out for a final quail hunt today,dog started to dig under a lump of earth and grass. Was half buried under grass, had maybe 2-3 vertabrae laying next to it, no other bones.

a little more the just a shed, but still was/is a nice rack....
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...Picture508.jpg

Enjoy,
WiskeyJaR

cheyenne10 · 01-30-2009, 03:55 PM

I wonder if is difficult to keep them from pursuing antlers not yet dropped?

B.J. Lilly Hunter · 01-30-2009, 04:40 PM

My 4 1/2 mo old gwp Kaiser

has found a few for me including the smaller brown one in my hand. He will also run right by them though sometimes as well.

I have been working with him by hiding them around the house and yard and rewarding him when he brings them to me. Out in the woods he brings me back lots of different bones and legs, which I just ignore and tell him to find the horns. I also have been lucky in that he doesn't want to chase the deer at all, he basically ignores them.

osulogger · 01-30-2009, 07:47 PM

BJ,

Is that a Wirehair??? I have a GSP mix and he will point sheds, but he won't pick them up....unfortunately he is more interested in them attached to the head and running then he is finding them.

Best of luck this season...he's a good lookin' dog.

From the land of Big Sticks,

Osulogger