ECS = English Cocker Spaniel?
With pheasants there could be lots of scent from several birds and the rooster may have run, who knows.
Each time you shoot a bird, try throwing the fresh shot bird into cover while pup is out quartering and does not see.
Then bring pup in and have him "hunt dead"...
I winter in Montana and hunt Montana and North Dakota until the bitter end.
I wear polar fleece gloves with a chemical hand warmer inside on each palm.
That works for me and I hunt with a flushing lab.
I am also going bird hunting (roosters) and hoping that the casual pheasant hunters now switch to MT big game.
I usually only hunt weekdays since I'm retired but missed one weekday this week so headed out this morning.
9-month old pup from early Sept.
After shooting my limit of forest grouse,instead of quartering in front,
she was popping wheelies behind me since there were birds in the backpack. Now at 10-months, pretty experienced chasing rooster pheasants and quartering out front.
My goal is to hunt upland birds every weekday until the season ends in January.
My long term goal is to be able to climb the hills and chase birds into my 80s.
I'm 66 now, so far no aches and pains.
I hunt with a backpack.
Not the one in my avatar, but a Granite Gear Crown2
60 liter capacity and weighs 2.2 lbs.
I use it from hot Sept hunts through cold December hunts.
Pup also caught 2 birds...very strange since each flew about 200 yards first.
First was a hun that flushed and flew low in front of her so I could not shoot safely.
I think it was a late hatch bird as the area I hunt does not get much hunting pressure.
Hun flew low a couple hundred yards and...
Shot a double here in MT with 9-month old pup. She retrieved the first mallard,
so I figure I would send her on the second she did not see fall for her first water blind.
Square entry, easy open water swim, what could go wrong?
Fortunately pup learned the value of persistence and after about...
Living on a ridge at 1,000 feet elevation, we always appreciated being above the famous Fairbanks ice fog.
I always hated morning fog hunting...cold and unable to stay upwind since no wind.
Ducks not flying and if they are, I can't see them flying.
The only time I got lost was duck hunting in...
Shot my limit of grouse in alpine mountain ash berries yesterday morning here in Montana
9-month old pup hunted nicely and flushed each grouse.
I was surprised the see no bear scat in the berry patches.
Nice cool morning for humping the hills to alpine country.
Saw no other hunters which was...
Nice finds. Must have been quite the pack getting them down the mountain.
In Alaska it is common to put the house address on a shed antler and screw it to a tree at the driveway entrance.
You can use paint or a router to put the house address on the antler.
We had a warm sunny summer and the top bolted to 7 feet. Roots but no bulb...my guess is the climate was not cool enough
and 24 hours of sunlight in June triggered bolting. Guess I'll stick to brocolli, beets, peas, zuchinni, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes.