After hunting public land recently and hearing the noise from other hunters handling their dogs, I wonder how you handle yours? I like to be as quite as I can and have a whistle but leave it at home. I heard some people really tooting that whistle and shouting commands a lot while hunting. Other than a recall and fetch command, I don't handle my dog much. What about you?

You might have heard my whistle Saturday morning at the chaparral. I have an older dog that likes go out on her own quite a bit. I can bring her in with tone on her collar , but she has a hard time finding me sometimes. Really only have this issue when hunting on foot through the tall brush.

I bump mine around with the collar. I don't carry a whistle.

He turns on his name and arm signals. That's all the handling I do when I want to go a different direction.

How do you do it in field trails?

I keep my mouth shut except for praise

I use the ecollar tone for recall and to turn. Sometimes i say whoa when shes on point even though i didnt "whoa" train. Fetch and lots of praise for a good point, followed by a retrieve.

By the call of her name.

I don't handle mine much on bigger properties.
Close to a property fence line, I will some to keep them from crossing over.

Running for customers on a canned hunt is different than when were hunting wild.
I have to keep the dog in closer, and keep them quartering tighter.

I hunt woodcock in the woods. My GSP Jenny works close. 90% of the time I can see her. If she's out of my sight for more than a minute or so I listen for her movement in the leaves. Much longer I say "Come Jenny!" in a loud voice. The only time she doesn't come is if she's pointed-then I go to her.

Soothing "Good Girl..." or "Good Jenny.." walking up on a point. "Find the bird Jenny!" when a bird is down if she hasn't seen it down (which is often). Praise, pats, hugs, and a treat at the retrieve.

One would have to be real close to hear anything but the "Come Jenny!".

No e-collar, no whistle, no GPS, not even a bell on her collar.

I should probably at least put a bell on and/or GPS....

I try to keep it as quiet as possible but if I have one that isn't responding, I holler out their name and "here!"

When I had my Brit, she would double back with two blows on the wistle.......

I had to "hack" on my older dog at the Chap hunt because of the shooting from the surrounding groups. She would want to head toward the gunfire. Just an issue with hunting public land in texas.

I toot the whistle, then "bump" if they don't turn. I like to talk to my dogs, so quite often, I tell them to "get in front", or "come around".

lots of different ideas.

My dogs are whistle trained but usually respond to the tone on the collar. I cannot handle people who scream at there dogs. For the most part the only time I hit the whistle is to call in for them to drink or to swap out the set. If I have a screamer on the buggy I will not even drop my dogs. 99% of the time if you give the dog just a second he will do what you want him to do without a word or whistle

kb3024.. Ditto.. no truer words could be spoken.. way too many handlers..attemp to anticipate what their dogs mite do..forgetting they have eyes, ears.. and the greatest of noses..

I use the e-collar beeper to control range at longer distances, a whistle a mid-range distances, and my voice close-in. If I want to change direction I use one of the above to get her attention and then arm signals to indicate where I want to go (left or right).

I was advised early on that e-collars are a great tool but they can also ruin a dog, so I use the shock feature sparingly when I am pretty sure the dog is not into birds.

I probably over-handle compared to a lot of people because I prefer to hunt alone and therefore communicate with the dog rather than BS with whoever else is with me....in general though we find more birds when I shut the hell up.

I usually hunt with two dogs in field; so that when one dog goes on point, the other comes and fetches me at the truck. Then I walk out there and shoot the bird. I have been training them to herd the bird(s) closer to the truck so I don't have to walk so far. Don't have too much communication with them other than that.

I train my dogs to respect the tone and look for me when they hear it and if they have to be shocked after a good season of hunting, I don't want them. Dogs just naturally handle a lot better if they get hunted in birds frequently and if you can't put them in birds you need to adjust your standards accordingly. I do talk to my dogs and always have I guess because the hunters I grew up under did it. I doubt the dogs know what careful or easy now mean but I just say it out of habit when they get birdy and at my age it is gonna be a hard habit to break. You must have a relationship with the dog to fully enjoy the hunt and the less racket you make in that relationship the better the results will be. A dog that knows you will respond to just the tone of your voice, but it takes time to develop a good understanding of one another. Patience often is rewarded.

Same here. I use the tone.
Sometimes when we first put the dogs on the ground I have to use a whistle to get them working properly but I don't like excess noise when hunting.

And I sure don't care for all that hollering that some guys do.
Train your dang dog right and give the rest of us a break.

Lol wow reeltexan

Yeah, maybe that was a tad strong, but you know what I mean.