Afternoon all...

My 5 year old GSP didn't do very well this year for pheasant. Wouldn't point for anything and flushed birds 50-100 yards ahead. In the past, he has done well for pheasant so I was surprised. To review him for pheasant, do I need to go back to some wing on a string (I know that isn't popular), or just do a drag in a field w/a check cord followed by some live birds?

Thoughts?

I would go back to check cord with birds until he has WHOA mastered. Without WHOA mastered you can't do much in the field.

I would go back to yard training.
Retrain Whoa, and overlap that training with the ecollar.
Then pigeons with a bird launchers.
Anytime that dog does not stop to scent, or takes a extra step, launch the bird, and make him stand, and watch it fly away.

You may be able to make some headway with strong flying homing pigeons and a launcher. Work the dog into the scent cone 90 degrees to the wind. It will be evident when the dog hits the scent cone. If he advances into the scent cone or creeps, immediately launch the bird. Say nothing and move on to the next bird. Be patient till he holds point and lets you flush. Then kill the bird and let him get it in his mouth. Wild pheasant are runners by nature. In my experience the most effective pheasant dogs are freed up to work the birds and relocate on their own. "Whoa" on point takes that from the dog. I do not like to talk to a pointed dog. The point should be a dance that is strictly between the bird and the dog. Most likely if your dog had always done well on wild pheasant, re-affirming that the bird comes through you should get him back on track.

It also depends on what pheasants you’re hunting. I went to Kansas last year in January on public and we didn’t get a lot of points on pheasant. They didn’t slow down unless the dogs got them in a corner. The quail up there had a death wish and would hold all day.

I echo what scalebuster said, pheasants don't hold well. If you're hunting pheasants, just try to keep your dogs in close and when they get birdy, get ready. Pheasants run like crazy.

By "flushed 50-100 yards out". Is your dog chasing the running birds causing this? Is your dog holding a point, then birds are flushing 50-100 yards out? Or are birds just flushing 50-100 yards out as you move across the field?