Does anyone do this successfully? Due to the limited amount of upland hunting I get to partake in I plan on hunting a GSP on dove this year. He’s to head off to school starting it March. I’m excited to get to hunt with him this year and just wanted to reach out for any tips, tricks or opinions from everyone.

Thanks

You can...but not all excel at it...my old boss had a GSP that was the best damn dove dog I've ever seen...but a family member of mine has a full papered GSP that has zero interest in retrieving a dove...no telling why one loves it and why one doesn't, they're both great at fetch. My theory is one was introduced to dove as a puppy and one was introduced later. The one introduced right away is the one that loves it...Just my $0.02 (I am NOT a dog trainer) but I'd have your trainer, or perhaps you starting now, use dove wings/scent during some of the retriever training /fetch sessions so the pup associates that scent with it's field job and good times with his master...perhaps that creates that dove drive.

Good luck bud and happy hunting!

Sure you can. Mine is naturally good at retrieving and finding downed birds. He prefers hunting upland birds but hunts dove just fine. He gets a little bored if they aren't flying well and wants to go try to find them.

He does really well with ducks, quail, pheasant, dove.

Thanks guys, I have introduced him to bird scent as well as a few crippled birds this past season.

depending on the dog and it's drive absolutely; my favorite bird dog was my last GSP and he hunted ducks, dove, geese, quail, pheasant, deer, rabbits, well, you get the point...

Mine does great with dove.

Beautiful pics fellas

Their nose is for sure better than a retriever, so if you can get them to retrieve, you are set.

I had a pointer that would retrieve doves for a time.
Of course had to keep her tied to something near me. Otherwise, she was off and sweeping the field.
If while she was tied, she saw a bird fall, she would jump and squall until I released her, bring the bird in, and then, if I didn't catch her immediately, she was off to look for quail.
Later, she learned to bring it only close enough so that I could see that she had it, drop the bird, and then she was off to pursue more interesting fauna.

I was never any good at force fetching a dog....Our sessions always wound up with them squalling and me in tears.


A friend of mine had a GSP that was an excellent dove dog, as well as a quail dog deluxe.

If they have drive to hunt, you should be able to dove hunt with them. I’ve dove hunted with 4 of my Vizslas, when quail numbers were low.