I have heard a lot about being able to train your dog to hunt sheds, has anyone actually done this and it worked out for them? sorry for the double, thought the first one didn't post, lol
Yes sir. Have a three year old black lab. This past spring he found 36 sheds to my 15. I use to beat him pretty good the first two years. But now he really has it figured out.
I should add, it is amazing the antlers you walk by or have been walking by for years that the dog can find. Stuff that is just buried in tall grass or thick browse.
I trained my lab to do it too. Found his first set this year. This is our 2nd full year doing it. I'm looking forward to next year. See how he does.
that's awesome to hear, i wonder how hard it would be to get an older dog in the habit of hunting them, any tips or tricks would be great to hear
I got my black lab at 5 weeks old, he's now 4.5 months old. I have him already finding sheds in the woods and around thicker fields (ones that I have placed there before hand and so forth). He hasn't found a new shed yet, but we haven't been looking either as everyone knows its not really shed season. He won't travel more than 20-25 yards from me and if he gets interested in something else (another dog, squirrel, etc...) he has to be worked with to get back onto what we are doing. He also starts to lose interest if we do it for more then 15min or so and he doesn't find one (I usually throw one out when he cant see me, this keeps him happy...confidence and fun is key)...BUT he is just a pup and has a lot of work to do obviously. Just make it Fun and don't do it for very long when they are young...this keeps them eager to do it again.
It sure dose make it a lot easier when he find more than I do every trip out these days. He is a pleaser and knows what I want !!!