Ive been doing this for a few yrs now and it seems to pay off huge My shed hunter and a few of her trophies. How many of you also use dogs
Tried training my bros dog when she was a pup, that didn't work. Wish it would of could really use one for search big crp fields.
I had trouble with her too as a puppy she didnt have the attention span, so i thought until shed hunting last yr w her and it was almost like instinct. Surprised the hell outta me. Guess all the time i spent praising her for touching antlers payed off. Dont give up
How old can you train them up till? My girlfriends lab is 17 months now and I would love to train him to find sheds. Also what did you do to train her?
As far as age for training im not sure how old is too old. I started her by teaching her to retrieve anything i threw. Once she mastered that i started taking all other dog toys and puting them away so her only option for playing was with the antlers i had layin in the yard. If she as much as sniffed the horns i would praise the hell out of her. The more she was rewarded i could notice an increase in interest toward them. I then went on to hiding them in bushes, wood pile, etc.... I wouldnt walk to the horns w her so in order for her to get her reward she had to pick them to bring them too me... Hope this helps, i invested a ton of time in doing this, so stick w it because it doesnt happen overnight. We only did this a few times a day for short time periods to keep her from losing interest
I would love to get a dog that I could train to do that, currently I just take my German Shorthair shed hunting so he can get out and run. It would be sweet if he would find some sheds, but I'm not holding my breath lol
Thinking about it now I don't think I would want the dog bring the sheds back to me. I want to see where they are actually laying at so I can possibly mark the spot if needed not to mention that it isn't uncommon for the second shed to be in the same area and if the dog missed the second one so would I. But I am definetely going to try this now!
Sounds silly but grind up part of a shed. ( Do it outside it stinks) Have someone sew the ground up prtion into a chew toy. Play with it a lot then use sheds really praise the dog for sniffing it picking it up etc, 17 months is not to old.
I currently have 2 german wirehairs for bird hunting, they have amazing noses on them. Would training them to find sheds mess with their bird hunting? my main dog is already on her third season of birds so i think it might be a little late for her, but my other one is just a pup yet so i'm thinking of trying it with him.
I have no idea on that, i would think u teaching them to point for birds or sheds wouldnt effect the other. Ava also gets in on tracking deer so it doesnt matter to her what shes tracking horn or deer she just wants the reward. My2cents
Good to see out of season shed talk!! I always like this topic as I have been interested in this the last few years. A good read on the subject is Dave's thread on here: http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?18265-Collaboration-of-Shed-Dog-tips-by-OutdrDave also here is a journal I kept on my pups first season if you are interested: http://hitlistoutdoors.com/forum/index.php?topic=2387.0
I would like a dog that barked at the shed, so i could see it as it lay, and get pics. Of course after pics the dog would be the one to disturb it from its resting place,and touch it first. That seems fair.
