Chasing running roosters is a job for field bred Springers if you were to ask me.
Or Labs. Or "versatile" pointing dogs. The best ones I've ever seen in that last category have been shorthairs and wirehairs.
How good is good when it comes to recovering wild roosters? The Iowa DNR conducted interviews with pheasant hunters. Their findings: "Parties with dogs lost only one bird in 10 downed compared to two to three out of 10 for those without dogs." So clearly, having any dog makes a difference.
But because I hate to lose downed birds, I've kept records of my dogs' performance going back to 1973. My conclusion is that if you have a dog that loses only 1 for every 20 birds recovered, you have a good pheasant dog. That's over their entire hunting career. If you eliminate their first season or two, when they're still learning, you should get some numbers that are much higher than that. My best one, over her entire career (which began at age 2--I got shorthair Heidi as a "started dog) successfully recovered 698 while losing just 26 cripples.) Looking at her peak seasons, from 1990-95, Heidi recovered 491 while losing only 12. That's a loss rate of 1 for every 41 recovered. I was fortunate enough to own 4 dogs (3 shorthairs and a pointer), all of them having at least 100 birds killed over them, that did better than my benchmark of 1 lost to every 20 recovered.
You can also reduce cripple losses if you shoot only birds that your flushing dog flushes or that your pointing dog points. I guided hunters on wild pheasants in Iowa for 4 years, and told my hunters it was OK to shoot at any rooster that flushed. And shooting at wild flushes reduces the likelihood that your dog will mark the fall.
Last edited by L. Brown; 10/22/23 05:35 PM.
