Shed hunting dogs

[elpepe25]

Ive got a lab pup that id like to find sheds for me. Ive worked with bird dogs b4 but dont know where to start with the shed hunting. Any input would be apprieciated.

[firstcoueswas80]

I would imagine giving the pup a antler to use as a chew toy. As the pup gets older, I would play fetch with the pup and an antler using a lot of encouragement.

[elpepe25]

he'll fetch the crap outta anything i thow anlters included. I have no clue as to how to make the transition from fetch to having him "hunt" the anlers and bring'em back. Once again thanks and any input would be apprieciated.

[Becker]

I think this was already discussed once. I have been trying to train my German Shorthair....I started out fetching, then I would make him sit and stay while I put the antler out in front of him where he could see it. Then go back to him and have him retrieve it. Once he got good at that I would start hiding it out of sight. Pretty soon he got smart to that and would just go to where I went. Keep in mind this was just in my yard. Then I started hiding multiple antlers.....after he got good at that I took him out in the wash by my house and hide them there, and so on...He is good at it around the house and in the wash but out in the field he is still a little excited about getting out so we will see! Hope that helps

 

Becker

[IHunt2live]

I think Becker is on the right track. Let me warn you though most dogs are no dumbies and have great noses. Like becker mentioned they often will just watch us and trace our steps or they will just fallow the sent trail we leave behind. My female pup started doing that when i planted birds. I would leave her in the truck so she couldn't see what I was doing but as soon as I let her out she pretty much fallowed my trail exectly and found the birds that way.

Chances are is that your dog is smart enough to pick up thats what you want them to find but antlers in the feild will have NO sent, maybe some sent they first day it has dropped. They have to stumble one them just like we do, its just that they cover a lot more ground then we do but we have a hight advatage on them though to find sheds in tall grass.

Good luck traing your dog, I wish I had a dog that would pick up sheds. I know that they just run right past them when we are quail hunting.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Willie and I tried to train a blut tick hound to find sheds. Spent alot of time out in the field training. My brother trains search and rescue dogs so we used some of his techniques.

It is true that getting your scent to not be a factor is the greatest challenge. We used gloves, we left them out in the field for days hoping that our scent would evaporate or something.

That was seven or eight years ago and to this day, in a controlled environment she will hound them out every time, but you get her out there in the wide open spaces and she just goes bananas over everything else out there.

 

We had tons of fun messing with trying to train her..................good luck.

[CouesWhitetail]

My new dog Julie shows some natural talent for finding sheds. She brought me a nice WT shed and has picked up WT skulls, fox skulls, and elk antlers too. I praise her heavily whenever she brings me something made of bone in the field. Even if it's a leg bone and not an antler. I didn't do any training at home other than I always have antlers around for the dogs to chew on, so she chews on antlers alot at home. But she just has a super nose and is curious about stuff and she just LOVES to carry things around (I guess because she is a golden retreiver).

 

So anytime I find a shed (or some other bone) in the woods and she is with me, I get her all worked up and say "get the bone" and she starts searching around. Eventuallys she finds it and usually, but not always will pick it up and run around with it. I figure it's a start and it's farther than I have gotten with other dogs who were only interested in hunting live animals.

 

 

You can also search the internet for info on shed hunting dogs and training them.

 

 

 

 

[crazy4COUES]

I know one guy who uses rotties for elk sheds, asked him how he did it. His reply was, lots of time in the field and every time they pick a shed they get a T-bone for dinner.

[Red Rabbit]

http://www.deersheddog.com/

 

More:

http://www.antlerdogs.com/default.aspx

[anthonyrmatthews]

I attended a seminar on these dogs, and they are awesome. Trying to buy a trained one thou will break the bank. I just give my lab ones to chew on and get him excited over them.