Bird Dogs Afield host Paul Fuller is the gun dog columnist for Northwoods Sporting Journal. The Journal has granted permission to re-print Paul’s articles. Thank you Northwoods Sporting Journal.

Training on Spring Woodcock

I fibbed to you in my March column. I wrote that we typically see the return of the woodcock the first week in March; however, due to snow conditions, it could be the second week. How about March 31st for our first woodcock find in Southern New Hampshire this year. That’s the latest I ever recall!

The late return of the woodcock did not set us back with our training. We worked both of our German shorthaired pointers every day for two weeks. The peak of the migration for our covers was April 6 and 7. Both of those two days were good for seven or eight points for the dogs. Although we had good dog work for two weeks, I feel we did lose some training time due to heavy snow cover. When we have more open cover (no snow), the migration is stretched out over several weeks.

Every year, we travel to Southern Maine for at least one day of training with professional trainer Calvin Robinson. Calvin has been training pointing dogs for 30 years. Calvin knows pointing dogs. He uses a kind and gentle training technique and it works. He very seldom talks to his dogs which is something I need work on. Calvin trains his own dogs and usually has five or six dogs he’s training for other folks. His own dogs are mostly English setters or pointers.

This year I was especially impressed with Calvin’s setter he calls Dee. Dee is an off-spring of Long Gone Madison; one of the all-time top five grouse dogs in my opinion. Dee had several woodcock finds and one grouse find in one hour. She never made a mistake on any of those birds. Her manners are excellent, flag high and work pattern outstanding. Even my older shorthair, Dillon, honored Dee’s grouse point. And Dillon doesn’t like to honor. By the way, you can hunt over Calvin’s great dogs. In addition to being a professional pointing dog trainer, Calvin is a professional grouse guide in Northern Maine in October and a quail guide in Kansas during the winter. You can contact Calvin at crobinson14@maine.rr.com. The high point for my wife and me during April woodcock training was the work of Dena, Susan’s three year old female shorthair. She had woodcock points at 90 feet and twice honored Dillon at over 90 feet. Sure, she busted a few birds this spring but that’s always going to happen with wild birds and erratic weather conditions. Dena has had quite the career for a three year old. She’s hunted wild pheasant and quail in Kansas, sharptail and Huns in Manitoba, grouse and woodcock in Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maine and Ontario, Canada. She’s a well-traveled young bitch.

A quick training tip here. As a puppy, Dena had a normal start with birds. She was flash pointing at six months and holding a point decently at eight months. Shortly after her first birthday, she was stung by a bee while pointing a planted quail. This was in late spring. After that, she began blinking birds. That’s a heartbreaking situation for any pointing dog owner. My wife did not give up on her beloved Dena. She went back to basics. All summer long, Dena was allowed to chase song birds, barnyard pigeons and anything else that would fly. Late that summer, we slowly reintroduced her to game birds (chukar). She was tentative at first, however, the pointing instinct slowly returned. That fall (2012), she had some very decent points on woodcock; Susan was very encouraged. This past fall, she had several woodcock and grouse finds and remained steady. It took patience and persistence to bring her back; both my wife and I are very excited about her future.

The warm months are coming, folks, however, don’t stop exercising your dog(s). If you keep them conditioned all summer, they will be at the top of their game come hunting season.

Paul Fuller is host of Bird Dogs Afield TV, which may be seen in the Greater Boston area on WBIN (Comcast Ch. 18) Fox 21 in Duluth, MN and Fox 23 in Portland beginning in November and running through December. Previous TV broadcast episodes, and dozens of training and hunting videos and Paul’s previous Sporting Journal columns may be seen or read on Paul’s website which is www.birddogsafield.com. Paul may be contacted at paul@birddogsafield.com.