Where is you're dog when out stalking?

[Bowland blades]

Mines only young coming up for 15 months, he’s either on slip lead clipped to belt, homemade Stalking style lead and now trying him on a long line clipped to belt .
He’s way keen and strong so all about keeping him obedient and steady , the scenting, tracking and indicating is all very natural for him so far and he’s doing well on that, just need to reign him in, wouldn’t be without him .

Careful if your clipping an as yet young wayward strong dog to your belt . Dog pulling at the wrong moment and there is a chance your shot could go in the wrong direction . I have dropped the lead and put my left foot on it training a new dog to live fire, the jerk wont unbalance you when your on the trigger. Been there years ago myself

 

[The Tartan Torpedo]

In the house because he is turbo useless

 

[LarryLightFoot]

Careful if your clipping an as yet young wayward strong dog to your belt . Dog pulling at the wrong moment and there is a chance your shot could go in the wrong direction . I have dropped the lead and put my left foot on it training a new dog to live fire, the jerk wont unbalance you when your on the trigger. Been there years ago myself

I’ve got him to a stage training wise where when either stopping to glass/thermal scan or when I deploy my sticks he sits by my side still ongoing but yes agreed if not careful could go south .

 

[Sika98k]

Ouch ! Tough one to fix in most cars

Wasn’t the worst. Once I had calmed down. A breakers yard provided a 2nd hand one for not bad money.

 

[wytonpjs]

Wasn’t the worst. Once I had calmed down. A breakers yard provided a 2nd hand one for not bad money.

Had a Vizsla that got lonely and ate both seat belts in the rear of my new Volvo - costly!

 

[Mungo]

Careful if your clipping an as yet young wayward strong dog to your belt . Dog pulling at the wrong moment and there is a chance your shot could go in the wrong direction . I have dropped the lead and put my left foot on it training a new dog to live fire, the jerk wont unbalance you when your on the trigger. Been there years ago myself

Been stalking with mine attached to a belt for 5 years.

When I started, I lost track of the number of people on here who told me this was doomed to catastrophe for any number of reasons.

It works beautifully, and I strongly recommend it.

 

[Bowland blades]

Been stalking with mine attached to a belt for 5 years.

When I started, I lost track of the number of people on here who told me this was doomed to catastrophe for any number of reasons.

It works beautifully, and I strongly recommend it.

if its never unbalanced you its perhaps a good time to remove it ?

 

[Mungo]

if its never unbalanced you its perhaps a good time to remove it ?

I don’t follow the logic?

 

[VSS]

I don’t follow the logic?

If the dog isn't tugging the lead (ie, risking unbalancing you), then perhaps the lead isn't required?
(I think that's his logic, anyway!).

 

[Mungo]

If the dog isn't tugging the lead (ie, risking unbalancing you), then perhaps the lead isn't required?
(I think that's his logic, anyway!).

Ah.

In theory… yes. In practice, she can’t be trusted off the lead. First, she wants to be 5-10m in front of me, which is too far. Second, every now and then she decides she has other priorities and b*ggers off.

Keeping her on the lead solves a great many problems.

And I’m sure I’m going to get an earful about failing to train my dog properly. I really don’t care. I have a system that works for me, and I’m very happy with it.

 

[willowbank]

Where is your dog when out stalking? Do you have it at heel or allow it to work around infront, albeit fairly close? I'm stalking typical scottish borders forestry blocks with my cocker in her 2nd season working and while I try to keep her at heel, will a little more freedom do any harm?
View attachment 365227

Lovely photo

Willowbank

 

[fallowfellow]

Always with me. Left, right or slightly in front I care not but always with meView attachment 365501

What a lovely trip that was! The daughter/ sister of your pair is better than thermal when pointed into the wind a bit in front. Usually made to heel for final approach. Came back behind the gun for a shot the other day… must be learning

 

[fallowfellow]

Trailing longline works well for me. Here is one the dog found before and then after the shot

 

[hendrix's rifle]

Mines usually Infront of me somewhere and when the rifle goes on sticks, he's either next to me or behind me

 

[Heym SR20]

Mine is on a trailing longline that I can put a foot on if she is getting a bit ahead of me. Ideally I would love her to be just ahead of me off any leash, but we just getting the real hang of things when lockdown happened. I got hit by Covid right at the start and a combination of both recurring covid and lock downs meant we missed a couple of key years.

She is now a mature dog so I work with what I have. She does talk and act quite keen etc but she does her job and is good company. And whilst recovering from Covid she was a real tonic.

 

[Monty3006]

My boy usually is kept 2-3 metres in front of me. I find this a good range that allows him to work about a bit on scent and show me if there is something of real interest to him. I tried to get him to heel at my side but found this to be a bit of a struggle whereas giving him a little more freedom seemed a lot easier and works well for us. If there’s time I have him sit while I prepare for and take the shot.

 

[Dorsettaff]

Usual at heel or quietly at foot of hi seat

 

[geoshot]

Mine is usually just beside me or a few feet away, and plenty of times she has air-scented deer even some distance ahead of us. Any reaction from her gets me to stop and check with binos or thermal even if I have just put them back in the pouch. She regularly indicates animals I have missed, all too often birds but often enough deer to make it worth checking just in case.
She occasionally gets excited or engrossed with some sniffing and roams a bit further, but usually not too far, and a quick hiss or a tap on my chest (if she's looking my way) is enough to bring her back. I'd have her along with me even if she wasn't of any use because I just like having her with me and she seems to thoroughly enjoy deer stalking too. I love the way she gets all excited when she sees me take the rifle out of the safe and load up the truck, it's part of the whole experience for me.

As for clipping her to me or attaching her to a belt of something like that as I'm about to take the shot- no way!!

When she was out on one her first stalks with me she was being a bit of a nuisance and getting all excited as we approached a deer
While we were still some distance off I clipped her to what I thought was a stout piece of wood and I moved forward without her
As I was setting up to shoot the buck I saw its demeanour change, its ears pricked up and it started looking intently at something - but clearly not at me
The buck looked ready to jump and I was about to take a shot when it bolted
I turned round to see my dog happily charging towards me dragging the large dead branch I'd clipped her to
If she could haul that she could pull me off balance so there's no way she'll ever be clipped to me while I'm holding a rifle, no way I'm taking that risk

I'm very happy to say that nowadays she sits motionless beside me as I get the rifle up on to the sticks, a softly spoken "sit-wait" is enough to ensure her compliance, no tying her to anything anymore - and certainly not to me
She usually lies down but watches ahead intently & jumps up to sitting position after I take the shot, eagerly waiting for me to tell her "let's go find that deer"
Then she goes on a long slip lead and she's allowed to "find" the deer even if it's lying in plain sight of both of us
The reward of a bit of offal from every carcass was a great training aid, lucky for me that Labradors are stomachs on legs and very food-oriented so she was dead easy to train

She's a lot steadier now then when I got her as a 2 yr old, she knows/understands the rules of the game and she's older too which definitely seems to have calmed her down
But there's no way I'm prepared to take the risk of having her attached directly to me as I'm about to pull the trigger, I won't take that chance - just in case
I'd rather she scared another buck away from me than have her pull me over or to the side as I took a shot

 

[mudman]

Generally somewhere close, sometimes at heel, sometimes a few paces in front. Depends where he wants to be.

 

[ColinBr]