Calling Cocker Owners

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Kbuck

Active Member
Evening all,

Interested to hear from other cocker owners.

I have a 4 year old cocker that has been trained as a gundog. He is steady on a peg (for a cocker!) and has been great on our shooting syndicate.

I am keen to take him out with me in lowland stalking from next season.

Anyone have any advice? My main concern is that he is trained to smash through cover to flush birds so it might be a bit of a tall order to have him walk quietly by my side... Won't know until I try though
 
Kbuck said:
Evening all,

Interested to hear from other cocker owners.

I have a 4 year old cocker that has been trained as a gundog. He is steady on a peg (for a cocker!) and has been great on our shooting syndicate.

I am keen to take him out with me in lowland stalking from next season.

Anyone have any advice? My main concern is that he is trained to smash through cover to flush birds so it might be a bit of a tall order to have him walk quietly by my side... Won't know until I try though
Click to expand...
They are bread to flush in cover 1/4 pick up, yes they might be steady if you keep on top of them but that is noisy,
mine are great on the mud out fowling also swim out to pick a duck in the river...Do they sit still NO lol
A chap asked me once "do you have a stalking dog"? No I have a .270 lol
Good luck I would take him out where you have deer with out the gun if you can that way you can see what you need to address if any!

 
My daughter uses a cocker for deer tracking. You can read a write up of her first track here:
www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk

First track.

First track for my girl Squill today! Absolutely over the moon, as she hasn't been the easiest dog to manage. Got a call on the radio from one of the stalkers out with a client to say that they'd shot a hind in a forested area and she'd run. Visibility wasn't great due to patchy mist, and they...
www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk
The dog has developed into a great deer finder, but you certainly wouldn't want to actually take it stalking with you. It's a total lunatic! Not the sort of animal that'll sit patiently under a highseat for an hour or two, or walk quietly to heel as you sneak up on a group of fallow, so she stays in the vehicle until required.
 
VSS said:
My daughter uses a cocker for deer tracking. You can read a write up of her first track here:
www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk

First track.

First track for my girl Squill today! Absolutely over the moon, as she hasn't been the easiest dog to manage. Got a call on the radio from one of the stalkers out with a client to say that they'd shot a hind in a forested area and she'd run. Visibility wasn't great due to patchy mist, and they...
www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk
The dog has developed into a great deer finder, but you certainly wouldn't want to actually take it stalking with you. It's a total lunatic! Not the sort of animal that'll sit patiently under a highseat for an hour or two, or walk quietly to heel as you sneak up on a group of fallow, so she stays in the vehicle until required.
Click to expand...
Nice write up
 
Tim.243 said:
They are bread to flush in cover 1/4 pick up, yes they might be steady if you keep on top of them but that is noisy,
mine are great on the mud out fowling also swim out to pick a duck in the river...Do they sit still NO lol
A chap asked me once "do you have a stalking dog"? No I have a .270 lol
Good luck I would take him out where you have deer with out the gun if you can that way you can see what you need to address if any!

Click to expand...

Love the video. They are such cracking dogs
 
I use a cocker and a sprocker. As per one of the previous comments, get them rock solid to heal!
I've never really worked them as gun dogs though so that might have a bearing on things.
Interestingly neither dog is particularly interested in retrieving small game now but I can live with that.
 
I’ve used cockers for the last 15 years only once had one run in , so no tip of the heart for him and he watched me throw it away he never run in again , sadly the first 2 have gone now but have started my 9 month old one on deer, he’s an absolute delight ,this was his second one ,shot at 86 metres he didn’t see it drop , so he used just his nose and went at 100MPH of course, he should turn out to be a good one, so don’t dismiss cockers yet Bazil 9E1F710B-575D-45E9-B468-1CE62161D037.webp
 
As long as it does not vamoose it is worth a try. The deer that have seen my lab seem transfixed by it rather than wary. I have shot a few walking back to the car when I was in view but they were looking at the dog. So a wee Spaniel inadvertently scooting about may not be the end of things in any event. A good nose on the team is always worth having. Heeling and having some sort of sit are only going to help though.
 
My cocker is 13 now and been retired about 3 years. She has a nose on her better than a dyson. She would work herself into the ground and retrieve anything she could.
Out rough shooting one day and I flushed a fox that a guy shot the other side of some thick brambles. I didn’t know what he had shot until she came round with a dog fox the size of her.
A perfect dog beating, picking up and rough shooting but never would she be able to stalk.
But as above she would definitely track down a wounded/ dead deer that had run.
 
Got my first Spaniel 43 years ago
, I think I've had 19 in total so far . The bloke I got my first one of told me don't do any more training until you can get it to stop on the whistle. After 43 years it's now beginning to make sense to me 🤦‍♂️. I'll tell anyone thinking of taking on a spaniel whether springer, cocker or sprocker
, buy a plastic whistle, you don't break you teeth on plastic. If you're brave enough taking one on will enlighten your shooting experience for the good 👍👍
 
I’m very keen to take mine stalking but simply feel it is going to reduce my chances of getting anything 😀. That said, I always feel guilty getting up early and heading out in all my gear and leaving him behind .I had someone recommend trying them , initially , on a long lead that the shooter can wear like a harness . Does anyone know of these and who sells them ?
 
I used to take my old cocker stalking but they are not a choice to tackle a wounded deer, but would find in clear fell etc
Mine used to hunt cover like demon but walk to heel stalking or on a shoot when told
 
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