Upland bird hunting season is over so that means it is time for the off season dog work. I love running my dogs on both pen raised and wild birds in the off season. The wild birds make for the most realistic training, but just make sure you do not do this during nesting season, or with young chicks on the ground. For us here in Northern Nevada that generally means that from the middle of May until the later half of July, I don’t train on wild birds.
Pen raised birds allow me to work on certain skills with my dogs in a very controlled environment, and that can be really nice with a young dog. For the most part though I just try to set up the most realistic hunting scenarios that I can. That in itself can be a lot of fun. I know that I enjoy doing it, and my dogs certainly love it as well. It makes those first couple of days of hunting season each year feel like you never missed a beat.
Below are a few of my favorite dog training pictures from the past.

Jay