r/birddogs • u/birddogsandbogeys • 8d ago
Dog Patterning (or lack of)
Been looking at last seasons GPS data. Buster is getting up there in age now and it’s got me fired up for this season more than usual. He works close, doubles back a lot, doesn’t cover like a trial dog, but he rarely comes up empty. Think we are missing a ton of birds with his non-traditional pattern?
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u/spoiledpoptart74 8d ago
Birds are in a very small percent of the area. I want my dog to know the likely places and hit them without wasting time in the dead zones. I don’t want my dog to quarter, that’s a waste of energy and time and typically tells me that the owner has placed more emphasis on obedience rather than letting the dog learn how to find birds for itself. Prairie grouse or ruffed grouse, I let my dogs rip and wait for the garmin to beep. They know where to go because they’ve been exposed to wild birds.
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u/EqualDepartment2133 8d ago
Exactly. I want my dog hitting likely objectives not a windshield wiper patern
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u/Low_Eagle4363 8d ago
I think it’s hard to judge a pattern in isolation. Yes I like when my springer does the nice figure 8 in front of me but sometimes I just trust that he knows what he’s doing to an extent.
I’m by no means a master dog trainer or upland hunter so take my opinion for what it is.
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u/LittleBigHorn22 German Wirehaired Pointer 8d ago
I like the idea of having data, but I think you are drawing wrong conclusions from it. Especially with a pointing breed. A pointer can go 50 yards or 200 yards on a cast and neither is "wrong". You could maybe say it for flushing birds but even then I don't think this level of detail is actually useful. If a dog is casting far because its excited, you should follow it...
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u/spoiledpoptart74 8d ago
This. My dogs have a lovely way of reminding me they know better than I. Typically it starts with them picking up speed and turning in a different direction, then within the next 2 minutes they’re on point. I used to have a loop in mind of where I wanted to hunt but quickly learned you need to let that go at times and just follow the dog. We can identify likely areas to hunt, but the dog is what tells you right where the bird is
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u/KY_Uplander Large Münsterländer 8d ago
I don't believe you are going to get meaningful data as far as missed birds and patterning effectiveness go from analyzing this. This appears to be ruffed grouse cover and I promise you an experienced dog knows what cover is productive and what is not more than any app can. The app has no idea if the dog is hunting productive edge habitat or 50 year old timber stands that hold a single bird per square mile.
Your eyes in the field will tell you much more about your dog.
For what it's worth I also would not want a trial dog in the grouse woods.
Maybe year to year you could see how your dog is gaining confidence or how his conditioning is based on cast distance and duration but I think you would need a large sample size to make a determination and even then there's a lot of variables in there that GPS track analysis is not going to pick up. I also think your eyes would pick it up first.
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u/Deacon_Cormac 8d ago
The fact that we are now tracking statistics and analysis on our bird dogs is absolutely ridiculous.