October/November 2004 Now in our thirteenth year. www.Bdarn.com

to a road so that you and your pooch can see over and into the cover. Now throw the dummy up close then far out each time saying 'dead bird'. After several repetitions, most pheasant dogs will get real good at finding the dummy and eventually dead rosters no matter where you drop them," Luttrell believes.
"Keep the dummy with the taped on pheasant wings in your vehicle at all times so you and your dog can practice the 'dead bird' routine at every opportunity," Lutrell advises. "Or buy Tom Dokken's Dead Fowl Trainer 'Pheasant' which has the look, feel, weight, and size of a real rooster," Luttrell suggests.
Conclusion
The "good" pheasant dog should have a high level of "desire" to aggressively seek ringnecks in all kinds of cover and in all sorts of conditions. Though this desire can't be taught if it isn't naturally there, innate and inborn desire can be enhanced by training any breed of dog with a mass exposure to live pheasants whether pen-raised and released or found in the wild.
Most "good" pheasant dogs, likewise, should have the ability to intelligently "search" for birds by "quartering" in the field with a methodical, though not mechanical, pattern. Some breeds and lines of pointers and flushers are more inclined to do this than some others. But, all pheasant dogs can be "taught" to improve their search and quartering skills through the careful use of a check cord or an e-collar.
Finding "dead" roosters shot and dropped in thick bird-hiding cover is a big part of a "better" pheasant dog's job. To hunt "dead" on command in cornfields, cattails, weed patches, tree belts, or CRP is something any breed can do with training and practice on retrieving dummies thrown on the lawn at home or in dense cover out in the country.
A desire to hunt pheasants, a methodical search for ringnecks in the field, and a skill at finding dead roosters are all qualifications many pheasant dogs already have and all pheasant dogs can aspire to. Identifying what your rooster finder now does well and could do better are two steps in the right direction for making your ringneck rouster an even better pheasant dog.
Jerry Thoms hails from Brookings, SD