Pup and snipe

[Mice!]

Hi all and happy new year,

 

Quite funny I have been looking for land to train the dog on which isn't full of squirrels or other people and I ended back at my mums walking the dog on old coal mining land where I grew up but haven't been on in probably ten years.

 

It had changed loads but was perfect for what I wanted and thankfully no motor bikes about, we had spent about 45mins to an hour mooching about following the dogs noise and the wind he was changing direction well to the whistle and working the ground really well all we needed was to find something and job done.

 

We ended up by some water and scrubby cover when he changed direction paused and up popped two snipe, I've never seen them flushed like this, straight up vertical and then away really exciting, a few more got up and he started getting over excited so we headed away happy.

 

Question what kind of scent do snipe give off strong or weak he was definitely working them and new they were there, made a great change from black birds pigeons and squirrels

 

Mice!

[old'un]

the scent is a cross between a damp sweaty sock and the bottom of a chicken coop......no seriously I have no idea what scent the dog picks up from snipe but as snipe are found mainly on damp marshy ground I would think the scent from them is quite strong, its amazing just how good a dogs nose is, they can detect drugs and the smell of firearms/explosives days and in some cases weeks latter, guess we will never know exactly what a dogs smells/scents, unless you believe in reincarnation and you come back as a dog.

[Mice!]

I love the idea of coming back as a dog, so long as I get to hunt and have fun 😊

 

I was asking about the scent because people say and I have read that grouse have a strong scent but partridge have a very subtle one so was just wondering where snipe sit on the scale??

 

He stopped us last week on the lead went into stealth mode and yep a squirrel 25ft up the tree bloody amazing cant wait to shoot one for him

[scotslad]

Scent is a very funny thing, often far more to do with weather conditions than the birds themselves.Some days conditions can be great for dogs scenting other times they really struggle.

Sometimes rashes/snipe can be very hard to pick depending how they fall in rashes as can be very difficult scenting even on a generally good scenting day if bird is tucked into some thick stuff

To be quite honest i don't think most shooters/dog handlers fully understand it and how it changes (including myself) huntsmen and folk who work hounds often have far more of an ideaas they can see the hounds losing and picking up scent as the ground/weather conditions change

 

When it comes to actually picking them snipe can be funny for some dogs, some dogs that pick game won't pick snipe, can be the same with woodcock, crows and grouse

 

I'm sure i read that grouse althou being quite strong smelling even to a human nose can shut the scent glads and heart beat down really slow on demand when hiding/nesting to make they harder to find by predators.

[subsonicnat]

I knew of two dogs that would pick anything you shot,,,,Except Snipe..

They must have very strong scent,,yep,two dogs would not pick them,funny eh.??

[Mice!]

Thanks for the comments, I've heard of dogs not picking woodcock but don't know anything much about snipe, was just happy the pup found them

Mice!