Ronnie Smith Kennels Blog » Wild Bird Training Program

RSK’s Annual Wild Bird Excursion

Ronnie — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 23:19:12 +0000

Get the most bang for your hunting buck by letting Ronnie and Susanna prepare your dog for this upcoming bird season! Few of us can get away from work for as many hunting trips as we’d like. This trip is designed to help you make the most of your time in the bird field this year.

Your dog’s hunting performance will benefit from regular workouts on wild birds in the hands of professional trainers. Young dogs see a significant increase in proficiency in handling, finding birds, and maturity. For this reason, there’s always a little competition to see which of the young RSK dogs get to go on the trip. This year RSK has two first year dogs…and you can bet both of these girls are going!

It has been a hot summer across a lot of the country. Most likely your older dog has spent a lot of time lounging in the shade and is a little on the soft side. A dog that has been laid up for the summer months simply isn’t going to be able to transition smoothly back to the bird field and will need some help before he can perform well on hunts. This trip gives your dog that opportunity to get back in shape, proficient and focused for your hunts.

We guarantee your dog will never be lost amongst a sea of dogs while in any of our training programs. We work to bring out the best in each individual and “leave no dog behind.” Ronnie and Susanna will be spending plenty of one-on-one time with each dog during this trip.

Why should your dog spend September being trained by Ronnie and Susanna?

1) A trained dog’s performance and proficiency always benefits from additional professional wild bird training.

~First year dogs will transition from training on pen raised birds to the real world experience of wild birds.
~Seasoned dogs will fine tune their hunting skills and be physically and mentally ready to hunt for you.

2) A solid month of wild bird exposure will be an experience your dog will draw from for the rest of his life, you can’t beat this experience for “making” a bird dog.

3) Your dog will receive individualized attention and care.

4) Ronnie and Susanna constantly strive to keep their dogs in the best health by giving them good care and nutrition.

5) This class gets your dog in proper conditioning for your hunts.

Let Ronnie and Susanna do the training so that you can enjoy more of your hunts this year!

(Click the link below to download signup form)

2011 Wild Bird Training Registration

*If your dog hasn’t been through our training format yet, it isn’t too early to reserve a place for him in next year’s Formal Training Class & Wild Bird Excursion. Email Susanna for details.

CAMP DAYS, HUNTING SHARPTAILS AND HUNS

Ronnie — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:53:01 +0000

by Susanna Love

The allure of cool crisp prairie mornings with the sun’s early rays reflecting off of bird dogs in pursuit of wild upland game as their genes have destined them to do since birth. That is the essence of what draws Ronnie and I to take a select crew of bird dogs to the Big Sky Country of Montana for a month of training. This year Ronnie and I migrated through Montana with a medley of eager, inexperienced green broke dogs, a handful of wizened veteran gun dogs, and everything in between.

Camp life, while romantic in theory, is chock full of daily chores of keeping animals happy and healthy on the road. First light finds us greeting each dog as we unload them from their warm, hay filled crate; some of the dogs, reluctant to rouse themselves from sleep, are insistent on a long yawn and a good stretch before jumping out to see what the day might hold. In the still dim light, dogs are watered and picked up after. An hour or so after rousing the first groggy eyed dog, we reload and head to spend the day in the field to hunting sharptail grouse and Hungarian partridge.

Equipment did you say? Oh, yes we carry a bit of equipment. Each hunt finds us loaded down with a few pounds of water in our camelpacks, pliers (in case an unsuspecting canine bites a porcupine), first aid equipment, mosquito repellant (yes, there were still quite a few of the little buggers around!), command leads (you never know when they will be needed), and maybe a snack or two, just in case. Ronnie works his SportDog collars and totes his 20 gauge and shells. I run my TriTronics e-collar and tote my Nikon D300s. Last, but most definitely not least, we each carry a Garmin Astro handheld to monitor our dogs and track our movements on a topo map. Checklist of equipment complete, we put our e-collar and DC 40 Astros on the dogs, and away we go. Dependent on conditions and the dogs, some braces we might walk half of a mile over flat farm land, while others continue for miles at a time, covering many expansive coulees before returning to the truck.

Each dog has their own lesson plan in the field and they let us know what that lesson plan is as we go. One shorthair told us with his behavior “I’m self hunting and I think I’ll jump in on the next bird I find.” Easy enough for the teachers. That dog we handle to get him going with us and stop him every time he made his first move to flush a bird. In short order his mindset is more compliant and his bird work much more honest.

Some of the old hands that have come back to us for multiple yearly tune ups just need a bit of polish and to get physically fit and ready for this season. The young dogs that had just graduated from our formal training classes might encounter a sharptail grouse for the first time and you can see it written all over their young faces as they throw a confused glance our way as if to say, “Guys, did you see that? Thaaaat huge thing got up right at my feet! I wasn’t supposed to point it, was I? Seriously???”

After a full day in the field, we retire to camp. Feeding and caring for the dogs often until even the westernmost sky has lost all color and submitted in to darkness. Turn the generator on in the horse trailer to fix a quick meal and get ready for the next day. Listen to the coyotes howl a chorus a mile away…and then hear the dogs respond 15 feet away, snug in their crates but always primal and non-human. All of the work is worth it for the privilege of working with such an animal.

As the month progresses along we see each bird dog improve as they hone and diversify their hunting ability, getting better prepared for the season ahead with their owners. The miles on the ground and birds under their belts help to develop the crew into earnest hunters. The new experiences of “life on the road” broadens horizons and readies everyone for the 2010-11 hunting season. Our September wild bird training excursion is a real success.

Thank you to all of the owners that sent their dogs along with us. We enjoyed working with each dog. Have a great hunting season, we know your dogs will give you all they’ve got!

More pictures from our venture to Montana are available on our web gallery!

REPORT FROM THE FIELD

Ronnie — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:41:22 +0000

Fall is finally upon us. We have all said goodbye to the long, hot, dog days of summer and are now turning our thoughts toward this upcoming hunting season.

Here at RSK we are in the midst of sending home the dogs that traveled with Ronnie and Susanna to Montana for work on the wild prairie birds. All the attendees of that wild bird training program did an excellent job and we are excited to hear how they do in the field this coming year! Now all of our attention will be focused on finishing up the second formal training class that Gabe has been working for the past month. This class will be finishing up their formal training just in time for this season of hunting!

Our first Texas hunts will begin the first part of November. So far bird reports across Texas are mixed, but overall most people are “cautiously optimistic.” As of this time, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has not released their 2010-11 Quail Forecast. We will be attending a Texas Tech University quail field day in Guthrie, Texas later this month and hope to learn more from the TTU researchers.

Dale Rollins with the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch (RPQRR) has his ears to the ground gathering information on the Texas quail crop. After speaking with many local landowners and QuailMasters alumni across the state and doing his own research, Rollins has released his forecast for this year and rates the crop on a scale of 1 to 10 (a score of ten being what we are all hoping for!). To say the least, it’s a mixed bag across the Great State of Texas!

North Texas: An average year scored at 5. “But, given the past couple of years, it’s a “5” that looks like an “8”, i.e., our standards have slipped after several mediocre seasons.” They are, however, still seeing some late hatches on the RPQRR.

West Central Texas: Scores are across the board from a 1 in Eastland County to “perhaps it is not a “10” but it has to be close” in Coke County. There are still reports of young chicks being seen.

West Texas: Located south of I-10 near Van Horn, Ron Helm reported on the blue quail, “I’m afraid I do not have good news. We’ve been working cattle all this last week and I have been horseback a lot, along with the cowboy crews. I can only report seeing one covey of hatched out blues and they were probably 8 weeks old.” Locations north of Helm, however, report 7s and 8s.

South Texas: The “hot spot” of quail forecasts. With up to 35 inches of rain in South Texas this year, landowners are optimistic for the birds. Rollins received many reports of 7s and 8s. Close to the Mariposa Ranch is the San Tomas hunting camp in Brooks County. The San Tomas camp manager gave a more conservative report, “I will go out on a limb and say it’s gonna be better than we may think. Call it a good ’6 or 7′. Will not be a boom year—we just didn’t carry enough [breeding stock] over.” Everyone agrees that early hunting conditions during November & December in South Texas may be tough with jungle-like vegetation and sunflowers shoulder high.

In essence, our constant effort to predict the success of this hunting season is probably about as accurate as the weather forecast! After the season is over we will know how it went and then be able to give some reliable information! Until then we will hope for a good recovery year for the Texas quail and maintain our conservative management practices on hunts.

Training Bird Dogs On Wild Birds

Ronnie — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:47:31 +0000

Every year we offer multiple opportunities for your dog to be professionally trained on wild birds. First, in September, we train bird dogs on sharptail grouse, hungarian partridge, and pheasant. Then during the Texas quail season, we will be submerging dogs in true hunting situations on wild bob white quail. This is a great way to start off your bird hunting season with a proficient, confident, and conditioned bird dog.

Young dogs will have the chance to make the transition from pen raised birds to wild birds. Seasoned dogs will be able to refine and polish their skills. This is a tune up that we recommend for any trained dog. A month of working wild birds gets dogs physically and mentally fit and ready to perform their best for you this season.

Every day we will be working on handling, bird work, honoring, and conditioning. The dogs will have the chance to hone their ability to scent and work birds in adverse conditions. Repetition of successful wild covey finds help create and/or maintain a proficient bird finder.

As a hunter, it is very difficult to effectively train a dog and get many game birds in your bag at the same time. We have the advantage, as trainers, of being able to always focus on your dog during our workouts. By sending your dog with us for training on wild birds, your hunts during the season will go smoother, as we will have consistently held your dog to a high level of performance during daily wild bird workouts.

These opportunities are a great experience for any dog. Whether a young puppy needing bird exposure, a freshly trained dog in line for additional experience and to transition to wild game, a field trial dog, or a seasoned gun dog needing their annual tune up, all bird dogs can benefit from this program.

We are already close to full for our Montana trip. However, if we don’t have room to take your bird dog north with us, we have plenty of room to work with them in Texas. For us, wild bird training programs are the ultimate in bird dog training. We feel this is where the dogs really shine!

As always, thank you for entrusting your dog to our care. It remains our goal everyday to set each dog up for success and help him be the best canine citizen he can be. We hope to help you improve your relationship with your dog, as well as help you in all of your upland adventures.

SEPTEMBER IN MONTANA

Our September program offers training on sharptail grouse, hungarian partridge, and some pheasant in Montana. It doesn’t get any better than this for valuable bird exposure! This program is particularly beneficial in helping transition freshly trained dogs to hunt wild birds. Sharptail grouse are notorious for getting up individually instead of in a single covey rise. This allows each dog multiple learning opportunities and gives us multiple opportunities to train. It also makes this program great for puppy development!

The travel time, physical conditioning, exposure to new upland game birds, and the additional training or fine tuning all ensure that your hunting partner is ready for a successful season.

COST: $750 (including transportation from RSK to Montana)

WINTER IN TEXAS

(November – February)

The Texas quail season offers training on wild bob white quail. The dogs joining us for this program will have the opportunity to be worked both during live hunting situations and training exercises. Texas is known for its challenging hunting conditions and for producing world class bird dogs. This is an opportunity for your dog to really rise to the top.

COST: $700/month (owner responsible for transportation to us in Texas)

Who Is Eligible?

Puppies (at least 6 months of age)
Any dog that has been trained using the Smith’s methods. This includes all ages of gun dogs and field trial dogs

How to Ensure Your Dog Has a Spot in Our Program

Simply email us and we will give you access to the reservation forms. Once we’ve received the forms and a deposit, your dog is guaranteed a spot with us.

Protected: Registration for Wild Bird Program

Ronnie — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:43:21 +0000