Dogs in Spring

[charlie elk]

I have an up coming problem this spring; turkey dog Vic is going to be very hard to sneak away from. He loves turkey hunting and is going be be laying some serious guilt trips on me.
WI is not one of the 8 states that allows companions like Vic out in the spring turkey woods. Kind of discriminatory if you ask me. Other than being a companion I'm not sure he would be all that helpful in bagging a spring gobbler. More likely if he were to accompany me we'd be enjoying more tag soup.

2 questions--

1.) How much resistance would there be to using dogs in spring on private property?

2.) How do I sneak out to cheat on Vic?

[WillowRidgeCalls]

I don't think you'd want a dog running around in the spring. Hens are looking for nesting areas and if they keep getting chased they soon leave that area and go look for better safer areas. I've had a couple good farms that, that has happened too, the farmer get a new dog that likes to run and it doesn't take long for them to chase all the birds off a farm, and they stay off. So if you have good spring areas, you don't want dogs there or it will be ruined shortly.

I built a kennel for mine out back and everytime I start the truck in spring he goes out and sits by the kennel door waiting to be let in. He won't do that in the summer or fall, just in spring . In the summer he lays on the back pourch and waits for you to come back home. In the fall he won't let that truck out of his sight, he'll chase it down the road. They learn pretty quick, when they are suppose to go and when they stay home.

[charlie elk]

I did not know you had a turkey dog, very cool. You have him trained well to sit by demanding to be let into his kennel. The only one Vic would sit by is the kennel in the truck.
Did you get out turkey dogging a lot last fall?

If canines could chase all the turkeys off a piece of land there would be many turkey free parcels making many farmers very happy. However this is not the case. I find turkeys will move off about 500 yards or less when disturbed and go about their business. Coyotes and fox of which there are hundreds around here actively hunt turkeys year round in order to eat. Virtually every farm and home has at least one dog and few are kept restrained most roam around at will chasing whatever they please. The exceptions are the hunting dogs they are trained and kept close perhaps due to the fact they have more value and are frequently stolen.
In spite of all this canine activity turkeys remain no matter the season. So I doubt a trained turkey dog controlled by his master would have any affect on the turkey's whereabouts. If I were to have my dog accompany me in the spring he would be kept at heel and sit with me. On private property this would cause no problems for anyone except perhaps the trespasser because my dog would certainly find him and bark him out.
A turkey bowhunter should have the availability of a trained dog to help locate hit turkeys. Improperly arrowed turkeys are very hard to track and recover. A good dog would greatly simplify recovery.

[eggshell]

I'm too lazy to get the regs and check, but I think it is legal here in Ohio to use a leashed dog to recover a wounded bird in the spring. Of course I would do it anyway if I had a bird seriously crippled and not found it. I done this a couple times. I'll risk the ticket to keep from wasting a bird. The first gobbler I ever shot in 1972 Got up and staggered off, I went home and dad took his beagle back and tracked it down. I learned a big gobbler is not as close as he looks that day, but hey I was super cranked pulling the trigger on the first gobbler, I was 17 at the time.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

I agree that a dog that's trained to stay put probably wouldn't have much effect on the birds, because they aren't out there day in and day out. Most farm dogs stay around the farms most of the time and most aren't hunting dogs, but if that dog gets in the habbit of running turkeys everyday that will effect the birds. That's why you can't even run your dogs on public land unless it's leashed, from April to June around here, to make sure they don't get into nesting birds, and it has to be a short leash. Some areas are posted *No Dogs on the Property until after June* leashed or unleashed. Not sure if you can use a dog to recover a bird or not, but it would sure help?

I don't own turkey dogs, just setters for pheasant, grouse, woodcock, but if they see me with a gun they go bananas. They know they only go along in the fall.

[charlie elk]

I don't own turkey dogs, just setters for pheasant, grouse, woodcock, but if they see me with a gun they go bananas. They know they only go along in the fall.

Oh but you do own turkey dogs. Setters can be trained to hunt turkeys and by all accounts do a splendid job. (check out Steve Hickoff's writing this)
At less than a year old my dog learned to hunt turkeys, pheasant, grouse and partridge on command. With turkeys he is wide ranging, on pheasants he does a stalking point with a last second charge to put the bird up. On grouse & partridge he stationary points.

Give your dogs the chance until you do you have no idea all the excitement you are missing. Save your spring wings and tails for training this summer.