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Tower shoot

4K views 26 replies 20 participants last post by  labraiser 
#1 ·
I am planning on taking my dog to a tower shoot this weekend. It is for a DU sponsorship and I am supposed to shoot, but I believe that I will work the dog instead. Does anyone see any negative side effects of taking a dog to the shoot? Several people have told me that with all of those shots at once it may scare the dog. Any advice is much appriciated!! --- Corey
 
#3 ·
Sorry for the lack of information. The dog is 1.5 years old. He has been introduced to gunfire and will do double retrieves and some blind retrieve work. I'm hoping this will be his first real season in the duck blind with me, although the times he has been thusfar he has not be allowed to retrieve, just observe and work on OB. The amount of gunfire he is used to is what is used in training. A shot or two when the bumpers are thrown. Thanks for any help.
 
#5 ·
I recomend all dogs that attend our shoots be @ least senior level. Duck Water bird Snow Hunting Waterfowl
 
#6 ·
Can I come next year jd6400?
 
#10 ·
Your in my friend!!!Only requirement is you must like keystone beer and seafood gumbo!!!! Jim
 
#7 ·
Do not try to shoot and work your dog if this is the first tower shoot for the dog. To much of a chance for your dog to have problems, unless you have complete control. let this trip be for the dog. Pay attention to other folks dogs also. You may have some there that are not as well trained as yours, and may be aggressive. Take your leash, e collar, whistle and water. I participate in about 6 to 8 shoots a year after duck season closes. With anywhere from 150 to 300 birds shot per day, this will make a young dog get excited ! It is a great opportunity for your dog to get retrieves in the off season. Just be prepared, with all the shooting and dogs that are not familiar to you or your dogs, it can be a challenge to keep yours under control. That is why I suggest you don't shoot, just run your dog!
 
#11 ·
Here s the deal,the last thing the operator wants is yelling,screaming dogs,handlers wondering where their dogs are,dog fights etc.The shooters probably won`t know a nice job vs. a bad,but they will notice dogs and handlers out of control.If dogs and handlers are not gentlmen they will not be asked back.
Our last shoot was all all chesapeakes,most were at least MH level and I couldn`t have asked for a better group of handlers. Jim
 
#12 ·
One of the most scary things for me at a tower shoot is who is shooting. I used to go to tower shoots put on by a sporting clays club and they would have corporations employees doing the shooting. A FEW of the executives thought that they could shoot anything regardless of SAFETY. One particular time a shooter had shot a bird down and I was sending my dog. About the time I was going to release my dog a bird came right at us about 3 feet off the ground directly in line with the retrieve. My dog was an HRCH and was pretty steady but as I had left my heeling stick at home I had rummaged around in my truck and found a cut off golf club I used as a blind pole. To make sure my dog did not launch I whacked him across the chest with the cut off golf club. . Saved my dog . Gave the CEO a good cussing and thought it was done. Found out later that the a$$hole had gone to the club and said I was beating my dog with a golf club....NEVER HAVE I been back.
 
#13 ·
Concentrate on Steady and No-bird. Thats it. If a dog can maintain steady at a tower hunt, any test or hunting situation will be a breeze. Typically we don't run blinds at these. Too much of a chance to pick up bad habits (send the dog, gun goes off, and a bird lands right in front of the dog). Don't try to pick up every bird that falls, as soon as it falls, there will be breaks between rounds and you'll have plenty of time to pick up stragglers. Be cautious of the dogs "area of the fall" hunts. They won't have alot of time for prolonged hunts for birds. See the scenario that I outlined above about blinds.

Steady, steady, steady.
 
#14 ·
The reason I do NOT do tower shoots anymore is because of the possibility of spitting one bird out , as another is falling.
 
#15 ·
No problem. I may be small but seafood gumbo no problem love it
 
#16 ·
Wear tons of orange stuff. Also wrap a boat load of orange survey ribbon around your dog. If some one yells at you to get down, or duck, do it, then go take their gun away. Know that most of the folks at a tower hunt are really hunters, and don't care about your dog.
 
#17 ·
I probably have run 12 - 14 tower shoots this season. a couple with 1,000 birds. we have had as many as 80 -90 retrieves. I also run Trials with my guy. steadiness is something I will always work on ( having broken before in trials). My objective for running tower shoots are : sit on the mat and don't move until I tell you.SIT MEANS SIT!!! Retrieve the bird I send you to. All retrieves are under 150 so I can let one drop 5 ft. in front of us and then direct him to retrieve one a little longer out. I can enforce selection. As he watches missed birds go down, I can refocus his attention to HERE and MARK on another bird.These shoots for me are always about control. I never send him on a blind in a tower shoot. There is just way to much sent out there for him to deal with. SAFETY IS OF COURSE THE MAIN ISSUE. The shooters are well lectured on safety. The owner has given us the complete green light to call out a shooter for being out of line in the area of safety. I will continue to participate in these shoots. I also train 5-6 days a week for trials. Hope this helped. Concentrate on your dog. If you want to shoot leave him home and concentrate on shooting. Don't mix the 2 at such a young age.
 
#20 ·
I didnt my first tower shoot this year. You dont want to bring a dog that you cant fully control.
A couple things you want to make sure you dog can do with tower shoots.
run blinds
handle on marks
call off of marks
no birds
Very steady.
cross other dogs on the way to and from birds
not switching
poison birds
have other marks and shots going off around them while he is working a bird or on his way in with a bird.
you will have dogs working on both sides of you sometimes as close as 30 yards and you might have to send you dog up the middle of them for a bird.
It is a blast but takes a lot of control.
 
#22 ·
Tower shoots are the most fun a retriever can have, I believe. Definitely do not shoot, just handle your dog. I learned that lesson the hard way. Watching 200 pheasants one by one is great experience. They will mark a bird to the ground five or six hundred yards away. My dog was eight months old at his first one and it flipped a switch in him like I couldn't believe. It was just after we finished force-fetch. Looking back, he was too young and unsteady for that much stimulation, but I think the good he got out of it was worth it. We have done maybe a dozen since then and it's like training on 200 flyers , with probably 170 no birds in one day. Awesome for marking and steadying.
Many of the shooters do enjoy watching the dogs work, especially when your dog can dig out the money bird and bring it back to their station. They really like that!
 
#23 ·
Having done many, many shoots with my dogs I can catagorically state they are the worst possible thing, I mean the WORST possible thing you can do to your dog.

At great personal sacrifice, seeing as my dogs are already ruined, I'll take your place. No need to thank me right now, just post up time and directions.











have fun
 
#24 ·
I have done it and will continue to do so when the opportunities are available. I cannot see a down side to it. Safety is always my biggest concern. Make sure the shooters understand safety rules first. Tower shoots are a great for training. You get blinds, No birds, doubles, short and long retrieves.
 
#26 ·
We do tower shoots at Shady Grove Hunting Preserve in Remington,Va. with Neil Selby and there is nothing more fun than going there. We usually have 5-6 guns and purchase 25-30 birds. The dogs love it and so do we. They throw them out 1 at a time, they fall and then we send one of the dogs. We only bring out 2 dogs at a time so they learn to honer and stay steady to the shot. It's alot of fun and a great learning experience. Check out his website and see the video. Oh,we take anything from 1 year old dogs to 10 year old dogs. It's a great time!!!!:D
 
#27 ·
I do quite a few tower shoots. The only thing i use them for is enforce skills already learned. My rules are as follows

No breaking
No switching
teaching and enforcing no birds.


I dont run blinds during a shoot. I am always ready to correct a dog for the above rules. I also like to use it for exposing dogs to a lot of fresh killed or live birds. Where i do the shoots, safety is enforced. Never ever had a safety issue ever. You dont shoot unless you have sky in the backround.
 
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