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It just dawned on me (and I'm somewhat new to the serious bird dog training/owning set) that while I can generally hunt my dog on a game preserve here in Virginia (or for that matter in Maryland or in Georgia where my other home is) only from September through April, I can technically train my dog all year round on pen raised birds (pigeons, chuckar, pheasant, quail, etc) so long as they are banded and I am on either private land or at a designated dog training area (on public land, at least in Maryland) and I possess a hunting license and a training license.

So, wouldn't that allow me to take my dog out, over the summer, at a game preserve and "train" him on live birds that he flushes and I shoot???

Or am I missing something??

I ask this cause I spent some time and money on getting my lab trained as a pup last summer but life being what it is - and the economy being where it is - I ended up working more over the last 9 months than I perhaps ever have and therefore wasn't able to get my dog out as much as I would have liked. He's still very well trained and while I dont have any desire (or ability) to drop another thousand on training, I would love to be able to get out and continue working on his flushing (and woaing) and shooting birds over him.

So, is this a "loop hole" I just figured out??? Or is there something that I am missing here??

4evrhtn

In Pa, you cannot kill game birds out of a regulated season, whether bought or not.On game farms there are special season lengths which differto the regular areaseason.Here in Pa chukar are not considered a game bird therefore they can be shot year round. They are a bit more expensive than quail but 1/2 the cost of pheasant. I have a GSP and I trained him with quail. His first time hunting pheasants he did exactly what he had been trained to do with the quail. To him a bird is a bird whether quail, pheasant, duck or goose. Don't think you need to buy pheasants in order for your dog to hunt pheasants. A canvas dummy with pheasant scent will be enough to teach the dog to hunt pheasants at a much cheaper cost (if he doesn't have an issue with retrieving feathered birds). If the dog is reluctant to retrieve birds with lots of feathers more work will need to be done with real birds.

Phil from Maine

Here in Maine I can train my dogs any time I want to with a blank pistol on any land that is opened to the public. I can also get a permit to raise birds and shoot them at anytiome of year including Sundays.
( Sunday hunting is illegal here) It is called a propagation (sp ) permit and it allows me and my friends to shoot pen raised birds with in the location/s I discribe that I will be training in. I can also go to a game farm if they have the birds available at the time i wish to go there. Sundays are included as well.

birddog3412

In Illinois we can also train year round with a blank pistol. That really doesnt help retrievers and flushers like it does pointing dogs. So I use pigeons to shoot for retrieving purposes. About anyone will let you trap pigeons on them. I even have a USDA guy who traps them as pests and then gives them to me.

JW

In WI the state has set aside Dog Training areas on state land to include both water and land. Then with a 25 dollar fee one is allowed to use game birds on these lands.

Helps me a ton......

JW