The Top 6 Tips To Prepare Your Dog For Hunting Season

Hunting season is once again just around the corner, and I bet you are already feeling the itch. Whether you have a seasoned hunting dog or just a new fledgling pup, adequate preparation for your dog is crucial before finally heading to the woods for yet another hunting session.

Keep in mind that a well-trained hunting dog is your most valuable tool while out there. However, unlike your bow or favorite hunting gun, you cannot store your dog until the next season. Your hunting partner needs training, exercise, and care for it to be able to pick up on or improve its skills from last season. These six tips will help you refresh your dog’s skill and enhance its performance for continued success in the field.

1. Check your dog’s health and know its’ limitations:

Your hunting dog will offer you all you need in the field, but understanding its limitations is critical. Training should also be done early enough so that when the hunting season rolls around, it’s already healthy and in tip-top shape. Without proper training and health obstacles met during hunting sessions can be hazardous. Additionally, take your dog to a vet for a comprehensive checkup after training in addition to regular vaccinations.

2. Set aside some time for training:

Next hunting season may seem months away, but it will quickly creep on you before you know it. It is important that you do not let your dog lose its hunting edge during the off-season. Spend some time with your dog for about 20 to 30 minutes training sessions, four times a week to keep it sharp.

If you have the time for short daily training sessions, then that’s even better. Plan to increase the training intensity as the season approaches. If your dog is new to hunting, however, you may need the help of a professional trainer to help you first develop and then sharpen its skills.

3. Obedience check:

Obedience is the most important virtue for a hunting dog if you want to keep it in control and achieve the best results in the field. You should, therefore reinforce obedience training drills throughout the off-season training and intensify them as the season approaches. Sit, heel, stay and steadying drills are just some of the areas to address.

You can devote about 15 minutes every morning to instill this basic obedience commands in your dog’s memory. The best way to do this is by having a check-list of all the commands that you use when hunting and go through them one by one to check that your dog still remembers them. For instance, for a “Stay” command; have it sit and say Stay,’ and then walk away. If it moves with you, it’s time to correct it and start over.

4. Marking:

You do not necessarily need large open fields to train your dog on marking. For a seasoned hunting dog, all you need is about four goods marks per day and your dog is back on track. If you want to do more in-depth training on this, you can try complex marking training in areas like woodlands or grasslands. Be sure to include marks that require your dog to go over barriers such as across fences, ditches, and water.

5. Lining:

It takes a shorter time and is much easier to handle a dog that runs towards the target in a straight line. Dogs tend to contour around natural barriers like ditches or in accordance with the wind. You, therefore, need to train it to run through obstacles in a nice straight line without diverting.

The easiest way to do this is by incorporating a human-made or natural straight line into your training. All you need is something as simple as a fencerow, the longer, the better. Start by placing the dog in a sitting position and toss a bumper parallel to the fencerow; this will discourage the dog from running wide.

5. Buy Safety Gear:

As you shop for your best hunting boots, gloves, medical kit, and so on, do not forget to buy some safety gear for your dog. Consider buying a break-away reflective collar with appropriate identification and a blaze orange vest to make it more visible and reduce the chance of any accidents. Additionally, if your dog roams off or worse gets lost, an identification badge will make it easier for someone to notify you if they find it.

Author Bio:  Kevin Steffey is an avid hunter and freelance writer, the founder of Deer Hunting Field. He loves spending time in the field with his rifle more than almost anything else. He also occupies his off-time discussing deer and their habits online. But more than anything, he wants to teach and educate about hunting.

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