 Although I call this "The Hat Trick, it has nothing to do with hockey and everything to do with a method for recovering downed birds in the field. The best practice one can undertake after the bird is down, is to quickly proceed to that location and mark the spot with ones hat, as shown in the accompanying photo. By placing a marker, you can now come back to a reference point and not become disoriented while searching for the downed bird, as it is very easy to do.My practice begins with marking, using the hat and then standing still while I give the search command or "dead-bird" command. My belief is that too much walking around in the suspected area of the fallen bird only serves to wash out the scent and make it more difficult for my dog to find the bird. After a reasonable amount of time (and the dog has not recovered the bird) I then call the dog and have him walk closely while I begin circling the hat, in every greater circles, hoping to find the bird or cross a scent trail which my dog can follow. This method has proved very successful in finding downed birds and helping the dog in his recovery/search. As a last resort, having still not located the bird, I will finally take my dog down/cross wind about 75-100 yards from the marked spot and then slowly weave my way back and forth toward the hat, again in hopes that a scent trail will be found leading the dog to recovery of the bird. One other note I would like to make, if you shoot a bird and it glides down or even falls hard, but with wings out stretched or falls with it's head up.......shoot again, because this bird will likely hit the ground running and may never be seen again. Obviously you want to exercise extreme caution when shooting at a bird going down, looking out for a pursuing dog or other hunter, but absent of those hazards, it is a good idea to shoot the bird again. The problem is, this is the toughest shot in upland hunting, because you have to shoot under the bird as it falls, which is an unnatural shot for upland hunting. Over the years I have watched a number of hard hit birds fall, never to be recovered by the dog........and I wished I would have shot again to anchor the bird. |
