Caveman ,you're welcome. Oviously you don't know how to train ,othewise you would have never done what you did. As far as claping hands , pots and all that other hogwash while a pup's eating was long since disregarded by any competent trainer a long time ago. Sit down to dinner and have someone scare you unexspectedly and see how you like it.
A pup is ready to hunt as soon as he will follow basic commands and the sooner introduced to the field the quicker and easier the training becomes. A pup is ready for "serious" hunting anytime. The key is not to push a youngster beyound it's physical capabilities and training it's retained up to that point. I hunted grouse yesterday moring with my 6 month old Lab for 3 1/2 hours and covered roughly 3 miles. Was it serious hunting ? You bet! Did we both have a great time? Again yes!