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??