Upland bird's hearing?
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lethbridge Alberta Canada
Posts: 1

Hello folks this is my first time here. I would like to know what the hearing ability of Hungarian partridge,sharptail grouse and ringneck pheasants is. I am training a new pup and am thinking of using the type of whistle that only a dog can hear and not humans. Do you know if these bird will be able to hear this type of whistle? Or,is using this whistle a bad idea?
Thanks very much
Jim Z
Thanks very much
Jim Z
#3
Spike
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Colorado Springs COLORADO USA
Posts: 52

All gamebirds that I know of have acute hearing. Generally the less noise when hunting them the better. A whistle seems to bother them less than voice but I would make sure your dog has a voice command for everthing as well. Sometimes you don't have time to put the whistle in your mouth or don't have it. Too much use of the whistle can be very annoying to other hunters and even the dog.
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Evans Georgia USA
Posts: 384

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Too much use of the whistle can be very annoying to other hunters and even the dog.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>
Hear, hear, I'm glad to hear somebody else say something about the inceasant whistle blowing. Some guys just don't get it. Tweeet, tweeeet, tweeet! Just say No!
Too much use of the whistle can be very annoying to other hunters and even the dog.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>
Hear, hear, I'm glad to hear somebody else say something about the inceasant whistle blowing. Some guys just don't get it. Tweeet, tweeeet, tweeet! Just say No!

#5
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cropsey IL USA
Posts: 365

pheasants have super hearing when i was in high school more yrs. ago than i care to admit we lived on the edge of town and hunted the hedges behind the house if i walked out and let the door slam behind me you would see birds bailing out of the cover a couple of hundred yards away to this day i don't slam the truck door when were getting ready to hunt
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Kansas City Area
Posts: 13

Jim,
Pheasants have acute hearing and are aided by pads on their feet that sense vibrations helping them detect the approach of a preditor. They can hear a high pitch dog whistle. I applaud your decision to keep quiet in the field, nothing is worse than listening to somebody hack their dog.
I solved the whistle/noise problem another way. In addition to being whistle broke, my dogs are trained to obey the tone on their Tritronics Pro-100 collar. This tone does not shock the dog.
Example, a series of short tones is "here", one long is for a release, and two longs are for whoa. It's nice because the collar works up to a mile away. Also, on windy days the dogs have a tough time hearing a whistle from more than a 150-200 yards.
Lastly, with ringnecks, I have found that whistles often don't bother/spook them. Can't say why.
Pheasants have acute hearing and are aided by pads on their feet that sense vibrations helping them detect the approach of a preditor. They can hear a high pitch dog whistle. I applaud your decision to keep quiet in the field, nothing is worse than listening to somebody hack their dog.
I solved the whistle/noise problem another way. In addition to being whistle broke, my dogs are trained to obey the tone on their Tritronics Pro-100 collar. This tone does not shock the dog.
Example, a series of short tones is "here", one long is for a release, and two longs are for whoa. It's nice because the collar works up to a mile away. Also, on windy days the dogs have a tough time hearing a whistle from more than a 150-200 yards.
Lastly, with ringnecks, I have found that whistles often don't bother/spook them. Can't say why.