J Pike

Here are some pics of our training sessions of my 14 week old lab pup that I adopted on Feb. 1st. I try to work with him twice a day for 15-20 minutes at a time then just try to have fun and wear him out. (which is easier said than done)

J Pike

I decided that the snow had melted enough to take Mojo out for his first shed hunt last Sunday afternoon. We arrived at 1:50 PM. and started walking up the steep hill and into a large cedar thicket, there was a lot more snow than I thought there would be, varying between 6-12 inches with some bare spots under the cedars. We immediately got into deer trails and deer droppings and we started following one of the well used trails. Not even 150 yards from the truck I look at a bare spot about 18 yards to my left and I see a nice shed laying there, then I look 4-5 feet from it and I see another shed laying on the ground. I decided to stay put and let Mojo work the area until he finds them (even if it takes 3 hours) I then tell Mojo to find the bone as he is sniffing every deer track etc. and after 10 minutes or so he finds the larger shed ( a real nice 6-pt shed) he seemed as shocked as I was to find it laying there and just stood there for a minute, then he laid down and started chewing it and I told him to bring me the bone, which he did, I put on a rubber glove and took it and placed it in my back pack, then gave him a huge hug and a treat. After a couple minutes I was able to coax him to forget about the shed we found and he started to search again in the area of the first shed, after another minute or so he discovered the 2nd shed ( a 2-pt shed) and stood there like he was puzzled again, I then said bring me the bone, he picked it up and took off running with it this time instead of bringing it to me :grin: so I had to catch him to get it away from him and gave him another hug and another treat as he tried to get in my back pack laying on the ground. I was able to finally get him going back to searching but we didn't find any more sheds, just way too much snow and by 3:30 PM. he was plum tuckered out. Below are pics of our awesome afternoon. Pike

J Pike

I was able to get out for a couple hours Tuesday eve. with Mojo for our 2nd shed hunt and ended up finding one 3-pt shed and unfortunately a dead 1.5 year old buck. When I saw the shed laying there I told Mojo to find the bone and it took him about 5 minutes to locate it.
Most of the snow should be gone by this weekend and I cant wait to get back out! Pike

nick_bleuer76

Awesome! What a great way to spend an afternoon!

J Pike

Mojo and I were back out in the woods this afternoon at about 3:30Pm. for our 3rd shed hunt of the year. (we were going to head to OH. today but there is still too much snow left on the ground) and hunted right up until dark and ended up finding 5 sheds today including a nice matched set which were laying about a half mile apart. Pike

oldshedhunter35

Great pictures awesome dawg nice bone.guess I'm gonna have to get my couch tater behind up and moving so I can find some sheds.

WIbuckchaser

I am definitely going to have to get a dog to train for shed hunting. I doubt we have as many bucks around here as you guys though. Nice pics. Keep them coming.

janesburg

great way to get in the woods.

WNYhunter

I am getting a new lab pup next week and am going to try this. Did he find those last 5 on his own? Or did you see them and stay there long enough for him to stumble onto them? I have a few sheds to train him, do they find them by sight or smell you think?

J Pike

Congrads on the new pup! No I saw all of them first, and then stopped and didn't move any closer until he found them. But he just found his very first shed 2 days ago!! see my post below.
They locate sheds by smell, thats why you should try to find fresh sheds ASAP. and then pick them up with plastic gloves (not latex) or wear plastic bags when picking them up or handling them while training your pup. Also give your pup a treat and hugs etc. every time he finds a shed while training and when it is actually hunting. Pike