quick tips teach dog shed hunt
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How to Quickly Teach Your Dog to Shed Hunt

If you have a playful dog, it won't take much time to turn him into a shed-finding machine.

Anyone who's tried to shed hunt knows it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I constantly take walks this time of year, keeping an eye out for shed antlers and scouting for spring turkey hunting season. I rarely find sheds on my own.

You have to get lucky or do grid searches with a fairly big group.

That's why a hunter's best friend can be awesome and its really not as hard as you might think to train them.

Bob Murray with Point Blank Outdoors was a dog trainer and handler for the New York State Police for 13 years, and was generous enough to share some awesome tips for training a shed-hunting dog.

You don't need a specific breed of dog to successfully shed hunt, but retrievers tend to do well.

As Bob suggests, it also helps to have a dog that loves to play.

Here are the key shed dog training tips:

  1. Stop working the dog if it gets bored.
  2. Wear latex gloves so the dog isn't identifying your scent.
  3. Grind off the points of the antler so they don't get hurt. Otherwise, negative reinforcement might cause them to avoid sheds.

Even if they aren't a great shed dog to start, just a few minutes a day will help their development.

And while your dog may not constantly be finding sheds at first, it's an advantage no matter what.

NEXT: HOW TO EFFECTIVELY PATTERN YOUR SHOTGUN FOR TURKEY HUNTING

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