Question on dogs

[Bustercluck]

My red and white setter seems to do two different methods of finding birds. Most of the time he’s sniffing the ground and when he picks up scent he usually does a bit of a back forth movement looking for the freshest scent and then takes off following trail with his nose in the dirt. When he does this he normally bumps the bird. I’ve adapted to his hunting style and when I see the obvious “bird-tail” on my pooch I just get into shooting position.

The only time I actually see him point is if he can either see the bird, or if he’s just walking up a trail and the scent catches him off-guard with his head higher up. This style of scent wil stop him dead in his tracks and make him whip his nose in the direction of the bird and lock up, but he doesn’t do this often. The first time he hunted pheasant in open fields with tall grass this really confused him.

Is this a normal thing? I have a retriever puppy who’s also doing the ground/trail scent thing too.

 

[iron cat]

Get him on a check cord to stop him from flushing them.
It's a bit more complicated than that, but we cam talk about it .
Some wing training might be in order as well
Cat

 

[270WSMXBolt]

Tall grass diffuses the direction of the scent at ground level. So if the common grass and shrubs are above the head they don't get a definition. It's even harder for them with swirling wind... Trust the original head direction first. The dog is trying to tell you it's not sure BTW. Just my humble opinion. Cheers