For the Setter Guys
 

A sign seen this weekend on a South Texas quail property. A friend recently bought this ranch, the former owner and husband were big quail hunters and ran setters. They owned the property for 25+ years. There are several doggie headstones out by the kennels, generations of dogs have hunted here in years gone by.

Nice! But thanks to a distant Scottish ancestor, I'm a "Setter Guy" of a different type.:whistle:

Nothing against pointers or Labs but I’ve always liked dogs with a more feathered coat of hair setters , spaniels and Golden retrievers . Back when I still pursued grouse in the Blue Ridge mountains I always thought it would be awesome to have a brace of English setters that were stanch to wing and shot then have a Golden retriever at heel to do any and all retrieving . But of course I never accomplished that goal or even got close to it .

At one point years ago I had a pair of Labs I hunted together. One a giant slobbering 100# monster and his mate, a 65# assassin! They'd clean up the birds from a 3 or 4 man volley quickly. I had spent hundreds of hours training from puppies and both "steered" quite well by hand sign. The female frequently would fetch 2 birds in a single trip. The big dog could whip any wounded snow crow in short order and did the deep salt marsh mud effortlessly. Neither worth a damn on quail, wanted to jump right in the middle of a covey. They DID find birds the pointers had a hard time finding. It's very common for our handlers in this area to carry a Lab for finding the "lost" ones.

There's nothing quite like a brace of setters (yes, even English or Irish). I've had 4 over the years, but my current pups don't work well together, and I have a deposit on a pup for next year to become what I hope to be my brace of the future. I don't hunt a brace for grouse or woodcock. It's too hard to keep track of the dogs in the thick stuff, and I like to have a close and farther reaching dog braced together -- not a good combo in the grouse woods, but a heckofa combination on the prairie.

I like the idea of having a flushing dog to put up birds that the pointers have found. I just don't think I want to be the handler in that case.

Still, a good solid dog on point gets my heart to thumping, even if it doesn't even have a feathered tail.:)

every dog is different

but i can remember only one woodcock that I knew I had hit that any of my setters failed to find over a lot of years following them through old orchards, alders tangles, briars and thorns -

compared to several grouse or woodcock they brought in that I had not realized had merged with the cloud of shot in the thick stuff. as well as preserve birds left behind by an earlier party.

as for the sign posted here- I have one of those that I have never hung along with a weather vane that has never spun in the wind and so on - I found way too much setter kitsch when I had my first couple burr collectors- which explains why I have more prints than wall space

Kitsch, smisch. The Gordon on the weathervane tells me when the wind is right to hunt, and the one on the door of my studio/barn warns off art critics.:rotf: And there are plenty of setters of all kinds inside.

:rotf: nice - real nice

I have a friend that has a large custom setter weather vane on his pole barn that his wife had made from a photo - mine is much simpler and lighter.

it's really amazing the variety of hunting dog - and especially setter - decorative items that were made in the early to mid 20th century- that is quite a display. most of my small hoard is packed away for lack of display space. One of my favorite finds was a Victorian era chocolate mold of a setter's head - lots of detail in it. I make those occasionally for special occasions - like puppy pick up days to give to the other new owners

this is a heavy sheet iron sign bracket I found a couple years ago - still need to design a sign to hang from it (one thought was something like "bird dogs spoiled here while you wait" :rolleyes:

http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...ictureid=10292

I'd be happy to display that nice piece here at the farm...and I'd even make a sign for it.:whistle:

Grace's reaction when I put this setter plastic casting in the window several years ago.


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