[John Farrell, Charter Member #33]

First you have to define the difference between a birddog and a gundog. The birddog is just that. It was developed in the early 1800s to assist the tenant farmers of Great Britain, (who did not have access or legitimate ownership to fowling pieces) in finding upland birds, standing at point until given the command "Charge" whereupon it laid down, and then the hunter threw a net over the bird to capture dinner. Birddogs use their noses in the cone of scent that comes off the bird to pinpoint it so the owner can toss a net. Or in current times, bring up his classic double gun to bring dinner home.

Gundogs, on the other hand, were developed as trackers. With the exception of Labradors, they later became retrievers when they were to be used in bird hunting. Gundogs come in all breeds. The commonality of gundogs is they were developed to track wounded game in the forests of Europe. They could track any four footed critter leaving a blood trail and then attempt to tree, corner or kill it while the shooters caught up to the scene of carnage. Hopefully, the dog did not eat too much of the game before the shooter arrived. That is where the nom-de-plume Meatdog dog came from.

If you are going to hunt upland game with a classic side by side, the setter or pointer is the classic dog to use. I have spent the last 35 years doing research into the great breeders of England and the US. They all have one thing in common, they use the correct gun and the correct dog in their proper pursuit of the elusive upland bird. While pointing is required, retrieving is optional.

The photo of Tag and Woody was taken about 200 yards from the homeplace after a 4 hour hunt in the river bottoms. Tag is obviously tuckered out and is taking a sit down point. Woody is in his classic back.