Gun Dogs

[David Weber]

The perfect dog? Like asking for the perfect wife. Lol. My breed of choice is the lab.

[King Brown]

A Lab is tractable, superb with children, very easily trained, good on waterfowl, grouse, pheasants in my experience. Chessie is superb in extreme North Atlantic waterfowl hunting, mind-of-his-own, one-man dog, to-keep-an-eye-on in my experience. I've owned, hunted and trained Labs for 45 years.

[Dean Romig]

King, I know very little about the Nova Scotia Tolling Dog... will they retrieve waterfowl?

[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.

[Bruce Day]

Bird dogs: Llewellin setters

[Brush Buster]

Old Maggie after a Day in the Thick Stuff !

[Brush Buster]

Maggies Boy ," Chipper " On Point and doing what he loves most !

[Bob Jurewicz]

GPS Quillow 12 and Kokee 2

[Chuck Heald]

Dennis,
I was without a dog until about 6-7 yrs ago here in your area...southern California. My first dog was a Lab. I chose a Lab not because I do waterfoul (yes, "foul"), but because I didn't have a clue on how to train and how to handle a dog, nor what I wanted or expected from the dog. An overwhelming number of hunters suggested this was the way to go. I don't think you can go wrong with one. But you'll have to realize that in this area of the country, the heat can easily limit a lab for upland hunting. I won't take mine out if it's above 70F. The beauty and partnership formed of hunting with a lab is also their limitation. A trained lab will hunt very close so as to be in gun range all the time. That means you'll see them get birdy and work a bird up. That also means that you have to walk a lot to cover a lot of ground. If you hunt open country, you and a lab only cover a bit of it. Labs have physical limits that become apparent quickly in the heat and terrain of the southwest open country. But it's a very close and personal way to hunt upland that is pleasant and rewarding.





A couple years ago, I decided I wanted a more athletic pointing dog that could cover more ground and was more suited to the warmer climate of the southwest. I quickly narrowed my list to the German Shorthair and English Pointer. I had hunted with shorthairs and thought they were a good way to go. But after taking some classes with a well known trialer and trainer, I went with a English Pointer, because of their athletic abilities and because I don't waterfoul or fowl. I'm only a year into owning my pointer, but I can see it's starting to pay off. My pointer can cover more ground than any dog I've ever hunted around. Last year, that wasn't necessarily a good thing as AmarilloMike can attest (more like make fun of ). She was busting birds half a county away. This year, she's really coming around and paying off. Last weekend, I had her out on wild Valley quail. She covered the entire side of a large steep hilly area about 10 acres, just on my whistle commands and her drive to hunt, then found a covey on a downwind track and turned to point it. It's a different way to hunt for sure, but I'm starting to really enjoy it because the southwest can have very sparse upland bird populations that required a lot of ground to be covered. My observation is that an English pointer will hunt faster and cover more ground, ranging further, than a German Shorthair, by a bunch in most cases. But I have seen one brace of GSP's that would give most EP's a run. But, I think it's more the exception than the rule. The kennel I visited up in Idaho in Sept trained all GSPs but is now moving to all EPs due to their athletic ability. It's sure a big jump from my lab to a EP. Probably the extreme ends of the upland dogs.




For a first dog in SoCal, I think a GSP would fit your bill of a bit of waterfoul and upland and do it well enough that you'd be really happy. The GSP's I've been around were excellent companions as well.

[C.O.B.]

Yesterday a friend who has two Llewellen setters and I went for a Pheasant hunt. I had Crazy Gaisy my GSP. The dog work was superb by all three and we saw and shot quite a few birds. Some shots were good some not so good.

One of the not so good shots will stand out in the memory bank for a long, long time. We were working a ditch and all three dogs were birdy. Finally they all locked up on point with Daisy streched out in a classic point paw raised her stubby tail straight up. Ella one of the Setters hard on point facing Daisy and Gracie the youngest dog backing solidly. It was the prettiest point I have seen Daisy ever make and I didn't have the camera. Well the bird flushed which was a hen with nothing around her except clear blue sky and I missed her not once but twice as she put hundreds of long snowy yards between us. I swear Daisy and Ella cussed my out

John, Dave's setter Ella will lay down when she points a bird. On the way home I asked him about it and he said the same thing you did about the gamekeepers netting birds. It's nice to learn something new.