As with so many good questions like this, there are lots of variables in an answer. There are maintenance issues with any dog, and setters have their own. We groom our dogs in the summer and at the beginning of the bird season -- in the summer to help keep them cooler, and at the beginning of the bird season for the heat...AND the burrs, which are more prevalent then than later. Some breeders have developed setters with coats that are easier to maintain. Those are field bred dogs for sure.
If you have a long haired dog, there are issues that go with that. Bruce's baby oil treatment (we use a tangle-free hair treatment on occasion) is a very helpful solution (I guess that would be a "hack" in today's lingo, eh, Bruce?). Grouse hunting in Northern Minnesota presents very few problems. SE MN is another story, and early in the season it can be a chore de-burring the dog. In our Missouri-Iowa-Kansas covers cockleburrs are a real nuisance when hunting around wet or poorly maintained crop fields. Cocklburs are wicked(!), and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We sometimes have to cut those out, especially when then get under a leg against the chest. It does take time. We did have a Gordon that would skirt stands of cockleburrs to keep out of them, but most dogs just barrel on through...and regret it later. Short haired breeds are not immune to the cockleburs, but they don't get them nearly as bad as the long haired breeds.
I've hunted with guys who have GSPs and Pointers, and there are places where some of them won't go into the briars and canes that our Gordons bust on through. A heavier coat in those conditions is a plus. But I've also seen short haired dogs that would just bull on through any cover...and then not be able to take super cold weather, especially snowy, cold weather for more than a short hunt.
This is an often argued point, but in the end there are advantages to every breed under certain conditions, and for those who love a particular breed, we are willing to overlook any drawbacks...and often put up with the things that are a nuisance.
(Below is an example of early season SE Minnesota conditions -- before and after. This was a pretty mild case of the small burs that are so prevalent in those coverts. I don't have similar pictures of cockleburs because we are too busy getting them out to take photos!)
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"Doubtless the good Lord could have made a better game bird than bobwhite, and better country to hunt him in...but equally doubtless, he never did." -- Guy de la Valdene (from A Handful of Feathers )
"'I promise you,' he said, 'on my word of honor, I won't die on the opening of the bird season.'" -- Robert Ruark (from The Old Man and the Boy)
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08-30-2021, 09:51 AM
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