Good Upland Bird Dog??

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Jeff Jewell
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Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by Jeff Jewell »

What's a good Pheasant dog besides a German Shorthair?
No Labs Please.........
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leatherneck77
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Re: Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by leatherneck77 »

Jeff, you could not do any better than a quality English Pointer. Best dog I have ever had. Will hunt all day and ask for more. Also probably best nose of all the pointing breeds.
JR
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Brian
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Re: Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by Brian »

Why no Labs? I have a Lab going on 13. He is one of the best upland dogs you will ever have the privilage of ever hunting behind.
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Ken C.
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Re: Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by Ken C. »

Jeff, if you have a family you should seriously look at the labs. I have 3 pointing Yellow Labs that may not be the "robots" that the pointer people like but my two females will hold a point for a short time, although they won't hold the point so long that you can load your gun, load and light your pipe and mosey on over to where the dog is, but they will let you know what's up. Here's a pic of them on a pheasant:

Image

Plus they double up as water dogs when you go waterfowl hunting, and at the end of the day they will come back home and protect the family and cuddle up with the kids. Overall they'll make the best family members you'd ever want to have!

Mine have unbelievable noses - I remember more than once going on a public hunt, going into a check that a couple of guys and their dog(s) had just come out of (they got skunked) and my dog(s) will get birds up. Plus they are for the most part easy to train. One of my old buddies hunted behind my first dog and he was impressed by her following my whistle and hand commands.

He decided to get himself a hunting dog and went for a GSP. I remember talking with him some time later and he told me about how on their first hunting trip together he let the dog out of the truck and as they tend to do, the GSP took off running. No problem he thought to himself as he pulled out his trusty whistle and blew it 'till his ears were ringing. Mind you the dog had never heard this whistle before now! Brandy, the GSP, just kept on a runnin though and the only way he could track her was to see where the birds were busting up about 100+ yards out! He said he chased that dog around a good 3 hours before he caght up with her. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't stop at the whistle!! :lol:

Oh, the stories.... Suffice it to say that I've been very pleased with my dogs and I feel you can't go wrong with a good Lab.
Last edited by Ken C. on Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Dukslayer26
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Re: Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by Dukslayer26 »

Shorthairs are for clubs. You must hunt hastings or birds landing where a shorthair will be worth something. The delta area is to thick for pointers and if you disagree you aren't a pheasant hunter. Never say no LABS!!!!!!
I love huntin cause I love going deep into the bush and I always shoot twice!!
B Becker
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Re: Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by B Becker »

I know I'm not from your area, but here in the desert, the best three dogs I ever hunted with were a Golden Retriever, Brittany Spaniel (similar to the English one mentioned), and my German Shorthair....my German Shorthair is in the Midwest now hunting competitions...he is currently ranked 6th in the nation....I never trained him, he just took to it....with all my fishing, I never have time to hunt, that is why "Jager" (German for hunter) is in the midwest with a friend...Labs are probably the best all-around dog though....Jager was a spaz and so was the Brittany.....but that Golden was the best quail dog I ever hunted with...I would buy another Golden in a heart beat, but I don't have the time and hair was brutal here in the desert....just my .02
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leatherneck77
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Re: Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by leatherneck77 »

I do disagree, I have been hunting in just about every state West of the Mississippi and have never had a problem with my Pointer. I love my Labs, but the best nose on a dog will always be on a Pointer.
JR
stephen coulter
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Re: Good Upland Bird Dog??

Post by stephen coulter »

all breeds can make good hunters. If you hunt in and around lota of bures, stick to the shorter hair variteys, first thing is teach the dog to come to a whistel, two tweets means come now, no exceptions. the e-collar will make sure you get your point across.You will notice the really good dogs allways know whitch way the wind is blowing, they will swing down wind of a clump of brush give it a couple sniffs and move on
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Kelly Ripa
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I'm prejudiced....

Post by Kelly Ripa »

We raised Weimaraners (and Pheasants) for 15 years when I was a kid and here is why they are the best in my book for hunting upland game bar none. They will never be out of your range and they work in a figure eight around you as you move along so they don't miss much even when the birds are running on you you'll know by the dogs body language. We could not hunt Grizzly Island as our dogs were so fast ( trained with live birds with a cord on the leg and brick on the ground when the pups were young) the dogs were coming down with the front paw from the on point stance and we brought in a box of hens one day to the check out and the wardens went nutz. Don't look at us :roll: you won't find any shot in them as she broke there necks. Roosters jump up before the flush but the slower hens....not a chance so we had to join a club and then we would make her "stay" while we moved in and once we could see the bird we would either let her flush or call her in and flush the hen. NEVER liked any shorthair.....Sorry guys...I know I'll get flak on that but just my opinion and don't get a male as the testosterone thing gets to be a pain in the ***. Sit in line waiting to go into a refuge and all you hear are the male dogs gett'n into it and the females just go pee and are ready for the day A good solid pointing/retrieving dog, over water whatever and a sweet family dog believe me nobody messed around with us kids on our property or they might have had a big silver dog giving them a look. I like a smooth coat dog as it's a bit easier to clean up after and we never had any problem anywhere in the state (California) with her not being able to handle the weather. I could go on forever but the day she put the Field and Stream champion to utter shame at the gun club we belonged to for one year was one of the highlights of my life, Field and trial dogs don't impress me much :shock:
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David McKenzie
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Re: I'm prejudiced....

Post by David McKenzie »

I like all the breeds mentioned and they all hunt. Dogs are like boat brands and everybody has there taste. I'm also partial to dogs that work close and a smooth coat is a definite plus. Again, it's taste and your style of hunting. I'm considering a weim in the future and right now we have a two year old Vizsla, (Hungarian Pointer) shes birdy as hell with increadible drive, stamina and sense of awarness. Super high energy and they are NOT for everyone by any means. Most won't won't do well getting out once or twice a week and need and want work daily.

Dave

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lippy
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Re: I'm prejudiced....

Post by lippy »

Dave,

i was considering in getting a vizsla before i got my hound.The first time i ran across one was in the hills at a state park.The people were walking it around,and i look at the dog real close and fell in love with its temper very respectfull dogs and loving with kids.Well i did alot of internet research on the vizsla and come to find out they were hard to get.So after 3 long years of trying to find one i gave up and got a hound.You were the 3 person i ever heard of to mention the breed vizsla.If i were to ever look for one is there a place in California that has them?Please let me know.

Thanks Kenny,
David McKenzie
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Re: I'm prejudiced....

Post by David McKenzie »

Hey Kenny,

There are a couple of breeders in Northern California and one in San Diego. The rest are backyard bred dogs and I wouldnt go that route. For any Breed.

We did an exhaustive search too. Once we found a breeder with proven dogs we waited until they had pups available. The two breeders that I know of have them sold the minute they are born. I think it was about 9 months or a year until we found a pup.

They aren't very common but unfortunatly there are a few that breed em for profit. Aside from quality a good reputable breeder is there for you two years down the road when you have issues or concerns and CARE where there pups go and how they are doing and there progress.

There is also a V recue in the east bay that always has a couple of dogs that need a good home. If you want to see em close up there is a large group 10-15 sometims more that work/run them just about every weekend near Point Pinol. There you see how they REALLY are Ha..If want any of the info shoot me an email and I will get it over to you.


Dave
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Kelly Ripa
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Re: I'm prejudiced....

Post by Kelly Ripa »

Our Dear freiend was always trying to top us. When it came to cars he had a porsche my old man had the new datsun 2000 roadster. He bought a Charles Daley over/under the old man used an 870 ,He bought a fully trianind Vishla. Ha! No comparison to our weimeraner. I'm biased but that dog (vishla) would chase anything and wouldn't settle down ever until it dropped dead from tear'n *** all over the place(no discipline). If our dogs head ever went down (rabbit) we'd just go "ahh ahh" and her head would be up and she would be back in the game looking for those tastety purty birds. We were fortunate in that we lived on a farm and the dogs had miles if they wanted it but they hung at the house pointing the pheasant's in our cages when they wern't romping around with us kids. It all boils down to the work you put into your dog=expectations. We were told to play with cap guns and the dogs never thought about the gun when we grautated them to live birds and the end cut off the shotgun shell (less report) and then up to the real thing. I have home movies of our 9 month old pup on her first point/retrieve. It's actually pretty funny. He downed the bird on the other side of a canal. Well nobody told her that she was expected to SWIM for it! She looked both ways and saw a small bridge 100 yards away, so she ran down there and over got the bird and ran all the way back. We played with her in the sprinkler the next summer. Then we couldn't keep her OUT of the water :wink: Good luck on the new dog whatever you get.
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Curly
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Re: I'm prejudiced....

Post by Curly »

Not much action in the Gun Dog section. I just found this site and thought I'd add my 2 cents:

I love labs. My labrador is now 13yrs old and retired from hunting. He gets too sore now to go hunting, but he was a great pheasant hunter.

If no labs and no GSP, then take a look at Boykins. Just google boykin and start reading about them; they are great little dogs. I am thinkging about getting a Boykin, but will probably get another lab.

Boykins are small flushing dogs; they are supposedly a cross between a spaniel, chesepeke bay reteiver and a couple others. I kind of like the idea of a smaller size dog so he doesn't take up much room in the boat.

Another choice is an English Cocker Spaniel (not to be confused w/ the American Cocker) or Springer Spaniel or Field Spaniel.

I prefer flushing dogs myself, but that is because I normally hunt areas with a little more cover. Sparser cover it is good to have an English Pointer or the like.

If you prefer pointing dogs, you might like a Gryphon or German Wirehair pointer. And don't forget about the Brittany Spaniel.
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