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In 43 years of hunting (with 3 Labradors for small game), I have not met more than 10 of those German pointing spaniels and have always been impressed by the quality of their work. They are still not common but have won quite a following in France since a few years. In Germany, it's another story and these dogs are used successfully on small and big game, even used on blood spoors. When my last Lab Czar died in 2013, I decided to acquire a Münsterländer as my 1st pointing dog. There being only 2 breeders in my country, I put my name on the bottom of a waiting list and hoped (Münsterländers are only sold to hunters, as the result of an agreement between breeders who insist on keeping the hunting instinct intact)... Finally, I got a call that I could get –not choose- a little bitch, which came as a surprising nr. 8 as the echography had only detected a litter of 7 (all of which were pre-sold long ago). Since then, we have developed a complicity and become a hunting team I never had before. She's a true war machine, picking up the scent of game at < 10 meters under cover, before closing in and pointing, steady as a rock! She also comes along on deer stalking where she remains calm and steady (until I shoot, that is...) and follows a blood track very efficiently. She even surprised me lately : we were nearing a Roebuck I just shot and, when the comatose animal shivered, she launched herself and grabbed the dying animal by the throat, jaws clenched, strangling for long minutes, while I fumbled unsuccessfully with the flash of my camera. Only after I was able to take a photo, did she release her prey on my insistence. Field dressing the buck, I found the larynx was crushed. I called the breeder afterwards and he replied that this behaviour was instinctive and as expected... Enough said, here come a few pics of Mabel du Clos des Renards :






Mabel pointing


Mabel, silent but watchful in mirador


Mabel strangles (sorry for pic quality, taken w/o flash in the dark, then numerically brightened)


Mabel and I with latest roebuck, harvested on 05.03.2016