LOL. Shame on me for using the competition analogy. I apologize if I've offended anyone's experience or accolades in competition.
My point was (and remains) that since the OP was specifically interested in RETRIEVERS for upland, labs can bring enough upland ability for real hunting. I'll submit that it may be a certain bloodline or "one off" dog in the breed, but he seems to have several of them than can do it and seems like a capability of a retrieving breed the OP may want to research.
