Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs what breed would work?

have no experinc with gun dogs but looking for one that can do a few new to us jobs.

fall turkey hunting finding and busting turkey

blood tracking big game

shed hunting

and water work.

my first thought was a lab but open to other ideas,

Most certainly a Lab would work...

Had a Springer that would fit in...He would bust a flock, then lay beside me to call them in during the fall. Found Deer without any special training other than put his nose to the track and telling him to find. Never used him to hunt sheds, but that would only entail additional training...Never did nasty, cold big water retrieves...but he handled the small water, creek waterfowl work fine...

What’s your idea of water work, creeks, ponds, flooded timber? Or are you thinking open water like big lakes and sounds?

creeks and rivers retreving beaver and muskrats

I think a lot of dogs would work. A boykin or wachtelhund would be my picks for what you stated.

If you're doing a lot of hunting for fur and the dog is retrieving, take a look a the Deutch Drathaar. You'll want a dog that can defend itself and dispatch wounded critters then bring it back to you like it's the king of the world. That would be a DD.

Dang! A beaver is a pretty big critter. I believe I would go with something large and rather tenacious, like a Chesapeake.

This is what I was thinking too.

never heard of them can you tell me more?

those are one of the few i have heard of but i have a hard time beliving some of the stuff you hear. whice i run hounds most of the time i just named beaver and muskrat becuse i heard a guy talking about a game call that would work on beaver and muskrats. it was easier to bag a few for the table then trapping. so mostly looking for something that can take cold water and fish game out after the kill shot

I can’t think of anything that can take cold/rough water conditions like a Chesapeake. Those dogs are tough!

The DD's are great dogs but I would not suggest for an inexperienced owner.

Start with a good lab

Add to the Boykin and Wach. the AWS it is the kind of work it was bred for, it was the trappers/market hunters dog of the north country. Turkeys can be trained, they are pretty good in big water also, I hunted the major estuaries of the PNW and inland reservoirs for waterfowl pheasants, quail, grouse and woodcock.. Her ashes are buried on the shores of Grey's Harbor and made her last big water retrieve at 14.

cool the only one i had seen was one that belonged to a lady my grandma lived next door to. it was just a pet but it seemed like it take some time to use to us. can you give me some idea what they are like as far as handling and tranining, and how they are around livestook and other pets.

ok if that means american water spniel i looked it up. seems they were breed for water wor pluse upland game and fur bears have you seen or heard that?

Like Wilks mentioned...

Most of the breeds mentioned are likely to come out on the short end if a kicking Beaver gets a chance to grab on....no place for a Springer, AWS or Boykin, And a waterlogged Beaver will test the retrieving weight limit of all three. It may take a Kangal...

[quote=battue]Like Wilks mentioned...

Most of the breeds mentioned are likely to come out on the short end if a kicking Beaver gets a chance to grab on....no place for a Springer, AWS or Boykin, And a waterlogged Beaver will test the retrieving weight limit of all three. It may take a Kangal... lol i know of a guy in far nourth tha has a black lab that hunts beaver ever year with little or no problems

Well a Lab isn't anyone of the three I mentioned, and the Kangal was tongue in cheek....LOL... And most are not up to handling a Kangal anyway.....

Seems like your first thought is the answer.....Get a Lab from his stock.....

i only queston the lab becuse i head mixed things on how well they do for turkey

Labs are trained to sit quietly in the blind....no reason they wouldn't naturally flush Turkeys, or that it would be a problem having them sit quietly while you called one in. Labs easily retrieve Geese, so a Turkey should not be a problem..

Not uncommon to find others using Labs in the Uplands...A good one will take after Turkeys the same as it would Pheasants....

An average adult Beaver will go 50 pounds, dry....again, as much as I like the small Spaniels, scratch them off the list....