Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs A grouse dog

I'm starting to arrange my pics. I thought y'all might like to see a grouse broke pointer.

Great looking Pointer!!! Just wanted to let you know someone was looking. That shot makes me wish it was fall allready. I never hunted over a good pointer, I love my Springers!

Pretty. Thanks for sharing.

Lop off that tail and he'd be a dead ringer for my old shorthair.

Ahhh, longing for Sept.....

Sure your GSP doesn't have pointer in him?

All kidding aside, thank you. I sure enjoy my dogs, like, I'm sure, everyone else does too. Its a joy just to be afield with them, regardless of breed.

You keep posting pictures of them fine pointers you are going to give up on the setters....grin.


Dink

No, no I'm not... I'm not so bold as to think that way down the line back when there wasn't a little pointer blood infused in some of the shorthair lines.

Must be a Pa. thing. However, I would like to walk up that dogs left side and take my chance that he has a bird pretty much lined up with his nose.

Huntaria Setters,

Forgive me, but since we're bragging a little, this old boy brought back somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 Ruffed Grouse during his life. How many he flushed I have no idea and I wouldn't even begin to try and guess the number of Doves he retrieved.

Mr. Duffy with his last two Birds:

Battue,
If a man can't brag on his dogs, he shouldn't own one. I love the memorial to Mr. Duffy. I think you've seen my memorial to Mollie, a dog that had 97 wild pheasants shot over her (and I've never lived anywhere near pheasant country--I just traveled to Iowa at every opportunity) and I honestly couldn't tell you the hundreds upon hundreds of quail.

I will tell you, I had always loved pointers, but pretty much relegated them to horseback. This little girl has just about changed my mind. I will likely breed her this year for the purpose of producing foot hunting dogs.

When I bought my first bird dog everyone told me stay away from the english pointer. You know pointers just run off, won't retrieve, hard headed and really do not make a good foot hunting dog.

At the time all my buddies hunted GSP,Britts and Setters. All of these dogs had what I considered faults. Some would not retrieve and most would not range past 100 yards. The more I hunted with these guys the more I noticed that they perserve hunted two or three times a year and that was it. Most did not wild bird hunt at all or if they did it was just a couple of days a year.

I said to hell with it I wanted a race horse and bought a english pointer pup from south Texas. I think when seasoned opened that year she was 8 months old and I had already killed 50 or 60 perserve birds in front of her. I will never forget watching her opening day range 200 to 300 yards just hunting as hard as she could. I hunted her 36 days of the 75 day wild bird season that year and killed 40 something wild quail that year she actually retrieved. I finally had a bird dog.

I have thought several times about buying a different breed of dog one that would be easier for my little boy to get along with but I just can't. I can't tell how many times I have cut a patch of cover short but with the range of my dogs they will cover it and point a covey in the far edge of somewhere that I was not going to hunt. I guess you could say that I am a pointer man.

Dink

Shows how much the region you hunt influences the style of dog you prefer. Up here in MI, you get a hard time if you hunt with anything other than a pointer. And they're pretty much exclusively foot dogs.

I do love the shorthair temperment and personality around the house, especially with young children. But I confess, my next dog will likely be a pointer.

I lived in MI for several years and lived in the middle of state forrest land in Gladwin County. I would agree with that first statement. For example, many, if not most of the pointers in this area NEED to range a half-mile or more at a time to hunt the wide-open farmed-edges for quail. You do that in the swamps and gray dogwoods, you may be until dark trying to find your dog. Having said that, a really good dog sooner or later learns how to adjust. The pointer I posted has learned to do that. I have seen a few horseback bred dogs that never look back, though.

As far as a house dog, she has the most even temperment I've ever seen and, at 4 years old, can be as playful as a puppy. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a more loving breed than pointers or English Setters, for that matter.

I am a bit surprised about your comment on MI hunters and pointers. I probably saw 10 English Setters for every pointer I ever encountered. I suppose that has about as much to do as where in the state you hunt.

Ahh, Gladwin County. Pretty respectable grouse land.

Maybe it is just the company I keep, but yah, most guys run pointers around here. They outnumber the setters at the coverdog trials too. Setters next, followed by shorthairs, then brits. Shorthairs and brits being far fewer than pointers and setters and of course, you never see them at a coverdog trial. I suppose it is in part due to the fact that we don't have pheasants anymore and MI is pretty much a grouse/WC state.

Used to occasion the grouse trials in the Beaverton/Gladwin area. When I ran them (early 2000's) I'd say it was probably 50 to 60% Setter then and the pointers came mostly from a couple of trainers from Alberta. Just bumping into guys hunting (mostly at the Este Market) was a different matter. Sounds like folks there are moving more towards pointers. If they are like the ones I've been working lately, I can't blame them.

I see a fair number of pointers here in SW Montana and they seem to do just fine. Especially in the early season when it can be down right hot out.