Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Wanted : pheasant dog...

I love my setters, but for a tough as nails pointing, cover-bucking, water-dog, upland-dog, bird machine the wirehaird-pointing-griffon is about the ultimate package.

I learned this at a very early age.

+1

The rest of the story. My first pointing dog (formerly a Beagler) was adverised as a GWP. When I got there the dog was black, solid black. The second owner of this three month old female (35 lbs?) said, "oh one of the parents was a GWP and we think the other was a Lab". So for any of you who have been a victim of puppy love...Just a great dog. Full of odd quirks. She would collect all the sox in the house, every evening and put them in a pile, in a bedroom. Same routine with the shoes but they were placed in the bathroom. Once satisfied she would fall asleep under my (her) chair. Her other dog was as Shop Dog in the Flyfishing Proshop we had back in Michigan. A pointing, retrieving, nice little dog finished out at 25" and about 47 lbs.'Changed her name to Mona because she would talk a pretty good conversation and answered every fire truck and police siren especially the ones too far away for human ears.

That dog and a really neat pheasant club membership got me into pheasants in a big way. fast forward 25 years and four GWPs and several cross country moves later I am still looking for another Mona.

I can exercise and work dogs where I live now but waterfowl are the only game in town excep a week (or four) in Kansas each fall.

I suppose I had a pointing lab of sorts or a Labrapointer. Any other GWP/ crosses (misfits) out there?

The answer is of course to buy a trained dog from a best breeder so the qualities of the hunting side of the dog's life can be sampled befor the committment begins.

Tiger Mountain Pointing Labradors. Just google it and read up.

Came across this website a few years ago, might be worth looking into if you just want a standard grade pup.

http://www.drahthaars.net/trebor.htm

I got my first GWP from Treborwolf and it was an elite female. She was an excellent dog and we hunted Idaho for many years. My second and third GWP came from Cascade Kennels in Sherwood Oregon and those dogs were every bit as good as the excellent pup from Treborwolf. I liked working with Ray and Lynn.

BUT, all of my GWPs became very territorial when in their later years and since I life around others this was not acceptable.

My hunting partner has a 2 year old Puddlepointer that is showing great promise. She is more relaxed and works closer than any of my GWPs.

I started with a Springer and he was a terror on pheasants and he tracked them into hell. I found some of his retrieves unbelievable and I was there! But he was impossible to control and would run up birds whether or not you were there. He listened well until he got a nose full of bird and then all bets were off.

I miss all of my dogs, they were all fun to hunt over, some more so than others.

I would think that the Brittany is exactly what you described as your perfect dog.

What is the deal with the "tall grass" problem?

"Tall Grass" 30 to 160 ac of 3 to 6 foot blue stem CRP in rolling terrain. A clipped bird is a lost bird. Jump lots of roosters mostly past 50 yards, shoot your best, (with high dollar loads) and still put darn few birds in the game bag. Fortunatly this last season or two the quail numbers were great and we do retrieve most of the little birds, however they can run and hide like a rooster (two took to rabbit holes after being shot this season). The deaf, 15 YO Britt had maybe his best season of his life and added a new "feature" uncontrolled drooling from where he lost a tooth and once (in the long grass) he found the second of a pair of DRT roosters and ate about a third of it.

What ya gonna do? Deaf, never did smell too good, mostly crazy, drools and now pretty much is his own boss. We will miss him, I suppose.

Bill,
my Lucy did for me this year what you're looking for. She's a 2.5 y/o Weimaraner that came into her own in the pheasant fields this year. She does get to run with me at least 3 days per week, and if we don't run, I ride bike and she runs. She's much calmer than most GWPs I've worked with or run into, but in the field she worked hard and tight, sometimes even too tight, but when she caught scent she went nuts, the good kind of nuts, as in she doesn't leave a scent until she finds the bird. We didn't lose ANY pheasants this year in any cover, including cattails and the CRP you're referring to, she was great at picking up clipped birds. She does water retrieve, but I haven't had her in a duck hunting situation yet, just working with the dummies on blind retrieves and directions, and obviously sight retrieving. Right now she's laying on the floor next to Grace, our 8 y/o before they head for school. She's good with the kids and lets us know when people show up at the door. I wouldn't take her waterfowling in cold weather like a Lab or Chessie will handle, but she does fine in the field down to at least zero, and we run outside below that as well.

The propblem with GREAT DOGS is they are few and far between. Wirehaied pointers are about as good as it gets for the one dog all season hunter. I hunt with a fabulous GSP, a great big one maybe 28" and 80 lbs. This opener Buck caught a runner, carried it about ten yards, gently set it down and watched it run into cover. It seemed like he did his job and then went looking for a fresh bird. I like most all of the German Super Breeds and will likly look hard into pointing labs. Willie, enjoy that pup!

The hunt "all day in 70 to 0 degree weather" requirement rules out labs and similar retrievers for anything approaching big cover. It's not a question of heart, just build and body size. NFL linebackers don't make for effective marathon runners.