Phil,
I have not personally seen an Irish in the field. The few that are around this area are the Show/Pet variety that people have for pets. A guy from Idaho who bought a Chessie pup from me earlier this summer said he has a pair of Red Setters and he loves them. He hunts primarily Chukar with them. From what I've read the Red Setters are a little different from the Irish that most of us are familiar with. They sure are a beautiful dog. I think I've watched "Big Red" 50 times (that and "Old Yeller" .

I've never hunted farm released birds before.....all I know about them is what I've seen on the tv shows and what I've read. From what I've seen on TV, they hold pretty tight......it's very rare to get a wild pheasant around here to hold like those I've seen on tv. It happens, but not often. Most of the Pointing Breeds I've seen used on Pheasant here are what I would call "Semi-Flushers". They'll flash point when they scent a bird and then creep along as the bird moves stopping momentarily from time to time.

The best pointing dog I've ever seen was a neighbors Brittney. They didn't hunt at all.....he was just a pet. Theyare farmers and he had the run of the place. When I would go hunting there, he would follow me. He was incredible.. He'd point and then if the birds moved he'd take off like a streak and circle around them and pin them between him and me. He wasnt' much of a retriever, but he knew how to handle birds. As far as I know no one ever trained him at all. Unfortunately he was hit by a car. I would have bought him if they'd wanted to sell him, but he wasn't for sale.