ORIGINAL: Doc E
Daleh,
My PL does it all. Does he cover as much ground as your pointer? Nope, I certainly doubt if he does. Does he find as many birds per hour as your pointer? Yup, he probably does.
A few weekends ago, I decided to just have a "fun hunt" and see how long it would take to get one each of the four species of birds we were hunting that day.
It took 24 minutes of hunting to get a Goose, a Duck, a Pheasant and a Quail. There are probably only a couple breeds of dogs (DD/GWP and Pointing Labs) that can
consistently bring home a mixed bag like the one in this pic.
BTW, we hunt ONLY Wild Birds here -- no "released" birds at all.
nice pics, doc.. what i am seeing here in pa. is this on GROUSEnot pheasants..lets talk the toughest bird to get here in pa..
when fall comes, any dog and hunter can get grouse..they all flush in groups at 20 yds or less..
why, cover and feed and young birds grouping together..
when dec comes, grouse are spooky..by then, most have split up..you have NO LEAVES and now shots are 30 to 50 yds, if you shoot..
the dogs that hunt way out, say 100 yards,are not way to go ..all you will hear is this FLUSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..its so bad you cant hear where grouse took off from until you look around..
now, only dog i saw that hunts close, 20 yds is LAB..thats great but not PERFECT..
guess what lab does,HE FLUSHES..thats not good even at 20 yds but is doable..
a LAB that would POINT at 20 yds,oh my, you would have something there..or any dog that will point at 20/30 yds is a great thing..
early in season, grouse are not spooky.. a dog that roams out in front 100 yds covering territory , is fine..
but, when he does that later when leaves are off,not so good..grouse will not HOLD until you get there..the way they survive is flushing real quick at first sighn of danger in dec/jan here in pa..
so, a dog that hunts close not covering a lot of territory and POINTS,oh my, you have 1 heck of hunting partner there..
the 3 things i have found that i wish lab hadmor of is this..better nose for birds,not tire out so quick,be able TO POINT..
the other dogs that point have their things that i dont like also..roaming out to far,covering territory to fast and flushing birds out of gun range,cant take cold.yotes,dont retrieve,briars in hair,feet pick up thorns..
i guess, no dog has everything we would like but LAB, long legged,skinny waist,american one,no larger on male than 80 pds,female 65 pds,and POINTS,is as close to the ALL AROUND DOG , in my humble opinion as you can get..