Originally Posted by
sproulman
jp, i seen it hunting for 46 yrs.those setters can pick up air scents .i guess breeding did that. TOBY CAN PICK UP SCENT OF GROUNDHOG 100 YDS AWAY IF WIND IS BLOWING.yet i seen him walk by a rabbit or grouse. i seen toby slowly hunting for pheasants ,next to him was setter and ran right to pheasant 20 yds away.
i believe toby was smelling the pheasants feet and the setter was smelling the pheasants body in air.if pheasant just sits in morning and not move it seems the setters pick up scent better.toby does walk right by.
my friend raises both labs/lewellin setters.he said on 10 pheasants lab will find 4 and setter will find 7.many the lab walked by.
he said setters will fid more birds than lab.he likes a lab because if bird runs the lab will put bird up. setter will be pointing while bird runs.
i hunt a lot and for wild grouse. i am only one using a lab.now when i go pheasant hunting its about 2 labs,5 setters,2 gsp,3 springers.thats rough day at warriors mark preserve and about average.
on grouse its setters, english pointers,gsp,BRITTANYS.i am only one with LAB.
Sproul my lab trains with 8 GSP's and he locates the birds faster then they do most of the time and they are all 2 + years of age.
Also about your theory about labs not being able to pick scent out of the air, I just conducted a little experiment with Mojo, this morning I hung a small antler 4 + feet above the ground in a bush and then this afternoon when I went home for lunch I set Mojo loose to find it, well it didnt take him any longer to find it 4 + feet high then it would if I hid it under the bush. And like I said, it is alot harder for a dog to pick up the scent of an antler then it is to pick up the scent of a live bird. Pike
