First get him to really like birds.
If he's already retrieving dead birds, work on that until you think he is really enjoying it.
Next drag a 50 yard scent with the dead bird and let him follow it, retrieve it and then tossing it around retrieving and vice versa.Now he knows that at the end of the scent there is a dead bird. NEXT...
Using clipped live pigeons see if you can get him to retrieve them. If he hurts them you may have to kill it for him then toss it for him a few times so he knows he is allowed to retrieve wounded birds.Let him associate this as being fun. Now he loves live birds in this mouth.
MAKE a scent trail as before, using the live pigeons this time.At the end of the scent trail just let him do what ever he wants point or retrieve. Just reassure him that it's ok to just go for it. You can do this scent trails as hard and longer as you want.You just want him to realize that that is the way to find birds.
ONCE he is good and very enthusiastic in finding birds you can work on his being steady on point. A pointer has always that hesitation before flushing. What your'e doing is try to lengthen that time of hesitation until it is a complete point, this is where the WHOA command comes in( it is important that your dog understands and is completely trained on WHOA and do this all the time before using it in the presence of live birds).Depending on how you want your dog to behave on a hunt you can introduce advance commands as OK, or releasing to flush by patting the dog's back.Since this is a hunt and not a field trial you can adjust to how your dog behaves also and just go from there.The object is to let your dog associate bird scent on the ground or air means as fun birds to point or flush.
ENJOY,
louie

What I did with my Irish Setters was take them out to a dirt road and run them for around 10 miles.. Then when we got home I would start my training with them. It worked out great for me that way. As most on here knows the Irish loves to play games. Just by running some energy out of them made a world of difference. They hunt great for me now and can cover alot of ground quickly.. I found it very simple to train them after getting rid of that built up energy.. Good Luck with your friends dog..