Pheasant hunting dog
 

most of you know i like LAB best for hunting just about everything,i do still feel a lab does good job all around.
but this week pheasant hunting i have come to conclusion that best dog i have seen on pheasants is SPRINGER SPANIEL.

16 yr old springer smoked over 12 dogs other than springer.we had some of best setters,pointers,labs,gsp.
i have seen this for many years too.
covering ground and way they pick up scent has to be reason.
those dogs seem to go and go .

we went thru areas and pheasants were running.big run today.only dogs that perform well was springers.

For running pheasant, I would want an experienced pointing dog. Sometimes these pheasants will want to run, so after sniffing around a bit, my dog will take off at full speed trying to pin it down. But more often she will disappear in the high grass (1/2 of the field is thigh high the other half is chest high. The birds usually are chased into the chest high grass) After calling and calling her, a bird will pop up way too far ahead. Its a pain. Area is too small and expensive to get a beeper/gps but the dog gets lost in 20-30 yards out.

Spaniels are wonderful dogs. They will get into some of the roughest stuff most dogs wouldn't consider entering. But they are flushers. When on scent of a running bird, I'm too old and rickity too try to keep up.

you are right.springer i hunted with stayed close to us.others i saw were out too far.toby could not get into those briars.he knew the birds were inside.
that springer got at them.

springer that hunts close is just unreal on pheasants.

While I can not speak of wild pheasants I did use my Irish on a bird farm and he did great. The owner had a 2 springers which he enjoyed until one of them got into some rasins. ( That one had died from the rasins.) He know uses a GSP on his birds when some hunters show up with out any dogs. Keep in mind most of the pheasant hunting here was in the woods with a lot of cuttings to keep the area fairly clear. So while there was some tall grass most of it was thick brush and the like.

Got to agree with Mite here, on the dog to use on hard running wild birds. A good pointing breed is definitly the way I would go.
The finest dog work I have ever seen on farm raised birds - was an older Brittany Spaniel. It was on a bird farm in Ohio and the cover was knee high weed fields and brushy ditch banks. The birds did not run very much but they all flew strong - like wild birds. That was - hands down - the most bird savvy dog I have ever hunted over and I have hunted over a lot of different breeds. He hunted hard and he hunted close and needed very little correction or direction.

I believe the high grass is causing my dog to develop bad habits. She disappears in the stuff and I don't know if she pointing or just running thru the grass. If she's gone for some amount of time, I'll beep her collar or yell for her since she can't see over the high grass herself. There has been times when she's been on point and I've called her then a pheasant will pop up. Grrr..

Springers
 

I've found no other breed works as hard or with more fervor that a Springer.

Cold blooded killers, never complain except maybe when you miss.

I swear my Cleo would turn and glare at me if I missed a bird she put up.

While I have hunted with springers and other breeds, they have all certainly been good dogs. But when it comes to hunting wild birds in tough cover, I wouldn't trade my lab for any other breed. Just a truly awesome hunting machine. :)

Hey KT29---Where exactly do you live and hunt in sw ND? I was out between Regent and Hettinger again a couple weeks ago and the birds were numerous, but as wild as I've ever seen them as far as it was into the season before we got there.

Hey Topgun, I live West of Dickinson at South Heart. Our bird populations are considerably less than those in the Regent area. With the cold weather and the snow, the roosters are now starting to flock up which makes them considerably harder to hunt as you might expect. When one flushes, the rest aren't far behind. They are getting pretty spooky for sure. Still, with a good dog, and some hard hunting, one is still able to do Ok. Nothing like it was 3 or 4 years ago though. Was able to get out just before dark this afternoon and find a couple. Hope you had a good time hunting down at Regent.:)