The topic of my last blog entry was an account of my experiences with flushing spaniels used for pheasant hunting. I expressed that in many situations flushing spaniels are very effective pheasant dogs. I also alluded that I would blog about my favorite picks for pheasant hunting.
I sometimes use my retrievers (a lab and a chessie) for pheasant hunting, and they are pretty good pheasant dogs. But a have a German wire-haired pointer and an English setter that are my primary pheasant, grouse, and woodcock dogs. I always wanted an Irish setter, and some day I might get one. In the past, I preferred German short-haired pointers (also good dogs); but they have fell out of favor with me. I have hunted with people who had several other breeds which performed well on pheasant and other game birds.
In fact, almost a half a century of experience has taught me that the vast majority of dogs from hunting breeds can be valuable assets in the field and do about the same thing.However, "how" they do it distinguishes them apart. The degree that which a strength or trait actually functions as an advantage arguably depends on the hunter.
English setters and English pointers as a breed trait are predominately white. The white coat is an attribute that facilitates killing more pheasant. The better you can see your dog, the more birds you will kill. White shows up the best, unless there is snow.
English pointers and setters have been intentionally bred for expressive tails and sometimes "high" tails.These long, white, animated tails increase a hunters ability to visually track his dog and find them on point. The dog also signals that he is sensing birds with his tail, and the more expressive that tail is, the clearer the signal to you, the receiver. But it is a team effort, and the hunter's comprehension of dog body language, and his attention span and mental stamina when taxed against physical endurance, his ability to remain focused and collected under the discomfort of the great outdoors; all factor into the teamwork equation. The ability to read dogs and stay focused separates consistently successful hunters from frustrated ones or those who merely take a gun and a dog for a walk and occasionally kill a bird. The bottom line is, a white dog with expressive body language and a long tail that cracks when the dog is moving and stands high on point and a alert, composed hunter with a positive attitude as to not second guess his dog, will kill pheasants, provided the hunter can shoot his shotgun well enough....
That said, I like English setters better than English pointers. Rather than list what pointers lack, I will focus on what setters are blessed with....
One thing is a protective coat and a willingness to enter cover. It certainly is necessary to give a setter a haircut right before hunting season or else the dog will be bogged down with burrs. But a haircut manages this problem very well without affecting a setters ability to enter heavy and thorny cover.
As I indicated, I also have a German Wire-haired pointer. When I was into shorthairs, I did not encounter any outstanding wirehairs, but they had quite a good reputation. The way we came upon this one is another story, for another day. But he certainly is a keen hunter. Grey colored with a short tail. You can read his body language anyway, it just is not as beckoning. You can read any dog's body language, by the way, you just have to know how to read....
My wirehair has a protective coat that although is long and wavy does not accumulate burrs like a setters. He works well in thorny cover, but not quite as avidly as my setter. He does not shed and does not get a doggy odor.
On any given hunt my setter and my wirehair will point about the same number of birds. The rate of birds that flush within gun range is about the same, but often the setter gets a slight nod in that department. She works a bit closer, responds quicker to commands, approaches birds more cautiously, and her white coat and long tail allow me to locate her on point or before - when she hits scent and has not yet established a point.
These two dogs work well together and one compliments the other. Although they sometimes trap a bird that has run from the other, these dogs do NOT back or honor each other's point. It is obvious, they have worked out their own agreement with each other not to interfere with each other's bird. These are not dog's that ignore or cannot read each other. They patrol the house and cue each other extremely well. In the field it is a different story - if both dogs are birdy close to each other there is almost always two or more birds. Otherwise,they recognize when the other is on a bird and they go off and look for another. If one points they mind their own business and continue hunting, until there is a shot, at which the other will help hunt dead, provided the other dog has not quickly scooped up the bird. As a matter of fact, I have seen many dogs, even young puppies back naturally. Although I have trained dogs to back, I never owned a natural backer, even those with precocious natural pointing and retrieving ability. What these dogs have taught me, is that backing or honoring is NOT desirable and can cost the hunter opportunities to shoot pheasant. I have yet to have interference with shooting due to this. Thus, there is no reason for one dog to stop working when another is pointing. Why would you want to double the number of false points? And, these dogs leave each others alone when they are close or criss cross but if they are 50 yards apart and a pheasant one dog is working runs near the other dog, that dog will point it - this results in a lot of birds that would have escaped if these dogs backed or competed for the same bird. With that operating, and because they usually find an equal number of birds each hunt; I have determined that the number of points and birds killed is a little more than double than if I only hunted with one dog. In addition, I am certain that backing/honoring would result in fewer pheasants bagged rather than more.
I can't honestly say one of these dogs is better than the other. But I am certain that hunting with both of them together is more than twice as productive. The setter is a little easier to manage in the field, and the wirehair is more prone to flush birds out of range now and then. The wirehair will trail birds faster, and get out farther in the process. The setter certainly does trail birds very well, but will wait for us to catch up. I have not determined if that allows more runners to escape or results in less birds flushing out of range. On these occasions the wirehair might intercept a runner she is tracking which often gets shot.
I guess when you view your dog pack as family, you see everyone's strengths and weaknesses and focus on using teamwork to kill birds; rather focusing on an ideal. It is likely that having more than one dog, of different breeds enhances that attitude. Maybe it is the "sportsman stage of hunter development". This stage identifies comrade with human hunting partners as the primary motivate for hunting, but maybe it transcends to our canine hunting partners as well.
I sometimes use my retrievers (a lab and a chessie) for pheasant hunting, and they are pretty good pheasant dogs. But a have a German wire-haired pointer and an English setter that are my primary pheasant, grouse, and woodcock dogs. I always wanted an Irish setter, and some day I might get one. In the past, I preferred German short-haired pointers (also good dogs); but they have fell out of favor with me. I have hunted with people who had several other breeds which performed well on pheasant and other game birds.
In fact, almost a half a century of experience has taught me that the vast majority of dogs from hunting breeds can be valuable assets in the field and do about the same thing.However, "how" they do it distinguishes them apart. The degree that which a strength or trait actually functions as an advantage arguably depends on the hunter.
English setters and English pointers as a breed trait are predominately white. The white coat is an attribute that facilitates killing more pheasant. The better you can see your dog, the more birds you will kill. White shows up the best, unless there is snow.
English pointers and setters have been intentionally bred for expressive tails and sometimes "high" tails.These long, white, animated tails increase a hunters ability to visually track his dog and find them on point. The dog also signals that he is sensing birds with his tail, and the more expressive that tail is, the clearer the signal to you, the receiver. But it is a team effort, and the hunter's comprehension of dog body language, and his attention span and mental stamina when taxed against physical endurance, his ability to remain focused and collected under the discomfort of the great outdoors; all factor into the teamwork equation. The ability to read dogs and stay focused separates consistently successful hunters from frustrated ones or those who merely take a gun and a dog for a walk and occasionally kill a bird. The bottom line is, a white dog with expressive body language and a long tail that cracks when the dog is moving and stands high on point and a alert, composed hunter with a positive attitude as to not second guess his dog, will kill pheasants, provided the hunter can shoot his shotgun well enough....
That said, I like English setters better than English pointers. Rather than list what pointers lack, I will focus on what setters are blessed with....
One thing is a protective coat and a willingness to enter cover. It certainly is necessary to give a setter a haircut right before hunting season or else the dog will be bogged down with burrs. But a haircut manages this problem very well without affecting a setters ability to enter heavy and thorny cover.
As I indicated, I also have a German Wire-haired pointer. When I was into shorthairs, I did not encounter any outstanding wirehairs, but they had quite a good reputation. The way we came upon this one is another story, for another day. But he certainly is a keen hunter. Grey colored with a short tail. You can read his body language anyway, it just is not as beckoning. You can read any dog's body language, by the way, you just have to know how to read....
My wirehair has a protective coat that although is long and wavy does not accumulate burrs like a setters. He works well in thorny cover, but not quite as avidly as my setter. He does not shed and does not get a doggy odor.
On any given hunt my setter and my wirehair will point about the same number of birds. The rate of birds that flush within gun range is about the same, but often the setter gets a slight nod in that department. She works a bit closer, responds quicker to commands, approaches birds more cautiously, and her white coat and long tail allow me to locate her on point or before - when she hits scent and has not yet established a point.
These two dogs work well together and one compliments the other. Although they sometimes trap a bird that has run from the other, these dogs do NOT back or honor each other's point. It is obvious, they have worked out their own agreement with each other not to interfere with each other's bird. These are not dog's that ignore or cannot read each other. They patrol the house and cue each other extremely well. In the field it is a different story - if both dogs are birdy close to each other there is almost always two or more birds. Otherwise,they recognize when the other is on a bird and they go off and look for another. If one points they mind their own business and continue hunting, until there is a shot, at which the other will help hunt dead, provided the other dog has not quickly scooped up the bird. As a matter of fact, I have seen many dogs, even young puppies back naturally. Although I have trained dogs to back, I never owned a natural backer, even those with precocious natural pointing and retrieving ability. What these dogs have taught me, is that backing or honoring is NOT desirable and can cost the hunter opportunities to shoot pheasant. I have yet to have interference with shooting due to this. Thus, there is no reason for one dog to stop working when another is pointing. Why would you want to double the number of false points? And, these dogs leave each others alone when they are close or criss cross but if they are 50 yards apart and a pheasant one dog is working runs near the other dog, that dog will point it - this results in a lot of birds that would have escaped if these dogs backed or competed for the same bird. With that operating, and because they usually find an equal number of birds each hunt; I have determined that the number of points and birds killed is a little more than double than if I only hunted with one dog. In addition, I am certain that backing/honoring would result in fewer pheasants bagged rather than more.
I can't honestly say one of these dogs is better than the other. But I am certain that hunting with both of them together is more than twice as productive. The setter is a little easier to manage in the field, and the wirehair is more prone to flush birds out of range now and then. The wirehair will trail birds faster, and get out farther in the process. The setter certainly does trail birds very well, but will wait for us to catch up. I have not determined if that allows more runners to escape or results in less birds flushing out of range. On these occasions the wirehair might intercept a runner she is tracking which often gets shot.
I guess when you view your dog pack as family, you see everyone's strengths and weaknesses and focus on using teamwork to kill birds; rather focusing on an ideal. It is likely that having more than one dog, of different breeds enhances that attitude. Maybe it is the "sportsman stage of hunter development". This stage identifies comrade with human hunting partners as the primary motivate for hunting, but maybe it transcends to our canine hunting partners as well.