hunting dogs

[deadmonkey90]

whats the best hunting dog that you guys have experienced.

[oneounceload]

Depends on what type of hunting and the game involved. Here in FL that can include small game birds, and deer

[protectedbyglock]

depends what you're hunting, I'd say.

First off, the dog that isn't gun shy.

Then, for birds, I'd say german shorthaired pointers, and retrievers, and labs.
For rabbit, I'd say beagles.

But then again, my grandfather had a mut named "sarge" that would hunt anything. Arguably better than I've ever seen. I can't even remember what he was. Only problem with him was that he'd hunt great in the morning, but then he'd play too much with the chick down the street in the afternoon, and be tired for coons in the evening. :D
He's still go, though, just a little slower...

[deadmonkey90]

yea she would be for birds.

[rjrivero]

My black lab was wonderful on upland game. He would point, and hold then flush on command. I had him trained on a whistle and he would hunt from sun up to sun down. He's 14 now, and it's all he can do to get out the door anymore, but what a great dog.

[deadmonkey90]

yea i think i have narrowed my options down to black, chocolate, labs. or lab retriever.

[L_Killkenny]

I'll take a good varmint dog any day. Terriers (specifially Jagd) and curs top the list. IMO, any dog can wind a bird at 10'. Give me a dog that will track and attack something with teeth!! Feathers are boring.......

[deadmonkey90]

http://www.buckmanager.com/media/images/2007/11/fox_shooter_banner.jpg.
on the other end of the sight is you dog i think.

[Waterengineer]

where is Hotdogs when we need him? I bet he has an answer.

For me that would be birds, upland style, in my case. I don't care to sit in the blind too much.

Luckily for me I have been around some great dogs. It is usually about the training and the handling, not the dog. Although some dogs are definitely more birdy than others. Great dogs I have been around are Visla Hounds, Weims, American Brittanies and French Brittanies.

However, if has to pick one dog it would be a Musterlander, welped and trained by a family in SD where I try to hunt every year.

The Musterlander is a great Versatile Dog. Unfortunately, not well known in the USA, but are catching on. I expect that we do not know more about them here is that they are not recognized by the AKC, although they are recognized by the British and French equivalents.

If you want to learn more go here:

http://www.smallmunsterlander.org/

By the way, great family dog too - great with the kids.

[orchidhunter]

The Mountain Cur can do it all, from Bird to Bear. orchidhunter

[hoytinak]

I'm fond of German Shorthair's myself. This is my German Shorthair "Buddy" and myself out pheasant hunting. He hasn't been back out in a while though, I really need to get him out more....he's a really great hunter. Anyways and in the next pic he's just showing off for the camera. :cool:

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/5808/scan0001iy2.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5371/buddyik8.jpg

[orchidhunter]

hoytinak, Very nice looking GSP. orchidhunter

[BigJimP]

My personal favorite is a Lab - but my wife says the reason I like them, is my dog was just like me ....

( can only do one thing at a time / not especially bright ( leaping out of a blind, in freezing water, landing on his testacles ..) / and often like a bull in a china shop ....) and I keep wondering what her problem is ....

Of couse she's right / but that's how I like it .....

[mwar410]

yea, my black lab is for the birds, now he is unemployed and I got another chessy.

[hogdogs]

Besides hog doggin, I only hunted behind beagles for bunnies.
But for hog doggin' we need a dog silent on the track, able to put teeth in the ass end to stop the hog and brains to bay it hard enuff to hold it fast but not so tight that the hog runs due to pressure.
Catch dogs have to head for the hog and catch an ear or jaw and stay that way until the hog is secure. It don't matter if the curr dogs or catch dogs are dieing opened up... they gotta stay doing there job.
I have seen curr breeds of the many and several breeds of bulldog (pit, american bulldog, mastiffs and rotties) with mixes in 'tween do the job and I have seen both so called hog bay dogs and bull dogs that self load in the dog box after one BUMP from a sho nuff hog. I have seen a gob of "pound hounds" work out but for upland bird and water fowl I bet it is tuff to locate a dog and breeder that suits you...
Brent

[fisherman66]

In my pretty limited experience birding...

GPSs followed by English Pointers and English Setters rounding things out. I own a Setter, but she is soundly beat by my FIL's GSPs in the field.

[WIN71]

They'll point anything........

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/win71/penraisedbirds.jpg

[bejay]

have quail hunted with german shorthair, pointer , setter and for the most part any of them can be great dogs to hunt behind if they are trained well.

[freakintoguns]

how are German shepards and mastiffs for hunting dogs? obviously more for dnagerous game then birds

[Old Guard Dog]

Beagles are great for rabbits, but the knotheads won't look for game. All they will do is use their nose, and sing. A rabbit could be standing 10' in front of them, but if they don't smell their trail, they won't notice them. Fun to hunt with, though.

[popeyespappy]

The Pudelpointer is not really well know in the US yet but is becoming more popular as a versatile gun dog.

http://cedarwoodgundogs.com/

http://www.pudelpointer.org/breeders.html

[roy reali]

It is the hunter behind the dog.

[Maromero]

German Wirehaired Pointer
Labs
Vizsla

not necesarily in that order. For stricly retrieving, the Labs. For anything else the wirehaired or Vizsla.

[Shorthair]

I have little if any opinion on the subject.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/gspdave45/tustinremy10-02.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/gspdave45/REM1297B.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/gspdave45/man1yrb.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/gspdave45/tustin8-04a.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/gspdave45/rem299a.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/gspdave45/tustin8-04b.jpg

[fisherman66]

Beautiful ticking!!!

I love the breed as a whole, but I prefer those GPSs with less solid liver and more ticking. However; those with dark paws tend to have a greater resistance to blisters than the pink pawed ones, and those with dark paws seem to have a greater liver color distribution.

[James R. Burke]

I would have to say a german shorthair pointer. I had one for twelve years great hunting dog. They never stop, it was hard just trying to take a break with mine. But to be honest they are not for everyone. They are very high strung, and need alot of exersize. If they dont get enough it will come out in bad ways. Great dog for birds, but like I said this is not a mellow type dog.

[railer12]

Labs! The Cadillac of dogs. Small females are my favorite.

[hogdogs]

For the "dogs of nobility" I gotta say them "ticked" GSP's are the cat's meow when "on point"! Just exquisite! Yeah my hog dogs may be tuffer and sporting bowling ball nads but even when doing their job perfect they don't exude the class of a firmly pointed GSP standing stone statue stiff...
Brent

[6x6pinz]

I just got my first duck dog this season. He has been working out very well. A nice yellow lab that blends into the cattails very well.
One thing I found is that the dog should love to hunt and not be gun shy. These are two traits that you should not have to train the dog for. If he does not want to hunt or is afraid of a gun find another as it is not worth the time and effort to train them when there are so many others out there to be had.
All that aside I wish I could have made my standard poodles into hunting dogs. The wife would not let me take the family dogs into the field. Too bad as they are just about the best mannered dog and their desire to fetch is off the charts.

[jlbpa]

Recently I hunted with a friend behind his German short hair. The dog was very young a still learning but it left me wondering why I ever bothered to go hunting without a dog. Without that dog we wouldn't have seen a thing. All the long quiet walks with my shotgun I've taken in the past would have likely turned into exciting hunting excursions if I would have had a dog.

If I lived some place where wild birds (quail, pheasants, grouse) proliferated and rabbits hung around too. I'd have a german short hair to point the birds and route out the rabbits.

[rmocarsky]

Brittany.

[hogdogs]

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/caughthog/PA190228.jpg
My number one hog DAWG!!! Junior is a beast on a hog!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/caughthog/PB180299.jpg
2 great dogs... one is too young to know it!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/caughthog/P3010593.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/caughthog/P3010587.jpg
These 2 and Junior had this hoss tossed and near tied before I got to them!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/caughthog/P2250570.jpg
They just don't care about size! Pig is a pig!
Brent

[6x6pinz]

nothing smarter than a standard poodle
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/6x6pinz/poodleduckdog.jpg

also labs for exhausting duck hunts (he is sleeping not chewing)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/6x6pinz/0109091118.jpg

don't laugh at the standard poodle till you do your homework. Great sporting dog, just too smart for most hunters to handle.

[hogdogs]

the poodle is a good huntin' dog if you can find working not show lines!
Brent

[James R. Burke]

Like I said in my previous post we had a G.S.P. great bird dog. I would say the best, but like I said not for everyone. They are very high strung, and do need alot of excersize. We sure miss him. Hunting now without a dog seems almost not worth doing. With him we seen more birds then I ever thought were out there. Now we see one or two when we go out. Had to put him down when he was twelve. Very hard to do he was our best freind. Buried him were we got the first bird with him, and the hat I was wearing at the time. A friend made a nice marker out of rock that is there. I know he is where he loved to be. There are so many nice breeds for hunting. I dont think I could go thru it again knowing someday it will come to a end. The Lab, Golden, Brittany, are some of the best, and make great house pets. If you get a hunting dog or just one for a freind it will be the best thing you can do, and they are the best hunting partners you can have.

[redlevel42]

hunting dogs
whats the best hunting dog that you guys have experienced.

This one. My Llewellyn Setter, Chipper. Here, he is "backstanding" another Setter pointing a covey about 50 yards away.
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p208/redlevel42/IMG_1701.jpg

Here he is pointing a rare covey of wild quail while The Big Guy (me) goes in to flush. You can't see it in the picture, but my shotgun is a Parker 20 gauge Trojan Model purchased by my Great Uncle Perk nearly 100 years ago.
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p208/redlevel42/IMG_1148_1.jpg

[roy reali]

Some time back I was watching a bird hunting show. The landowner was also a dog breeder. The host asked him which dog breed he would recommend to a novice. He told the host his first choice is always GSP's and his second choice is the Brittany. He said with these two breeds, the odds are favorable that the dog will have hunting instinct to work with. The host then asked about labs. That is the dog he used. The breeder said that labs have become too popular. That if someone doesn't do their homework before purchase they could end up with a good pet, but a lousy hunter.

[hogdogs]

Roy makes a very valid point... Not just labs but all breeds have been "watered down" for the show circuit. Losing the IDEALS for their breed to make them easier to show while lookin pretty... If you want a pet dog buy from a known show lines breeder but if you want a working dog you must find a guy who breeds work dogs. The price is generally lower when you find a guy who breeds to have his own good dogs and sells the rest. In the hog dog realm it is common to have pups passed out for free or $50 bucks to cover costs...
Brent

[roy reali]

Another route is to buy imported or first generation dogs. Many Eurpoean contries have strict dog breeding standards. Look at police dogs, many are from overseas or from lineage that is one or two generations from that.

A co-worker recently aquired a first generation Vizsla. It is unlike any Vizsla I have ever seen . It can actually hunt.

[Choclabman]

My username tells my favorite. My family always had Labs, for duck and goose hunting. My Mother has a picture of when I was two, laying in a pile of the family's three Labrador Retrievers.
I am now 40, and the male Chocolate Lab, remains my favorite for family dog and goose hunting.

[WIN71]

Another route is to buy imported or first generation dogs. Many Eurpoean contries have strict dog breeding standards.
This is very true. Unless you have pretty deep pockets and if you trust the breeder I'd go first generation.
Twenty years ago it cost right at $4,000.00 to buy and have a bred GSP shipped to San Francisco from the Czech Republic. A princely some for the time but considering the pups were presold at $400.00 each not too bad.

[zzbruno]

My dad had Brittany Spaniels and they were great for quail and pheasant.
We had an Airedale that was a great coon and rabbit dog, but he lost interest quick.

I hunted javalina and antelope last fall with a Texas Blue Lacy. What a great, great dog. His owner said he was an awesome desert quail dog too.

[.45 COLT]

Best bird dog I ever hunted over was a Beagle-Dalmation cross. Grossly overweight, she was a true hunter. A friend owned her, but come bird season I took her for the duration. Friend was always "too Busy" to hunt her.

Right now I have a Chesapeake.

DC

[armedandsafe]

don't laugh at the standard poodle till you do your homework. Great sporting dog, just too smart for most hunters to handle.

Back in the early 60s I had a breeding pair that I trained, then trained the pups. My stud, Cyrano, was 90 pounds, which is very large for a Standard Poodle. He was a hunter, though. Many times I have taken birds, rabbits and coyote with him on the same day.

I gave him to a good friend who hunted a lot and whom Cyrano liked when I trasfered to Alasks.

Pops