Pooch get a dog. I gave my father a Golden and he is 90. I hope he out lives this one but the odds are in the dogs favor. A loved and well mannered dog will be much easier to place than anything other than money. Rest assured that those left behind by you will find a good home for you dog. The hundreds of hours of companionship that a dog and man will give each other is not to be underestimated. For both the dog and man it is priceless. Get a dog if you still can.
As to pen raised birds I find they fill an important niche and not just for dogs. If your health is such that long outings are too much, and we all get there if we live long enough, a carefully planed hunt over raised birds allows you to hunt and watch good dog work. And I love to watch a dog hunt. The energy and intensity that a good dog displays warms my heart. Shooting the birds then is more for the dog than the man. It is a man and dog team work thing. I have been as proud of some of my dog work as I have been of my kids. Some of my dogs have almost been my kids.
The second reason to hunt pen raised birds is to have birds for kids to shoot while they are learning. Nothing will kill a future hunter faster than going and never seeing many birds or never hitting any of the few that they do see. Such is how golfers are born.
