March
S M T W T F S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online Now
7 members (Hammergun, Ian Forrester, dukxdog, Don Zahringer, 2 invisible), 780 guests, and 4 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums10
Topics38,374
Posts544,010
Members14,391
Most Online1,131
Jan 21st, 2024
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 10 of 12 1 2 8 9 10 11 12
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,879
Likes: 15
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,879
Likes: 15
Ron,
I asked here as you have, about 6-7 yrs ago. The response was similar. One thing you have to admit, there are lots of extremely satisfied and proud owners of vastly disparate breeds. That didn't help me narrow it down. I eventually started asking around my local range with acquaintances who hunt in similar areas for the birds I hunt.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,733
Likes: 96
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,733
Likes: 96
Geno, Amarillomike, that is a full grown Sika stag still with a bit of its summer coat. A heart shot sike stag can go a long way hence the dog which is needed to track it in the thick forestry. That one finally went down in a flooded drain after going a good 120 yards heart shot. Chesapeakes seem to be natural trackers and love that sort of work. Lagopus.....

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,113
Likes: 26
Sidelock
**
Online Content
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,113
Likes: 26
I have owned and bred Springer Spaniels and Brittanys and now own a 55 pound German short-hair pointer. I will never own anything but a GSP, even though you have to establish dominance of them in order to get them to hunt for you. They are pure hunting machines! My dog Jake is now 8 and he was not a good house dog until 5. He had too much energy. I live on a farm so he is loose all day long and has room to burn off the energy. The best ones are "sharp", meaning they will kill smaller animals such as cats just for fun. Mine has killed groundhogs and foxes and gives chase after coyotes but fortunately hasn't caught up with one yet! He sleeps in the basement at night in the winter as he is too cold natured to sleep in an insulated kennel in east Tennessee. He sometimes hangs out in the basement in the heat of the day because he doesn't like hot very much either. Or is it that he is spoiled by his owner?

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,065
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,065
Ron and Mrs. Ron: I know I have taken up more than my share of electrons on this thread but three additional points:

First; My French Brittanys are hunting dogs and I field trial them in NSTRA during the off-season. NSTRA competitions take place on about 35 acres. American Field trials are held on thousands of acres and those dogs need every acre. My dogs would not be competitive in American Field.

Second; My Brittanys are multi purpose dogs. That is they are house pests and hunting dogs and trial dogs. I use them as retrievers during dove season, pointing dogs during quail and pheasant season, and NSTRA trial dogs during the off season. When we come home from these adventures they lay about the house on leather furniture and in refrigerated air. They are good at hanging out. They don't have tails beating you and raking everything off the coffee table. You can get dogs that are better at any one of these uses but it would be very difficult to find ones that were so effective at all of them.

Third; I suggest you read back through each post and the disregard the ones that didn't recommend French Brittanys as they are just wrong. grin

Best,

Mike

Last edited by AmarilloMike; 08/24/11 11:10 AM.


I am glad to be here.
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,879
Likes: 15
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,879
Likes: 15
When I was looking, I did look into the Braque Francais breed as well. They are "French Pointers" Beautiful short haired dog similar to the English Pointer, but with a traditionally docked tail. There's not many breeders in the US, but I did contact some of them. One was in eastern SD another in CA near me. I went up to the latter's place and took some pics last spring. The dogs were really easy going and great to be around. Females seem to be around 35 lbs, males over 50 lbs

This is their male


The little ofspring



Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,879
Likes: 15
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,879
Likes: 15
There's a trainer you might give a call to. Bob Worrell 661-476-0847. He's the NAVHDA (North American Versatile hunting Dog Association) SoCal chapter president and also one of the handler/guides for the the Tejon Ranch and Hi-Desert Hunt Club.

I recently met him after having spoken with him a few times earlier this year. Nice guy, honest and knowledgeable. He may be able to help you either in chosing a breed or finding or training your dog.

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,828
Likes: 12
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,828
Likes: 12
This is why GSPs and the Continentals can be bitey, too:

"The best ones are "sharp""

Get a dog from a proven breed that has produced countless generations of proven hunters.

A lot of the harder-to-find breeds are hard to find for a reason.

And it's not because they've consistently produced awesome dogs.

BTW: a dog-trainer/lover friend of mine talks a lot about consistency.

The proven breeds consistently produce good dogs. You can get a good bird dog out of any "sporting" breed.

Every pup is a roll of the dice, and your odds of getting a good bird dog increase tremendously when you focus on breeds that have produced large breeding stocks of proven hunters. (I would say field-trial proven hunters.)

That's why labs, springers, setters, & pointers are good choices.

OWD

Last edited by obsessed-with-doubles; 08/24/11 03:19 PM.

Good Gun Alerts & more:

www.DogsandDoubles.com
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,065
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,065
Just want to point out the Brittanys are also proven hunters in field trials.

The NSTRA website page of champions; Three Brittanys, a GSP, a Setter, and an EP.
http://www.nstra.org/champion.htm

Best,

Mike

Edit: After I posted this I noticed one of the Brittanys had won two championship trials but is pictured twice.

Last edited by AmarilloMike; 08/24/11 05:39 PM.


I am glad to be here.
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,828
Likes: 12
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,828
Likes: 12
What's NSTRA?

...just kidding.


OWD


Good Gun Alerts & more:

www.DogsandDoubles.com
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,065
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,065
grin

Last edited by AmarilloMike; 08/24/11 05:48 PM.


I am glad to be here.
Page 10 of 12 1 2 8 9 10 11 12

Link Copied to Clipboard

doublegunshop.com home | Welcome | Sponsors & Advertisers | DoubleGun Rack | Doublegun Book Rack

Order or request info | Other Useful Information

Updated every minute of everyday!


Copyright (c) 1993 - 2024 doublegunshop.com. All rights reserved. doublegunshop.com - Bloomfield, NY 14469. USA These materials are provided by doublegunshop.com as a service to its customers and may be used for informational purposes only. doublegunshop.com assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in these materials. THESE MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-ABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. doublegunshop.com further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. doublegunshop.com shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of these materials. doublegunshop.com may make changes to these materials, or to the products described therein, at any time without notice. doublegunshop.com makes no commitment to update the information contained herein. This is a public un-moderated forum participate at your own risk.

Note: The posting of Copyrighted material on this forum is prohibited without prior written consent of the Copyright holder. For specifics on Copyright Law and restrictions refer to: http://www.copyright.gov/laws/ - doublegunshop.com will not monitor nor will they be held liable for copyright violations presented on the BBS which is an open and un-moderated public forum.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.0.33-0+deb9u11+hw1 Page Time: 0.083s Queries: 35 (0.060s) Memory: 0.8653 MB (Peak: 1.8987 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-03-29 01:22:18 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS