Hunting dogs surprise

Ugly Dogs · Oct 14, 2018

I got invited to go on hunt this week with a buddy and a group of his friends that I didn't know. I brought my two wire hairs (I am not being cocky when I say that I know they are good hunting dogs). There were 12 guys and 4 other dogs, 2 springers, 1 English setter and 1 English pointer. Neither of the 2 springers were very good. One of the springers was just young (1 yr old) and needs some time. You could tell that it has potential he is just young. The other one had as much skill as a regular house dog. Never got birdy and wanted nothing to do with retrieving. But the real surprise came from the other two dogs, I have never hunted with either breed before and had always heard about how big of ranging dogs that they are. The English setter gave about a dozen points. With about half of them being empty points or running birds. She did a real good job retrieving and hunted at a nice range of 20-50 yds depending on the cover. The English pointer was even better. He had at least 10 points and I think every one point had a bird in it. He was great at retrieving and hunted at a 10-30 yd range. I'm interested to see if anybody else has ever had this happen to you, that you hunt with a dog that you have preconceived idea of what a dog is going to be like and have the dog totally blow that out of the water? These dogs totally impressed me. I'm out there with 2 ugly dogs and these guys have "pretty dogs" and they were hunting great. The owner of the Pointer really liked my dogs and I told him that the good thing about wire hairs is that nobody will ever try to steal them for their looks. Plus after the hunt they didn't have to comb out the burs.

So again anybody else ever get surprised by a dog?

SupressYourself · Oct 14, 2018

I used to have a big (85#) block-headed chocolate lab that some upland elitists would make fun of... until he got into the field and got shit done. He got many compliments over the years.

Big Iron · Oct 14, 2018

Its tough to beat the instinct and drive of GSP's and GWP's.

KDM · Oct 14, 2018

Twice. First was a miniature white poodle that was hunting in front of 3 guys down by Flasher ND after grouse. We were rolling by these guys as they were walking and kept seeing this white flash popping out of the grass in front of them. We thought it was a jack rabbit, but as we continued to watch we discovered it was a poodle. We HAD to investigate this, so we hung back and watched the hunt. Several birds flushed and we watched as each downed bird was retrieved by the center guy who had to walk over the where the down bird was. The little poodle was jumping up at the bird at each retrieval location. When they finished their walk we drove up to get the scoop on this dog. Turns out that the owner of the dog wanted to get a GSP, but his wife wanted a miniature poodle. She of course won the battle, but in a fit of frustration, the husband told the wife he was going to take the dog hunting anyway. Well it turns out that this little poodle was the best grouse dog he (and his companions) had ever hunted behind. They admitted that hunting behind this dog took a few points off their man cards, but the price was worth it. They adamantly defended their canine companions ability and with what we saw before the end of the walk, we couldn't argue.
The next time was a pheasant hunt with a short legged mutt that looked like a mix of basset hound, setter, springer, and collie. I saw that dog and went "Oh Boy" this is going to be a waste of time and effort. WRONG!!!!!!!!! That goofy dog worked for the entire line, quartered like a champ, pointed, flushed, retrieved to hand, was whistle trained, hand signal trained, and went balls out the whole day. What a shocker that was. Unfortunately, I never got another opportunity to hunt behind this incredible dog as an encounter with a vehicle cut short his time on this earth.

guywhofishes · Oct 14, 2018

yep - ha ha ha

#sonofafoofooshowdog

shorthairsrus · Oct 14, 2018

English pointer sits at the top of the all pointing dogs. If they have the proper training and they inherited the correct genes (more important then training)---- you hit the throttle on em and hang on -- you will have your limit shortly.

GSP - corvette

English pointer - venom F5

guywhofishes · Oct 14, 2018

Royce’s pop, Jaggar

shorthairsrus · Oct 14, 2018

Royce - = caddy

Ugly Dogs · Oct 14, 2018

shorthairsrus said:
English pointer sits at the top of the all pointing dogs. If they have the proper training and they inherited the correct genes (more important then training)---- you hit the throttle on em and hang on -- you will have your limit shortly.

GSP - corvette

English pointer - venom F5

I'm starting to agree with you. I was so impressed by these dogs. Plus this dog was a pure joy to hunt behind and he had a great personality when we were just sitting around. I know another dog guy that I respect that is also a wire hair guy and he told me that he just put a deposit on a llewellyn setter. He said that there is very little difference between them and English setters. This is a guy I never thought would have anything other than a wire hair. But said he couldn't pass on this dog, so it must be a pretty good breeding.

I will say that I don't think I could hunt behind a poodle. But hell, I didn't think I would ever hunt behind a setter.

LBrandt · Oct 14, 2018

Wife had a mini doxie that I took hunting with me for grouse. I would hunt the buffaloberry patches north of the sheynne river in the goverment pastures. Wife made a little chest protector for her or she would run herself raw. If walks were too far between patches I would just put her in my back pack and she would stand up and look over my shoulder. Penny was short enough to go under the brush and did a hell of a job getting the grouse out. One time that really comes to mind was there was a hell of a fight going on under the brush and when the fight came to the edge here was a grouse with a 4# doxie clamped to a leg and trying to fly. Penny finally let loose and I gave bird time to clear before I shot it and that little dog was all over the bird right now. Didn't have much left for feathers after she got done with it. I will never forget that little dog standing over her "kill" with a mouth full of feathers. I really miss that little dog. I could not leave the house with a gun and not her. She may have been little but she had the heart and soul of a true hunting dog. I got a ton of stories about her.

Wags2.0 · Oct 14, 2018

Buster = Ford pinto

guywhofishes · Oct 14, 2018

Ugly - you likely won’t get the chance to hunt behind a poodle. They’re pretty finicky about who they hunt with.

:;:howdy

Ugly Dogs · Oct 14, 2018

guywhofishes said:
Ugly - you likely won’t get the chance to hunt behind a poodle. They’re pretty finicky about who they hunt with.

:;:howdy

Good one, I had to work like hell to get wire hairs to hunt with me, I can't imagine the attitude I would get from a Poodle.

DirtyMike · Oct 14, 2018

Hunted with a border collie. Asked my friend if he was going to get him back to the farm yard. He just kinda laughed at me. I’ve never seen a dog flush and retrieve like “Sparky.” Blew my GWP away by a very long shot.

guywhofishes · Oct 14, 2018

wow - a collie - that’s a new one!

riverview · Oct 14, 2018

i really think any dog will hunt my brother hunts with a westi and if there are birds around it will flush them. i have seen a rooster get knocked down and the little dog chase it down and tackle it.
every rott my wife has had will chase sent and flush birds although they have a very very hard mouth.

wby257 · Oct 14, 2018

Poodle power

ItemB · Oct 14, 2018

I think way back before dog show breeding ruined them poodles were a hunting breed. I have been looking into getting a a new pup and a pudelpointer gets talked up quite a bit.

- - - Updated - - -

Also nothing better when your mut or give away dog hunts better or just as good as your buddies dog he paid big money for and sent off to training school

shorthairman · Oct 14, 2018

Hunted with a mountain cur once. Wasn’t much to look at and was so short it had to be lifted up into the pickup. Found and flushed birds, but you better have your running shoes on because once it got on scent there was no holding it back.

Ristorapper · Oct 14, 2018

I got a ton of stories about her.

And memories as well I'd guess L Brandt!!

Hunting dogs surprise

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