best all around bird dog ?

Hey There

  Sparky,hey there ain't said hello yet,welcome to the Baitshop.

  I've hunted around lots of dogs all my life,ducks,geese,chucker,quail all of them I reckon. In my humble opinion,the best all around four legged hunting buddy is a Lab,but I've breed them and know them and love them. They are easy to train and willing to please. Chessy's are good for real cold weather goose hunting but got skulls about 1" thick.

    BUT,if your gonna do all upland hunting this may not be a good thing.

     Sorry about that but theres some mighty good folks on here that also have great dogs and I didn't want to upset them.

 Yep they out hunt me most the time.

 

Edited by Tikkabuck

 Hey There

   Goldies would are a great one also and one of my favorites,I just get real bad allergies when the daly brushing begins.I get a bad case of " Oh I need to go to the store" or "I think I need to go help at the er hmm oh ya mow someones grass"  My wife can tell ya.

                                 Take Care Mike

                          

Dont forget about the German Shorthaired pointer. I dont do ducks and geese but I have a couple of buddys that do and they say they are good at that too. To me their is nothing like a good pointer that can pin down a pheasant and hold it for several minutes while I haul my fat a$$ over there to flush and shoot the bird. Also on most occasions when I miss the shot my dogs are fast enough that they catch the bird when it lands and retrieve it without any shot to pick out of the breast.

I never have had a Lab, and Tikkabuck might be right if you are going to hunt ducks and geese but these guys are worth a look.

 

Wing master

   German short-hair pointer is a good choice!   Probably, the best nose of all 3! But if you have never had a pointer of any breed it might get on your nerves!  A pointer is bred to cover a lot of ground & you simply walk keeping an eye on it or listening to the peeper or bell. That means they are wired & are on the run all the time! I have lost track of the times, I have came across people driving their cars with their short-hair running along side. They were trying to run off some the piss & vinegar, before they started to hunt. They just defeated the whole purpose of having a pointer! If you want a close working dog stay with a retriever. If you want a dog that has a good nose , covers a lot of ground & you can handle what comes with that, get a short-hair!

PS, Everyone needs a dog!!

My vote goes for the Chessie. The old bitch I had would hunt everything, including deer and elk antlers in the spring for me. She was once used on a man hunt successfully, and trailed more than one wounded animal for neighbors.

The hardest thing about training a Chessie is outside distractions. If you live alone, and spend 24 hours a day with the dog, something clicks after about six weeks. Along with the bonding, the animal has studied you, and did a bit of training, thierselves, on you. This is after the 49 day age period. With other people around, the training is much more difficult. I found Banker to be one of the easiest dogs I ever trained. We reached an almost telepathic level of communication. The problem with this training style is the socialization takes some time afterwards, but is entirely possible. Mine got to where absolutely anyone could go up to her and pet her. Some males never get over the aggressiveness, and must be carefully controlled. They are VERY protective and possessive of thier masters property, real or percieved.

All this aside on the hard headedness, a Chesapeake will hunt grouse, rabbit, deer, bear, ducks, geese, men, you name it. And will joyfully and playfully kill any Doberman, Pitt Bull, or Rottweiler that would be silly enough to challenge them. Or anyone who threatened your children or wife.

A Chessie is one tough dog.