Versatile Hunting Dog Employment

[Kyle]

Thats my whole point, I think that the versatile people breed/train for more of a retriever/pointing dog than a pointing dog/retriever.

Which is fine, I guess I will just have to post more of my upland adventures this fall so you guys have something to read about!

Absolutely! That is very different than saying all we care about is tracking and fur.

More than half of my points occur at the end of a track. Ussually it is a feeding track but sometimes the bird has heard us comming and moved to thicker cover. Calm deliberate tracking is important to my pointing. After looking at your photos I am guessing that is not the case for your hunting. We are all dealing with our own challenges and choosing dogs that serve us best.
Kyle

[Kyle]

I'm just amused by your opinion. I've always thought the hunting discussions on this forum focused primarily on upland and wished there was more waterfowl discussion. Understandably, most posters live North of TN and/or West of the Ms River where upland birds can be found.

Living in Ms, my upland hunting opportunities are very limited. In state, it is limited to pen raised birds. I will be hunting wild birds in ND this October and will try to remember to take some pics for you.

Did you watch the videos in HUNT 24/7's posts in the hunting forum last Fall? There was some major waterfowl blasting in those videos.
Kyle

[Elkhunter]

I'm just amused by your opinion. I've always thought the hunting discussions on this forum focused primarily on upland and wished there was more waterfowl discussion. Understandably, most posters live North of TN and/or West of the Ms River where upland birds can be found.

Living in Ms, my upland hunting opportunities are very limited. In state, it is limited to pen raised birds. I will be hunting wild birds in ND this October and will try to remember to take some pics for you.

Ha! What hunting forum have you been reading??

I would love to see some pics of your trip to ND this year, that place is on my bucket list eventually.

[Kyle]

Elkhunter
I did go back and look at your hunting post and those were some nice pictures. It makes me jealous that I don't get to hunt some country like that occasionally.
Kyle

[GWPtyler]

Well, considering I live in North Dakota...the "duck factory" of the U.S. ... it stands to reason what my first love is.

Once freeze-up hits, the rudy's don't stand a chance. And by then, most of the early hunters have packed it in. Best pheasant hunting of the year happens mid-November and on.

[Hdc]

I went back and looked at Elkhunter's pictures, too. Started laughing thinking about the first and only time I ever saw or shot a Hungarian Partridge.

It was my first ever hunting trip west of the Ms. river. 3 of us from Ms. went out to hunt a client's ranch in Montana when every season was open. We got licenses for everything and were hunting with no guide or dog. On that trip I killed my first pheasant, first sharptail, first hun, first antelope and first mule deer. It was a fantastic (versatile) trip.

None of us had ever seen a Hungarian partridge. We were making a push through this draw with hopes of shooting a pheasant or two when these birds that flushed somewhat like quail jumped. We knew all the bird seasons were open, so we cut down on them. After retrieving the birds, we had to go to town and ask a local what we had killed. Unfortunately, that was both the first and last time I had the opportunity to shoot huns.

Would love to one day get a chance to hunt them with my PP.

[Kyle]

I am curious what the second other is. The first was equal hunting of anything in season. What was the second other?
Kyle

[gwphunter]

I switched from Wimeriner and GSP in the 90's to GWP because of their rugged caricteristics. I hunted Chuckar in the desert, and my buddy. and my dogs would always slip their pads hunting that valcanic rocky desert where you find the Chuckar. GWP/DD's have biger pads than most the other versatile breeds, and my Wirehairs never sliped a pad in over 20 years of hunting. Desert hunting is extreamly hard on their feet.

[Steve Anker]

BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS DUCKS some FUR...and the occasional SOCK......in that order.

[ryanr]

Kyle, its not just the "pictures" of people hunting, though its not hard to snap a shot of your dog on point. Especially if your hunting as many days as some are claiming. There is just little to no talk in general about the topic... A poll is just a poll, just as words are just words. I could say I train for the German system with my pointer does that mean I actually do it?

Hence usually active/fanatic upland hunters LOVE to talk about what they do, and share pictures of what they do. I guess people do hunt upland birds on here, just no one wants to talk about it!

But they sure love to talk about retrieving and tracking and fur etc.

What forum are you reading? There seems to be an awful lot of talk on here about upland birdhunting- from guys talking about grouse and woodcock in the east and upper midwest to others talking about annual treks to the Dakotas for pheasants and mixed bags and to guys like yourself and a few others on the steep ridges of the West Coast chasing chukars, etc. It's just that the guys with more than just a pointer or setter have dogs that will do upland and so much more and so they do that as well!

Myself, I get so into my hunting or fishing that I almost never remember to take a picture. i'm trying to get better at taking pictures of my pursuits but I find it's a PIA because I don't want to take a chance of losing or damaging a camera. I always joke (and it stemmed from my flyfishing) that guys that post a lot of pictures of a trip are often trying to prove that they at least occasionally do what the rest of us are out doing almost every day of the week! A few guys used to wonder why somebody that supposedly flyfishes as much as I do doesn't post many pics. So I took them fishing on one of my favorite rivers between the boulder-hopping and wading in waist to chest deep heavy pocket water they realized why. (They also figured out why I wet-wade a lot, where I like to go getting wet is a guarantee so why bother with waders.)

[Steve Anker]

I switched from Wimeriner and GSP in the 90's to GWP because of their rugged caricteristics

RUGGED...?!
My GSP named ZEKE is the TERMINATOR......!
He terrorizes villages in JAPAN, like Godzilla....
Wiemy's are a given.....but GSPs are the Jammy jam, if ya gets the right one....!
Just have to keep em WARM in the blind...
Give em a pull off the coffee thermos...
keep em dry....

[DrahtsundBraats]

Much more interesting would be a poll on what the %'s are of the different uses. The poll gives a skewed impression.

[woodboro]

As OP - pick one that I do most would be Upland in multiple states.

Upland most
then Duck
bunny some
Blood track when called upon.

[seank]

What I want to hunt for is pretty much irrelevant. Its up to the dog. We train for upland and waterfowl, and we occasionally get a bonus. Today it was a very lost blacktailed prairie-dog who was 3 miles away from the nearest colony. He moved pretty fast for a critter with 2" legs, but alas he could not outrun the beast. The only things I really wish my dog would avoid are skunks, porkies, and rattlesnakes. Thus far he likes to shake the baby rattle of doom with the first (often in a green cloud of stink), and he just points the latter two quite fiercely. I'm hoping it stays that way. We had one major rodeo where he tried to retrieve two young coyotes. He went through a very short phase of trying to retrieve a cow a couple of years ago. I curled his beard with the e-collar and now he often points the beef from 300 yards off. Oh, and he has been trying unsuccessfully to retrive a carp for a few years. Why wouldn't you want a versatile dog? Every day is something new and entertaining.

[Misskiwi67]

As far as hours logged, we hunt upland the most, but that's also where I take the fewest pictures. The dog won't forget if you flush the bird trying to take pictures. Husband is even worse about getting upset.

We have versatiles so we can hunt everything. We are out every season for every type of game.