Gun Dog Forum

I am in the same boat. 66 yoa with a 10 yr old Setter. She blew her ACL on the opener last year and may have just run her last full hunt in ND this past week. So I have been reluctantly thinking of the next dog. I almost settled on Pudelpointers, a great, strictly hunting breed that reportedly has a...

Hi Glen, Just noticed your post. You might check out Twombly Setters. They're in Vermont and may be convenient for you. I don't have any personal knowledge of their dogs, but they look good and seem to be be bred for close work. You can check them out here: https://www.twomblysetters.com/ I have a R...

We were on the Rosebud Res. They open on the 10th.

Last year I took my setter pup to North Dakota at about six months old. She had been out after grouse but seemed disturbed by gunshots despite careful introduction. I decided to take her to ND before the season opened to work her on wild birds. It being ND we got into birds right out of the truck. T...

I've owned two Bobwhites sxs in 28 ga. The first one I returned after one season for doubling (both barrels going off at once). CZ Customer Service promptly replaced it with another. The second one I returned after one season for losing the bluing on the barrels. This time CZ replaced it with a Ring...

Thanks Chaingang. The dirt roads looked like a hen house there were so many tracks.
And within an hour my setter became a bird finding, bird pointing machine! What a relief.

Yes, I was on public land. It rained the day I got there. Very slick muddy roads. There were combines marooned out in the fields wheel deep in water. There are still a lot of standing crops.

Wilber

I just spent three days training with my year-old setter in SW ND. Took her up there for some time on wild birds. In the area south of Regent/ Mott we found the unbelievable numbers of pheasant from years past. We consistently saw coveys of 50 or more exploding out of wind rows. But south of Bowman ...

I have a Savage Stevens single shot .410 that my Dad gave me when I was 12. I still take it out early season on grouse. Unfortunately I still don't hit with it any better than when I was 12. But it is fun to carry and shoot. Going through an old tackle box recently I found some paper hull .410 slugs...

Hi BigJake. Yes, my pup is out of Paige and Remington. I am hoping she will not be as slow to develop as you describe - Opening Day is three weeks away! As my high school coach used to say,"It may be a building year." I'm going to get her out with wild birds next week and see how she does.

Wilber

I am on my third Ryman type setter. I grew up with Labs and have owned a Chesapeake and a Curly Coat Retriever. My first Ryman was loyal, worked close, great nose and prey drive. When we shot clays, she'd retrieve the ones we missed. The second Ryman had tremendous prey drive, was pointing anything ...

I've owned two CZ Bobwhites, in 12 ga. and 28 ga. I now have a Ringneck in 28 ga. I liked the Bobwhites a lot, but had problems with both guns that required warranty work. I love the Ringneck too, but just recently have had problems with the left barrel not firing. These are good looking guns and th...

We just got back from ND too. Hunted two days and part of a third. Fired my shotgun three times. Came away with four birds (the dog found a cripple). It was pretty slim pickin's. Hunted the same area (SW corner/ Bowman, Regent area) two years ago and limited in under an hour each day. Saw thousands ...

Westley Richards is a fine old English gun maker. They made some beauties. Contact Steve Bertram at Bertramandco.com and he can tell you all about them. He's a gun smith and English gun guy.

I went through this same process a year ago. For me it came down to livability. You can only hunt 4 or 5 months a year and only once or twice a week if you're really motivated (and it's not far away). The rest of the time you've got a dog under foot in the house. A friend has a GWP that is a machine...

I have had two CZ's in 28 ga., a Bobwhite and a Ringneck. I thought they were a great value for the price and both shot very well. I highly recommend them.

I have a 5 month old setter and read several dog books waiting for the litter to arrive. The best two I found are "How to Help Gun Dogs Train Themselves," by Joan Bailey, and "Gun Dog," by Richard Wolters. I read them both probably twice and then had to refer back to them repeatedly after the dog ar...

I've been cursing those sand burrs in eastern Colorado for years. This year seems to be particularly bad. I've used several different kinds of boots on my retriever and setter. I tried the black rubber Lewis Boots this year and like them a lot. They have grip which is a plus for the dogs. The trick ...

Put a wrap of Vet Wrap around the ankle (fetlock?), slip on the Lewis Boot, then a wrap of athletic tape around the upper part. Vet Wrap is like a sticky ace bandage material. I bought mine at a horse tack shop, but you can buy the human kind at most drug stores. I read about this technique on this ...

See the posts below about the CZ warranty being as good as gold.

What a funny topic! I thought it was only my problem all these years. I had a Curly Coat Retriever and for 11 years I had to explain that no, she's not a Poodle mix or a Labradoodle. When I told one couple at a gas station in Wyoming that no, she was a Curly Coat Retriever, I overheard the woman say...

I guess the warranty is good as gold. Frankly I'd rather not to have to use it. I first owned a CZ Bobwhite 12 ga. I liked it well enough, but the finish wore off on barrels and receiver after the first season, so I sent it back. They replaced it with a new gun - great! I sold that one and bought a ...

I hate to tell you this but my retriever used to whine in the car whenever she thought we were going hunting. It used to drive me nuts and nothing would seem to stop it for more than a minute or two. The drive to where I hunt pheasants was about 3 hours! I lived with it for 11 years. You might have ...

In my experience Ruffwear boots are the best. I've tried several brands plus home-made boots from inner tubes. Ruffwear held up the best and stayed on the longest, although eventually they come off too. The vet-wrap and tape idea suggested above sounds like a good one. Snow with a boiler plate crust...

Here is "Scout." Just picked her up from Aspen Patch Setters. Three days and she knows her name, "come," and seems to be house broken (although that may be more due to our 'eternal vigilance').

For the money I don't think you can beat a CZ. I owned a CZ Bobwhite 12 ga. and now have a Bobwhite 28 ga. For fit and finish there's not a gun out there (that I found) that can match them. I paid about $700 for each one. I looked at an AYA for about 4 times as much and was not persuaded it was wort...

I had a wonderful Ryman type setter growing up in NE CT. One day the cat trots up with a baby rabbit in her mouth and drops it on the front step of the house. My setter wonders by, sniffs the wide-eyed rabbit and swallows it whole - ALIVE! That cat and the dog used to sleep together and I think they...

I hunt over a CCR - that's a Curly Coat Retriever. I've had Chessies, Goldens, and a setter, and the CCR is by far the smartest and has the best nose. Great in the water and the uplands. You just have to get used to explaining that no, it's not a Labradoodle, and yes, Curly Coat Retriever is a real ...