Gun Dog Forum

What are some of your favorite upland hunting or bird dog books?

I really enjoyed "Zip Zap" by Mike Gaddis and "Old Man and The Boy" by Robert Ruark. Both of those are novels. I also really liked reading "Wing and Shot" by Robert Wehle and "The Best Way to Train Your Gundog: The Delmar Smith Method" by Bill Tarrant. Those are both more "instructional" books but I found them both to be easy to read and very enjoyable.

Jenny Willow by Mike Gaddis.

None Held Back - Tom word
Good Ones and Scallywags - TA Novak

Both good reading

Jenny Willow. Anything by Hill or Zern. The Old Man and The Boy and The Boy Grows Older.

Don't fret grouse feathers by Burton spiller
I liked ghost by capt tony petrella

Grouse feathers Burton spiller
Ghost! Capt tony petrella

Gun dogs and bird guns by Charley Waterman. Actually any of Charley Watermans books on hunting the uplands.

I really enjoyed Bob Wehle's book "Snakefoot: The Making of Champion". The book details his 60 year pursuit of trying to produce the best possible bird dog. I'm not a huge Elhew fan mainly because of where I hunt. But his experiences and breeding philosophy are pretty amazing

"Dog breaking:The most expeditious, Certain and Easy Method" William Nelson Hutchinson
"Practical Education of the Bird Dog" J.A.Sanchez Antunano
"Training with Mo" Martha Greenlee

The first is a good read, just a step back in time, makes you realize the more things change the more they stay the same.The last two I highly recommend to anybody new to pointers. Get all three and read them in that order.

Ruark is pretty tough to beat - "The Old Man and The Boy" is about as good as it gets. Anything from Gene Hill, Corey Ford, Charley Waterman, or Babcock is definitely worth reading as well. Horace Lytle is good, too. His "Gun Dogs Afield", written in 1942, is one of my favorites.

I find a lot of old bird dog / hunting books online through Alibris. There's a lot of good stuff sitting on the back shelves of used book stores.

The Old Man and the Boy were great. But the Boy Grow's Older is good but just not the same. Read the boy grows older first! Dumbell is another great book, loved it. Wish I still had The Best of Nash Buckingham x George Bird Evans. loaned it to a guy and never got it back. The Delmar Smith Method is a super book, but it is a training book that Bill Tarrent made and a bit more. Super read.

Bond of Passion by Web Parton. Great insight on the gun dog.

The Fragrance of Grass Guy De La Valdène

I love Havilah Babcock. "I don't want to shoot an elephant" and "Tales of quail and such"

All great. Add Colter by Rick Bass. Actually, anything by Rick, on any subject.

Scott Linden wrote:All great. Add Colter by Rick Bass. Actually, anything by Rick, on any subject.

Colters a very good one. He's mentioned in The Sporting Road by Fergus too.
Crazy Old Coot is a good one. So is A Comfortable Range.

Whispering winds of Autumn.