Upland Hunting - General

Highlander

The Strong, Silent Type
For future reference, the Large Munsterlander is to my understanding, a different color morph of the Langhaar. Both are beautiful, capable dogs.

Correct.
However, these two breeds, upon separation, went quite different ways.
GLP remined strong built slow dog with a strong emphasis on calmness and waterwork (still official breeding philosophy to this day).
While the LM decided to go with more of GPS type of a dog with lighter structure and faster dog. They though they would attract more people, but they breeding material declined so bad that they had official cross breeding done with GLP for a few times.
Both of them are a niche breed. unlike SM which is very popular in both continents.
I was told there are some good NAVHDA tested and bred LM here. I have never seen them personally but a friend of mine trained one and she liked them, though his pointing instinct was not really good in early age.

When I was living in an apartment I was interested in a SM, but then I moved and I am not into small dogs, apart from Cocker Spaniel.
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
@Tex68w
Wonderful.
Man I should have moved to TX or CO when I was being recruited right when I was still in collage :D

There is good woodcock season going on in east TX now.
Have you paid a visit?

I have never had the privilege of hunting Woodcock. It's certainly on the list, I just need to find a place to hunt them and book a trip or get an invite from a fellow enthusiast to an area that holds them.
 

Highlander

The Strong, Silent Type
@Tex68w

Yeah it's fun.
Also down there the cover is different as it's better for wintering. More open too as I was told.
They are fast bird too.

Woodcock teaches the dog how to be sneaky and stealthy. It's great training bird too.
For some dogs it takes a time to adjust to them. Some even ignore, especially if it is an adult dog that hunted different birds.
I knew a guy from the Oregon who hunted chukars and huns moved to SC or NC. He said he had to shoot a bird first and show it to the dog... then she adjusted quite well.
 
“Just stumbled onto this thread, fantastic stuff boys. I'm based in NY and hunt ruffed grouse, woodcock, some preserve birds and dabble in waterfowl from time to time. Here's my Drahthaar.”

Wonderful dogs, I just wish there was an on/off switch for prey drive. Your pup looks like a keeper.
 

CrabFly

New member
“Just stumbled onto this thread, fantastic stuff boys. I'm based in NY and hunt ruffed grouse, woodcock, some preserve birds and dabble in waterfowl from time to time. Here's my Drahthaar.”

Wonderful dogs, I just wish there was an on/off switch for prey drive. Your pup looks like a keeper.

They are great dogs. In my experience the on/off switch for home is perfect. She just wants to sleep, provided she gets her daily runs and training in. Prey drive is high, however, they are beasts in the field.
 

Highlander

The Strong, Silent Type
@CrabFly
Hello neighbor.
What chapter do you belong to? Though I have different breed I am a member of the Atlantic chapter.
I tested my dog with DD guys in NJ. There where some magnificent Drats and all of them did great at test.

Wonderful dogs, I just wish there was an on/off switch for prey drive. Your pup looks like a keeper.

Well... they should have on/off switch. When I was testing my dog, a DD guy and judge (he was not judging that day) told me that when he talks to a breeder and if they don't mention word such as "calm" and "on/off" without him even asking that, he is not interested in his dogs regardless the test scores. A good Drat breeder would only breed the dog that has calm nature, but unfortunately not many breeders pay attention to that trait or don't know that's a thing.

A lot also depends on conditioning. This dogs (all of German dogs, regardless the breed) are geared towards task and assignments, therefore they require a structure and routine since they are small pups.
Their natural urgency to please you and do a task for you needs to be taken very seriously and only through the iron discipline, training and routine they can channel the huge drive correctly.
The most of the dogs, especially ones that come from that versatile systems, have off/on switch issues due to the fact that they just don't have much to do. They feel "jobless". They have no where to take the drive.
(Though there are some naturally deranged dogs and no matter what you do with them they just have erratic behavior)

Sometimes I don't have time to train and do drills with my dog. So my wife takes her for an hour walk and she is gonna run around happy. When she comes home she will take a nap for an hour and then comes to me holding her toy asking to go out and play. But, If take her for a training such as retrieving drills or tracking and recovery and do it for 40 minutes, she feels she's done a task for me and she would lay under my table all day.
The point I am making that she is so much task oriented that aimless runs and walks and taskless day is not a day when she feels she's done something for a day.

I talked out two guys from getting a V dog. One wanted a Drat and one wanted a PP. They have no experience with dogs and the people were telling them to get a DD on Facebook.
After a conversation it was clear that they just wanted a dog to hunt on weekends and not much training let alone repetitive drills and routine. One even said that he wanted to do nothing with dog when it spots season.
If not one does not enjoy dog training and working with dog on daily bases and does not do waterfowl on top of upland there is no need to get a versatile pointing dog. There are far better specialized breeds such as setters, labs or britnies.

----
I am looking for a deer, fox and racoon skins/hides for blood track and recovery training.
Do you guys have any idea where can I buy them or get them?
 

CrabFly

New member
@Highlander

I'm also an Atlantic Chapter Member for the last three years. I'll be training at the NJ locations this coming season. That's the closest location to me, coming from LI. I'm also considering joining and testing with the Hudson Valley Chapter of NAVHDA for additional off-season work.
 
I’m thinking a Český Fousek may be on my shortlist If there is another upland dog in my future. Those that I have been around are spectacular in the field, and quite calm when not hunting. All were either Cech Republic imports, or from 1st generation litters. Impressive dogs.
 

Highlander

The Strong, Silent Type
I saw very beautiful Fouseks at the pheasant fest.
I talked to a breed there and he told me that they are very similar to Darts but bit mallow in a good sense.
Visually they are indistinguishable. They have very active club and only breed tested dogs and only to hunters.
In Czech Republic they have very similar versatile system like in Germany.
Also they have YouTube channel and often post good videos.

 

ricoisme26

Active member
Recently found this thread and spent a few days going through the whole thing, I’ve wanted to get into upland hunting and waterfowl for a few years now. Hoping to make the change soon even though I’m a little late in the season here in PA.

Love reading about the dogs and the hunts, can’t wait to see more from everyone


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ricoisme26

Active member
Not a trained hunting dog but here’s Jeter our 7 year old Irish setter golden retriever mix.
425c19084203be0bf82dfbc238b155b6.jpg



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