6/21/2023 0 Comments Slik hound dog breedThe traditional beagle pack may number from half a dozen to 30 members, and when those hounds are hot on a rabbit track, they swarm through briers and brambles with the coordination of a cavalry squadron. Beagle When it comes to chasing rabbit, no hunter is better equipped than a good beagle. Tony Ray, owner of Roanoke River Kennels 6. They’re saying, Come on, Daddy, I got this thing! Yep, they’re good dogs. You can tell by the bark once they’re at a tree, because up to that point they’ve been barking with their head down-but once they’ve treed the raccoon, their heads are up in the air and they throw a distinctive locating bark. Then you wait at the truck while they strike a trail and eventually tree the coon. First, you put the tracking collars on them, then let ’em loose. Night hunts with these dogs sure are exciting. There are setters that point with high style, and setters that point as if they’re waiting for a bus setters that are as trainable and eager-to-please as you could ever want, and setters that will fight you every step of the way. There are 80-pound setters with flowing coats and magnificent heads, and 30-pound setters so nondescript that it’s hard to believe they have papers setters that run like the wind, and setters that barely break out of a trot. No breed is more resistant to generalizations. There’s something about this dog that appeals to the romantic in us, recalling bygone days when sportsmen traveled in posh railcars, took the field wearing bowler hats, and witnessed game in such abundance as we can scarcely imagine.Īnd yet to refer to the breed in the singular-as “the” setter-is problematic. It’s a safe bet that more writers’ ink and more artists’ paint has been devoted to the English setter than to any other hunting dog breed. English Setter Even with a mouth full of feathers, an English setter in the field is a sight to behold. John’s water dogs” and dubbed it a Labrador retriever. The second Earl of Malmesbury is said to have imported one of these “St. That, my friend, is a dog.ĭespite the moniker, Labrador retrievers are actually from neighboring Newfoundland, where small water dogs were bred with the giant, hardy Newfies to birth a medium-size retriever with fine legs and a short, water-shedding coat. I’ve had wet Labs curled up in the backseat, stinking of swamp, too tired to walk-but let that pooch hear the jangle of a duck-call lanyard and there he is, at your side and ready to go. What melts a hunter’s heart is a Lab 100 yards beyond the farthest decoy, diving for a cripple, never giving up. For a hunter, cute is a Lab with a bird in his mouth, coat spackled with duckweed, paws slimed with mud. In calendars and sappy greeting cards, Labrador retriever puppies cavort and cuddle, but those aren’t the Labs a hunter loves. But, how can you have a list of the best hunting dog breeds and not begin with the Labrador retriever. 1 doesn’t mean we’re claiming it’s the best hunting dog. To be clear, just because it’s listed at No. Labrador Retriever If there’s one dog breed that can do it all in the outdoors, it’s a Lab. You might as well try to sneak the sunrise past a rooster.ġ. Not that this comes as news to anyone who’s tried to slip past his dog carrying a shotgun. It’s also the case, as many experiments have shown, that dogs have a unique ability to read our body language and respond to subtle cues. Some evidence even suggests that the qualities that hunting dog breeds brought to the Stone Age helped allow our ancestors’ brains to devote less capacity to sensory functions, clearing the decks for intellectual growth. Whenever and wherever we hunt with dogs, we engage in a partnership that spans tens of thousands of years-a partnership so intimate and mutually beneficial that we’ve essentially co-evolved. When a pack of blueticks strike scent, and the night suddenly throbs with their urgent music. Or when a springer spaniel levitates from the switchgrass, jaws snapping at a pheasant’s tail feathers. Or when a Labrador retriever vaults after a fallen greenhead. For some hunters, it’s all about the moment a pointer streaks across a stubble field like a bolt of white lightning. What’s the best hunting dog breed? That depends on who you ask.
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