Quote Originally Posted by Montana View Post
Good points for sure. My suggestion is to focus on what a person hunts the most. If it's waterfowl first and other game is only hunted occasionally, a Lab would be hard to beat. I primarily hunt pheasants. Springers are considered the best choice for pheasants, and rightly so. I've never hunted over an English Cocker, but from what I've been told they are right there with a Springer when it comes to pheasants.
I had brittany spaniels in the eighties and into the nineties,,,first the mother and then the mother and daughter together, and finally just the daughter. I can't imagine having a better dog to work the wild pheasants of the Okanagan back then. My job at the time allowed me to hunt almost every day of the season and if memory serves, there was hardly a day when I didn't get my limit. Either one of those brits could hold the birds after being scented. The pheasants were rarely, if ever, out of shooting range. There was never a rush to have to get to them to flush 'em up.

It was especially fun when I had another person or two with me. When the dog would go on point I'd tell them where to go stand and then walk past the dog to flush the bird. It was virtually impossible for the bird, if it was a rooster, to fly away unscathed. My friend would say, "This is so easy it's just like cheating!" Haha

I ended up getting a griff much to everyone's surprise this go around but I sure gave brits a good hard look,,,,as well as a chocolate lab. I really like them a lot, too! I think what swayed me the most was that both labs and brits shed quite a lot where as my wire-haired dog does not.