G.S.P.s

[fielder 18]

I had a GSP for the best part of fifteen years. He was my best mate, he would go through any cover, as you would expect. I started taking him with my mates on fox drives, and this is where he excelled. He would hoover up wounded foxes with a passion. He has been dead dead just over twelve months now. He is sorely missed. I would love another or a GWP, I dont't which is the best for foxes, I suppose someone will tell me in due course. I have attached a photo of him.

A working Airedale?

[lampinglurcher 36]

This is one for the pointer boys; how useful is it and how often do ou use your pointers for 'pointing' ?

reason i ask is that in some ways i can see definite merit in it, especially for the rough shooter, but on a driven shoot its not really needed, hunting boar - Kiwi you could give us some insight..

other than that from everything ive seen of the wirehairs they look very useful.

[lampinglurcher 36]

just thought id add, compo - i now also have a stafford and use him for everything you've mentioned.. not the typical breed for it but handy nonetheless

[flak88 0]

Pointing on a driven hunt is not very useful in general. There are a few situations though in which pointing on a driven hunt has it's added value, apart from the spectacle it adds when a pointer all of a sudden comes to a full stop & point. In large fields with sugarbeets and the like, pheasants will not easily flush from the beaters, they tend to just run around the line and will not show themselves, I have seen that happening on many occasions. Having pointers working on both sides of the line often more than doubles the results!

 

Secondly, once you get to know your dog well you will be able to see what kind of game it is pointing at, this might come in handy when there's foxes in the field. Foxes have the habit of sneaking through the line of beaters and get out of the field way behind where the action is. Once you see your dog point a fox you can re-arrange the guns into a position where they get a chance to shoot or even better get a second dog to the scene and block the fox's way. It is hardly possible to get a clear shot at a fox in the beetroots so you have to try and force it out of the field in the vincinity of a gun.

 

On a driven hunt in a forest or dense cover, pointing may even be counter-productive, since you may not be able to see your dog at all so he may be standing there for an indefinite period of time waiting for you to come serve him while you are looking for him all over the place .

 

But....the continental pointing dogs (HPR's) are not being called versatile dogs for no reason. If you can give the dog sufficient experience with hunting different types of terrain, it will become fieldwise and adapt it's behaviour to the terrain. I trained my first GWP specifically for the fieldtrials and the work in the beetroots, and I was all too happy that it was great at pointing. Then I got invited to come two days hunting in a beautiful forest with a lot of cover and surrounded by orchards and vast sweetcorn fields. There was a lot of feather and my dog quickly learnt that in this dense cover pointing was not a very succesful activity so he started to change his tactics and stayed close to anyone carrying a gun and started flushing the game without pointing. He was the hero of the day as he did flush a lot of game, but once we got back home and went into the acres, it was all done with the pointing. You can imagine my disappointment as many experienced people then told me that the two days of hunting had ruined my dog forever. I started training back from scratch but because he had lots of live-experience in the meantime he did not respond well at all. I got quite fed up with it at that time and since I felt I had nothing to loose, I started working on an absolute obedience with this dog, and whenever I noticed him scenting game, I made him sit, and flush on command only. Within three weeks, his pointing was not just back on track but way better than it was before. In the meantime I leant that, when training the young dog into different terrains, you can avoid most of these problems, but if they occur there still is hope.

 

So getting back to lampinglurchers question, on a driven boar hunt our GWP's will not point but the same dogs will point when hunting pheasant in the fields (having said that, not all of our dogs go hunting boar but that's food for another topic)

[lampinglurcher 36]

Thanks for the response flak.. very useful dogs, im tempted but it will a few years down the line

[kiwi 4]

part of the wirehairs arsenal is the indicate or point.

on driven shoots in the beating line it simply is not required, i no longer use my wirehairs for this role other than for a young pup and as an intro to finding birds.

i have spaniels that do the job much better at least from a built for purpose role.

for deer and pigs while stalking them i expect them to indicate the same as hunting walked up gamebirds but without the casting and range... they can hunt them the same way as a normal pigdog by finding them and bailing them no worries at all, in fact turn ya back on them or miss the early signs and all my dogs will slip off for some fun....not always welcome if you are after a deer at the time.

wild cats and gwp's are just made for each other.

[lampinglurcher 36]

a GWP isnt really the dog for a driven shoot then hey.

Kiwi how many dogs do you have man?

[Steve S 0]

A beatiful dog; doing what a good dog ought to be doing!

 

I had a GSP for the best part of fifteen years. He was my best mate, he would go through any cover, as you would expect. I started taking him with my mates on fox drives, and this is where he excelled. He would hoover up wounded foxes with a passion. He has been dead dead just over twelve months now. He is sorely missed. I would love another or a GWP, I dont't which is the best for foxes, I suppose someone will tell me in due course. I have attached a photo of him.

 

Hi welshwizard. I'd go with the German Wirehair. If you put your work into it. You'll be well pleased. I've a German one here in the states. He is a staunch pointer, A hell or high water retriever. (force fetch). He blood tracks deer and bears and is very hard on vermin.

These are all older pics that I have here at work.

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing them with other gun dogs makes no sense in my opinion

 

Good luck whatever you choose.

[kiwi 4]

a GWP isnt really the dog for a driven shoot then hey.

Kiwi how many dogs do you have man?

we have 3 wires at home but own another 4 that are worked by mates and have another couple coming into the country next year..

we also have 4 cockers at home and another 2 worked by mates, and a few more booked from wales, working cockers are pretty rare in this country, we imported from cumbria and wales and hope to get them more established here.

i can see some jagd terriers coming in time

[fatboy 0]

Just a thanks to every one for an interesting thread,some good information about everyone's breeds,and some cracking photos,i have a brittany spaniel,so was interested in the hpr side of things.

[lampinglurcher 36]

so back to the original question - does anyone use a shorthaired pointer for fox?