doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dad and Grandpa's dogs?

The idea of what type of gun did our relatives use has been great reading, and a great idea for a thread. It made me think that knowing the type of dogs they owned might be just as much fun.

My grandfather raised Ryman English Setters and my godfather raised Hemlock English Setters. My dad was not a bird hunter and I grew up with a variety of mutts. Great dogs to take out for a run in the woods, but not much for pointing or flushing grouse and woodcock. I hunted a fair amount with my grandfathers dogs when I was very young, and occasionally with my godfather's dogs. Time plays tricks with the mind, but my memories of the setters are fond ones.

Today I have my own Ryman English Setter as well as a couple of german shorthairs.

What type of dogs did you grow up around, or hunt over?

Dad had Springers; Grandad had old time, before the breed was ruined Cocker Spaniels. Dad told me that old Cocker was the best grouse/woodcock dog he ever hunted over.

Grandpa fished his ducks out of water with a net.
It was pretty basic duck hunting out of a leaky johnboat and his old Baker Batavia Special. No dog to go fetch, but fun to be there. Samething with rabbits - he just went out and did it.

Hi,
My Grandfather hunted but to my knowledge never owned a dog. My Dads 2 favorite dogs #1 was a mutt named Dan 1/2 Enlish Pointer and 1/2 Setter, he was a big lemon and white sweet dog that looked more like a pointer. #2 Was Hugo a beast of a GSP and expert hunter that also managed to drive and crash the family car, dive through various windows, sleep on the kitchen table but never get caught there, wait for the unsuspecting kid to open the door so he could plant his head in your chest and run you over like a linebacker, eat entire roasts when you answered the door, only listened to Dad, etc well you get the idea, good thing he could hunt or I think he would he been taken to the pound as a young dog.
As for me I have 2 GSP's thank god not related to Hugo the horrible.
Jeff G.

Speaking of dogs, if you have not ever read a small book titled 'The Dog that Wouldn't Be' by Farley Mowat, do yourself a favor and get a copy. It is non-fiction and one of the funniest and perhaps the very best book about a 'hunting dog' ever written. Lots of laughs.

My Grandpa was a quail hunter and had several English setters over the years. Pictures in family collections show some pretty nice dogs. My Dad had cockers, and later, beagles. I hunted rabbits behind mmost of the beagles as a kid. I remember them as being extremely hard headed and unresponsive to anyone except when food was in the picture. If nothing else I learned that at least SOME training of dogs is necessary. -- Ed

There were a lot of American water spaniels around western MN when I grew up there in the '40's and '50's.

Growing up in 60's and 70's,every family in our neighborhood had a least one Beagle.We were surrounded by small farms,cottontails were everywhere.My uncles say it was common to do the barn work and get a limit of rabbits before school in the morning. The Beagles also worked well for pheasnts.
Dave

Dad was after meat when he went hunting and his dogs were larger beagles (probably a Harrier or Foxhound crossed with beagles). Worked well for cottontail, pheasant, squirrels, coons, and feral housecats which it bayed as if on rabbits. Absolute vacuum cleaners on small game.

In the early sixties, as a young boy, I was introduced to hunting dog tactics on Montana phez. My dad had two dogs, both of which only had 2 legs apiece. One was named John and the other was me. John and I were flushing bred, could manage the thorny thickets flushing and retrieving on command. I learned to hate the taste of pheasant early in life. John and I would come home bloodied from the thorns and dad would get a scolding from mom (I was about 6 or so and her baby at the time). I was in my thirties before I reacquired the urge to hunt pheasant. I now have a female Lab that is just past her first hunting season.