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JohnHafner.Photography

Photo Caption: Continental breeds, such as the pudelpointer (above), will excel in both the uplands and the marsh.

Oceans of ink and forests of paper have been devoted to helping sportsmen choose the right kind of hunting dog. For those who chase waterfowl and upland birds with equal passion, the choice often boils down to a dog that flushes and retrieves or a dog that points and retrieves. The former group includes the familiar retrievers and spaniels, while the latter encompasses what are known as the “versatile” breeds—pointing breeds that, thanks to their natural inclination to retrieve, can pull double-duty as waterfowl dogs. Also known as the “continental” breeds, in reference to their origins on the European mainland, this group includes the German shorthaired pointer, German wirehaired pointer, Brittany, pudelpointer, wirehaired pointing griffon, viszla, Weimaraner, and several others.

Maine sportsman Andy Doak, who is promotions director for the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA), is an avid hunter of ducks, ruffed grouse, and woodcock. “What you like is what you like,” he observes, “and obviously a lot of people hunt upland birds very successfully with retrieving breeds. But if you have an interest in hunting with a pointing dog, and you’re also a duck hunter, the versatile breeds are a great choice.”

For Doak, who hunts with pudelpointers as well as an English setter, the experience of seeing a pointing dog lock up on a wild bird is incomparably thrilling. “That hooks a lot of people,” he says. “When you see how statuesque and intense the dog is, and when you feel that surge of adrenaline as you approach the point and anticipate the flush . . . if you’re someone who’s excited by that, a versatile breed may be just the ticket.”

Catrina Terry, a Ducks Unlimited research scientist stationed in North Dakota, seconds Doak’s observations. “If you’re hunting ducks exclusively,” she notes, “it’s really hard to beat a Labrador. But to this day the most impressive duck retrieve I’ve ever seen was made by a German wirehaired pointer. And since moving to North Dakota from Louisiana, I’ve come to love hunting sharp-tailed grouse. There’s just something about walking the prairies for grouse with your dog and watching him hold point from a hundred or more yards away.”

Terry’s dog, a German wirehair named Sileaux, is the real deal in the duck blind. He’s qualified for the NAVHDA Invitational—the organization’s highest level of testing—and earned the title Hunting Retriever Champion from the Hunting Retriever Club. “I trained him the same way I would a Lab,” Terry attests. “One of the things I really emphasized was marking, not just hunting. I don’t want to spend 10 minutes waiting for a retrieve when the dog should have marked the bird’s fall and gone straight to it. And he’s been nailing his blinds since he was 15 months old.”

Terry frequently leads NAVHDA-sponsored training seminars, where her experience has been that the rough-coated breeds like wirehairs, pudelpointers, and griffons take to the water more readily than the shorter-coated breeds. They’re also more tolerant of the cold, an important consideration in a place like North Dakota, where you can be breaking ice in October. The other side of the coin is that a short-coated dog will likely handle the heat that’s typical of early-season sharptail hunting better than a rough-coated dog will.

Doak admits that in certain conditions—late-season sea duck hunting, for example—even the hardiest versatile breeds may be out of their element. “I’m not knocking the versatile breeds,” he explains. “I’m just being realistic. Whatever you’re hunting, you need the right tool in your toolbox.”

The job of a pointing dog is to range out, cover ground, and find birds you otherwise wouldn’t, but some upland hunters are uncomfortable with the idea of their dogs hunting out of sight or beyond gun range. If you fit this profile, one of the flushing breeds probably makes the most sense for you—although Doak is convinced that the availability of user-friendly GPS tracking collars, which tell you precisely where your dog is in real time, has convinced more than a few sportsmen to switch to the versatile camp.