ROADHUNTER: VERSATILE HUNTING DOGS

Versatile gun dogs have the build and stamina to shed hunt in rugged terrain for many hours and in tough conditions. This pudelpointer is bringing in an elk shed from a creek bottom.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAUGEN

Like many of you, I love to hunt and have all my life. I also appreciate a good dog that’s trainable, obedient, driven, and at the end of the day will curl up by my side and watch a movie, or voluntarily go in the kennel as I work in my o ce, where both of my pudelpointers are as I write these words. When the time came for me to get a new hunting companion, I searched for two years. In addition to a dog that could hunt ducks and geese from September into March throughout the West, I wanted one that would run the rugged mountains all day in the spring and early summer in search of deer and elk sheds, pound the ground for an array of upland birds from mountain quail to ptarmigan, sit for doves and band-tailed pigeons, track and flush fall turkeys, tree gray squirrels and retrieve ground squirrels along with cottontails.

I wanted a breed of dog that could handle the places I like to hunt – from Alaska to California and into the Rocky Mountain states – and amid an array of terrain. I also wanted a good family dog, one that was considered hypoallergenic, or close to it. I wanted one dog to do it all. That’s why I chose a pudelpointer, and two years after I got Echo, a brown female, I got a black male, Kona. They’ve changed my life.

GETTING STARTED I’ve been fortunate to hunt with a range of versatile dogs in many parts of the world and I could never see myself owning anything but a pudelpointer; OK, maybe a gri on or drahthaar.

My intent here is not to change minds, as Labs will always rule the waterfowling world, and other breeds,

An undercoat with a wiry outer coat is what allows breeds like pudelpointers, griffons and drahthaars, like Eudor, to hunt in cold, wet, icy conditions.

the upland ranks. My goal is to share with hunters who might be looking to hunt upland birds, fall turkey, antler sheds, furry animals and even wild mushrooms with one dog.

“They always get people talking or at least shooting questioning glances your way when you let ’em out of the truck in the public duck hunting parking lot or on the training grounds,” shares Josh Powell, who lives outside LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Powell is the proud owner of Eudor, an impressive drahthaar I’ve had the honor of hunting with many times.

“What continues to amaze me is how well these dogs mark,” adds Powell, who is an aspiring full-time trainer and breeder of drahthaars. “Eudor will sit all day in cold, harsh conditions, marking and retrieving ducks and geese, and that would surprise a lot of folks.”

I hunted with Eudor and Powell in Cold Bay, Alaska, one November. I held an emperor goose tag and Eudor made a heckuva retrieve on a prized bird in heavy winds, blowing snow and chilling temperatures in the whitecapped Pacific Ocean.

“Quality bloodlines and proper training are essential in getting the most out of your versatile dog,” shares Desiree Stormont, a North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) judge and passionate waterfowl hunter. “We duckhunted a lot with our German shorthair pointer in Wisconsin, but it got pretty cold up there, plus that breed can get overexcited when sitting in a blind. I’d been around a lot of gri ons in the duck blind and loved their demeanor, so four years ago I got one; he’s incredible in so many ways. Now that we live in Nebraska, we waterfowl hunt with our gri all season long, and sometimes our GSP joins us on shorter hunts.”

Stormont says that the drive a gri on has to perform in water and its ability to mark birds would surprise a lot of folks. “Rupert is my eyes in the sky. I think my favorite part of hunting ducks and geese with him is watching his eyes constantly searching for ducks. Just by watching Rupert I can tell where the birds are approaching from. He does an incredible job on retrieves too, and if one dives, sails, or hits the timber or brush, he’s not coming back until he finds it. It’s nothing for him to push back 500 yards and be gone for 10 minutes or more, and he takes signals very well.”

When asked what folks should consider when looking to get a versatile gun dog, noted trainer and breeder of one of the most elite lines of pudelpointers in the country, Jess Spradley of Cabin Creek Gun Dogs (cabincreekgundogs.com) in Lakeview, Oregon, notes, “If you want a versatile

dog that loves water and waterfowl hunting, two things are important. First, you’ve got to have the best genetics you can find, as that’s going to bring out the top performance of the dog. If you want a pudelpointer or gri or any other versatile gun dog for waterfowl hunting, make sure the breeder knows that so they can get you a pup that has parents and grandparents that tested well in water. Another important thing is the timing of getting a pup. If you’re going to get a versatile pup and you live in a cold climate much of the year, get it in late spring or early summer, so you can introduce it to water at a young age and regularly train it. Forcing a sensitive pup into cold water in winter can cause training challenges.”

“The great thing about pudelpointers, drahths and gri s is their wiry, thick coat,” points out Powell. “That, along with a quality neoprene vest, and it’s surprising the conditions these dogs can endure, and I’m not talking just for a few hours; I’m talking all day for days on end.”

It can be a challenge finding a neoprene vest that fits thin-waisted, deep-chested dogs like drahths and pudelpointers. My favorite vest for my pudelpointers is made by Browning, while Powell has been pleased with Tanglefree for his drahthaar.

Desiree Stormont and her griffon, Rupert, enjoy a duck hunt, just one of many different outings they share. THE HUNT One January I took a buddy on a duck hunt. He’s a police o cer who’s used to working with well-trained canines. “Will they sit like that all day?” he asked, nodding to my dogs on the platform. It was pouring rain, windy and 36 degrees and my dogs hadn’t moved for six hours, other than to retrieve birds and relieve themselves. I assured him they would, and would do so multiple times a week, all season long. He was surprised pudelpointers had that much discipline. He made another key observation, one I had noticed right away when hunting with Powell in Alaska, and

Quality genetics and dedicated, consistent training will see a versatile dog performing perfectly in a range of conditions and situations for an array of species. Here, a pudelpointer brings in a cackler.

one that Stormont confirmed with her gri . “Watching your dogs watch birds, they even know the di erence between ducks and all the other birds, don’t they?” He was right.

On days when wind and rain are hammering my face, I might not look over the decoys much. I’ll just hunker down and watch my dogs and they’ll tell me if ducks are coming, from what direction, and even how fast they’re approaching.

The following morning I took Kona into the rolling foothills of the Cascade Range on a fall turkey hunt. It was our seventh day over the course of the past two weeks trying to find turkeys. Finally, he cut a track, promptly followed it, then held a pair of jakes in heavy brush on the edge of a Douglas fir forest. When I caught up to Kona on solid point, the birds flushed and I dropped one, which he retrieved. The biggest fall tom Kona has ever retrieved weighed 21 pounds.

Two days later we were hunting honkers in a field, followed by a wood duck hunt in a brushy creek the day after that. Then our late-goose season kicked o and Kona racked up the retrieves on cacklers as our groups dropped hundreds of birds before the season culminated in March; this was a depredation hunt.

The second to last hunt of the goose season was the most memorable. A flock of more than 3,000 cacklers funneled into the decoys and a couple buddies and I dropped five from the fringe of the flock, finishing our limits. One bird nearly hit me, which I grabbed. Looking up, I saw Kona with a cackler already in his mouth, which he quickly delivered to hand. Next, he was after another goose he saw drop behind the blind. Then I directed him by hand over 150 yards through the foot-tall, green rye grass to where a goose had drifted. He couldn’t see it, but once he started cutting wedges into the wind, it didn’t take long to pick up the scent.

“That dog’s more like a horse than any dog I’ve seen,” claimed one buddy, eyes fixed on Kona. “Man, he covers ground!”

I failed to see the last bird go down, so got a line on it from my buddy. “It’s a quarter-mile across that field, and the fog is another 100 yards beyond that, and who knows how far the bird is past that by now. Last I saw, it was still going but getting low,” he pressed. “I’ll just go get it; I need the exercise anyway.”

He started across the field as I sent Kona out, but the dog got distracted with all the fresh scent from the morning hunt. I called Kona back, started him on a new line, then pushed him back about 100 yards before he stopped and looked to me for direction. Raising an open hand overhead, I hollered “back” and Kona took o .

Another 150 yards later, I stopped him with a buzz of his collar, directing him to the right with a hand signal. He took o at his usual powerful and steady gate. At the edge of the fog line, Kona paused, stretching his big black nose as high as he could. He slowly inched forward, not on point, but rather getting a bead on the direction of the smell he’d just detected. His back legs loaded and then thrust his deep chest over the lush green grass. He was in high gear and was quickly consumed by fog. My buddy, who was now 100 yards into the field, just kept walking toward the goose, unbelieving of Kona’s ability.

A few minutes later, Kona emerged from the fog – still more than 500 yards away – and proudly pranced past my buddy, goose in mouth. He didn’t slow until he was by my side.

Kona slept well that night, and when my alarm went o at 3:45 the next morning, I could hear him stand, shake and start wagging his tail in his kennel. Echo did the same. It was time to go hunting and they both knew it. 

Author Scott Haugen and his two pudelpointers, Kona (left) and Echo, have enjoyed hundreds of hunts together over the years in a range of habitats for a variety of birds and small game. Here, they’re heading home with a limit of valley quail.

Editor’s note: Scott Haugen is a fulltime author. Learn more about his line of books and booking service at scotthaugen.com. Follow his adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

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