CHAPTER VII 



IRISH AND GORDON SETTERS 



While it is an admitted fact that Irish setters 

 have not held their own either in pubHc events 

 or in the favor of private sportsmen, there is one 

 contrary fact which lends to this state of things 

 a trifle of perplexity. A large number of 

 thorough-going field shots who have owned and 

 seen numbers of dogs say that the best setters 

 they ever used were Irish. I have in mind ten 

 or twelve gentlemen in different parts of the 

 country who make this statement when talking 

 of their experiences. An example worth men- 

 tioning is that of Mr. Charles W. Scudder of St. 

 Louis. Few sportsmen anywhere have either 

 owned or shot over as many good dogs as Mr. 

 Scudder. For many years he has constantly 

 kept a picked string of ten or twelve in training and 

 has made no discrimination in favor of any breed. 

 Sometimes the majority of his dogs are pointers, 

 and in other years he has more of setters. 

 Frequently they are field trial performers. He 

 tells me without reservation that the best doer he 

 ever had was an Irish setter, which he describes 



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