Bob White and Bird Dogs 
Quail Dogs and the Sportsman’s Equipment—Part Two 
See EVELOPING an 
“so argument over 
the relative mer- 
its of pointers 
vs. setters, and 
field trial dogs 
over. shooting 
dogs, is a popu- 
lar indoor sport 
among seasoned 
quail hunters. 
From our point of view, a first-class 
shooting dog is the all-around superior 
of the dog that is being run in field 
trials to-day. A good shooting dog can 
be as spectacular in his way of doing 
things as any field trial dog, and 
usually has a better nose and more 
brains than the nervous wispy 
“running machines” that pro- 
fessional breeders and _ profes- 
sional handlers are running in 
field trials to-day. There is a 
good deal of talk about wide- 
going field trial dogs. As a 
matter of fact, the widest rang- 
ing dogs we have ever seen 
have been bird-wise, intelligent, 
shooting dogs, which when game 
was scarce ranged rapidly over 
bare country and kept reaching 
out farther and farther for 
good cover and likely quail 
spots. These dogs absolutely 
refuse to race over birdless 
country which delights so many 
field trial dogs, simply because 
it affords them good footing on which 
to exercise their running propensities. 

ARMING activities in the quail 
hunting sections have acted a great 
part in developing the modern quail 
dog. A brainy bird dog in time de- 
velops a knowledge of the character of 
the crops which are grown in certain 
sections and their suitability for quail 
that is quite as comprehensive as that 
of the average hunter. A _bird-wise 
dog knows the abiding places of quail 
and will race over country to get to it, 
and accords but casual attention to 
fields not likely to hold birds. Here 
is where the great difference in dogs 
is shown strikingly. The brainless dog: 
hunts over a forty-acre tract back and 
forth aimlessly. A bird-wise dog, on 
the contrary, if given freedom to hunt, 
goes wider and wider and pays atten- 
tion only to those spots which he 
knows are used by birds at certain 
times of the day. 
tory results . 
field dogs. 
IIIA 
By SENECA 
On single birds, a slow dog naturally 
has something on the speedy fellow. 
On bevies it is not possible for a slow 
dog to approach the fast goer. His 
art is different and so long as his 
master elects to work him over a small 
field of thirty or forty acres, criss- 
crossing back and forth, there is no 
chance in the world of his becoming a 
great covey worker. The slow-going 
dog spends a good deal of time on foot 
scent; a good covey dog concerns him- 
self mainly with the body scent. Really 
great individuals among bird dogs are 
quite as rare as the really great are 
among anything else. The dog that 
can be truthfully classified as a com- 
bined single bird and covey dog in 
UILUUINUTUIVUTLUUTIETTUETETTE TUTTE 
In some forms of shooting, notably ruffed 
grouse and Jack snipe, the birds may be still 
hunted or “walked up” with fairly satisfac- 
. . but Bob White is as elusive 
as the first roseate touch of dawn. 
cessful pursuit requires the services of good 
In his second paper, Seneca em- 
phasizes the importance of this phase of 
quail hunting and discusses the field dog. 
every sense of the word, is a scarce 
article. Men who have trained hun- 
dreds of bird dogs and have had a life- 
time of experience with them in the 
field, usually do not recall more than 
three or four cracker-jacks. It is well 
to remember that in time the fastest, 
wide-ranging dog can be slowed down 
into a moderate ranger. A dog of this 
kind is useful for both single and 
bevies. On the other hand, the slow- 
going single bird dog can never be 
made into a speedy wide-goer. He was 
not built for this purpose. It is a good 
deal like the difference between a draft 
horse and a roadster. You can slow 
up the roadster to the pace of the 
draft horse, but you can never develop 
roadster speed in the latter. 
HE majority of the best prospects . 
among pointers and setters have 
their natural qualities ruined by too 
early trsining. This does not mean 
that a dog should not at an early age 
be taken afield where quail are plenti- 
His suc- 
ITIIIUTTVUIUTTUUI UIT 
ful. Early training will not interfere 
with the gun dog of the North and 
East, but the longer one waits before 
checking a fast fellow, the more satis- 
factory will his performance be in later 
years, as well as his staying qualities. 
Particularly does this apply to the 
Southern quail dogs where the hunters 
are usually on horseback. 
REEDING is a means to an end, but 
neither blood nor conformation in- 
dicates anything in a puppy that will 
enable one to form a definite opinion 
as to what kind of a bird dog a pup 
will be later on in life when fully devel- 
oped. The early pointing instinct to 
which many attach so much importance 
does not guarantee later great- 
ness. It simply indicates that 
the pup has the instinct to 
point. In some cases it is an 
evidence that the pup has a 
nose, but the fact must not be 
lost sight of that most of these 
early pointers do so merely by 
sight. 
The best kind of a prospect, 
be it a pointer or a setter, is 
one that as soon as he is turned 
loose gets out and hustles and 
continues to stay out and keeps 
going after living things, be 
they quail, rabbits, or spar- 
rows. And whether he chases 
them or not, you can see that 
his love and ability to find sur- 
passes everything else. In other words, 
it is an animal that has the indomi- 
table courage to keep on hunting just 
as long as it is physically possible for 
him to do so. 
(Continued on page 101) 

A HAUNTER OF WEED-COVERED FIELDS, 
BOB WHITE WILL’ HOLD HIS OWN PRO- 
VIDED SUFFICIENT COVER BE LEFT 
EACH SEASON AND VERMIN BE CON- 
TROLLED. MODERATE SHOOTING TENDS 
TO PROMOTE HEALTHY STOCK BY EN- 
COURAGING INTER-BREEDING OF BIRDS 
AMONG SCATTERED COVEYS 
Page 78 
