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anybody have one.pros and cons?

My neighbor has one. Not a really cold weather dog, and little to be crashing thru big grass, but smart little cookie

sent from a phancy fone

live in south Louisiana on gulf coast,it doesn't get cold here

Have heard nothing but great things about them. Small size for boat hunting, lots of drive, should work well in your area.

jarbo03 wrote:Have heard nothing but great things about them. Small size for boat hunting, lots of drive, should work well in your area.

x2. Heard nothing but great things if ya need a driven dog in a small package. Really considered getting one myself. Would still like too someday

Redbeard wrote:

jarbo03 wrote:Have heard nothing but great things about them. Small size for boat hunting, lots of drive, should work well in your area.

x2. Heard nothing but great things if ya need a driven dog in a small package. Really considered getting one myself. Would still like too someday

x3. I have hunted over a buddy's springer spaniel. don't let the size fool you. If you get one with the heart and drive, they can get shit done...

My dog isn't a spaniel, but she weighs 38 pounds and doesn't let a thing stop her.

NuffDaddy wrote:My dog isn't a spaniel, but she weighs 38 pounds and doesn't let a thing stop her.

you got one of them canoe labs huh

hudson wrote:live in south Louisiana on gulf coast,it doesn't get cold here

Only one I've known of living down here struggled with the coastal marsh vegetation and too often needed retrieved, himself, according to his owner.

Your mileage may vary, but I'd think twice about what he'll have to push through. Small dogs are good for staying atop some flotants but may struggle getting though maiden cane ("paille fine" or "canouche") much less salt ("wire") grass.

jarbo03 wrote:Have heard nothing but great things about them. Small size for boat hunting, lots of drive, should work well in your area.

x 4

If I lived in a warm climate I would get one. If you do, name him gator bait? LOL

My 80 lb girl works good here in the cold weather. But I wouldn't be afraid to get one if I were you.

An FYI for our northern friends, this is maidencane, the predominant vegetation in much or most of the freshwater coastal marsh (depending on how recently it's been salted by hurricane surge):


Much more dense and interwoven at dog level than canary or switch grasses, and it may be floating and only offering waterbed-like footing.

If Hudson is hunting the brackish portion of the marsh, there may be salt grass of similar height but denser more springy nature. Not interwoven like a brillo pad, but that's the reference that comes to mind when I think of it. Have seen it stop a buck deer running from our airboat and seem to actually throw him back. Like maiden cane, not much of a problem if he's hunting mostly open water with a little of it around, but a whole 'nother animal if he's hunting small potholes surrounded by it.

Hunt broken marsh with bullwhips roseau cane joint grass and salt grass.my pond is usually between 8 to 20 inches deep depending on rain and is pretty hard bottom and is choked with wigeon grass duckweed and scattered wild rice

Rick wrote:An FYI for our northern friends, this is maidencane, the predominant vegetation in much or most of the freshwater coastal marsh (depending on how recently it's been salted by hurricane surge):


Much more dense and interwoven at dog level than canary or switch grasses, and it may be floating and only offering waterbed-like footing.

If Hudson is hunting the brackish portion of the marsh, there may be salt grass of similar height but denser more springy nature. Not interwoven like a brillo pad, but that's the reference that comes to mind when I think of it. Have seen it stop a buck deer running from our airboat and seem to actually throw him back. Like maiden cane, not much of a problem if he's hunting mostly open water with a little of it around, but a whole 'nother animal if he's hunting small potholes surrounded by it.

so Rick would you recommend a Hippo if hunting round the stuff?

hudson wrote:Hunt broken marsh with bullwhips roseau cane joint grass and salt grass.my pond is usually between 8 to 20 inches deep depending on rain and is pretty hard bottom and is choked with wigeon grass duckweed and scattered wild rice

Even if the canes and whips seldom came into play, I'd want a dog with more leg than a Boykin to keep as much of him as possible up out of the water and wigeon grass.

Redbeard wrote:

Rick wrote:An FYI for our northern friends, this is maidencane, the predominant vegetation in much or most of the freshwater coastal marsh (depending on how recently it's been salted by hurricane surge):


Much more dense and interwoven at dog level than canary or switch grasses, and it may be floating and only offering waterbed-like footing.

If Hudson is hunting the brackish portion of the marsh, there may be salt grass of similar height but denser more springy nature. Not interwoven like a brillo pad, but that's the reference that comes to mind when I think of it. Have seen it stop a buck deer running from our airboat and seem to actually throw him back. Like maiden cane, not much of a problem if he's hunting mostly open water with a little of it around, but a whole 'nother animal if he's hunting small potholes surrounded by it.

so Rick would you recommend a Hippo if hunting round the stuff?

That's actually the clean farm raised version on poorly drained ground that was plowed for rice but left fallow. The marsh version, unless it's been recently burned has a couple or three feet of old thatch below the tops that way too regularly stops our Chevy 350 powered airboat. Hippo would be just the ticket where it grows on hard bottom and interesting to watch where it's deep water flotant.

Redbeard wrote:

NuffDaddy wrote:My dog isn't a spaniel, but she weighs 38 pounds and doesn't let a thing stop her.

you got one of them canoe labs huh

English setter

Rick, do people use labs? I see a pic of your Chessie, just wondering what dog works best. AS you can imagine, never seen maiden cane before.

Do many dogs get eaten by gators?

Most use Labs. Some of which are eaten by gators each September teal season, but I don't know of a certain such case during the regular season when water temps are colder. Suspect most all lost then were just that.

NuffDaddy wrote:

Redbeard wrote:

NuffDaddy wrote:My dog isn't a spaniel, but she weighs 38 pounds and doesn't let a thing stop her.

you got one of them canoe labs huh

English setter

Fwiw, I'd done my Northern waterfowling over a Brittany and setters, and recall the 60lb setter I brought down here with me handling marsh navigation well enough, except for the part about letting nutrias live. And the current old Brittany also saw a season and a half in our current marsh. Was trial bred, so a long, lean 38lbs, perhaps like your setter. He did better on most flotant than the 96lb Chessie I then had. by virtue of staying atop most of it, but got ground down pretty quickly in areas with maiden cane. His MO there was trying to bound over what he couldn't push through like the bigger dogs could, and that, too, took its toll. Definitely did best after Hurricane Ike cleared most flotant of all but scabby vegetation.

Rick wrote:

Redbeard wrote:

Rick wrote:An FYI for our northern friends, this is maidencane, the predominant vegetation in much or most of the freshwater coastal marsh (depending on how recently it's been salted by hurricane surge):


Much more dense and interwoven at dog level than canary or switch grasses, and it may be floating and only offering waterbed-like footing.

If Hudson is hunting the brackish portion of the marsh, there may be salt grass of similar height but denser more springy nature. Not interwoven like a brillo pad, but that's the reference that comes to mind when I think of it. Have seen it stop a buck deer running from our airboat and seem to actually throw him back. Like maiden cane, not much of a problem if he's hunting mostly open water with a little of it around, but a whole 'nother animal if he's hunting small potholes surrounded by it.

so Rick would you recommend a Hippo if hunting round the stuff?

That's actually the clean farm raised version on poorly drained ground that was plowed for rice but left fallow. The marsh version, unless it's been recently burned has a couple or three feet of old thatch below the tops that way too regularly stops our Chevy 350 powered airboat. Hippo would be just the ticket where it grows on hard bottom and interesting to watch where it's deep water flotant.

my goodness. How do y'all even find birds?!

That's why God made dogs and gave them noses that smell more than farts. It's a mystery how the good ones know how far to go for their marks once they're in such stuff, but they generally do. Would think it's much the same hunting your tule marsh.

Rick wrote:That's why God made dogs and gave them noses that smell more than farts. It's a mystery how the good ones know how far to go for their marks once they're in such stuff, but they generally do. Would think it's much the same hunting your tule marsh.

yea I've always wondered the same bout those deep in the tules marks. Our tules get thick but decent sized dogs learn how to crash through and how to stamped em down flat

Experience teaches them how to handle marks.

Rick wrote:Most use Labs. Some of which are eaten by gators each September teal season, but I don't know of a certain such case during the regular season when water temps are colder. Suspect most all lost then were just that.

If a gator got my dog I would have a problem, laws be damned.

If a gator wants your dog, the odds are very slim you'll know it before the damage is done, as they hunt from below. Almost surreal to see one blow up "out of nowhere" taking a shot at one.

Doubt anyone would go out of their way to pursue the law when a gator is killed for taking a dog - unless the owner was foolish enough to tell the world about it and leave enforcement little choice to save face. "SSS" is the Golden Rule of the marsh.

Rick your swamp justice reminds me of this Jerry Reed song.

Rick wrote:

NuffDaddy wrote:

Redbeard wrote:

NuffDaddy wrote:My dog isn't a spaniel, but she weighs 38 pounds and doesn't let a thing stop her.

you got one of them canoe labs huh

English setter

Fwiw, I'd done my Northern waterfowling over a Brittany and setters, and recall the 60lb setter I brought down here with me handling marsh navigation well enough, except for the part about letting nutrias live. And the current old Brittany also saw a season and a half in our current marsh. Was trial bred, so a long, lean 38lbs, perhaps like your setter. He did better on most flotant than the 96lb Chessie I then had. by virtue of staying atop most of it, but got ground down pretty quickly in areas with maiden cane. His MO there was trying to bound over what he couldn't push through like the bigger dogs could, and that, too, took its toll. Definitely did best after Hurricane Ike cleared most flotant of all but scabby vegetation.

I've watched my dog crawl all the way through the middle of a brush pile that I wouldnt think a rabbit could fit in. I keep waiting for the day she gets stuck and I have to spend an hour digging her out.

Rick wrote:If a gator wants your dog, the odds are very slim you'll know it before the damage is done, as they hunt from below. Almost surreal to see one blow up "out of nowhere" taking a shot at one.

Doubt anyone would go out of their way to pursue the law when a gator is killed for taking a dog - unless the owner was foolish enough to tell the world about it and leave enforcement little choice to save face. "SSS" is the Golden Rule of the marsh.

I bet it is.

SSS is also the Golden Rule of the prairie.....

jarbo03 wrote:Experience teaches them how to handle marks.

Can't help but think the really good markers have more than experience going for them, because contrary to popular retriever "wisdom," they needn't maintain anything remotely like a straight line through cover they can't see the area of fall through to end up in the right place on new turf. As if they've their own form of GPS.

Rick wrote:

jarbo03 wrote:Experience teaches them how to handle marks.

Can't help but think the really good markers have more than experience going for them, because contrary to popular retriever "wisdom," they needn't maintain anything remotely like a straight line through cover they can't see the area of fall through to end up in the right place on new turf. As if they've their own form of GPS.

I would agree with that, some dogs seem to have IT from the start. As far as marking in said situations, retriever breeds are more likely to be naturals. When you move to the more upland dogs, experience means everything. Could also be that most upland people don't train with bumpers. Years ago it was not uncommon to hunt thick CRP that was up to 6' tall and thick. Always wondered how how my dogs knew the area of a fall, knowing all they saw was the original path of flight.