The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-03-24
Which Is the Better-Pointer or Setter!

If our country were more crcumscribed
IN its limits; were our shooting confined,
say, to the States of New York, New Jer-
sey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the question
would be one easily solved; for, if we except
snipe shooting on the meadows, most of
haps, with low growing underbrusl or thick
and tangled vines and briers 1t is true
that quails feed in the stubble, and the
bevies are usually first flushed in the open,
but they Immediately seek the recesses of
swamp or wood, where they must be fol-
lowed and routed singly if the bag is to be
filled. The woodcock, the king of our
game birds, haunts, in Summer particu-
larly, only the densest cover, where by some
little stream or marshy thicket he finds in
the yielding ooze and soft earth the worms
and larvae which form his diet. 1t, there
fore, stands to reason that the dog for our
purpose would be one like the setter, whose
thick coat of hair would enable him to
withstand the attacks of briers and brush,
and all the effects of wet and cold; whose
feet, provided by nature with tufts of hair
between the toes, carry him without injury
over the sharp flints of the mountain-side,
where the ruffed grouse (partridge) loves to
bask among the old logs and dead trees.
But our country is not all briery thcket
or rough mountain side. At the West
there is the "bounGless prairie,' the home
of the pinnated grouse, or chicken"
where Seat or "bull" briers are not
found, and where wading is comparatively
unknown. Here the sleek coated pointer
is in his element for "chcken shooting
in most States begins in August, and the
heavy-coated setter suffers from the heat
and want of water, while the pointer with
his close hair hunts on, asking only for an
occasional lap of water, until the days
work is done. In many places also the
Canada thistle abouuds, the burrs of which
become SO entangled in the coat of the set
ter as to cause him perfect misery. | have
quite recently known of several instances
of dogs positively refusing to work until
the burrs were removed. In all such places
the pointer is undoubtedly the best dog to
shoot over. But all sportsmen do not go
to the prairies in August, nor is the pin
mated grouse the only game bird to be found
there. In the latter part of September the
ducks and snipe begin to arrive on their
annual southern migration; and then we
have not only the cold weather which makes
the setter comfortable in his thicker jacket
but we must go into the wet lands to find
snipe. and the ponds or lakes for ducks
Here the setter undeniably has the advant-
age; for although the pointer will 90 into
the water if ordered, or, if highly bred, into
the most tangled thicket, his shivering and
shaking discomfort in the one instance and
his lacerated and bleeding skin in the other,
make him an object of compassion to a
considerate master, and initiate against
the pleasures of the hunt. But the ques-
ton is by no means, as yet, decided against
the pointer. There is another thing in his
favor which is well worthy of consideration
before we arrive at conclusion, and that
is the comparative ease with which he is
broken, and his excellent quality of retain
ing his education when once it has been
fully perfected Indeed, so much am |
impressed with the value of that quality,
that | should almost be tempted in spite of
a strong penchant for the setter, to suggest
to friend who would shoot but occasion
ally, and desired to break his own dogs, to
choose pointer in preference. But to
those who are skillful in handling dogs,
and who are SO situated as to he able to
keep their dogs in work during the shoot
ing season, there can scarcely be a doubt
that the setter is the better dog. Certainly
he is the choice of the larger number of
sportsmen, although it must be admitted
that fashion prevails here as everywhere,
and the setter is the fashionable dog of the
day. Of course in both settlers and pointers
there are exceptions to the general rules |
have given, and individuals of either variety
are to be found possessing the best qualities
attributed to both. ITm. ~ IIeston, of
the Forest and Stream, in Scribner's Maya
zine for IprH.