Being a voracious reader, I am often asked about my favorite books for upland bird hunters. All books by Jim Fergus, such as A Hunter’s Road and A Sporting Road, are among my chief favorites. And, I enjoy reading Mike Gould again and again, especially Plateaus of Destiny. But, I have to confess they all feature Brittanys, so that may be part of the allure for me.

Gould’s Labrador Shooting Dog (it features pointing labs, but this training method works for all pointing dogs and is the method I follow, having studied under Gary Ruppel. And Bob Wehle’s Wing and Shot features the more traditional methods and is well written. If you had to stop with just these few, you really wouldn’t need any more to become fully educated on pointing dog training, especially for Gary Ruppel’s natural method of dog training, which is not focused on the electric collar and force breaking methods. The others mentioned above will show you what you can accomplish with this training method.

But if you will not be satisfied knowing that there are so many more books out there to read, one could move on to all of the books written by the late, great Bill Tarrant would be next to add. Bill was a gentle soul, a voracious writer and focused heavily on learning from and writing about professional trainers. He praised most, both in his writings and in his conversations with me, Mike Gould and (his protégé at the time) Gary Ruppel, for the “new school” of professionals. Some of Bill’s books are more how-to, others are more interviews, and some are fictional. The titles tell you which way they go, there are about 8-10 of them all together.

Then you could add one more book directed at Brittany lovers, which features a very natural method but a bit more directed to what I’ll call pack hunting in big sky country. If that doesn’t give it away just by the mention of Brittanys in Montana, I am referencing Bird Dog: The Instinctive Training Method by Ben O. Williams.

And then three are the classics for pointing dogs (which will show you the old school methods): The Gun Dog Book and Gun Dog Training: Pointing Dogs.

And, finally, the ones you will need for field trial Brittanys like mine, who always seem to find a way to bust through barbed wire or find other troubles: Advanced Canine First Aid DVD and A Field Guild to Dog First Aid.

My bird hunting buddy recommends Wehle’s Wing & Shot and the classic Gun Dog. He also recommends Steven J. Mulak’s Pointing Dog’s Made Easy & A Brief Autumn’s Passage, Joel Vance’s Bobs, Brush & Brittanys and you can’t forget The Rufus Chronicles too! Anything by George Bird Evans and Mark J. Volk are also among our shared favorites.

And, as far as magazines go, the Double Gun Journal used to be the top of the line magazine but now Project Upland and Covey Rise are the bomb, along with another favorite of mine, Garden & Gun Magazine.

And, finally, I have to plug my own book,