At the core of the DeCoverly setter is more than a century of selective breeding for natural hunting instincts. These instincts are comprised of scenting ability, intelligence to learn how to handle birds, and pointing instinct. Many DeCoverly Setters will pick up bird scent at 40 to 50 yards under ideal conditions. A bird cannot be handled at that distance, but if the dog knows that the bird is there his chances to handle it increase dramatically. Also, a dog with that amount of scenting ability has to cover a lot less ground to find the birds.

A mature Setter can work a grouse for up to 200 yards before getting it “set” against a log, a stone wall, or some other barrier. We specifically do not “whoa” train our setters so they are allowed to break point and work a moving bird. We let them make the judgment. The only rules are that they cannot loose their cool and break the bird, and that when the gun arrives the bird must be there and the setter must be completely steady.

We do not want a dog that has to be released from a point after the bird has run out of the scent cone. The dog now has to relocate, and all of the odds are in the bird’s favor. We do not want a dog to stand there like a well-trained fool. His job is to set the bird up for the gun. Our job is to expose him to birds and to let him learn his craft.

The following story from Ken Alexander is an example of a mature setter intelligently handling a ruffed grouse:

“Pennsylvania’s mountains often go up in benches, and we often hunt these benches along the contour of the ridge. One morning I was walking a bench that was about 60 yards wide, with my hunting partner on the slope below. Ginger had been working across both of our fronts but was now in the laurel on the slope above me on my right. The stop and start of her bell told me that she was working birds.

I caught flashes of her as she worked down onto the bench and pointed in a thicket of short thornapples in front of me. I called “point” and moved to the right of the dog as my partner started up the slope from the left. I flushed two simultaneous birds in the open that crossed on the rise so that one pattern could have taken both. Of course I missed both shots. Just as my partner begins to give me a hard time, two more birds flush and he misses both.
We finally got together and spent some time laughing and joking about the misses. I then realized I had forgotten about Ginger, and when I turned around saw she was still on point. We both reloaded and I killed the fifth bird. Across four flushes and four shots, Ginger was still holding the fifth bird she could smell was there. She had never been whoa trained or made steady to wing or shot. Only brains and experience told her what to do.”