Mustering a Munster

WHICH BREED IS THE best all-round gundog? Peter Moxon, gundog correspondent of Shooting  Times for 40 years, was convinced it was the English springer spaniel (ESS) and many still agree with him. Springers may not be the best peg dogs, but apart from that there’s not much they can’t turn a paw to, whether it’s rough shooting, picking-up, wildfowling or being a family companion.

However, the world of shooting has changed enormously since Peter wrote about springers in his classic work , which was first published nearly 70 years ago. Deer were much less numerous in the 1950s than they are today — muntjac were virtually unheard of — so there was little chance of springers being used as deer dogs.