I was surprised a little when reading a defition of a meat hunter. So, people obviously differ in their opinions on the adjective "meat." I always call my cheap O/U my "meat" gun because it isn't pretty, it has rattlesd since the day I bought it (1982), I cut the barrels off to makie it shorter (and eliminate most of the choke), and I'll throw it in the back of a pickup or in the dirt, but it has killed thousands of birds through the years from waterfowl, to migratory, to upland. Sure, I can pull out my $500 or $2000 gun and kill the birds, but sometimes I don't care how I look, I just want to shoot the "meat." With respect to bird dogs, I don't care if they are steady to wing and shot, their tails aren't straight up, if they chew on the bird or try to bury them, if they back or not, as long as they point them and find them. I'll take that over a good looking dog who backs and points a covey but can't find a single or, more importantlly, a dead bird buried up under a bunch of Kansas cover. So, I love a good meat dog.

Good question!

you just blew my mind....im puttin that chit on myspace

X1000

People are still on myspace?

I would say using a pump would be a meat gun.

Someone who is concerned with limiting out 100% of the time.

Riding around on a 4 wheeler shooting birds off the road.

I would agree with your definition of a meat dog. Love em.

Well we all have our idea of what a meat dog is and seems to be a lot of common ground, but my meat dog better back.

Well said Dewey!

Exactly

I would consider a meat gun, one you can shoot well. All the guns I shoot well belong to other people it seems
A meat dog is what Obama had for dinner

But, see, I can be lazy and not teach my dogs to back and then just call them meat dogs and it all sounds good.

I agree with your definition of meat dog. I won't let mine chew on them or bury them though. That ruins the meat, which would defea the purpose of a meat dog. And I do want mine to back. I don't ask much LOL.

My thinking of a meat gun is a cyl. bore .12 GA loaded with 3 1/4 oz.of #9 or 8 shot. The meaning of meat dog to me would be just a real good bird dog that has style or not much style and is most of the time the lead dog that can trail or wind birds.

Meat gun is my pellet gun. Meat dog is my schnauzer that runs the quail off the corn pile in camp before I can shoot them with the pellet gun...

My definition of a meat dog is a dog that eats a downed bird instead of retrieving it to hand. Oh wait a minute, that's a meat-head dog, my bad.

This thread brings to mind something that is framed and hangs in my hallway:

One of the first things you learned about bird hunting, if you grew up in the South, was that you don't criticize another man's bird dog. "Son," they'd tell you,"You might be in the field with some old boy who spends the whole day cussing his dog for busting coveys, running off, and just generally being sorry. But what you need to understand is, probably he loves that dog. And no matter how bad that dog behaves, he don't want to hear about it from anyone else. That dog is like family. Someday you'll understand the thing between a hunter and his dog. For now, just keep your mouth shut."
There is a jewel of truth embedded in that advice. Hunters feel about their dogs the way the father in the parable felt about the Prodigal Son. It is always "Come on home, son. All is forgiven." In the view of a true hunter, all gun dogs are special and a few are legends. Hunters will sing the songs of those dogs' deeds like the ancient sang the epics of Homer. If it weren't for dogs, conversations between bird hunters wouldn't be anywhere near so long, interesting, or funny as they are. Sometime in your hunting career you understand that it is the dogs that are the stars of this movie. When you start out, you just want to shoot birds. As you mature, you want to hunt with style. When you attain wisdom, you want to be out with dogs because you understand that they have the gifts and the heart. You are just along to witness their deeds and to tell the tales. ~Geoff Norman

Pointer, you nailed it. Well put. Quail hunting is always about the dogs and their performance.

Very true. Well said, Pointer

Although the best Meat dogs are bred in china, for meat!

Meat dog , meat gun; any dog or gun that gets the job done no matter how cheap or expensive, or how pretty or ugly. Its your choice.

I pretty much agree with everything BFL said other than his bird count. I've hunted with him and seriously question the "1,000's of birds" figure. Heck, I don't recall him hitting one bird and I know he had at least a few shots. Maybe he was catch & release hunting. (Hee, hee, hoo, hoo, ha, ha)

Meat gun, meat dog -- for me it's like a "Money" baseball player. It/he gets the job done when the chips are on the line.