I am interested but need more information.
When you say you average 20-30 birds a year, is that all upland birds, or waterfowl as well?
If just upland birds, do you think she would retrieve ducks/geese, or would be able to learn to?
Is she good around kids? (I have a 4 year old who LOVES dogs.)
Is she a fence jumper?
The reason I ask is that my fence on my side yard is 6ft tall, but on the back side of the house I have a deck that connects to the side yard, and the deck overhangs a hill full of blackberry bushes, so a jump over the deck railing would be about a 10 foot drop into the blackberry bushes.
I currently hunt just pheasant, or ducks with a friend and his dogs, and been learning about bird dogs from him, but never owned a hunting dog myself. I have been saving to buy a started dog because my wife won't let me get a puppy.(she doesn't want to help with potty training and I am not home much on weekdays) I recently spend my "dog" savings on a new shotgun though cause my pheasant/duck hunting partner was complaining about how loud my old shotgun was due to the porting on the barrel.