German Shepherds: any redeeming hunting qualities?

[longstevo]

When I get back home and get my own place, I want to look into getting a dog.  I would like a German Shepherd, but I also would like a dog that I could take hunting also. 

But a German Shepherd just simply isn't a hunting dog, is it? 

[Birdguy]

My thought would be it depends what you are going to hunt  . The  law enforcement community seems to like to hunt with them. As for a bird hunting dog there is certainly a lot better choices. Perhaps one of each.

[WDFW-SUX]

I trained a GS to hunt pheasants.. It did pretty well. I was able to find birds on most occasions out.   Its mouth was like a rock though.

[1bowhunter1]

Being a Owner of 2 German Shepherds the 1st one for 15yrs and the 2nd for the last 5yrs.  What ever you do!!  Dont let that Dog see Elk or Deer!!!  Never ever ever ever.  I found my Dog 3 days later!  Not even Kidding you.  I wanted to shot that Damn Dog but the wife said no....I swear it gets me 9 diff. types of pissed off when I think about that day!  That Dog was last seen 3 ridge's away chasing 50 Elk!!  Alls I was doing was trying to Cut some Damn Fire wood!!  

[Pathfinder101]

Only if you want to hunt German Sheep...

[Axle]

I've owned German Shepherds too and they are NOT Shepherd dogs. That is a false name. They are police dogs.

[longstevo]

Alright, so they're not a hunting dog. 

Are they good family dogs?  I mean, they won't be aggresive to kids, will they?

I know they make awesome police dogs, so there's got to be some aggresiveness in their persona somewhere...

[tomy salami]

Minty family dogs.

Hope you dig hair.....they got a little bit. If you go the Shepperd route, get a well bred one, preferably from Germany. Lots of American Shepperds got some jacked up hips in their blood.  They are smarter than hell, easy to train, and a bitch to groom.

Top five or six smartest dogs. Mean as a snake if required, but if you socialize him properly, he will have the discretion of when to git that way.

[floatinghat]

Great and loyal dogs if trained and treated right.  I grew up with a couple of GS and never got bit,nipped,or chewed.  They will protect you, your family, and your stuff.  We used to own and lease a bunch of land to corn farmers in the SJ delta.  Our shepard would point pheasant and mice.   He wouldn't retrieve worth a damn.

[chef bama]

There are three kinds of herding dogs: driving, stalking, and tending. Any herding dog may have some tendencies of each of the three, but most have been bred for one in particular.

Aussies (shepherds and cattle dogs) are herd drivers. They mass the herd and drive it in a direction. Border Collies are extremely specialized as stalkers -- they pick out one sheep, stalk it all the way back to the farmhouse for shearing, then go get another.

German Sheperds (and Belgians) are tending herders. They "tend" the sheep in that they watch them to make sure they are eating the grass and not the vegetables or flowers. (This has to to with how German agriculture was set up at the time when the breed was developed). Being able to make fine distinctions like that is what makes them good police dogs.

FWIW