Have had one golden and one lab in the past and currently have a lab.

For me , a no-brainer (good thing as brains have never been my strong suit!)

The golden I had was a good upland bird dog but sucked at waterfowl. I think the goldens don't hold up as well to the cold & wet conditions that duck hunting produces (especially when it gets well below freezing) and I had some real nightmares with seeds , burrs and cheatgrass (have you ever seen a shaved golden?) This produced several trips to the vet as well.

Bolth the labs I've had have hunted bolth upland and waterfowl well and definately seem more durable than Golden retrievers. MY $ .02

CNB