Young Buck - Aaaaaaaahhhhhh. the joys of selecting the "perfect" hunting dog. lol. Here is the best advice i can give on the topic. sorry in advance for the lenghty post, but there are tons of books on the subject so there is no real quick answer.
Bird dogs are like boats in that they all have a purpose, but there just isn't one out there that will be the best at everything. You have to ask yourself this. What will you honestly be doing the most of with the dog and how often will you be doing it? BE HONEST with yourself on this. Remember, hunting season is only a few months out of the year and the rest of the time you have to live with the dog as a pet. unless you are going to be seriously getting after birds for the majority of a season, i would stay away from the high energy specialized breeds. imagine spending every day with a hyperactive kid that is bored out of his or her mind 300 days out of the year. such is life with a hunting dog that isn't hunting.
Labs - probably the best Jack of all trades dog on the planet. And when i talk about labs i am referring to the big ol' block headed stocky/beefy labs that are referred to as "english labs". Those long legged gray hound looking dogs that some people call labs are just labs that people have bred for hunting trials etc. hence the name, trial labs or american labs. good hunting dogs, but pretty much nervous wrecks when it comes to disposition. With regards to REAL labs, you won't find a better dog on the planet when it comes to companionship and being a great dog around kids, family, and friends. They are superior waterfowling dogs and retrievers and with a bit of patience, training, and willingness to compensate a bit on your part, a serviceable upland dog. They won't be anywhere as good as the pointing breeds when it comes to upland birds, but this is the trade off for getting the benefits of everything else. (remember, you can't have it all) I could go on and on with accolades about labradors, but i will leave it at this for now.
GSP's and other pointing breeds - if you want a dog that will just KILL at hunting upland birds, the GSP is IT. I don't think you will find too many arguments to that. Where the GSP falls short is pretty much everywhere else. They just don't have the coats or the body weight to last in a duck blind and are waaaay too nervous to sit patiently waiting to go retrieve something. As a family dog, they are friendly enough, but need to be active constantly. If you aren't into working with your dog hours on end every day to keep him/her occupied, you will find that you will have a very unhappy, bored, and destructive pet on your hands.
Probably the one exception to pointers when it comes to all around use is the German Wirehair. Ugly as sin and generally has a nasty disposition to go along with it's hideous looks, the dog is probably the closest thing alive to the best all around HUNTING dog on the planet. If you are a bachelor with no intentions of wanting any social interaction with other people or dogs on your outings and just need a dog that flat out hunts everything alive. look no further than a wirehair. lol.
Another dog that gets overlooked a lot out here on the west coast is the Chesapeak Bay Retriever. Basically, the dog is like a labrador with regards to the hunting aspects of things, just minus the good natured temperment. However, it is hard to knock the Chessie's abilities in the duck blind or goose pit.
Also remember, a good hunting dog won't be a good hunting dog all it's life. at age 7 most waterfowling dogs start falling off being able to hunt hard for 3 or more limits of ducks. i mean seriously, 21+ retrieves in freezing water is a lot to ask from an animal to start with. figure that after age 10 you will pretty much be the owner of a dog that will go on hunts with you, but won't be the hard charging go getter you wanted. at this point, you have a pet.
So, think hard about what you want to do with the dog and be honest with yourself about what you will actually do versus what you want to do. Take that info and go from there.
Good luck! A man can do a lot worse than spend his life with a good (hunting) dog!
-Ed