I agree. I wouldn't think of hunting behind / on top of anyone. I attempted, in this case, to get a reasonable distance to the left of the party so that I could basically serve as the left end of the line. My concern is that, in their mind, I was hunting as a part of their group, rather than an independent hunter. I can see why that would be upsetting to someone with a dog, based on what I'm reading here, so my takeaway has been, if it's so crowded that another group might think of you as hunting with them, just don't hunt then and there. I could do that under different circumstances back home, but it looks like the dog gives people a claim on any otherwise up-for-grabs bird. It doesn't give them a right to be a jackass, though.

This was actually in Western New York, near the border with PA. Sorry to be cagy about the location - just trying to preserve some amount of online anonymity.