After the storm of the previous night moved through, Friday’s morning temperatures were a cool and cloudy 3 degrees Celsius.  The sixth series was set up in the general area of the first, second and fifth series.  It was a land quad with two retired guns running directly to the south.  After running one test dog, the judges decided to move the middle left guns further back and adjusted the short right gun station to throw from right to left towards the line of the long retired mark instead of left to right.  All birds were thrown from right to left.  The order of the throws was: long right retired (195 yds.), left retired (163 yds), short right mark (104 yds), middle long left mark (240 yrs).  Two test dogs were run and both completed the quad satisfactorily.  The first running dog #70 broke.  Some dogs and handlers selected the short right mark first, which wasn’t too much of a problem other than a hooked gun.   On the actual last bird down, dogs could be put off line by the several large puddles on the way to the bird.  Handles were required on the long retired mark, if the dog didn’t take a good line.  Some dogs went left, pushing off the short right mark and couldn’t wind the bird, driving deep and needing a handle.  Others curled to the right after getting by the short mark and hunted around the gun station, which had moved a bit to retire behind a hill.  The left retired provided some challenge as well, if dogs ran tight to the holding blind, they could not wind the bird.  Some hunted the cover in the area around the holding blind or hunted between the guns and the bird before working their way out to the mark.  The wind was originally from the southwest at the start of the test, but shifted around to the northwest as the day warmed up to 15 degrees.  Once again, the wind was very gusty as the day progressed.  The test was completed at 2:45 pm.  Callbacks were announced for the seventh.  Twelve dogs had been dropped:  2, 24, 37, 38, 40, 44, 51, 53, 60, 64, 65 and 70
 
 

                                                     Test 7 - Land Blind w/ Poison Bird
 

A poison bird land blind was set up running from the same line.  The line to the blind was deep to the left of the long retired mark, running through a swale.  The poison bird was thrown towards the line to the blind, on the left.  The wind was still coming mostly out of the northwest, so this was a downwind blind.  Dogs would go out of sight if they did not stay on line through the swale, as there were hills on either side.  Two test dogs were run.  For some dogs, it was difficult to get a good initial line, as there was so much for them to think about.  They either wanted to go to the poison bird, or push away from it.  The marks remained a factor as well, some wanted to go back to the marks on the right of the line to the blind.  There were some excellent jobs and some handlers who had trouble keeping their dogs in sight.  A whistle at the right time was very important to keep the dog in view.  The test concluded at 5:15 and handlers were told that test #8 would start on Saturday morning.  The next test is rumored to be a land quad.  3 dogs were dropped after the seventh series: 29, 62 and 78.