A beautiful
sunrise greeted early participants . About 6:46 test
#1, a land double with retired gun, was ready for a
test dog. They were: AFC Dakota's Rascal Ryan LF, co-owner
Joanne Laub handling and Fox Hollow's Cut and Run, LM,
handled by co-owner Marty Kirby. Joanne demonstrated
the test first with some hunting followed by Marty
who needed a handle on the retired mark.
The
test was set on a fairly high, grassy dike. The line
faced directly down the road on the top of the dike.
A set of live gunners were positioned about 120 yards
out and shot a flying rooster to the right where it
fell at the base of the dike in grassy cover. A second
set was stationed deep with in the field to the right
of the dike. There were large patches of taller, irregular
shaped brown cover with strips of shorter green
cover between them. A brush lined winding creek lay
between the base on the dike and the expansive field
where the gunners were. They threw a dead rooster sharply
back to the right where it landed in the edge of the
taller brown cover about 248 yards from line. After
they threw, the live bird was dispatched. As the dog
was sent for the flyer, the second set retired to a
well camouflaged blind to the left.
At
about 7:15 the first running dog, # 19 arrived on line
and produced a pleasing test. It took about 5-6 minutes
to complete.
The
very visible and exciting flyer fell down to the grassy
cover below the dike, but a number of dogs and down
the road a while before angling down to the base where
it lay. Some lost their mark and had to hunt for it.
Others over shot it and had to hunt back, while others
had deeper falls and had to cross the strip of cover
lining the creek and a few hunted short, caught by old
fall scent.
The
retired bird mark was fraught with distractions. Dogs
would angle down the dike a bit to the left or right,
then square the cover lined creek where they lost sight
of their mark. Once in the expansive field beyond, the
large patches of cover looked remarkably similar and
some would not angle to the one where the mark lay,
but parallel it instead. Others hunted the right patch
or the green strip between them. Those that did
arrive near the mark were tempted to duck into what
appeared to be one of several "slots" in the cover.
A switching wind over the pheasant made scenting difficult.
Once in the cover, dogs could not be seen and nervous
handlers moved to and fro hoping to see the dog reappear
with he bird. Alas, many were stunned to see the dog
reappear on the far left of the patch in a green strip,
well out of the area and without the bird. There a number
hunted fruitlessly , a few trying to return to the old
flyer mark. Early, it was nearly impossible to handle
them back to the fall, but later conditions seemed to
improve. By mid afternoon there were a couple of pick-ups
and a significant number of hard and loose hunts on
that bird.
The
partly cloudy morning turned into a mostly cloudy afternoon
with light intermittent rain, gusty winds, and falling
temperatures. There were numerous no-birds for the last
20 or so dogs, bit the series was completed at 4:25
p.m. afyer dog #18 returned to line.
Most
participants quickly wrapped up their day and drove
to the "tack house' on the Busch grounds. There Purina
hosted a wonderful supper for all.
Shortly
after 7 p.m. callbacks were posted at HQ. 83 dogs were
invited back to the third. 4 dogs had been lost. They
were: 2, 26, 28 and 33. (Previous dogs scratched were:
24, 37, 77, and 87.)
The
next test(s) would be a land and land/water blind in
the same area. Test dogs at
6:45, First running dog #43.
