After a violently stormy evening, Tuesday arrived sunny, warm and humid. Temps were in the low 70's and there was a heavy dew on the grass. Once on site, the roads were a quagmire of mud. The food truck was stuck and the hostess wagon mired in the goo. Minor problems for the stalwart crew and soon most made the exciting, slippery ride to the site and watched as the test dogs ran, right on time - 7:15 a.m. One handled on the long bird, the other did not.
The test was a land/water triple with two retired guns and an honor to the right. The line was up on a hill of stubble corn and weeds. The land dropped down to an oval water filled (lunging) depression with weed covered spoils surrounding it. Beyond, the land rolled upward and was covered with 2' tall grassy cover. The first set of guns was located high on the far hill to the right. The threw a dead hen pheasant slightly angled back to the left. It fell about 200 yards away. Just to the right, closer in, at the bottom of the hill, the second set shot twice and threw a dead duck flat also to the left. It fell in the grass covered spoil mounds 90+ yards from line. Lastly, just in front of the line a set of flyer guns then stood up and shot a flying hen mallard to the left about 35-40 yards out . It was very exciting and invited a break for either the honoring or running dog. As the dog recovered the flyer, the other two guns retired to camo blinds. The wind angled back from right to left across the test (Yardage estimated)
The first running dog, #32 came to line at 7:40 a.m. and produced excellent work. Although it only took 7-8 mpd, long hunts and handles extended the time on the early dogs.
As the test progressed it became abundantly clear this would produce some significant separation.
Tightness of the lines to the two retired birds combined with the terrain tested the dog's courage, tenacity and marking. The body of water at the bottom of the hill provided relief during and returning from the marks. After half the dogs had run, there were 12 handles, including several pick ups, plus numerous long hunts. Problems were encountered on both retired marks, but more so on the long one. The bright afternoon provided better lighting and increased scent improved the success ratio.
By 4 p.m. it appeared that the series could not be completed on Tuesday, but it was not certain as yet.
The fourth finished shortly after 8:30 p.m. when dog 30 was excused from the honor. It had taken a toll on the field. There were 5 pick-ups and 3 breaks along with a significant number of wide, loose hunts.
The call backs arrived shortly after 10:30 EDT and 73 were invited to the fifth, rumored as a land quad. 13 had been lost. Unfortunately, Creek Robber, Shoe String Buck and Cuda's Blue Ryder were among them. Dropped were: 9, 16, 23, 28, 37, 45, 57, 63, 71, 77, 88, 90, and 91.
Test dogs would run at 7:30 and the first running dog, #58 shortly after.
