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| Thursday,
November 11th |
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| Test
6- In line land quad with two retired guns and an honor |
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<> It was warm,
in the low 60's, partly cloudy with intermittent wind
as dawn broke. Although it had rained overnight, the clouds
were breaking up, promising a clear day later.. The route
from HQ was well signed and took us past the previous
area to the Flying I ranch in Dobbin. There a land quad
with an honor was forming in a pasture that faced east.
By 7 a.m. final adjustments were made and it was an line
quad with two retired guns .
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<>The land was rolling,
covered with 6-10' pasture grass with patches of higher
grass. Nearly straight away from line, about 400 yards
out, two guns shot twice and threw a dead rooster to the
right. Closer and toward their left, a second set threw
a dear hen angled back to the left. It fell in front
of a tree in a sparsely wooded patch about 185 yards from
line. A third pair was also to their right and closer
to the line. They threw a dead duck back to the left.
It also fell at the base of a tree 135 yards out. The
last group was to their left, bat deeper from the line.
They shot a flying hen ridden out to the right. It converged
with the previous mark and fell in higher grass 135 yards
from line. The order was: far right, left middle duck,
right middle pheasant, left flyer As the dog was sent
for the flyer, the right middle and far right gunners
retired. The honor was to the right of the running dog.
At 7:25, the first test dog, Chica appeared on line. and
produced a good job. The second one followed and hunted
on some of the birds. It took about 8 mpd.
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<>At 8 a.m. the first running
dog, #49 stepped to line.. A bright back light from the
rising sun made the long birds difficult to see.
<>Although the first
few dogs did the test, some with wide hunts, the "wheels"
soon became to come off. Some could not locate the
well ridden out flyers and threatened to switch to the
adjoining mark. They required handling. Others became
confused when sent fot the right middlre bird and drove
deep behind the guns in "no man's land". Some recovered,
a few retrieved the long right bird and others hunted
wide and loose. a few of those were handled, too. Some
could or would not handle and, sadly, were picked up.
Of the first 17 dogs, 9 handled and/ or picked up on the
sixth . It was brutally effective.
The 50% rate continued throughout the balance ot the series,
even when the ligh shone on the birds and gunners in the
afternoon. The last dog, #48 was excused from the honor
at 3:02 p.m. Callbacks came as contestants were sent back
to the previous site. A water blind was on deck for the
seventh series..
13 dogs had been lost to the challenging sixth. Twenty
five remained to try the seventhThose lost were: 20, 24,
, 32, 34, 38, 40, 46, 49, 54, 56, 63, 74, and 77.
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Seventh Series- Water Blind
The blind was ready to go when contestants arrived. The
line was on a mound facing a field that rolled down to
a large pond It had two peninsulas protruding from the
right a fairly short swim from the near shore. The line
went over the first and by the second, then continued
into the wateer to a point on the left. The dog had to
just touch that point, return into the water and swim
to the far dike. The bird was located atop that dike positioned
between the left side of the cattails and left the corner
of the pond. It was about 185 yards from line T.he wind
blew angled back from right to left..
The test dogs started on line at 4:04 p.m., followed
by the first running dog, #65 at 4:25 p.m. It took about
10 mpd and a "Mule" was dispatched to pick up dog and
handler after completion to deliver them back to the site
saving time
As usual, it was somewhat difficult to keep dogs on line
getting on, off and by the points. It could not
be completed by dusk and was suspended at 5;25p.m.
until tomorrow. It ended with dog 2 - dog 4 will start
tomorrow at 7.a.m. |
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Welcome Sign
( l to r) James
Burke, Joanne Laub Mackey, and
Mike Kammerer |
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| Charles
Hines and Angie Becker
Gallery Test 6 |
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