Thursday morning both groups resumed the tests suspended from the day before. Temperatures started out in the upper 50s and rose to the lower 80s by early afternoon. Clouds and wind steadily built during the day in advance of some anticipated late afternoon thunderstorm.

The A group concluded their 3rd series early in the morning and called back 96 dogs. The 4th series is the Wood Duck hunt on C.F. Phelps WMA. The first running dog came to the line at 10:45am. Dog work was similar to the B group. Once again several handlers found themselves in trouble when dogs had to be handled from behind the large cedar tree between the middle and right birds.

Callback Time for Group B

The B group ran it’s last dog on the Shady Grove 3rd Series Water test at 1:35pm. Callbacks were given in the parking area and 67 dogs were invited to see the 4th series double blind, double marks at Shady Grove. Judges Kevin Bunnell and Lynn Morrison made one slight change to the test by moving the long blind about 20 feet to the left of its old location to eliminate the “yellow brick road’ path left over from the A group. The wind velocity had been increasing steadily during the day and this left to right cross wind appeared to favor dogs on both of the marks. Dogs that ran between the flyer station and flyer fall generally were able to pick this bird up easily. The short bird in the corner of the pond, that landed in the cattails, continued to be the troublesome bird with several dogs handling on it. The last dog left the line at 6:10 in order to accommodate Frankie’s Party being help at Shady Grove.

Tight Line Behind Bubba Gun