1997 Master National Hunting Test
Day 3 - Tuesday, September 16, 1997
The day began with skies clearing from overnight precipitation and
temperatures in the mid-30's. A light dusting of snow and sleet could be
seen in many places along the trip to the test grounds and on the grounds
themselves. The wind blew strongly out of the south to southwest all day
and there were occasional light showers of sleet with a few snowflakes
mixed in that did not cause any accumulations. As the day progressed, the
temperatures reached the mid-50's with partly cloudy skies.
In the following descriptions, the automatic wingers that were used fire a
shotgun primer at the same time they launch a bird. Each winger station
had a loader position next to it who fired a popper at the bird at the top
of it's arc. One of the judges controlled the firing of the wingers, thus
having very close control on the tempo of the events.
Section A rand a land-water triple, using mallards. The handler/dog team
were positioned near the shore of a slough that widened from 30 yards as it
went away from the line. The first mark was a dead bird thrown by an
automatic winger to land tight down the same shoreline as the handler at a
distance of about 75 yards. Dogs took both land and water routes to reach
this bird when sent for it. The second mark was also a dead duck thrown
from an automatic winger positioned across the slough at a distance of
about 100 yards. The last bird was a flyer launched from a manual winger,
angled away from the handler to land uphill at a distance of about 75
yards. 56 dogs were called back from this series.
Section A callbacks:
1-3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12-14, 16-21, 26, 28, 31, 33-38, 40-51, 55-60, 62-64,
66-68, 70-72, 74-76, 78.
Dropped in this series from section A:
10, 11, 23, 25, 32, 52, 53, 73, 77.
Section B had a water triple, water blind and honor. This test was held in
a pond that had a series of perpendicular penisulas and islands. The
handler was seated in a brush blind along with one of the judges. Handlers
had the option of right or left side and positioned their dogs accordingly
on the outside of the blind. The honor dog/handler was positioned outside
and slightly back of the blind, still with a complete view of the test.
The other judge and someone blowing a duck call were positioned behind both
handlers (and midway between them). The caller blew before each duck was
thrown.
First, following a call, a dead duck was launched from an automatic winger
and popped at by that launcher's operator to the left of the line. The
bird was flighted to land down a peninsula that ran perpendicular to the
line. The bird fell at about 50 yards distance. The next bird, also dead,
was launched from an automatic winger positioned along the second series of
perpendicular peninsulas to the right of the line. That winger's operator
also fired a popper at the duck which fell approximately 75 yards from the
line. The last bird, a live flyer, was launched from a manual winger
across the line from the dog to the right hand mark and fell 30-60 yards
from the line in open water. The blind was positioned 100 yards from the
line tight to the right hand mark. The second peninsula that dogs had to
cross on the way to this bird was scented heavily at the beginning of the
test to equalize conditions between early and late running dogs.
Handlers tried picking up the right hand dead bird second and third with
mixed results. Picking up the right hand bird second sometimes resulted in
a handle on the left hand dead bird; picking up left second sometimes
resulted in a handle on the right hand bird. Dogs that did the best on
this test generally picked up the left bird second, then the right bird.
Handlers were then able to send their dogs immediately back to the right
for the blind, depending on their ability to cue the dog away from that
fall area and relying on the dog to believe the scent on that peninsula was
from the bird they had just retrieved.
The section A test took 4-6 minutes per dog, allowing that section to
complete their test today. Section B required 10-14 minutes per dog and
still has 8 dogs yet to run. Section B will complete the water triple in
the morning, then move to the land-water combo done today by section A.
Section A handlers will have the luxury of observing the remaining 8
section B dogs before beginning the triple and blind.
Section B callbacks (partial- 40 of 55 back, 8 still to run):
79-81, 83, 85, 87, 91-93, 95, 97, 100, 103, 105, 106, 120, 122-124,
127, 129-131, 133, 134, 138, 139, 141, 144, 145, 147-151, 153-155, 157,
158.
Still to run:
107-110, 113, 114, 117, 118.
Dropped in this series from section B:
82, 84, 88, 90, 96, 119, 125, 126, 132, 135, 136, 140, 142, 146, 152.
Reported by Bruce Bachert
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