1998 MASTER NATIONAL HUNTING TEST
Day Six: Friday, September 18, 1998
It was cloudy and in the 60s all day with little wind. The judges set up a land-water triple with a two flyers - a duck and a pheasant. 58 dogs ran the series today, and 35 remain to run Saturday. Due to time constraints, this will be the last series run. Qualifiers will be announced when the series concludes - no word yet on which of the dogs who have completed the
test will qualify.
The first bird down was a winger-thrown dead duck on the left.
It was an in-throw, landing in a marshy area at the end of a
peninsula, about 50 yards form the line. The second bird was a
flyer duck, shot left-to-right from a gun station just to the
right of the winger station. It landed in marsh grass about 90
yards from the line. The last bird down was a flyer pheasant,
shot right-to-left and landing about 80 yards form the line in
very low cover.
Section A and B, Series Number 6
Drawing by Terry Elliott
Depending on the fall, the line to the pheasant was either through
a corner of the pond or dry all the way. A few dogs didn't swing
off the flyer duck and therefore didn't see the pheasant fall,
but most had no trouble with it. Most handlers selected the left-hand
bird next. Many dogs went a little too far to the left and swam down the
channel to the left of the fall. The wind was in their favor though and
they'd wind the duck when they got even with the fall. Several dogs
handled on this mark. The line to the middle mark was across an island, a
peninsula and some thick grass growing in the middle of the pond. It was
also almost directly behind the left-hand blind of the double water blind
in the 5th series. But the dogs had little trouble with the old blind.
When they got into trouble on this mark, it was generally that they hunted
too far left, towards the gun station. Several dogs had to be handled on
this bird as well.Reported by Bob Mearns
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