MNRC
1999 DAY 1
There are several ways to start this report.
First off would be “Thank goodness hurricane Floyd
didn’t wreck havoc with the 1999 Master National
event”. Along with that all of our sympathies
do go out to all those good people in Wilmington,
NC where the eye hit on Wednesday. What the
Camden area received was the equivalent of a Washington
state winter rain storm: that is to approximately
2 inches of rain and wind gusts of upward of 35
mph.
The next way to start this is to say that the motto
on the South Carolina license plate is “Smiling
faces & Beautiful places” .If you have never
been here please plan a trip sometime.
The third way to start this narrative is to say
what a great time we’ve all had so far. Set-up
started Wednesday since all the judges and most
of the crew arrived on Tuesday. We ran set-up
thru Thursday and then the judges went back out
on Friday to tweak a few things. The guys
set up several versions of most of the tests so
depending on weather conditions they would have
one to run.
Friday
night was the annual Handler’s Banquet and Auction.
This year it was held in the Health Resource Center
in Camden. Michael O’Hearne, Marie Hodge,
and Tom McKenzie worked hard on this auction for
many months and it was truly a success. Stacy
Reavis donated her new quilt, Sallie Sullivan did
another needlepoint pillow, and Nancy Predergast
donated 2 fabric art bags. These items have
become expected and highly anticipated items at
the auction. We all certainly appreciated
the handwork and effort of these ladies. Certainly
all the hunt trips, decoys, duck calls, Tri-tronic’s
collar, guns, Remington gear, 500 lbs of Purina
food, and all the rest of the wonderful items were
greatly appreciated. Everyone in attendance
had a wonderful dinner and some feisty bidding wars!
The hospitality committee did a marvelous job and
made the entire attendees feel at home. As
Mike Pickett said, “There was good food, good libations,
and good fellowship.” We agree!!
Saturday was all business starting off with delegate
and handler check-in. This went as smooth
as clockwork. Then off to the Master National
meeting (after a buying frenzy with all the MNRC
clothes, coats, and stuff) where the main business
at hand was elections. The Master National
has a new secretary and treasurer as the terms of
both these positions expired. Cindy Read will
be the new secretary, replacing Randy Pruitt.
Michael Bunting was voted in as Treasurer since
Robert Lee elected not to run again. Both
Robert and Randy gave heart-felt speeches and included
their best wishes that the MN keep on a good track.
On a personal note, I have worked closely with both
of these gentlemen over the last year and the time,
effort, and devotion they have for this sport and
this club is an inspiration. The other elections
were: Region 1 re-elected Bob Meyers as director:
Region 2 elected Stu McNames as director, and Region
3 elected Joe Harris as director.
The rest of the news & business will be in the
October issue of the MN newsletter.Today the tests
start and that’s why we are here. There are
283 dogs running and that of course constituted
an A B split. The decision was made to have
Auggie Argabright and Steve Elliott judge group
A and Tim Patrick and Ron Craven are judging
group B.
Everything started with a caravan at 6:30 AM and
opening ceremonies were at 7. The ceremony
was beautiful with the MN flag, SC state flag, and
the US flag paraded before the group by 3 lovely
ladies on horseback. Of course the music accompanied
them and at the end the traditional Confederate
battle flag was brought forth. As it was said
the ceremony or the event would not be complete
without it.
We will start the event coverage every day now.
I’m sorry that the drawings aren’t up but there
is a quaint Southern tradition that print shops
are closed on Saturday and Sunday. Expect
these drawings on Monday.
MNRC
1999 DAY 1
Sunday September 19th started the 1999 event.
As I’ve previously stated the opening ceremonies
were fantastic and from the people I talked to
most of them were teary eyed and all choked up.
The field we are using for Sunday and Monday is
owned by Mr. Smith and Mr. Brooks and we all want
to thank them profusely for allowing us to be
there. This field is a land test dream with
its tree rimmed and slightly rolling hills pasture
Afterwards the B division
left for their area and all the tests began.
The weather was a godsend since it was slightly
cloudy and maybe in the low 70’s. No humidity
at all. The slight breeze that
came up in the mid-morning to the afternoon affected
a lot of the live bird throws. In the “A”
group the breeze was very helpful to the dogs
but in the “B” group it threw the bird back towards
the gunners. The area that “B” was in the
wind actually swirled around a little.
Both tests used pheasants
as live birds and pop & throws.
Test 1: Group A
ran this from Sunday until mid-Monday morning.
Group B runs it from mid-Monday until Tuesday.
This is a land triple with a live shot flyer being
the third bird down and approximately 76 yds.
The first bird is coming out of a bush via a Training
Group winger and lands in green grass about 99
yds from the line. The second bird which
is launched from a manual winger and 103 yds from
the line and lands in another green grassy area.
There is an honor on this and “A” only had 2 dogs
break the honor.
Handlers and judges alike saw
some excellent dog work and hopefully the nerves
have settled out now that one test is over
Test 2: Group B
ran this from Sunday until mid-Monday morning.
Group A runs it from mid-Monday until Tuesday.
This test is a land double with a blind in terrain
that somewhat resembles a bowl. There are
trees in the background and behind the line some
50 or so yards. There is definitely more
cover in this test so it might be conceived to
be slightly harder. The flyer on this series
is launched from the cover a couple of trees and
lands near a bush and open grassy land.
It is also the first bird down and 74 yds from
the line. The pop and throw comes out from
a large bush and land in heavy grass and is 72
yds from the line. This series has a land
blind that is 72 yds from the line and if the
dog were to take the actual line, which a lot
of them did, they will run between two small bushes.
This series did have ups and downs on Sunday due
to the wind, which was blowing the birds (live
shot) into the land at the base of the trees.
The same comment applies
here as in test 1 in regards to the dog work with
the possible exception that the dogs who got in
the swale and deep tree cover had a lot of problems.
One comment to make to here
is that all the handlers and spectators are being
extremely helpful and willing to do their bit
to keep this event and each series going.
The Judges and the 3 line marshals wish to thank
everyone greatly.
Scratch or no shows
Dogs Dropped After first series
8A, 38A, 57A, 64A, 78A, 97A
3A, 10A, 49A, 59A, 90A, 99A, 110A
13B, 31B, 48B, 102B, 114B, 157B, 138B
2B, 4B, 67B, 96B, 117B, 120B, 135B |
