Last Updated Saturday, June 11, 2016
Sunday, June 5, 2016 I'm going to use this webpage for any updates, including call backs each evening. I'll keep the call back chart near the top of the page, so you'll need to scroll down to get additional information.
1000 Point Dogs in Gold
| Sunday, June 5, 2016 - Survived our weekend on the Dark Side Things have been pretty hectic since we arrived in downtown Hudson, Wisconsin Thursday afternoon. We met up with the Ofstedal's at the hotel and had a nice dinner in the neighborhood and crashed early. Friday dawned dark and dreary as Dick and Sushi and Bry and I headed up to Kelly Farms for the Northern Flight Owner/Handler Q. The weather was miserable all day, with intermittent light rain interspersed with intermittent biblical rain. Now Sushi is an accomplished field trial dog, but Bry not so much so I had modest expectations and really just hoped to not soil ourselves in the first series and maybe make it to the land blind. And that we did, thank goodness. Sushi really kicked ass, and after hooking a gun in the first series, ran a really solid trial and was right there to win the whole thing. Bry also ran a good trial, also hooking a gun in the first series, but was a little more pedestrian the rest of the way. Workman like blinds and had to handle on a water mark so ended up with a JAM, but that is always a success as far as I'm concerned. Sushi ran the best set of water marks and had really solid blinds, but ended up 2nd due to that one hooked gun in the first series. That still makes her Qualified All Age which is not an easy thing to accomplish and I'm incredibly impressed. Jeff Brezee and Jasmine got 4th, so our little Invitational group of hunt test dogs took home three ribbons! Dave Mellender and Smoke joined Bry, Hank and I for a vicious little Master test Saturday and Sunday. The club had a big entry and so had to split the test and we drew the more difficult of the two sets of judges. Only 16 of 39 dogs passed, and only Bry in our little group. More tomorrow and I'll try to get up a few pictures. Tuesday, June 7, 2016 - Folks starting to roll in Things are starting to pick up with all the Vermont, Maryland and Virginia dogs in town, as well as Harry Williams from Washington and of course our Canadian friends the Snows. I assume Jim Tracey and Bumper are in town since there was a Nora Williams sighting and she flew out with them yesterday, but I haven't set eyes on them yet, probably because he landed the plane at 1:30 AM. A bunch of folks set up a couple of training scenarios at John Ketzner's property just east of the test grounds and that was an enjoyable day for all of us. We had a testy little water series that we hope will bear some relationship to the actual test, as well as a challenging little land series that got the dogs a little exercise. We finished with a trail and all went home happy.   Dave Mellender keeping an eye on GMHRCH-V Smoke on our water series today Photo courtesy Victoria Pepper   Tony Carlo, me, Kathy Ofstedal, Ann Mellender, DickO and Dave Mellender chilling' on the Ofstedal's rear deck Sunday after surviving the weekend Photo courtesy Victoria Pepper  Kim Smith's Brewer at training today.Photo courtesy Judy Knope   Lining up Bry on a mark this morning.Photo courtesy Victoria Pepper Tomorrow morning we have the handlers' breakfast where we will get our instructions from the judges, followed by a perfunctory training session just to keep the dogs loose, and the annual banquet tomorrow night. The banquet is always a good time, since, just like opening day in baseball, we're all tied for first and all things are possible. Now I'll close for the evening with the first nominee for the most dumb-ass move by a handler award. The leader in the club house is Wayne Goodrich from Lake Champlain. It seems that JUDGE Roy Sheppard made a special request of the motel staff at the Forest Inn to have some boiled eggs available for his breakfast this morning. And Wayne, with a callous disregard of the fact that he is going to have to run under Judge Sheppard later this week, grabbed the eggs in question practically out of Roy's mouth quicker than you can say "handler, please honor on lead!" I swear, I thought Wayne was smarter than that, but clearly I was wrong. And then there were 28. Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - My favorite Invitational Day The day before the land series is always a ton of fun - everyone is in town and we just all break up into groups and go out and run a couple of series just to get the dogs some exercise and then retire early to the banquet. I'm actually stealing wifi from the banquet venue ($10 to a guy in the kitchen got me the password) and trying to catch up on the day before they start the auction. We all met at the test HQ at Larry and Fern Willson's farm, and picked up birds to head out to training. Now you would think that picking up the live birds would be pretty simple, but our little group of rocket surgeons managed to hose that up right from the start. Dave Mellender and I got our little goat herd to tell us how many birds each had ordered, and we dutifully picked them up at the barn, put them in a crate and hauled them back to the trucks. Tony Carlo, our little special needs child from upstate New York, originally told us he ordered 3 birds, so that's what we threw in the crate. But when we got back to the trucks, he informed us that he really only wanted one of them, and would save the other two for the next day. So Dave and I grabbed two out of the crate and walked them back to the barn. As we were placing them in the barn crate, Karen Loh walks up to inform us that she meant to tell us that she wanted two. So we then dug back into the barn crate, grabbed two more birds and walked them back to the trucks. Poor Frank Plewa watched the whole thing unfold from afar, and still has no idea why we traded in two of our birds for two new ones. It is so sad when cousins marry. The whole group then caravanned to Joel Enoch's property to do a little light training. We split into two groups to get the numbers down to a manageable level, and managed to screw that up too. It seems that while my group got all the live birds, several of those in the other group were actually the ones that had ordered the live flyers. As one would expect, a chinese fire drill ensued but eventually all ran their dogs, most doing very well and we then retired back to test HQ where we did a quick upland with live chuckars and called it a day. While on the way to the upland we passed what appeared to be the land marks for tomorrow and they looked like they will inspire more than a few clenches and puckers in the morning. Fairly tight, and around a bowl which means more than a few dogs are going to go deep and out of sight (not to be a pessimist or anything). Well the live auction is starting so I'm going to leave for now. Jim Tracey, one of the hosts for next years event, is our auctioneer and is a natural at it. He's dragging money out of this group like you wouldn't believe, although I'm a bit disillusioned with him right now as he snaked me out of the Four Points fleece on the silent auction before he started in on the live one. But he just got $400 for a free entry to next year's event outside Seattle so he has a talent of which most of us were unaware. Great job dude! Thursday, June 9, 2016 - And then there were 27, or "roiling in the stink of not even close!" We only lost two dogs today, both on a set of very challenging land marks. Sadly, one was my little out of control cowboy Hank, who after absolutely hammering a very difficult go-bird flyer, proceeded to rip out and eat my heart right in front of me. At least I didn't have to do the walk of shame, but essentially he was so proud of what a great job he did on the flyer that he thought it would be a good idea to repeat that retrieve rather than picking up the other two birds. And to top it off, when I was running Bry (who did just fine) I managed to take the lead back from Wayne Goodrich for the most dumb-ass move by a handler award. More on that later. As soon as I saw the test setup I knew it was going to be trouble. We were at the top of a small hill, and ran the first two marks, on the left and center, through a bowl and up the other side. Both the left and center marks were thrown left to right and landed a few feet down from the top of the hill on the other side. Both were about 50-60 yards so not long at all. At the top of the hill the ground leveled out, and many dogs ran past the marks and spent varying degrees of time up on top. The two marks were close enough that switches and near switches were a not-uncommon occurrence, particularly by dogs that got lost up beyond the hill top. The right hand bird was almost 90 degrees off to the right and was a shot flyer that landed in a pretty consistent area from what I could see, at about 80 yards. I don't believe there were any no-birds so the gunners knew what they were doing. A complication for the flyer was a tree close to the line that blocked the view of the fall of the flyer if you were unlucky. Oh yeah, it was a walk-up, just to add to the excitement. After your marks, if invited back, you ran a blind down and up through the bowl to the bird which was between the left and center birds, and just past the landing spot of the left hand bird. Some dogs got a little lost to the left down that slope, but most of the dogs I saw handled it well, and Bry's half-brother Smoke lined it. Crack photog Judy Knope is going to send me a stitch of the test and I'll post that up along with a few more stories after I get back from our pizza fest tonight (although we may make a run to Culver's first just cuz we can!) We didn't make the pizza party tonight. Had to make a quick trip to the ER after Bry bit me as I was holding Hank's head under water in the tub. I had no idea he cared about the little nipper so much! Still waiting for the set up pictures, but here are a couple more from today.  Karen Loh and Max watching one of the first two marks going down. The flyer fell behind them, shot left to right, and you can see the tree I referenced earlier that potentially blocked the dog's view of that third mark.Photo courtesy Victoria Pepper  Tony Carlo and PeggyPhoto courtesy Victoria Pepper  Ann Mellender and Terry Jordan discussing the first 100 days of the Trump presidency.Photo courtesy Victoria Pepper  Karen Loh playing with Terry Jordan's Marsh, using the East Region purple duck mascot.Photo courtesy Victoria Pepper Okay, still waiting on the stitch of the land series so I might as well take this opportunity to get my mea culpa out of the way and take over Wayne's spot in the barrel. As some of you know, I have a tradition of honoring The Goon on the first mark of each invitational. As I get to the line I toss some particulate matter into the air, and most of the gallery just assumes I'm being a bit over zealous in checking the wind direction. That's really not it, but just as well they think that. Now this year was a bit more complicated than usual since it was a walk-up, but I wasn't going to break with tradition so after I got past (or so I thought) the judges and therefore downwind of them, I gave my little toss. The almost immediate onset of spasmodic coughing from the judges canopy let me know that I had made a horrible, horrible mistake. Judge Lund asked me what it was, and I replied that I would explain later (anything to buy some time to come up with any story better than the truth) but since Judge Sheppard knows me too well the jig was up and I was busted. They actually took it much better than I had any right to expect, and appear to have given me a pass on it. Apparently being the village idiot is okay as long as you are consistent with it.  And the land series photo has arrived!Photo courtesy Judy Knope!!!!! The photo doesn't really illustrate how much of a bowl you're really looking at - there is quite a steep slope down and even steeper up the far side. First bird down is from a hidden winger on the left, second from a very well hidden winger up the middle, and the go bird flyer from behind the brush pile. Pick 'em up and you can see how tight the blind is to the left hand mark. Very straight-forward but difficult test. Even though we only lost two dogs, plenty had handles, especially on the most difficult middle mark, which was generally the last bird picked up. The test mechanics were superb and the workers were terrific. As I mentioned earlier, there were no no-birds whatsoever, and re-birds were quick and efficient. The blinds were brushed to completely hide the wingers and all in all it was the most efficient test I've ever run. I don't have the names of the workers, but i did hear that former Invitational judge Larry Dusanek was among them. And a couple more late entry pictures from Judy:  Frank Plewa undergoing the obligatory butt check prior to his entry in the bumper toss contest. I have no news on who won.Photo courtesy Judy Knope  Tony Carlo and Teddy on the land marks.Photo courtesy Judy Knope Friday, June 10, 2016 - And then there were 25; Day 2, always my least favorite day of the test We also only lost two dogs today, both on breaks on the upland. I know Jim Hundemer and Mist got a very close and unlucky fall that didn't help their cause and I didn't see the other dog go out. I just always fear day 2 because the trail is not Bry's strong suit so I always worry until that's in the rear view mirror. Thankfully it went well for us today. But we started with the upland, on a day that was projected for a high in the 90's with a heat index over 100. I think the original plan by the judges was to do our land blind in conjunction with the upland, but since we did that yesterday with the land marks I assume they looked at the weather report and decided to let the upland stand alone, which I think was a wise decision. Also to acknowledge the conditions, we didn't get the 400 yard upland that we got in 2008. Rather, we got a very carefully crafted scenario that gave the dogs a chance to show their stuff in a variety of conditions.  You started your upland at the top of a small bowl (those damned things are everywhere on Larry's property!) and hunted it thoroughly. There were a couple easter eggs to be found, and after you covered the bowl you went up a short path to a large CRP field. I believe this is Chris Lambert and Blaze. Photo courtesy Larry Housman  Once you popped up the path you hunted down to the right (left in the picture) and then turned out to the big CRP field and got your flushed bird after another 40-50 yards. Following that you continued to hunt across a mowed path and then turned back to the gallery and finished up by a small wading pool put out to help cool down the handlers as it was a hot and humid environment. The chairs and umbrella were used by the judges between dogs.Photo courtesy Larry Housman  Actually the pool that I mentioned as being for the Handlers' use was quickly appropriated by the Judges, primarily Judge Lund who had a disturbing tendency to do his best judging from the backstroke position. I thought the pool was a wonderful idea, but I am a little mystified as to why, considering how competent and efficient the test organization has been so far, that none of the brain trust thought to provide some sort of relief for the dogs. Photo courtesy Larry Willson Overall I thought the upland was a very well thought out scenario that gave the judges plenty to look at without overly stressing the dogs. In his opening remarks Judge Lund stressed that we only had about 5 minutes per dog to show what we could do and we had both close in and wide open areas to hunt and I think the transition from the tight bowl to the wide open CRP field was a nice challenge.The guns were very efficient although a few birds (including Bry's) sailed about 80 yards to the tree line before dropping and the judges wisely let us go without having to make the retrieve on those as it wasn't worth it to make the dogs prove they could pick those up in the conditions - another wise choice. The gallery was situated such that you really couldn't see much of anything so mostly we just sat under our canopies and lied to each other. There was, however, one alarming event which caused no small amount of panic among the women and metrosexual men in the group when Trapper Jahn and Hux flushed an honest to goodness Wisconsin badger out of the woods before they started their bird hunt in earnest. The angry mammal made straight for the gallery, mistakenly blaming us for the rude disturbance perpetrated by Trapper Jahn. He had a lean and hungry look in his eye (the badger, not Trapper) as he made straight for my lovely wife Victoria's canopy at a high rate of speed. Clearly she wasn't going to outrun the errant beast, but did manage to throw an elbow into Kathy Ofstedal to act as chaff for the incoming threat. At the last minute the red-eyed killer peeled off to the south and into the trees, leaving a small vapor trail and a few soiled undies in his wake.  This is a file photo of the killer badger unearthed by my photo editor, Nora Williams. Clearly, this photo doesn't show the murderous look in his eyes that we endured.  This is a picture of me interviewing Trapper Jahn to get the full story of his and Hux' epic flush. I believe he is demonstrating how big either the badger or something else in his life was. Photo courtesy Victoria Pepper. Post interview inspiration courtesy of Dick Ofstedal.  This is a view of our trail today, which all dogs completed satisfactorily. Around the pond at the bottom of yet another bowl. Saturday, June 11, 2016 – Half-time report on the water series We have broken for lunch after running about half the dogs on a pretty stout but fair water test. I figured I’d get a head start on the day’s entry by doing it in WORD while I’m waiting to run and then pasting it into the website when we get back to the hotel tonight. The test includes an honor, with both handlers seated on buckets. The two handlers call to start the test, which begins with a mark thrown from the right side shoreline to a mass of duckweed about 50 yards out. The next mark is also thrown right to left and comes out of a floating duck blind anchored off shore about 30 yards and it lands directly in front of the working dog about 20 yards out. A bit of a wipe-out/breaking bird, but not excessively so. The go bird comes from the left shoreline left to right and also lands in a bunch of duckweed at about 70 yards. Pick up your marks and run a 90 yard blind under the arcs of the first two birds, right in front of the duck blind to the bird on the far shore. Fair test, good visibility all around unless you let your dog get behind the duck blind, but that would be on you. The dog starts off in running water which quickly gets deeper. The pond has a bunch of other crap in it, old reeds, some grass, etc. that makes the marks harder than the distances would indicate. The duck weed fills right back in after the dogs swim through it, so there are really no usable channels for the later dogs, although I hope that will change by the time I get there (next to last dog). The sun came from behind the line when the test started, and the left hand bird landed in pretty dense shade. The line was also in heavy shade so the early dogs had some issues seeing their handlers on the blind. Definitely was better to run later rather than earlier from where I was sitting. The first dog to run was Jim Tracey and Bumper, and as it happened they got a no bird on #2 when a winger malfunctioned. He had to go back 3 dogs to run again, which was not a helpful thing for the team. True to their performance all week, Dan and his folks had a back up winger already located in that floating blind so there was a very minimal wait to get going again. A nice detail that I really admire and appreciate. Most of the dogs did well. A couple had some erratic blinds but the marks were picked up pretty efficiently. Bumper broke on the honor on the re-run which was a real shame as the rest of their test was first rate. Dicko and Sushi were working dog and they got a rerun which went very well for them. Dicko sent Sushi for the first bird with literally a whisper to try to make it easier for Bumper to keep her butt on the ground, but to no avail. It’s a little after 1PM as I’m writing this and I expect I’ll have another 2 hours before I run and Frank Plewa runs Radar as beer dog. At that point I expect the temps will still be well in the 90’s since they certainly are now, with almost no wind down at the test pond because it’s surrounded by trees. On the plus side, we’ll be in full sun when handling, and that left hand bird should land out in the sun and be much more visible, not that the dogs were having problems with it anyway. In deference to the heat, I’ve had the boys in the air conditioning all day. Not that Hank deserves it, but what can I do? It's now after nine and i'll try to finish up a few things before quitting for the night. I've put all the qualifiers that I remember on the running order, but since I was not one of them I didn't stay for the awards ceremony. Childish and immature, but I'm pretty baffled at the results and just didn't feel like hanging around. I'm sure the committee will post on the official website at some point. After the lunch break, it turned out I was completely wrong about the test getting easier. The temperature really soared and that left hand mark never did fall in the sunlight. I thought I was pretty strong going into the water, but we came up a little short it seems. We had good marks, although I had a quick handle on the right hand mark which fell short and rather than letting Bry hunt for it I just handled in recognition that it was very hot and he was getting gassed and I thought I had a handle to give. The water blind was our undoing, as Bry was exhausted and it took him awhile to get going. He stopped after about 10 feet and started drinking and it took a few whistles to get him going. But once he got about 25 yards out he kept at it and never left the corridor so I thought we had survived. But not so much. I am firmly convinced that we did everything we could but it wasn't enough for the judges so we were out. I still don't get it, but my opinion doesn't count, nor should it so we'll move on and forget about it. |