2015 MNRC: Day 4 – Flight D – Test 2 – Goose Pond-Land/Water

Flight D: Martin Bell and Bruce Bachert

Goose Pond-Land/Water – Land/Water Triple, Double Blind, Walk-up

Flight D moved to their second test having lost 47 dogs from the first series.

When we arrived first thing this morning, it was 41 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. The wind was not a factor early. This test is a Land/Water Triple with a land blind, water blind and walk-up. The handler stands on a mat on the right shore of Goose Pond. They look across a road and up a hill with checkered cover. The pond on the handler's left has heavy, dead-grass colored cover and is thick around the edge and extends way out into the water. The walk-up comes from behind a tree on the right, thrown to the left, landing 36 yards from the line. Bird number two is a flyer with the gun station up the hill in front of the line, shot to the left, landing in heavy cover 130 yards from the line. Bird three comes out of a blind on the shore of the pond. It is thrown to the left, landing out in the water in the cover at 54 yards. The water blind is under the arc of bird number three on the shore at 78 yards. The land blind is across the road and up the hill, between birds one and two at the base of a bush 127 yards from the line. This is an interrupted test.

The handler sends for bird three, the water mark, first. Next they are required to run the water blind. They must pick-up the remaining two birds and then run the land blind. This is a 7-8 minute test.

We watched eight dogs this morning complete the test. Some dogs doing a very nice job and some with very extensive hunts.