Day 1 – Flight E – Test 1 – Mallard Pond-Land/Water – Saturday, October 17

Flight E: Kay Scott and John Kinnard

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

Flight E started their first test at Mallard Pond which is a Land/Water Triple with a double blind and a walk-up. The walk-up is bird number one. This bird is on the handler's right and is thrown to the left, landing 31 yards from the line landing in the woods. Bird two is up the middle at 85 yards, a duck flyer shot to the left, landing in the water with a splash or the grass cover at the edge of the pond. Bird three is on the left at 65 yards, thrown to the left, resulting in a splash in the pond. Blind number one has a 50 yard angle entry. Then they had to parallel the peninsula under the arc of the go-bird at 100 yards. Blind number two is on the side of a hill, directly in front of the mat, under the arc of the flyer at 100 yards. The Judge's instructions are to pick up one bird, then run the water blind. After that blind is completed, the handler is to pick up the remaining two marks and finish with the land blind.

We watched eight dogs at this location. There were two passing jobs, one handle and five pick-ups. The pick-ups were mostly from problems with the dogs not wanting to re-enter the pond for the water blind. There was a pick-up for creeping and problems with bird number two.

Flight E will start Sunday morning at 7:45 am with dog #88.

Judges John Kinnard and Kay Scott

Day 1 – Flight D – Test 1 – Goose Pond-Land – Saturday, October 17

Flight D: Martin Bell and Bruce Bachert

Goose Pond-Land – Land Triple, Blind, Honor

This was a Land Triple with a blind and honor, using all rooster pheasants. The handler comes to the line on the crest of a hill. A well-brushed blind sits in front of the line at the base of a hill. This station blows a call, shoots, then throws to the right with the bird landing 103 yards from the line. Next, to the handler's right is a walk-out flyer. The gunners are in a blind, deep right of bird one. They walk out, blow a call and shoot to the left with the bird landing 139 yards from the line. Next, there is a pheasant call from a brushed-up station on the handler's far left.  This bird is thrown to the right, landing 75 yards from the line. The dogs picked-up the go-bird, next they picked up the flyer and finished off the test with the middle bird. After completing the marks, the dogs were asked to run a blind off the left hand side of the middle bird, located 127 yards from the line.

We arrived in time to hear the Judge's instructions and watch the first two test dogs. Test dog #1 had hunts on all three birds with a nice blind. Test dog #2 had a nice job on the go-bird and the middle bird, but had to be handled on a very long flyer. Quite a few problems arose while running the blind, showing the handlers the pitfalls of this bird. The Judge's initial estimate was that this would be a seven minute test.

Flight D will start Sunday morning at 7:30 am with dog #93.

Judges Bruce Bachert and Martin Bell

Day 1 – Flight C – Test 1 – Byrd's Campground-Land – Saturday, October 17

Flight C: Carol Hynes and Tellus Calhoun
Byrd’s Campground-Land – Land Triple, Blind and Honor

This test is a Land Triple with a blind and honor using all rooster pheasants. This land triple is held in a field full of hay bales. The wind is hitting the handler on his right side. Bird number one is a flyer landing 71 yards to the handler's left. Bird number two is thrown to the right, landing 95 yards almost in  the center of the field. Bird number three came out of a winger, landing 83 yards to the handler's right. So, the order was around the horn, left to right. The dogs first retrieved the last bird down, bird number three. The handler then turned to his left and picked up the flyer. Then, the handler turned to the middle of the field and sent the dog for bird number two. When the marks were completed, the handler ran a land blind off the left side of bird number two, planted behind two hay bales, planted at 118 yards from the line. The handler then moves to the honor box to the left side of the line.

Bird number two has been the problem bird today with dogs hunting all over the right and middle portion of this field, being pushed by the wind. Of the seven dogs that we watched, we had four nice jobs, one handle and two pick-ups. We arrived late in the afternoon. Of the 53 dogs that had run, we were told 31 had handled and seven had honored on lead.

Flight C will start Sunday morning at 7:30 am with a rerun of dog #107, then continuing the running order with dog #111.

Judges Carol Hynes and Tellus Calhoun

Day 1 – Flight B – Test 1 – Wood Duck Pond-Land/Water – Saturday, October 17

Flight B: Dale Langhorne and Ed Sullivan
Wood Duck Pond-Land/Water – Land/Water Triple, Double Blind, Walk-up

This test is a Land/Water Triple with a double blind and a walk-up. Walking to the line, bird number one came out of a winger and landed in the water 34 yards to the handler's left. Once on the line, bird number two was thrown to the right, landing 55 yards from the handler, landing on his right hand side. Bird three was a duck flyer, landing 95 yards in front of the mat. The dogs picked up the flyer, then ran a land blind parallel to the shore 135 yards from the mat. Then the handler would pick up bird number two and then bird number one, the water bird. These series was completed when the dog ran a 64 yard water blind, staying just off the left hand side of a long peninsula.

All of the dogs we watched did a nice job on the marks and blind, but one dog broke on the flyer.

Flight B will start Sunday morning at 7:30 am with dog #108.

Judges Dale Langhorne and Ed Sullivan