WELCOME to the Official Blog of the 2015 Master National Hunting Test, October 15-25, 2015, brought to you by the Retriever News and written by Tina Styan, Gwen Jones and Kelley Hall. We hope you enjoy these daily updates on the 2015 Master National, held this year in and around Cheraw, South Carolina.
Day 7 – Flight E – Test 4 – Byrd's Campground-Land/Water – Friday, October 23
Flight E: Kay Scott and John Kinnard Byrd’s Campground-Land/Water – Land/Water Triple,
Double Blind and Walk-up
This test is a Land/Water Triple with a double blind and a walk-up. Bird one is to the handler's right, thrown to the right at 40 yards. Bird number two is a flyer shot to the right, landing 150 yards in front of the line at a point of cover. Bird number three is thrown to the left from the shoreline, landing in the water 40 yards to the left of the line. The line to the land blind is between the flyer and bird one at 130 yards from the line. The water blind is under the arc of bird three, 35 yards in front of the line. The handler comes to the line, with bird one a walk-up. The go-bird is water bird number three. The handler must then pick-up the land blind. The handler proceeds to complete picking up birds one and two and finishes with the land blind.
We arrived this test with Flight E finishing running their last few dogs. The troublesome bird seemed to be the flyer, with the dogs fading with the terrain into towards the flyer station. Despite the difficulties, the gallery was very complimentary of the bird placement.
Day 7 – Flight D – Test 4 – Clubhouse-Land – Friday, October 23
Flight D: Martin Bell and Bruce Bachert Clubhouse-Land – Land Triple, Land Blind and Honor
Flight D was the first group to use the Clubhouse-Land test site. This is a land triple with a land blind and an honor. The first bird down is the right-hand flyer, shot to the right at 110 yards. The middle bird at 77 yards was thrown to the right landing in the hip pocket of the flyer. The left go-bird is thrown to the right at 30 yards. The blind is under the arc of the middle bird at 120 yards. The judges instructed the handlers to pick up all the marks and then the blind. For those dogs that had to handle, they had to look up the slope with the sun in their eyes. This may have contributed to the number of cast refusals we witnessed. The flyer was giving the dogs trouble, drawing them into the flyer station.
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. Water 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.
Day 7 – Flight A – Test 4 –Goose Pond-Land – Friday, October 23
Flight A: Judges Robert Rascoe and Tom McMorrow
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.
Flight A was the second group to use this test site. We arrived mid-afternoon by which time, the temperature had risen to over 80 degrees and there was very slight wind in the handler's face. The air was hazy and we were told that there was a controlled burn going on nearby. We watched six dogs run and three of them had to be handled on the flyer. Five of the six dogs had multiple handles on the blind, the other was not invited to run the blind.
