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Test 1

FLIGHT A: Sun April 23 - Day 1 - Test 1 - Land Triple with an Honor

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It was mid-morning when we arrived at Flight A, which was held on the property of John and Mary Stracka – "Tired Bottom Farm." This first series consisted of a land triple with an honor and all the birds are rooster pheasants. The first bird thrown was on the right of the test situated 42 yards from the line. The bird station was well-hidden by a very large live oak tree covered in Spanish moss and was thrown to the left, landing in mid-calf high grass. The middle bird was the flyer, shot to the left landing 111 yards from the line. This station was very tight to the first bird down and the flyer was shot very high. The third bird down, was a swing to the far left side of the test. This left-hand go-bird was thrown to the right from a heavily brushed holding blind tucked in tight to the tree line landing in shorter grass 127 yards from the line.  

The dog's line to the go bird was down a hill, up a slight knoll to the bird. The terrain, wind and suction of the bird station pulled the dog to the left if the dog did not hold the line to the bird. In the six dogs we watched, the dogs used their primary selection skill to select the bird to be picked up second: three of the six selected the flyer and four of the six dogs were handled on at least one of the two birds. The terrain sloped from right to left from the right bird to the middle bird impacting the dogs significantly that tried to pick up the right-hand bird second. The handlers that picked up the right-hand bird last and sent the dog easy seemed to be having less trouble. At the time we left, 18 dogs had run, eight had handles, three honored on leash and at least one dog broke. Judges Rip Shively and Tom Quarles set up a challenging first series triple that on average ran about 3-1/2 minutes per dog.
Flight A - Test 1

FLIGHT B: Sun April 23 - Day 1 - Test 1 - Land Triple with an Honor

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We arrived at Flight B , which was held on the property of Ken and Brenda Neil – "Whoa Nellie Farm" – in the early afternoon. It was a warm 84 degrees. This series consisted of a land triple with an honor using all rooster pheasants. The terrain slopes from right to left and the field of tall broom straw is strip-cut and has very few trees. The right-hand bird was thrown first from a brushed holding blind to the right landing 134 yards from the line. The middle bird was thrown second, also to the right, landing 100 yards from the line. On the left was the heavily brushed go bird flyer station which was shot out of the test to the left landing 86 yards from the line in heavy broom straw in the middle of several decoys. 

The average time it took the dogs to run this set up while we were there was 3-1/2 minutes. The dogs ran down the hill to quickly pick up the flyer. When the dogs returned, they made a quick look to the right-hand bird but then selected to pick up the middle bird. Neither the middle bird nor the right-hand bird were easy with close to 70 percent of the dogs needing to be handled on one if not both birds. Judges Bill Cummins and Tom Lehr set up a challenging triple for the first series. 

Flight B - Test 1


FLIGHT C: Sun April 23 - Day 1 - Test 1 - Land Triple with an Honor
(to go to the original post for this test, Click Here)

We arrived at Flight C, which was held on the property of Glen and Laurie Williams, "Dog Pond Kennels" in time to watch the first test dog. This series consisted of a land triple with an honor. All birds were rooster pheasants including the flyer. The first bird thrown was on the left situated 46 yards from the line.  The bird station was well hidden behind a large clump of pampas grass, thrown to the right landing in low  cover. The next bird to be thrown was the middle bird, also coming from a blind of pampas grass, 84 yards from the line, thrown to the right, landing in low cover. The right bird was the flyer, 56 yards from the line, well hidden behind a heavily brushed holding blind. The flyer was shot to the right landing across a dirt road in a nicely cut green grass clearing. There was little to no wind while we were at Dog Pond Kennels and we watched eight dogs run which included the two test dogs averaging three minutes per dog.

Judges Joe Eschert and Tim Landecker set up a fair first series. They signaled for all three birds with a duck call from the line, and each station returned the call before throwing the bird. This was an exciting test for the dogs  which all took place an area not larger then a small baseball field. The dogs quickly picked up the flyer, then the left bird and finished the series picking up the middle bird.
Flight C - Test 1
























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