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.
Judges instructions to the handlers. Video by A.J. McGinnis
First Running dog, #28, Dogleg's Snake Eyes Pair-A-Dice, "Deuce" with handler Gloria Nusbickel
Video by A.J. McGinnis – Thank you, AJ!!
Video by A.J. McGinnis – Thank you, AJ!!
