UPDATE Flight D – Burches – Bill Largent and Laurice Williams

The afternoon found the area of the fall for the flyer in Flight D more consistent. However, the problems with this middle bird continue. The dense cover makes finding the pheasant challenging. We watched three dogs. One had a nice job and two had major hunts all over the field resulting in handles.

Starting dog for Sunday morning at 7:30 am is dog #42.

UPDATE Flight C – Buffalo Wallow – David Christianson and John Marchica

Flight C Starting Dog on Sunday is #29. The workers are to report at 7:00 am. First dog runs at 7:30 am sharp.

UPDATE Flight B – Three Ponds – Ed Arnett and Laura Judd

The dogs in Flight B running "Three Ponds" seem to have kept their morning consistency streak going. Most dogs are doing the triple. If any problems arose, it seemed to be mostly on the blind. Some dogs still wanted to beach by the middle bird. There have been a few problems including a break and a a no-go, but overall, the work remained good.

The Flight B starting dog for Sunday will be dog #46, starting at 8:00 am. Be advised that all the other flights begin at 7:30 am.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Frank Prendergast and Jerry Mann, AKC Rep

UPDATE Flight A – Windsock – Bob May and Duwayne Bickle (Dewey)

As the grass dried from the morning dew and a slight breeze started, the work seems to be a little better. The middle flyer is the one still causing the most problems. The area of the fall is about 30 yards long and on an incline. Dogs that come in on the downhill side seem to need more help to find the bird.

Staring dog on Sunday morning for Flight A is dog #40 at 7:30 am.

David Carrington of Avery Sporting Dog and Kelsi Toth

This is what it takes to view Wind Sock over the tall prairie grasses

Flight D – Burches – Bill Largent and Laurice Williams

This test is a land triple with two blinds, a diversion bird and an honor using all rooster pheasants. The right bird is thrown as a walk-up. Second, the long, middle flyer was shot to the right and the left hand bird also was shot to the right. On the way back from the third bird, the diversion poison bird was thrown to the right. The handler then picked up the left hand blind, the diversion poison bird, the right hand blind and then went the honor mat. The average time on this test is between 5-7 minutes per dog.

We arrived at this test in the late morning as the breeze began to pick up a little. Earlier, we had been informed by the gallery that roughly fifty percent of the dogs had fallen victim to this test, including the four of the first six running dogs. The first two dogs that we viewed had to be picked up. The third dog had a no bird. Following the no bird, it was time to rebird the gun stations and change out the gunners. The next dog that came to the line, completed the test in only five minutes and lined the left hand blind, turning an excellent performance over all.

Flight C – Buffalo Wallow – David Christianson and John Marchica

Buffalo Wallow is a triple with a diversion, two blinds and an honor using rooster pheasants. The order was right, left flyer and middle. The diversion bird is thrown as the dog returns with the third bird. The dog runs the left blind and then the right blind, before retrieving the diversion bird. It is taking between 4.5 to 6 minutes per dog.

We watched three dogs run and the handlers chose to pick up the birds in different orders. Some went for the middle bird first and some for the right hand bird first. All of the dogs that we watched completed the test, but one had to be handled on the flyer. We heard that up to this point, 7 of the first 20+ dogs have been eliminated by this test.

 

 

Flight B – Three Ponds – Ed Arnett and Laura Judd

3 Ponds is a land/water triple shot left to right with a blind using all ducks. The left hand bird is shot to the left and is dry. The middle bird is shot back and to the right. The right hand bird is shot back and to the left. When the dog is returning with the last bird, there is a diversion shot. The dog then must run a blind crossing a small canal over a narrow point in lunging water to the end of the pond, where they get up and out and find the bird. This test is taking between 5 and 7 minutes per dog.

Of the four dogs that we watched, all had nice marks. One had a little difficulty staying in the water on the way to the blind. Everyone that we saw, completed the test.