2022 April Fool's Day Trial

The Utah Region of NSTRA gathered for another great trial at one of our favorite locations in Rush Valley, UT at Royal Creek Ranches. It was going to be 2 days of running dogs with great people. Well almost “APRIL FOOLS” everyone we forgot to tell you that half the birds died, and it was really going to be a one-day trial. We had a bird catastrophe happen and unfortunately, we were going to have to adjust the trial and make the best of it. We would like to thank everyone for being patient and willing to adjust to just the one day. Sometimes things happen and the birds decide to not cooperate, oh well we marched on and had an incredible trial with incredible people and dogs. We appreciate Royal Creek Ranches and Chad Hymas for allowing us to trial on their grounds, it is a wonderful venue and we have enjoyed several years of trialing on this property.

As light starting to peek over the Oquirrh mountains to the east we were set for a fantastic day of running dogs, the weather was set to make for a perfect day. In the early morning light members started to make their way up the dirt road to the trial grounds, everything had the making of a perfect day to trial. First brace dogs and handlers were in the blind ready to go, the fields were planted and away we went, the trial was underway.

A FIELD

The A field would be judged by Bret Ure and Lance Hansen, we are grateful for their time and willingness to judge. In the fourth brace of the day, we would have Ryley Johnson and his young shorthair Sox have a great run. They would find 4 birds in the field and have a run of 4/3 that would give them a final score of 705 and secure them a 3^rd place finish. Sox is currently leading the high point standings for the season, keep it up Ryley and Sox. In the first brace of the day Joel Cartwright and his awesome dog Knox would have a great run finding 4 birds and going 4/3, this would give them a score of 718 and help them finish in 2^nd place. This would be their second placement of the season, congrats on a great showing. The run of the day would happen in the 12^th brace where Jared Haddock and Boone would tear up the field finding 4 birds. With excellent scores on the card this would prove to be the difference in giving them the first-place finish. Congrats to Jared and Boone, this puts them just a few points away from a 2X championship, I am sure they will get there soon.

B FIELD

The B field would be judged by Josh Morris and Barratt Gorshe, thank you so much for helping and judging. In brace 8 on the day, we would have Rich Lowe and his flashy setter “Flash” make a statement by finding 3 birds. With great scores on finds and retrieves averaging 85-90 it would help them secure a 3^rd place finish with a final score of 678.5, great work Rich and Flash. In brace 5 we would have Ernie Wakabayashi and his incredible little bird finding machine Fisher have a great run. They would be able to find 4 birds and go 4/3 for a final score of 707 giving them their second placement on the season and a second-place finish, way to go! But the run of the day would happen in the very last brace on the day. Ryley Johnson and Rip would do an incredible job of finding birds in the dry dusty conditions. They would find 4 birds and receive great scores; they were also able to have a back off their bracemate which would prove to be the difference in their final score. They would finish with a score of 895.66 putting them in first place, nice work Ryley and Rip.

We would like to thank everyone for your continued support for our region, it has been an incredible year so far. We now look forward to our biggest and most exciting trial in Best of the West, get those dogs tuned up as we will be going up against some of the best competition in the west. Thanks to all of those that worked so hard to make this trial happen, Ryan Taylor, Angie Wonnacott, Bret Ure, Josh Morris, Barratt Gorshe, Rich Lowe, and many others. We apologize about the bird situation but appreciate everyone’s willingness and patience to adjust the trial.

We look forward to the next one, see you in 3 weeks!

Utah Region Presidency and Board