Day 2
Series Two - Water Marks & Blind
August 22, 2023
Report composed by Sue Taylor with help from Tim Fahl (drawings) and Jesse Vanhouwe (technology)
The caravan gathered at 7:30 am at the Clubhouse and travelled North on the main Club property to the Technical Pond.
As was forecasted there was a significant amount or rain overnight and although it was not raining at 6:30am when the setup crew arrived, the rain reappeared just after the test dogs ran and it has been raining off and on all morning. At 8am it was 14C with winds from the East (20km/hr gusting to 40km/hr). The rain is predicted to subside by early afternoon but the winds will stay strong from the east and there will not be significant warming (predicted high of 16C).
The tech pond has been transformed overnight with more than 6 dozen floating duck decoys – mostly mallards but a few pintails. It feels like we are here for a morning hunt in Saskatchewan. Gunners are all hidden behind brushed-in holding blinds.
Once again there is a tent set up for the judges and a smaller tent set up for Tim Fahl, John McDonald and Sue Taylor so they can carry out their duties under cover. One of the birds is on an island and the judges wanted to scent up the fall areas for all the dogs so this reporter’s dog Cheeky (NFTCH FC AFTCH TaylorLab’s Sweet Cheeks) got to play – retrieving 6 birds from the island and one complete triple with diversion – she LOVES this retired life! She is now standing by hoping there will be a no bird or a break requiring her services.
Once again there are two large tents behind the test for the gallery. Sponsor banners are displayed, including Purina, SportDog, Garmin, and Kent. This test’s sponsor is the Saskatoon Retriever Club Field Trial Committee consisting of John McDonald, Sue and Garry Taylor, Doug Hildebrand, Darrell Holowach, Tim Fahl, Jim Murphy and Jeff Morari. This group is intensely proud of our Club property and our members and most of us have dedicated this whole week (and last week) working at this National Master to make sure it goes smoothly and is successful.
Once again professional photographer Mark Atwater is well concealed in a blind to the left of the running line. If the pictures he got of Cheeky this morning are any indication he will have taken some stunning pictures of the participating dogs.
The judges John Kuepferling, Peter Ferin and Bill Marshall described the scenario. You have permission to hunt this small pond and you set up decoys and the hunt has been fast and furious. Handlers are instructed to sit their dog in the painted circle and then leave them and sit in a holding blind behind them to their right or left (handler choice). A judge will sit in the other holding blind and when the handler indicates they are ready, the judge will start the test with a call.
The judge will call and the call will be answered from behind the bushed in holding blind on the right and a duck will be thrown from right to left with a big arching throw, and shot, landing on land 70 yds away. The straight line to this bird would be through the base of one channel, over a few feet of a point and then angling across a wider channel and then carrying that line on land.
The judges will then call again and the call will be answered by gunners behind the brushed in holding blind in the middle. A hen mallard will be thrown right to left, landing on an island 43 yards directly in front of the line.
The judges will call again and the call will be answered by gunners in the left brushed-in holding blind and they will throw a mallard drake right to left, landing in the water with a splash 45 yards from line in a small bay.
Dogs will be released and sent to retrieve. As soon as they start returning with their first retrieve a high flying diversion bird will be launched from left of line, landing with a splash just Northeast of the dog swimming back with the left go bird. There will be a double shot with the diversion bird, setting up the hot blind that is located 84 yards down the left edge of a channel, marked by a small branch.
The female test dog today was MOTCH ZANIRI REACH FOR THE TOP MH RA WCX (Jenga), Owned and handled by Angela Borthwick. Jenga sat nicely for her birds while Angela was in the right holding blind. She was sent for the go bird first, got distracted by some decoys and landed by the brushed in blind the bird had been thrown from. As she started up the hill a quick whistle put her back on the bird. She got the diversion bird without incident and was then sent for the right hand bird but she swam past the point and squared the shore and faded with the wind and ended up splitting the difference between the middle and right holding blind bushes. She was headed fast for a mound in the distance but caught wind of the right bird as she went by and picked it up. She then got the island bird clean. Once she had retrieved the triple and the diversion bird the handler and dog moved to the running line for the blind. She had a good initial line to the blind and required a few left hand back casts to convince her to hug the left shore of the channel a little more tightly. Depth perception was difficult, so she got out a little early but was handled back to the blind.
The male test dog was Fox again, owned and handled by Alan Davies. Fox pretty much stayed in his circle today and watched all his birds. He did an excellent job on the go bird, staying in the water until he reached the bird. He was very interested in the diversion bird and deviated towards it but responded to Alan’s “Here” command and left it alone until he completed his go bird retrieve. He then picked up the diversion bird and the island bird perfectly. When sent for the right bird he swam around the point and then looked like he might channel to the right and correct his line but he got out a little early and headed North, winding the bird as he went by. During his blind Alan kept him a little more in the center of the channel than was the correct line, but he stopped on every whistle and took every cast. It was a nice, controlled blind.
The test was now ready to start for the participants and the rain started again. The first running dog, Dog 19 was called to line at 9:03 am and the test was underway. The test went well.
In the first 10 dogs (before the first bird change) most of the dogs did well on the go bird, the diversion bird and the island bird. Many dogs took a line that did not cross the point and was too far left for the right hand bird but most of these dogs, if they got deep enough, winded the bird as they ran past and retrieved it without incident. Three dogs handled on the right hand mark, one handled on the island bird and two handled on the diversion. Only one of those first 10 dogs took perfect lines to every mark – and that was impressive. The blind gave a little trouble, with more than 10 whistles being average. Some handlers chose to let their dogs swim down the center of the channel and kick them over at the end, while others did their best to challenge the blind. Some dogs ping ponged back and forth as they were cast first one way then the other.
We have completed a bird change and are back to running dogs – so I had better get back to work out of my nice warm (dry) truck.
Not much changed with the test or the weather for the rest of the afternoon. Several dogs still handled on the right bird and a few more had trouble with the blind. We ran the last dog at 5pm. The small, cold wet working crew took down the tents and cleaned everything up within 15 minutes. Our paid throwers Owyn and Levi happily used the canoe to pick up the decoys.
We all gathered back at the Clubhouse and ate popcorn waiting for callbacks.
Dogs 8, 22 and 36 were dropped, so 29 dogs will run the third series.
There were some questions on the Callback Board format. The board lists dogs that are called back and will be allowed to run the numbered series. 35 dogs ran Series 1 (nobody failed the vet check!), 32 dogs ran the second series today and tomorrow dogs will run Series 3 (quarter /flush)
The third series will be the quarter flush. That is planned to be the only test tomorrow, since the Workers Party is tomorrow night.
