Saturday, November 20, 2010

Brought to You by All Our Sponsors

 

"Original" Ninth Series: Water Triple with Two Retired Guns
(Since changed...see below for update)

The Ninth Series is a water triple with 2 retired and a wipe out flyer.  When the dogs come to the line, they will look out on to the same piece of water that was used in the 3rd series water blind.  The dog will see the long gunners at the end of the pond 375 yards from the line. They will look to their left and see the left hand gunners on the bank of the pond 175 yards from the line.  The long gun will be the first bird shot and this will be a Drake Duck.  This throw is to the left.  The second bird shot will  be the left hand bird.  These gunners will throw a hen duck down the shore to the right and it will land in some green cover by the water.  After both of these birds have been thrown, the flyer gunners will come out from a well brushed holding blind 150 yards in front of the line on the right hand side.  They will shoot a Drake duck in to the middle of the lake and it will be a wipe out flier for the long bird.  The gunners will then sit in 3 chairs placed on the end of a point.  The other 2 stations will retire at this time.

The mat is on a high hill looking towards the long lake.  The line from this high hill  is down a steep slope, up a levee and across a levee road before they enter the water.  There are several hills, points and mounds that a dog could easily slip behind and be lost from sight. 

Lee and Margie Broussard.
They are on the Game Stewards Committee.

CALLBACKS TO THE 9TH SERIES


DOGS CALLED BACK 11, 19, 23, 24, 25, 45, 47, 52, 56, 61, 66, 72, 75, 86, 88


DOGS DROPPED AFTER THE 8TH  1, 6, 7, 12, 27, 36, 39, 49, 54, 57, 69, 77, 91


Dog #45 will starts the 9th series this morning. The test dog will run at 6:40 am and the running dogs will start at 7:00 am.


The above photos are how the test looked last night. This morning, it was a completely different story. The Fog was so thick that Test Dog Stella and David Didier had a lot of difficulty on the long gun. They have since reconfigured the test.

"New" Ninth Series: Water Triple with Three Retired

At 6:50 am the test dog Stella, handled by David Didier, ran when a fog rolled in. The fog would have eventually burned off but it was decided that getting dogs to line sooner than later was of the utmost importance.

W A R N I N G :   Fog's rolling in.....

David Didier and Test Dog Stella run the "Original" Ninth Series.

Some of the "Final Fifteen."

The Ninth Series test was changed during our fog delay. The long gun was moved into the front, left-hand corner of the pond at the end of the levee. This gun is approximately 140 yards to the left of the line and throws a drake duck. The duck falls into a slot behind a fallen tree at the edge of the water. The second gun is on the left side of the pond at 175 yards throwing a hen duck to the right into heavy green grass in the water. The third bird is the flyer station located out on a point 150 yards in front of the line on the right side of the lake. This drake duck is shot to the left and lands behind the point and is sluiced. All three guns retire. The Ninth Series is a "round the horn" test: left, middle, flyer.

Mark Medford and Test Dog Tater run the "New" Ninth Series.

L to R: Lisa Farmer, Carol Morehouse and Linda Patterson.



Marth Russell and Chester Koeth.





Muted Sunrise.....

We started off at a chilly 45 degrees and now the temp has risen to 61...it's partly cloudy and still slightly hazy.

The Ninth Series has wrapped. There were four handles, two no-birds and a few hunts. Callbacks will be given at this location. All handlers and participants have been requested to stay parked until all equipment, hostess wagon etc. has been moved and set-up at the new location.

The Callbacks to the Tenth Series:
11, 19, 23, 25, 45, 47, 52, 56, 72, 75, 86, 88

Starting dog is #86


Tenth Series: Land Quad With Two Retired

The Tenth Series is on the side of a large hill looking out on a huge draw. The left-hand bird is a rooster pheasant flyer shot to the right at 230 yards. The middle bird is a dead hen pheasant thrown to the right at 330 yards and it retires. The short-right station is a live hen pheasant shot the left at 175 yards. The far right station will through a rooster pheasant severely angled back to the left at 250 yards, they will then retire. The order will be middle, short-right, long-right, left. When the dogs leave the line they will go down a very steep hill. The terrain is steep, rolling and has a thousand places to trip them up.
Two test dogs ran...Test Dog one, Bobby Smith with Pride, had a no-bird on the last bird down flyer. Test dog two came to the line, Mark Medford with Mollie, he had a handle on the right retired bird. Bobby Smith returned to the line and had a handle on the short right flyer. It has taken approximately 12 minutes per dog. Dog #86 will start and will come to the line shortly.


Running Order (Subject to change when a no-bird occurs):
86, 88, 11, 23, 19, 25, 45, 47, 52, 56, 72, 75

The Judges at the Tenth Series.

Ty Rorem and Dave Rorem--Our one father-daughter team.

Final Wardrobe Quiz!! Who WILL be wearing this today?????

#25 had a double-handle and got hot, overheated. He appears to be alright, but was taken back to the parking are in a four-wheeler to a standing ovation from the gallery. Since then, there has been a no-bird on #45.

Three dogs to go...the dogs have been doing the test fairly well, but there have been some hunts. Everyone is anticipating the closing ceremony...

We would like to once again thank our Retriever Report and Blog Sponsors, we really appreciate your participation!

The Tenth Series has been come to an end at 3:57 pm. We are all moving over to the hostess wagon where the winner will be announced shortly...

And the winner of the 2010 National Open is:

#23-FC-AFC Hunter Runs BooBoo, Owners Kit & Hunter Johnston & John Stracka, Handler Paul Sletten

L to R: Judge Chester Koeth, Handler Paul Sletten, Judges Martha Russell and Larry Calvert

The Finalists of the 2010 National Open:

#11-FC Cosmo’s Cookie Cutter, Owners Brandon & Shelly Wall, Handler Ty Rorem

#19-FC-AFC Bayou-Star Beyond Independent, Owner Suzan Caire, Handler Danny Farmer

#23-FC-AFC Hunter Runs BooBoo, Owners Kit & Hunter Johnston & John Stracka, Handler Paul Sletten

#45-FC Seaside’s Pelican Pete, Owner Robert Zylla, Handler Steve Yozamp

#47-FC Honky Tonk Take It Easy, Owner Thomas Watson, Handler Dave Rorem

#52-FC-AFC Weezer Retreezer, Owners Lydia Fekula, Jeff Schuett & Bob Johnson, Handler Ray Voigt

#56-CNAFC-CFC Flatlands Sledgehammer, Owners Bill & Connie Swanson, Handler Connie Swanson

#72-FC-AFC Great Bunns Of Fire, Owners J.M. & L.K. DuBose, Handler Lynne DuBose

#75-AFC Waquoit Bay’s Lone Arranger, Owner Leonard Rentel, Handler Dave Smith

#86-FC Tip From A Gypsy, Owner Bill Bowen, Handler Danny Farmer

#88-FC-AFC Hardscrabbles Powder My Buns, Owner Benjy Griffith, Handler Al Arthur