It’s about suburbanites trying to teach their dogs to hunt. Pretty funny, but at least people are out there with their dogs, trying to do what the dog’s ancestors were bred to do.

BTW: if anyone out there hunts rabbits with a pack of basset hounds, I would love to check it out. I’ve hunted hares over beagles and it was a fantastic time.

Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

The Mid-Coast Maine Field Trial Club is holding their annual trial on May 1-2. The trial is in Prospect, ME, about 30 minutes from Bangor and an hour and a half from Augusta. It starts on Saturday at 7am.

For more info, directions to the grounds, or to enter, call Jeff Mahaney at 207-745-9759. You an email him at jmahaney@midmaine.com.

To learn more about cover-dog style field trials, go here. This site has a ton of info about the trials, along with an excellent introduction to the terms and categories it uses.

This is great event for anyone new to cover dog style, pointing dog field trials. There are several different events being run: Open Puppy, Open Shooting Dog, Open Derby, and a Gun Dog Challenge. These events are 20-30 minutes long. All of them will be run over a combination of liberated birds and wild woodcock. This is a no-kill trial, so the birds will not be shot and the dogs do not have to retrieve.

In all the events, dogs run in braces and the judges and handlers follow them on foot. You can join the “gallery” and follow along, too. This gives you a  chance to see how these trials work. You can also see how these dogs run.

If you have a pointer and you would like to try out a field trial, enter your dog in Sunday’s Gun Dog Challenge. It’s open to any breed of pointing dog and ideal for hunting dogs. Because the judges stop evaluating your dog once a pointed bird flushes, your dog does not have to be steady to wing and shot.

The stake is 20 minutes long. All you have to do is set your dog lose at the start and follow behind like you’re hunting. If your dog points a bird, walk in, flush it, and move on. That’s it. The judges will walk every brace. After all the dogs run, the judges declare a winner.

I ran my English Pointer, Puck, in this stake a few years ago. It was great introduction to the sport. If you want to get into trialing and see what kind of dog you have, you should check it out. Who knows, you may bring home a ribbon.

See you there.
Gregg

English Setter running at a Field Trial

There a nice field trial going on this Friday and Saturday in Rhode Island. It’s the Region 1 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog Championship. The trial is being held in the Arcadia Management Area in Exeter, RI, and it starts Friday at 8 am.

If you’re new to field trials, this would be a good one to check out. Fourteen braces of dogs are scheduled to run, so there will be lot of action both days. Because it’s a Walking Shooting Dog trial, the braces will be easy to follow. This is a championship trial, too, so the dogs will be top notch. Check it out and find out what these competitions are all about.

To get to the grounds:

Take Exite 5A off of I-95. Go to Route 102 South, to Route 3 South and then to Route 165 West. Take a right on Frosty Hollow Road. Watch for signs. They’re usually hard to see, so pay attention.

2010 Southern New England Woodcock Championship

This trial was at the Arcadia

State Management Area in Exeter, RI. This trial started on Saturday. They were running dogs for three days, finishing on Monday. I think 17 braces (pairs) of dogs were scheduled to run.

This is a coverdog-style trial on all wild birds. Handlers walked the courses with a gallery of spectators following. The dogs ran over a number of different courses. When you’re watching, all you see are glimpses and flashes of the dogs. They hunt out to 100-150 yards. The courses wind and twist through the woods. To keep the dogs in front of them, the handlers call to their dogs.

This was championship, so all the dogs had at least one placement in an earlier trial. A lot of the top dogs and trainers in the Northeast were there, including John Stolgitis with his English Pointer male Chasehill Little Bud.

You can read some more about the trial here.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Note: birds are not shot at or harmed in any way at these trials.

20 gauge Boss Over and Under Shotgun

This 20 gauge Boss Over and Under shotgun that I wrote about last week sold for $92,000. This gun was at James D. Julia’s auction yesterday, March 15.

$92,000 is close to the top of the doubles estimate. A new 20 gauge Boss O/U shotgun like it will run you about $120,000.

Puck, March 2010

The middle of March is early for woodcock in Maine. But with the warm weather, I thought we might see some. I was right. We moved one. Puck handled the bird like a champ. She pointed it, but the bird ran off by the time I moved in for the flush. I released Puck and she relocated it. This time the bird held. It was nice to see him fly off, twittering at me the whole time.

Good bye winter. Hunting season is less than 7 months away.

I also some signs of success from years past. How cool are those purple 16 gauge shells?

Puck Pointing Woodcock, March 2010

Hen Pheasant Feathers, 16 gauge shell

These dogs are some of the top field trial pointers in the UK.

Tip: click on the arrow icon in the lower right to see a full-screen version of the video.

In the Shadow, 2010 National Championship, Ames Plantation

GRAND JUNCTION, Tenn. — The competitors arrived at the historic Ames Plantation in pickup trucks with built-in dog kennels, pulling gooseneck trailers hauling saddle horses. After a year of crisscrossing the country, the holy grail of their sport was at last in reach for the owners of 39 of the best bird-hunting dogs in North America.

The National Championship for Field Trialing Bird Dogs, first held here in western Tennessee in 1896, determines the continent’s most elite canine athlete. On Tuesday, In the Shadow, an English pointer owned by Carl Bowman of Louisville, Ky., and handled by Robin Gates, was named the 111th champion after an event lasting two weeks in which he competed on the third day….

Read the whole article now in the New York Times.

The winner of the 2010 National Champioship is In the Shadow, an English Pointer male. You can read more about In the Shadow’s and his winning run here.

Apparently, Decoverly ran into problems with Pennsylvania’s regulations for commercial dog kennels. This  forced them to cut down on the number of dogs in their kennel.

Stripe, a 1 year old male Ryman English Setter

Originally, I reported that the Bucks County SPCA was a kill shelter. This is not entirely correct. Last Friday I talked to Sarah Hart from the shelter and she clarified things for me.

While Bucks County SPCA does euthanize, it only does so when animals have serious health or temperament issues. Healthy dogs that interact well with adults and children are kept at the shelter until they’re adopted. They’re in no danger of being put down, regardless of how long it takes to find them a new owner.

According to Hart, Decoverly’s setters came to the Bucks County SPCA as part of Pennsylvania’s Safe Harbor program. This program allows commercial kennels to forfeit unwanted animals to a network of shelters throughout the state. These shelters find homes for these animals. They will only put down animals with health or temperament problems.

Hart also informed me that sixteen Decoverly setters were dropped off at the shelter. Two of those dogs — older females with severe medical issues — were euthanized after being evaluated by veterinarians. The remaining dogs were put up for adoption. As of today, two are still waiting for new homes.