2009 Region 14 Shooting Dog Championship

Circle, Montana August 21^st - 25^th 2009

By Louis Qualtiere

The 2009 addition of the Region 14 Shooting Dog Championship( SDC) was run this year in Circle Montana August 21^st to 25th as part of the Region policy to rotate the championship to different parts of this large Region. The last four years the championship has been held in Stoughton Saskatchewan but for the next several years will be held in Circle Montana. The grounds at Circle are rolling CRP lands with isolated islands of hedgerows of bush and mountain ash. The native sharptail and huns are located throughout the grounds with pheasant largely in the treed islands. The birds were plentiful with all dogs having the opportunity to have multiple contacts in their hour. The grounds have been the location for the Montana Open Shooting Dog Championship for the past several years with 6-7 excellent one hour courses set up by Austin Turley.

This change in location to Northeastern Montana, placing the trial close to many of the summer training grounds coupled ,with the reputation of the grounds proved to a combination for a record entry of 65 dogs. Almost double the last several years and 20 more than the previous record entry. The weather can play a significant factor to any trial in late August at Circle but this year only proved to be a problem on two days where the temperature reached 95 deg with the remainder of the trial run in high 70s and low 80s.

The judges for the trial were your scribe( LQ) from Saskatoon Saskatchewan and Mike Furney of Chipley Fl who graciously agreed to judge for us on this way to Canada to train with his brother Ricky in Saskatchewan and run his dogs in the All-age Championships at Mortlach. Both of us enjoyed watching the high quality dogs in the stake, the Montana hospitality and could have named several dogs as Champion under different circumstances. The dogs that were named demonstrated the prairie shooting dog standard we were looking for with class and style both on the ground and around birds. Heard's Hill Queen Mary was named the champion. She appeared in the first brace of the stake and was carried first throughout the trial. She ran a classy, animated race and hunted to the front for the whole hour. See running for details of the brace. She was handled by John Neely. John raised her from a litter he bred but sold her to his close friend Buck Heard who asked him to take her North again and give her some more experience as she is still a derby! John gives a large amount of credit for the development of Mary to Robin Gates, whose camp he has been able to train the last few years allowing her to point and chase birds as a puppy preparing her for the quail season in the fall of 2008. She had been doing so well this summer John said he decided to run her and his premonition proved correct!! The runner up is no stranger to the winner's circle in Region14 as she won the Shooting Dog Championship at Stoughton last year. Bridges Lake Pat handled by Tim Moore proved again her ability to cover the ground in prairie form, with a minimal of handling, hunt and find birds. Her running can be found in brace 20#. Tim said this was her 7^th Championship placement, she won the Region 16 as a derby and is only the second dog to win the invitational twice. She is co-owned by Tim and Fred Rowan and was raised from a puppy by Tim. He bought her as a puppy from Larry Moon and credits Doug and Harold Ray in her early development.

Success of any trial rests with the sponsoring Club and this trial was no exception. The Big Sky Club membership made this Championship happen. The marshalling duties were carried largely by Austin Turley with help from Tom Nygard and Dave Noell. The dog wagon was piloted by Tom Nygard, Dave Noell and Sean Kelly. Shannon Nygard, Region Secretary handled the draw and the noon luncheons with the help of Mattie Todd of Bozeman. Hay and water were supplied in camp and the club placed water troughs strategically around the courses to offer respite for both the dogs and the horses. This was especially important in the afternoon braces where temperatures reached into the 80s and 90s. A large 20x30 tent served as headquarters on the grounds and afforded a meeting place for meals and conversation free from the often-relentless prairie sun. Everyone appreciated the Western hospitality. Friday the first night of the trial Tim Moore sponsored a feed on gulf shrimp he had flown up for the occasion to commemorate his win last year with Bridges Lake Pat. The shrimp tasted great and everyone had their fill. Thanks to Tim for his generosity. Saturday night saw Glen Conovers special pork shoulder barbeque. A special thanks to Dennis Hidalgo( CO) a Coors representative who donate 8 cases of Coors beer for the trial and ran dogs in his spare time.

The Running

Please note the length of the trial required truncation of the running descriptions.

The First brace of the Championship casted off West just South of Camp at 7:00AM with Touch Angel B ( M. Brown) running a forward race for the first 30' stretching out for the final 30' with a back on Heards Hill Queen Marys unproductive at 45'. Mary put down an impressive ground heat always to the front, hunting all available cover with finds at 5' on pheasant and huns at 31'. Her running style was animated, light on her feet and classy at all times. She is the type of dog you watch and don't even care if she ever finds a bird. Watching her move through the county was a thing of beauty. Her effort stole the attention of all who watched her and although many dogs following would have more bird work none would match her ground game.

The second brace RJ's hard Copy ( N. Walker) and Full Force Buck ( D. Hildego) ended early at 25'.

The third brace Chaperon ( R. Leonard) and Windflower ( B. Pombrio) both had multiple finds, two and three respectively, but shorten races in the last 15' ended their bids.

The fourth brace Welch's Playtime ( L. Welch) and Touch Class B ( M. Brown) completed the morning run, with the temperature beginning to reach the 80's, with Playtime recording three nice finds at 21',35' and 42' with a solid race until the last 10'. Touch Class B had single find and two unproductives.

The fifth brace, the first after lunch saw Just Wait Bess ( T. Haines) have two finds wrapped in a largely all- age race and Houston's Blue Diamond ( R. Leonard) who got way too excited at flushing sharptail at 18.

The final two braces of day, sixth , RJ Final Shot( Neil Walker) and Waygoing Ripster ( M. Stephen then the seventh, Neely's Strictly Business ( N. Neely)ended with all three competing dogs failing to impress their handlers and being picked up.

The first brace of day two saw Lone Mountain Magique ( S Kelly) 2007, Region 14 and 9 Champion) and Merrihill's Brute ( B. Merrihill ) cast off just south of camp West. Mag took the South edge of the creek at the breakaway and pointed at 1' with Brute backing nicely. Pheasants were produced with all in order. Meg continued to hunt the cover as she moved East then South and was rewarded at 24' with nice covey find on sharptail. At the same time Brute had a find 100 yards further South but moved to continue hunting when the birds released before the handler could flush. Meg suffered an UP at 37' and then put a bird into the air on a relocation at 55', ending the brace.

The ninth brace saw Flatland's Tuff Anuf ( D. Pearson) and High Noon Sport ( S. Nygard) lock up at the breakaway and quickly disappear up a draw going East. Pearson's dog return alone to the front and had a nice find including an excellent relocation at 5' with an additional find at 45' and stop to flush at 59'. The race was largely forward and the dog handled well. Sport returned after 15' and was picked up.

The 10^th brace was action filled with Mantao Mattie, a red setter, owned by Paul Falkowski handled by S. Kelly) having eight clean finds at 5',8',12',35',40',45',52', and 59' on both sharptail and pheasant not moving a hair at any of the flushes. A bird handling clinic but the quality of the ground heats of several of the other entrants with multiple finds preventing a win in this competition. The bottom dog Rocky Knoll Roses ( P. Lockhart) had a find at 42', hunted well, but a weak performance on a Stop to Flush ended his bid at 45'.

The final brace of the morning, with the heat already showing its promise proved too much for Kerlin ( C. Bishop) and Scoot ( D. Favor).

After lunch with the temperature now in the low 90degs, all three afternoon braces 12^th Class Act Mark ( N. Walker), Magic City Sunrise ( D. Noell), 13^th TinSoldiers Nuvi ( S. Nygard ), Debose's Princess ( B. Debose) and 14^th Lovern Cutting & Struttin ( J. Neely),Deebone Take ( D. Nix) while several showed strong runs in the heat did not produce any significant bird work.

The next morning, Sunday, saw a little respite from the heat of the previous day with dense cumulus clouds blocking the sun at 10 to 15 internals. In the 15^th brace Copper Sunrise ( R. Heaton ) carded two finds on chicken while Fannie ( T. Manns) was up early. Unfortunately the remaining  morning braces 16^th Pilot ( T. Manns),Black Crude Joe ( A. Turley ) the 17^th Neely's Hot Pepper ( J. Neely), Lone Mountain Tourist ( J. Mandell) then the 18th Flatland's By Design ( D. Pearson ) , Clovis Point Tye ( N.Walker)continued the results of the previous afternoon braces and did not produce any significant performances.

After lunch the heat now reaching into the 90degs saw an uneventful 19^th brace  Bugsy (D. Favor ) with Neely's NY ( J. Neely) but the 20^th brace produced two strong performances including the RU Champion. Idahoa's Luck Sadie ( R. Heaton) had a strong although occasionally erratic race with three excellent finds at 35',40' and 48' with a back on Bridges Lake Pat's( Tim Moore) find at 20' along a hedgerow. Pat had another find in the CRP grass as we turned Southeast to the crossroads at 38'. Despite the heat both dogs ran and finished well. As in the case of the Champion the ground race of the runner up was effortless ( for the handler) wide but intelligent race watching the handler and responding according. She stayed naturally to the front and was a pleasure to watch and one could only dream your next dog would handle that well. Her finds were clean and steady but the differences between her and the others were her wide front running with virtually no instruction from her handler than an occasional here I am girl howl.

The final brace of the Sunday afternoon, Debose's Spot ( B. Debose) and IB Fenway ( S. Grundmeyer) passed unremarkably.

Monday morning found us facing foggy conditions and high humidity following the violent thunderstorms of the preceding night. Heavy rain,hail, high winds in the 50-60 miles/hr range struck the camp twice that night leaving after the second front moved through, standing water of 2-3 inches on the level in camp with the road through camp looking like a river. The camp tent made it through both attacks although re-rigging in the rain with flashlight by your scribe and Tom Nygard after both storms was required.

The birds seemed to disappear for the first three braces 22th Traveler's Prairie Run ( G. Sand) with My Mustang Sally ( Tim Moore), 23th Way Better Rex ( C. Bishop) with Our Rowdy Friend ( D. Noell) and 24^th Touch Stone B ( M Brown) with Spectaculuar Gold Streak ( N. Walker)that Monday producing no stellar bird work.

The 4^th brace however supplied the excitement missed in the first braces. Austin Turley relinquished his marshalling duties to run his female pointer, Railita. The bottom dog was Sand Creek Tawny ( C. Hjerpe ) who unfortunately exited at 5' after putting too much pressure on a sharptail in front of him. Railita and Austin struck early with a find at 5' including a gallop to point, flush and shot as the judge barely half-way to the find. Luckily the bird was seen. This was repeated again at 13' but the judges were able to see the end of the first attempt to flush and the excellent successful relocation . Not willing to let the birds run off Austin attempt to flush showed ground speed which in horse terms would best be described as a running walk. Railita continued to hunt the country using the wind the contours of the hills and cover to her advantage. Point was called at 38' on a hedgerow which proved barren. Attempting to move her on, Austin attempted to go through the hedgerow on his horse and after being repelled twice made it through to find his dog had decided not to follow him but instead followed a group of riders back to camp thinking that is where the field trial was headed. She was rewarded for the inadvertent course change with a nice find on pheasant at 45' as Austin was rapidly closing in on her to bring her back. Returning quickly to the front Railita continued her excellent ground work with a find at 55' on a running pheasant and a disappointing second unproductive at 59' to end a potential stake winning performance. A memorable hour which prompted one in the galley to remark… if only I had a movie camera!

After lunch, again in light rain and cool temperatures, saw Merrihill's Dixie Chic ( B. Merrihill) and McLean's Multi- Mile ( N. Walker) lock up and disappear to the South. The same thing happen in the next brace Merrihill’s Dakota( B. Merrihill) and Lone Mountain Reliant ( John Mandell) except Reliant stopped long enough to have find at 5' before disappearing to the front.

The 29^th brace and the final brace of the afternoon featured Sand Creek Max ( C. Hjerpe) who ran well to the front but failed to back on Class Act Special ( N. Walker) first find on a covey of chicken at 20'. Class Act followed with another find at 28' but lost control on a large covey of chicken at 35'.

On the line for the final four braces Tuesday morning saw Blackhawk’s Snap Shot ( S. Grundmeyer) and Mona Stone B ( M. Brown) cast off to the west as usual. Both dogs began running strong although as the brace developed Mona became more and more erratic. Snap Shot had two backs on Mona two unproductives at 7’ and 49’ and sandwich between a nice find at 29’ with a strong finish.

The 30^th brace casted off at the normal spot just North of the airstrip heading South into the hills with Kooteney River Clay ( J. Eunson) and Debose's Flash ( B. Debose). Both hit the ground running to the South with Flash disappearing to the Southwest and was lost. Clay put down a pleasing ground race, hunting the country effectively with a find at 47' and an unproductive 5 min later at which point Jim harnessed his dog.

The 31^st brace saw Waygoing Hoot ( M. Stephens) and Just Big ( D. Hidalgo). Hoot was up early with miscue on birds while Just Big put down a competitive race for the first 45' including solid finds at 10',,30' and 42' with everything in order. The ground race suffered in the last 15' undoubtedly due to the heat.

The final brace a bye dog Merrihill's Carolina ( B. Merrihill) did well until 35' where she failed to take the opportunity to point a covey of sharptail she found in the CRP grass east of camp.