The 2009  National Amateur Chicken Championship

September 10-13   2009
By Louis Qualtiere

The National Amateur Chicken Championships(NACC)  was held on September the 10th through the 13th at Mortlach Saskatchewan following the  Region 14 All-Age Championship. These two championships have been conjointly held at Mortlach at the end of the August beginning of September for over 20 years. These grounds are the jewel of the Northern prairies and offer one of the strongest tests of a true all-age dog. Only those dogs which can reach out to the limit and still handle and find birds will be counted in the end. Brad Harter, the reporter for the NACC in 2004 gave a remarkably accurate description of these ground and for those who missed his commentary that year here it is.
"Put together more than 16,000 acres of gently rolling prairie terrain, more than ample numbers of Sharptail grouse and Hungarian partridge, perfect weather, great dogs and the best people you could ever meet and you have every single ingredient for a successful field trial. The National Amateur Chicken Championship, held in early September at Mortlach, Sask., was exactly that type of field trial. A portion of the grounds are owned by a half dozen local ranchers. The largest section is called "Crown Land". It is owned by the Canadian government and is leased to the local ranchers.
With nearly 16,000 acres available for five one hour courses, there is more than ample room for a bird dog to show heels and perform the true prairie, all-age race. Each course is about five miles in length. Each course offers plenty of objectives and a perfect cover mix with massive hay fields intermixed with rotational crop land. There are bluffs (tree-covered islands) and long sandy ridges covered with chokecherry and other indigenous shrubs. Mix in a few rough pastures, home to large herds of beef cattle, and you have Mortlach, a field trial paradise. Somewhere on about every 160 acres you will find the remains of abandoned home sites. These old farm sites are often home to the Sharptail grouse and Huns, just like they are favorite haunts to the Bobwhite quail of the south. Put this all together and it completes a mosaic pattern that is just about perfect as far as bird dogs and field trials are concerned. With this mix of cover conditions, birds can be anywhere and everywhere on any given day. Throw into this mix the prairie wind. It almost always plays a big factor in a dog's performance and it seems to blow most all the time. The days can also be sunny and hot and these conditions may push the birds into the brush covered bluffs. On the cloudy days, there is no real predicting were the birds will be. Your best bet may just be to turn your dog loose and trust his judgment. The good ones just seem to go to birds. That's why the old timer's like John Gardner always said the prairie does the separating, making all the great ones stand out over the rest. The truly great prairie dogs experiment. they try every form of cover that exist until something starts to work. In short, this is what really makes these grounds are a bird dog trainer's paradise. For a dog to have success up here, the nose and brains must be connected all the time. The massive size of the country can't intimidate the dog; instead it must be the lure that pulls him forward to each distant horizon. If someone assigned you to draw plans for the perfect venue for an all-age dog; you would want to use Mortlach as your prototype. It's just that simple!"

These two amateur championships mark one of the earliest tests of the 2009-20010 trial season. Many handlers leave their training grounds in Montana or the Dakota's to test the summers' training on these challenging grounds. For reasons that aren’t clear both championships recorded a record entry of 48 in the Region Championship and  50 in the NACC . This coupled with the 65 entry in the Region 14 Shooting Dog two weeks earlier would seem to dispel any thought that the economic downturn is effecting field trialing. These two All-Ages Championships present a  strong test with multiple champions drawn in both stakes.
The judges for this year NACC were experienced handlers and judges of all-age dogs, neighbors and close friends Jimmy White and John Russell from Bowling Green Kentucky.
Among participants from the U. S. were from the Midwest: Starr and Don Wiggins and , Joe Worsham of Illinois, Linda and Larry Smith of Iowa, from the East: Ellen and Tom Leisfeld from Virginia; from the West: Pat Lockhart and Tom and Shannon Nygard of Montana, Mike Stephens and Charlie Hjerpe from California, Joe Brinster of Washington ; Torben Hansen,Nevada, Bruce Hale, California and from the South: Mike Furney, Bobby Debose, John Milton of Florida, Burt Hendrix and his Dad from Mississippi, Ben AdamsTennessee, John Ivestor North Carolina, Cecil Restor, Louisiana, Ruth Ann Little, Alabama. Canadians competing in the stake were Paul Falkowski, Sheldon Rogers,  of Saskatchewan and Sean Kelly and Dave Pearson from Alberta.
Responsibility of the running of the two trials has rested with the Region 14 executive and Saskatchewan Field Trial members who supplied the labor to make sure the trials ran smoothly. Ron Bender as usual marshaled the majority of the braces spelled at times by Bill Preston, Doug Vaughn and Mike Shears. Jeanette Heise organized the lunches for the judges, reporters and guests for the five days of the trial. Maureen Preston handled the details for the banquet Wednesday night generously sponsored by Purina for the landowners and the trialers. It was catered by a Church group from Tugaski,SK. Linda Hunt handled the draw and the financials for the NACC and drove the dog wagon as she has many times in the past. John Milton had his horses brought up from the South by Don Porter and Roger used Doug Vaughn's mounts. The majority of the trialers reported no or little trouble crossing the border having the proper papers for dogs and the horses.

Mortlach is a special place for field trialers and should not be missed. Above all, we thank the great cast of landowners led by Donna and Les Eastland (who also supply hay and oats each evening), and including the Wards, Ellingsons, Campbells, Crosbies, Goslings, Adamses and other landowners.