Over the years, I have competed in several different kinds of field trials without really getting hooked on it. But when I heard a field trialing friend was going to run his dogs on a lease in Oklahoma where they were averaging 22 coveys a day, I sent him my puppies, Stormy and Annie. He convinced me to let him run them in some field trials. So far Stormy has placed a third and a second out of the 4 trials she has run in. Annie has made some good runs but hasn’t placed yet.
Annie at Grove Springs break away.
Some of the horses.
Annie pointing an armadillo.
It has been brought to my attention that not everyone is okay with me putting their name in my blog. That really came as a surprise to me. I never put anything in my blog that I think will hurt anyone. There may be a lot of reasons for people to feel this way but from now on I won’t name names unless I have their permission.
When I heard that Annie and Stormy would be running at Grove Springs Missouri I wanted to see them. I hadn’t seen them since November 22. There were a lot of puppies running in their class. Annie was in brace 11 and Stormy in brace 14. It’s about a 3 1/2 hour drive for me. I knew it would be late in the day before they ran but I wanted to see some of their competition. I set the alarm to get up about 4 am so I could be on the road by 5:00. I must have really wanted to see the pups. I woke up at 2:00 am and could not go back to sleep. I was on the road by 4:30.
I took Thomas, Stormy’s litter mate, that I had been working. I wanted to get him with someone that would work with him. I have too many dogs, if that’s really a thing. He made the fourth male and with the two puppies I have 4 females. I need to get rid of one more male. So next week I will try to sell Bodie. I hate to do it. He has become a great bird dog but I need the room in my kennels. That will get me down to 6 adult dogs, counting Annie and Stormy as adults. That’s how many runs I have in my kennel.
The last part of my drive to Grovesprings was in a light mist. As the day went along the mist got heavier. At noon some of the people were thinking that they would not be able to run that many braces on Saturday. They were thinking maybe a couple of braces on Sunday. That meant I would see Annie but maybe not Stormy.
Stormy in the woods.
I rode in the dog wagon part of the time and we saw some of the braces run. Some of the time I rode with the handler that has the puppies but we stayed on the road but got to see a lot of the puppies.
Finally, it was Annie’s turn to run. Her brace mate was a young pointer. At the breakaway Annie started like she knew what she was doing, after going by a couple of people in the gallery and saying, “Hello”. But she was fast and to the front as she should have been. Her brace mate kept trying to go the wrong way so his handler picked him up. Annie had the course to herself.
Judges and scouts.
She ran good but she is still a puppy. There was something that she thought she should roll in and she spent a minute or so getting the smell or whatever on. There was a terrace along a hillside with some trees. A good place for some quail and she found some. She came on through and was hunting well. Right near the end of the course and of her time she was on point. She was a couple of hundred yards from us but the handler said she was pointing an Armadillo. He said she had found 3 bunches of quail and the Armadillo. Not bad for 30 minutes. I was really pleased with the way she ran. Her handler said it was the best she had run since he had her.
He says that Annie thinks too much. That the first time she does anything she thinks it out. He says Stormy just reacts. No thinking but she is pretty much a natural. The time she won second she had 3 finds and a back. Neither he nor I have worked her on honoring. She just knows to honor.
The mist was getting heavier. Now it was a light rain but they thought they would be able to get all of the braces run. That would allow me to see both pups run.
Stormy?
It was nearly dark when they let the last brace go. Stormy was paired with a male setter. Stormy got into some quail from the get go. She was almost where Annie had pointed the Armadillo. Stormy decided she could find birds in the brush alongside the course and she was really digging in. The handler was trying to get her to come on down the course but Stormy knew better. There were birds right here.
Finally he got her across the road into the next part of the course but the next time she hit a good area for quail she went to checking every blade of grass. The handler was trying to get her out of the brush and on down the course. Finally the handler was in the brush trying to get her out and one of the scouts was off her horse helping. One of the judges stayed until time expired then he rode on. The handler and scout were trying to get her out. I was riding in a side by side with a couple of guys and she came out right in front of the side by side.
Before I could do anything she picked up a dead quail and ran past the handler to the scout about another 50 yards. The scout knelt down and Stormy took the quail to her. She grabbed her and we were able to go in.
Another picture from the trial.
By the time we got back it was dark or nearly so. The handler and I didn’t think either of them would place so I jumped in my truck and headed home. On the way he called me and said the judges wanted me to know, that Annie had done a nice job and they had her at sixth place. That’s not bad out of 28 dogs. This was the fourth trial these pups had been in and some of these puppies have been running all year. And these two are among the youngest.
I enjoyed the day and met a lot of new people that enjoyed bird dogs, just like I do. There are a few more trials before the season ends and I will leave the puppies with him. I hope to watch them run another time or two.