Picture from left: 3rd place Jeff Keller with Vinn (SP?), Brian Ralph, Mark Dozeman with 2nd place Mac, Judge Russ Richardson, Tony BLy with 1st place Max, & Judge John McKellop.
Black Ash Wild Bird Dog Club ran our 1st 1 hour Wild Bird Derby on State Game Lands 069, Saturday, March 20. A light entry of 7 derbies, with 6 running (my daughter's dog Warrior Cat injured a foot a couple days prior to the running, so Laurel had to scratch her) found a number of Grouse & Woodcock! All 6 dogs did especially well & all had wild bird contacts. Some multiple birds. With only 3, 1 hour braces we were very pleased to moved 3 Grouse & 8 Woodcock, plus heard 2 other drumming Grouse. It is especially nice to have many dogs to pick from with so many wild birds moved, & no need for a "Quail call back". We hope to run this 1 hour wild bird derby next year, & hope to see you all there.
I am going to do the thanks before the announcements, Black Ash would like to thank the handlers for their entries. Some came from far distances. We would like to thank Purina for sponsering this event. They have been great with the dog trial community & we hope you'd patronize their dog food. Then there are the hands on deck: The Ralph family filled in "everywhere"! Mrs. Ralph made a delicious lunch, Brian's father, Dave Ralph marked & cleared courses, shuffled cars, prepared lunch, etc. Brian's brother, Brad, helped where needed. And of course Brian helped as assistant stake manager, course clearer, & a multitude of other jobs. The Captain of our ship, Russ Richardson, cleared courses, managed the trial, took entries, etc., etc. And he judged. Myself, John McKellop, cleared courses, assisted managed & was the other judge. Then other handlers helped where needed & shuffled cars. A great day with many bird contacts makes for a fun trial to judge!
The winners: 1st place Max SM owned & handled by Tony Bly. Max had a Woodcock & a superbly handled Grouse find. Plus, ran a fast, forward, big run but coupled with an especially easy handle. A very classy dog! 2nd place went to Mac, SM, owned & handled by Mark Dozeman. Mac had a bueatiful, big but easy handling run & had 2 really nice Woodcock points. A great run with some great bird work! 3rd place went to Vinn (I think I got the spelling wrong on the name, so anyone feel free to correct me), SF, owned & handled by Jeff Keller. This bueatiful Setter female ran the strongest hour of the trial. At the 1 hour mark she was still hitting a lick like most when they started. Extremely classy & forward, she topped off her superb run with a nice Woodcock find.
Congratulations to all 3 winners, but also the other dogs too. All had bird contacts & all did an excellent job!
Next weekend, March 27, we will be running our 1 hour wild bird amateur classic. Same courses. Also a single course 1/2 hour Open derby with a quail call back & open puppy will be run too. Contact for entries, call Russ Richardson at 81four-eight07-4three35 or questions, John McKellop at 8one4-7nine5-769one.
Thanks much to the whole Black Ash crew. It was good to see familiar faces and a few new ones. Having a 1 hour derby trial on wild birds was a big bonus to run in, hopefully its bigger and better next year, just wish I had another derby dog to run. Wished I could have seen the second place dog run, but I was told to get back to the truck to save my dog as a few ladies were trying to figure out how the sneak her away. And her name is really Ryn, but she'll answer to any name if you put food in front over her. Thanks again.
Thank you Russ and John for having this early trial. Great group of guys, food was fantastic, and the directions to find the ribbons on the small trees not the big trees invaluable. Would highly recommend making the drive as a warm up to spring trial season next year
on 3/21/2021, 8:52 am
