As we gear up for the spring trial season in Pa the subject about the lack of judges has come up in several conversations. There is an aggressive trial schedule set, if we can get enough judging help; 1 championship, 3 minor trials, and 2 amateur trials, but can we make it happen?
Last fall, we struggled to get judges for the Nittany trial and the Black Moshannon trials. At the Nittany trial, I had to give up running my dogs and still had to "pull a rabbit out of the hat" to get a second judge, or Nittany would have been cancelled. At the BM trial weekend, I was lucky enough to have judges come in from out of state to judge on Saturday, and again, gave up running dogs to judge on Sunday. Guaranteed, that wont happen again.
Scheduled for this spring is the Ontario championship, Nittany, Black Ash, Black Moshannon, Pa, and Pa amateur. I'm starting to look at names for Black Moshannon, and will also be playing a big part for Nittany as Rob Boos has to step back because of work complications. Dont wait to be asked, step up and volunteer if you want to see wild bird trials survive in Pa.
To put it bluntly, Pa has already lost the Grand, and I dont see it ever coming back. Both Nittany and Black Moshannon need to run successful spring and fall trials to survive financially with the cost of insurance. If those trials dont run this spring because of the lack of judges, or have poor attendance and lose money, the Ontario championship will be the last trial at Black Moshannon. I will not continue to put in 50-100 hours a year to keep the courses in prime shape for one trial a year, when I could be spending that time working my dogs.
I go into semi-retirement this spring, so if trials dont happen in Pa, I'll have even more time to travel out of state to trial and hunt. So now the choice is yours Pa, do we work to keep the tradition going, or do we let it fade into oblivion with no chance of bring it back!! Or do we just fall back on Marienville for trials which are also struggling.
The problem as I see it is while our sport is growing events its shrinking participants. I dont know how many people there are to "step up." We used to have a larger pool of non active participants that were capable of judging, guys that got out of dogs or the sport but still had interest or were more hunters that occasionally trialed. This is not just a PA problem its a problem everywhere from coverdog trials to quail stakes.
Yes there's problems on getting to run trials, my problem and I know others not as much as finding judges is horses. A few yrs back we had several people that had good horses and now they're older or cost of raising horse have went up. I had to cancel a few yrs back because cost of trial. Had lots of open dogs but no Amture, there yoy give a payback and you lost half already. I was going to run a trial last yr, couldn't find no horses. Quads are not the way to judge off of. But you do what you can.
Well said Jeff... I have not run my Ohio Red Setter FTC (one of the PWSDA clubs) much in the past couple of year because its nearly impossible to find judges, and now that I sold my horses, its nearly impossible to find horses, let along try to pay for them. That club has been a labor of love for me and my wife, and typically we just eat the cost, but the horses are so expensive I can't afford to do that. I chaired (and judged) a trial last month in NC for a new walking club we recently started, and the only way we were able to pull it off was some volunteers stepped up to judge and provide horses... but, if we are going to continue, we will need more help on that trial. I'm happy to help out with any trial in my neck of the woods (Ohio-Pa), if it works out with my work schedule... hope we can keep things going...
Jeff, very well put, I believe those issues and sentiments apply to every region and club in our Sport. Sometimes, the truth hurts. The same people people shouldn't be expected to do the work, AND scratch their dog/dogs to judge. Buddy, I've done what you do. It shouldn't be the same people all the time.
If people haven't judged and want to, clubs should welcome the help, and use them with an experienced judge..
Nittany trial is scheduled for March 15-17, we are still in need of 6 judges. If Nittany falls thru this spring, it will probably be the end of that trial club. Are you in or out? Anyone else
We could probably find green beer for that weekend(that got Scott and Marc's attention ). Maybe some corned beef and cabbage or Reuben sandwiches for lunch.
I've been coming to PA fairly regularly the last 2 years for trials and i've really enjoyed my time, the people I've been able to meet & the dogs I've seen run.
I'm from Region 1 (don't hold that against me 😁, but I'd gladly offer to look at some dogs for you at Nittany Valley, while running my Shooting Dog in other stake(s).
Jeff, to help get your bearings on me- I was the guy from MA who brought the female Pointer to Black Moshanon last fall for your 1-hour Walking CoverDog stake.i have judged before, have 12 years experience with AF & have owned pointing dogs since 1993.
You PA folks have been very nice to me, happy to lean in if you can still use the help.
Jeff, I had to cancel the New York because of the lack of entries. I didn’t have enough entries to cover the cost of the horses. We are hoping to try running it this spring, so your problem is the same problem most clubs are facing, not enough younger people getting into this sport. Here in NY we had about 6 different clubs, now there is only 1 left and it’s about out of money. Another problem is, we have lost all our weekend trials/fun trials, everything has to be a championship now. That’s hard on the working guy. I can remember going to Lost Pond and run in a walking trial in the morning then borrow a horse and run a horse back trial in the afternoon.
on 1/8/2024, 8:12 pm
). Maybe some corned beef and cabbage or Reuben sandwiches for lunch.
, but I'd gladly offer to look at some dogs for you at Nittany Valley, while running my Shooting Dog in other stake(s). 
