Last Updated Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Friday, May 12: After 3 1/2 days on the road, we finally made it to beautiful downtown Delta, Colorado. Trip was uneventful, as we seemed to miss the line of tornados and thunder storms that got to where we had just been a day earlier. The country is basically desert, and water for training is hard to find, but we discovered a couple of fairly technical ponds about 15 minutes away, so we're in good shape. I'll probably spill the beans to the other handlers tomorrow afternoon, but I want another session with just us before I do.
Just before we left Baltimore, The Goon got a gig posing for the Fall 2006 Filson catalog, so hopefully he won't be dropped on the cutting room floor and will be displayed in all his glory in a couple of months. The only problem was that the lights were pretty hot, and he was panting to beat the band, and although I hadn't noticed it before, the little guy has a tongue that would put Gene Simmons of Kiss to shame. The photographers must have taken literally a thousand shots, trying to catch him as he was swallowing and therefore not sticking his tongue out. Oh well, he gets paid either way (I'm a good agent!) so we'll see what appears.
The Goon hard at work under the lights!
Saturday, May 13: Today was the offical weigh-in and bitch check. Nils did fine on both counts. The handlers meeting was scheduled to start at 9:00 am, and assuming this was a typical NAHRA production, Vik and I and the boys showed up at 9:30. Who would have believed that they would actually start on time! So we missed the beginning, but what we did catch was basically a long series of introductions of virtually every individual in the free world except Queen Elizabeth and Dick Cheney. And I might have just gotten there late and missed the Queen. Following the introductions, we were all handed a burlap bag of live birds, and told good luck finding a training spot. While I had thought there might be some sort of organized training, I was wrong. So I quickly shamed Laura Kinney into taking us in with her group, all from Washington State and Idaho, and a typical NAHRA session began.
Since only DocE of forum fame knew where we were going, we assembled a 6 car caravan, of which we were car 2 (no dummy I). The training site was about 20 miles away (everything in this place is 20 miles from every other place!) After about 5 miles into the trip we realized that our caravan was down to 3. It took that long to notice them missing, because we were kicking up dust very reminisent of PT-109 laying down a smoke-screen. Since I had no idea who the missing people were, and even less idea where we were going, it was somehow decided that I would be the one to go back and look for the lost souls. Well, that worked about as you would expect, with the end result that we finally all assembled at some guy's ranch about an hour later. Then three other groups showed up at the same place, and the jockeying for position began. I wasn't keeping score, but I think my group lost. But we were able to work in a water double, blind and breaking bird, finishing up with an upland pheasant flush. Nils did fine, so I'm reasonably confident for the actual test tomorrow.
Tonight's banquet was fun, with really great food. Prime Rib, as good as any I've ever had,trout almandine,and actual fresh asparagus. Trifle for dessert. I think we'll be hard-pressed to beat that next year at the Big Spring Fish and Game Club! The ceremony consisted of more introductions, the passing out of the handlers' numbers and a raffle that in all likelihood is still going on, as we left before most of the real carnage started.I donated my tickets to the Mandarinos and Laura.
We're dog #31, so we probably won't run until after lunch tomorrow. Starting on land, triple and blind. Based on the rest of the schedule and rotation, we'll be #1 to run the water on Tuesday. Not great, but I'll just be happy if we're still playing by then. Lots of sage brush around, and I just hope it doesn't throw Nils. To me it's just like a big spread of snow goose decoys, only green, so he should be fine, as there is just bare ground between the bushes, but it all blends together and will be hard to mark, and since they are using hen pheasants, their smell isn't going to be too helpful. Hope I don't have to use up my handle on land, but it will be what it is.
In the spirit of David Letterman's "Will it float?" segments, a poll for you. Be honest. A heeling stick - will it float? Answer tomorrow, along with the first set of call-backs.
Vik and the boys check out the site of the land marks!
Sunday, May 14: Well, we survived the first series in reasonably good shape, but a whole lot of folks are bleeding pretty badly. And we did have to use our handle, but it was a quick one, so I think we're okay. Picture below of the test, which was a pheasant hunt with all hens. Dog and handler are blocking at the top of a small draw. First bird is from the left, thrown left to right and landing in light cover. Second bird is a shot flyer on the right, landing in heavy sage brush. Last bird is up the middle. Two problems that got us: #1 since it was a pheasant hunt, there were no calls, just the bird boys shouting "there goes one" and the shot. That made it hard for the dogs to pull off the flyer and look back out for the middle bird, and there were quite a few dogs with double blinds as a result. We were one. #2 was the sage brush - it was way worse than I thought it would be. The stuff stinks to high heaven! Makes it really hard to pick up the scent of the pheasants.
So we didn't run until about 1:30 PM, and it was about 85 in the shade by then. I'd been keeping Nils in the A/C, and before we went to the line we spent a few minutes in a small stream to get him as cool as possible. He was very good getting to the line, very steady for the first two birds, but we got a no-bird on the flyer. They wanted us to run after three dogs, but I was really concerned with the heat, and got the marshall to let me run almost last. Took about an hour to get back in the holding blind.
Got to the line okay again, was still steady, but never pulled off the flyer to the middle bird. I sent him for the flyer first, and he practically stepped on the bird, but didn't smell it, and proceeded to put on a pretty extensive hunt of the entire hillside. About an hour in handler time. I didn't want to handle, since I knew I'd be handling on the middle bird, so I let him go and he finally came up with it. Then picked up the left bird with no problem. I lined him up for the middle bird, and god love the little guy, he got it with two whistles. Nice applause from the gallery for the save. Then he did a real nice blind, one early whistle, then a long carry to the log, and two whistles to the bird. The blind bird was planted in a bit of a hole, so even when the dogs were right on top of it they weren't smelling anything, so many, many dogs really lost points in the last 5 feet.
Overall the dog work was erratic. A couple of dogs were clean on the marks and had good blinds, but for the most part almost every dog had a handle on a mark or a butchered blind. Only five dogs were dropped, but unfortunately the Mandarino's was one. I didn't see her run, but apparently she had a controlled break on the flyer and an ugly blind. Based on the call-backs it looks like the judges are cutting folks a lot of slack, at least in the first series. I figure at worst we got a 5 on the marks, and an 8 on the blind, probably a point higher on each, so we are looking okay I think. Upland and trail tomorrow. Not worried about the upland, but if they drag a 200 yard pheasant trail in the sagebrush we'll be heading home quick. I'm pretty sure they'll drag a duck, and if so we'll be okay to get to Tuesday.
Another great dinner tonight - buffalo lasgne, with homemade noodles.
And the answer to last night's question is that a heeling stick will not float. I know this because I casually threw mine into the water for goon to fetch when I wanted to get him in some water to cool off. We were both just amazed that it just disappeared down the drain. Oh well, I think Nils is probably grateful!
The land series. The holding blind in the middle was for the photographer; the gunners for the last two birds were completely hidden behind the trees. The gunner on the far left walked down to the left blind to start the test. The flyer was landing everywhere on the hillside, so some of the falls were up to 70 yards if they made it over the crest of the hill.
Laura Kinney going to the line. Nice background. All of our little training group from Saturday made it out of the first series.
Monday, May 15: This has turned into the test from hell. 92 today - not great weather for upland and a trail to say the least. As you can see from the picture below, the upland was down a small valley, through about a 100 yards of sage brush. I'm really beginning to hate that stuff. There ought to be a rule against it! At least for East Coast dogs. Frank, take care of that, will you?
Nils did fine, except he hunted a bit short, and really didn't want to get in all that crap. I think the heat really got to him, as he didn't run until after noon, at the height of the heat. Absolutely steady on the flush, so we should have a good score. Most of the dogs did very well, with the only major fault a few that hunted out too far. The wind was blowing right up the valley toward the dogs, so after the first few dogs winded the bird at 50 yards, they moved the flush off to the side and that made for a more realistic hunt. At one time one of the dogs kicked out a mule deer at the top of the ridge, and that was exciting to say the least. I thought that should have counted for the flush, but the judges ruled otherwise.
The trail was a simple
up and to the left, at first through mostly short grass as shown in the picture, and after the first few dogs it was moved to a little farther out into the heavier cover so the scent stayed longer. At that point in the afternoon it was over 90, and it was tough on everybody. Nils ran about dog 8, and had a real good run. Most of the dogs eventually got the bird, and at the end of the day the judges didn't drop any more dogs. That will change tomorrow, I"m sure!
They are going to run 20 dogs on water tomorrow, and the final 16 remaining on Wednesday. In a burst of logic that totally escapes me, the organizing brain trust has decided that since they are paying for the venue Wednesday, by gosh and by golly they are going to use it, no matter how much it inconveniences the handlers who would have liked an extra day to get back home. Oh well, that means Nils is still #1 out of the box tomorrow, and Brad has hinted that the blind will be a bitch. I figure I have at least 5 points left to give, so if we can run clean marks, we can get away with a mediocre blind. A review of the tape from our blind Sunday showed that I was just imagining that one early whistle, and actually Nils carried his initial line 80 yards, and then three quick whistles to the bird, so that should be a solid 9 at the worst.
The upland. Hunt down the valley, staying on the left side of the hill. At the bottom swing back to the right for the flush. Two gunners walk out from the right to join up with the handler about halfway down. The judges can be seen under the large tree on the right.
The trail. This is a picture of the original trail. It was subsequently moved farther out into the heavier cover, but the pattern was about the same.
Tuesday, May 16: Sometimes the hardest thing to do in life is to do nothing at all.
Today was another hot one - 86 degrees. The water test was in one of the most beautiful locations I've ever seen, right in the Gunnison River, but the logistics of getting there were nightmarish at best. We were instructed to caravan down a long, dusty road along the top of a mesa, with the last ten cars in the group to be those of the first running dogs. Since we were number one to run today, we brought up the rear. The road was very narrow, with no place to turn around, and the last quarter mile to the site was basically down a cliff. To make a long story endless, the running dogs should have gone first, but since they didn't, the subsequent traffic jam could only be equaled by a Lincoln Tunnel backup in the middle of a terrorist evacuation of Manhattan. Not good. But eventually we made it down to look at the test dog.
Very neat test. The test was run right in a large eddy of the Gunnison River, with some decent cover and the possiblity of your dog going too long and ending up in the Grand Canyon sometime next Tuesday. A pretty straight-forward triple, left to right, with the first two birds falling in open water, but requiring the dog to drive through cover to get there, and the last pretty much a breaking bird down the right shoreline. All within 60 yards, the short right bird probably 40 yards. As the dog returned with the last bird, a flyer was shot out in open water to the left. The dog then picked up the diversion flyer, at the handler's option, and then the dog ran a fairly vicious channel blind down the right side, between the middle and right hand birds. Lots of suction, and significant opportunities to go out of sight, beach early, and every other attractive nuisance Brad, etal. could imagine. Basically, the test was the water blind. It was run by invitation only, and after you ran it, you then honored, either on or off lead, depending on how you did on the blind. Very fair, tough little scenario.
The test dog had a no bird, and ended up running twice, and then we were up. Nils absolutely pinned the marks. Had a little discussion on which bird he wanted second, but we finally ended up with a consensus before I sent him, and he was very clean. Ran the bank on the right hand bird, but it landed only 4 feet from shore so that wasn't a problem. He didn't break on the diversion flyer, and picked it up after the somewhat feckless gunners had to reload to finish it off, which resulted in it almost getting into the current. Had that happened I'd have passed on picking up the diversion, but in the end it was no problem. Then on to the blind. Gave him a little rest, then lined him up and off he went. A little off to the left, but two whistles and he was back on line, and carried it for most of the middle of the 81 yard blind. He sucked to the shore a couple of times, but came back in with a silent over each time, and in the end did a very nice job. Ran the bank back, but that wasn't a problem either. Was told that it was a good job by the judges, so we were honoring off lead. All seemed right in the universe.
The honor position was pretty far back from the line, and while it had good visiblity to the marks, I thought as honors go this was pretty non-violent. And so it was, right until the point Nils broke for the middle bird. Not a gentle creep, but he was off. Got him stopped about 15 feet out, and then he went another 5 feet towards the go bird. A Bill Buckner move if ever there was. Got him back, on lead and left the line. The general consensus in the gallery was that the working dog was not interfered with, and he did pick up all his marks clean. But it was a pretty blatent intent to retrieve, so we are probably out. Had he been the working dog it would have been an ordinary controlled break, and while we would have lost a few points I don't think it would have been fatal. But on the honor I think it will be judged more harshly. Won't find out until tomorrow, but either way I'm very pleased with how he did. Other than the break (and how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?) he did pretty much everything right, and handled as well as I could have asked. Not a single whistle or cast refusal all week. So I'm proud of the old man, and after the drugs kick in will have nothing but pleasant memories of the whole experience.
No pictures of the scenario as I was too depressed after I ran to take any, and having left the Prozac back at the hotel I didn't get better while still on site. I'll take some tomorrow and post them in the evening.
Tuesday 9:30 PM MDT UpdateWE PASSED! Six of the 20 dogs that ran today were dropped, but we weren't one of them! I had dinner with John Johnson from Alaska, who was the handler of the working dog that Nils broke on. He apparently held up sending his dog, waiting until I got Nils back in check, and then picked up the marks. He was clear with everyone that he had not been intefered with, and so we got the pass. Very cool. I owe him big time for being a good enough handler to bail me out! More pix tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 17: Everything wrapped up today, with the last 16 dogs still in contention running, starting around 9:00 am. Today the temperature was a record high 96 degrees. Because it was a dry heat, it felt like...oh well...about 96 degrees. Pretty much a balmy day in the Dry Tortugas. Six more dogs were dropped, with the end result that 24 dogs passed out of an original 41 after the scratches. From my point of view, you could get away with one significant fault, but not two. That was certainly the case with Nils. The dogs that went out all had multiple problems. I think a couple were surprised that perhaps a bad upland finally caught up with them, as there were 4-5 pretty weak dogs in that area. I didn't see a single dog that passed that I thought didn't deserve it - there weren't any gimmees.
The test was over around 1:00 pm, and the ribbon ceremony concluded by 3:00 PM, just in time for me to get Nils to the vet for an intestinal tract issue. He checked out okay, so it was back to the hotel to say goodbye to everyone who was blowing out of town. We're going to head out in the morning. As promised, a few pictures:
The water series. Not too often one can come up with an aerial view of a test while keeping one's feet on terra firma, but welcome to NAHRA testing in Colorado! And this was taken nowhere near the top of the road down.
This was taken during the test dog run this morning. The first bird down was thrown from the small boat on the far right (handler's left) landing in open water. That bit of cover above the boat was actually very thick and hard to get through, and if the dog's took too long to pick it up, the bird drifted with the wind behind the boat and fooled a couple of dogs. The wind was not a factor Tuesday, but it definitely was today. The second bird was thrown from the middle boat, and usually landed in the small open patch, but also at times landed right in the cover which made it a tougher mark. It seemed to land in the cover more Wednesday than on Tuesday. The last bird was thrown from the base of the big tree and landed in a small open cove. Overall, because of the wind and the more erratic middle bird, the series was tougher Wednesday than Tuesday.
When the dog came back with the third bird, and reached the handler, a diversion flyer was thrown as shown on the blue line. It really didn't seem to affect any of the dogs that I saw.
If all went well, you were invited to run the blind. Lots of suction from the middle and right hand birds, and plenty of opportunity to go out of sight into the small coves on the right, and especially behind the deadfall near the end. The wind wasn't helpful on the blind either day, so it was of equal difficulty both days.
If you were still in contention after the blind, you honored off lead, or on lead if you were out. So you knew when you left after the honor what your status was (except for the dogs that had honor issues, of which there were at least two others that I saw.
Laura and I relaxing and watching the last of the dogs after she and Kody finished their qualifying run.
The Northwest Region qualifiers, many of whom befriended Vik and me, and were nice enough to let me join their training group. Handler extraordinaire John Johnson is third from the left, Howard Williams fifth from the left and Jim "Towerjim" Tracey third from the right, the latter two of NAHRA and RTF forums fame. Their regional pass rate of 77% was very impressive; however, I believe it was second to the 100% pass rate for the Mid-Atlantic Region! :)
As usual, the perpetually pissed Nils is less than thrilled with posing after the ribbon ceremony. And this was BEFORE his colonoscopy at the vets!