Last Updated Saturday, June 14, 2008

Sunday, June 8: Made it to Bloomington, Illinois Saturday night, and to the Comfort Inn in Hudson, Wisconsin this evening. The weather has been very cloudy, rainy and generally miserable to drive in most of the way. This morning was highlighted by me adding yet another state in my quest to receive a speeding ticket in all 50 states. One would think that taking the scenic route along the Mississippi and driving on mostly goat paths would have enabled us to avoid the more unpleasant modern police technologies, but you'd be wrong. Apparently the gestapo in East Jesus, Wisconsin splurged with their share of the homeland security terrorist funding honeypot and bought a radar gun. I'm not really convinced that Officer Billy Bob really knew how to work the thing, but for sure he was up to speed on spinning the magic money wheel, which stopped at $160.80. Not sure what the .80 was for, but at least The Goon did his part by attempting to validate the citation while it was still in the officer's hand. I have now sworn off Wisconsin cheddar forever - Wisconsin's loss will be New York's gain.

Tomorrow we'll check out the test grounds and try to get a little training in.

Tuesday, June 10: Monday was a pretty slow day; pretty much laid back and didn't do much. Went to test HQ in the afternoon and met a few of the committee folks who showed me the training area. We did a simple double and a few blinds just to get in a little exercise. The Goon was pretty enthused at all the new smells around, including the odd wild pheasant, sandhill crane and herd of cows. Hard to get him to concentrate, but I think he got it out of his system. The test location is just gorgeous - somewhat similar to Leatherstocking, but bigger. Below is a picture of one of the blinds we did - 200 yards pretty much straight across two ponds, between the cows who entered on the scene just as I set the Goon off. Needless to say, it wasn't his best job, but he did okay considering the distractions.





Tuesday was a very productive day. I met Jim Hundemer at 9 at the test grounds, and we were first into the training area and picked out one of the more interesting ponds. Did a nice in-line triple and blind, on which The Goon did very well, including a down the shore blind that has been problematic at times for us. I then went over to one of the other groups, and as luck would have it, it was the Northwest/Arizona contingent, and just as in Colorado in 2006 they were nice enough to take us in with their group, (I think they sensed early on that i wasn't leaving until they did!) so we trained with them the rest of the afternoon. Phil Deschene, who judged the 2006 Invititational was there, and he is really a hoot to train with. Did a trail and another vicious little water blind that the Goon also handled very well. Then we decided to take advantage of the weather and fit in a quarter to flush. Took awhile to locate where the bird steward hid the pheasants, but eventually we did, and ran a nice one in a new location. The Goon's bird landed 5' in front of him, and the little guy didn't move a muscle, despite the fact that the bird was very much alive and walking TOWARDS him. I couldn't have asked for a better test and he was great.

So far the weather the last two days has been perfect - 69 degrees and low humidity. Unfortunately that is scheduled to change tomorrow. 2-3 inches of rain and penny sized hail. That's why we did more work today than I would have preferred, since tomorrow may be a total washout. At least we're not testing tomorrow. The handler's breakfast is on the riverboat at 9, and the opening banquet kicks off at 5 PM. Training available in-between, but not for me if its a biblical downpour.

Overall I'm cautiously optimistic at this point. The Goon did everything I asked him to do today, and except for a couple of hiccups as test dog two weeks ago in Virginia, he's been pretty solid since the Navesink test last month. The worst of the weather is supposed to be tomorrow, so it might not be too bad for the actual test. For sure Thursday will be the land, and we'll run late then (#26), so I'm worried about the PM thunderstorms, but it will be what it is. Friday may be the upland, trail and perhaps the water blind. That is one of two competing rumours, the other being that they'll do the water Friday and the upland Saturday. I'm hoping that the upland and water blind Friday turns out to be true, as it would be nice to have that out of way before Saturday. That would also mean that the blind should theoretically be pretty clean, without the influence of the marks to come into play. Saturday we'll be dog #5 to run, or earlier if any of the 4 dogs in front of us is dropped before then.

Paul Swenson from Idaho and I setting the trap for the next dog.



Victoria was right on the spot when I stepped in a large cow flop that sucked my shoe right off when I was putting the left-over pheasants back in the pen. This place really is a working ranch, and the cows have left their mark everywhere, much of it of remarkably recent vintage. It is critical to keep an eye on the dogs to make sure they don't go a rollin' in unfortunate locations.


Wednesday, June 11:Good day today, but the weather is getting more worrisome as we get closer to the test tomorrow. Started off the morning by meeting everyone in Stillwater, and retiring to a brief handler's meeting at a local lodge. We received a goodie bag and a few ground rules, and then it was off to the riverboat cruise. I didn't make it on board, but by all accounts a good time was had by all.


Here I am waving goodbye as the riverboat heads down the St. Croix.

After the boat ride, I caught up with my new best friends from the NW and Arizona and Nevada and we did a quick quarter to flush and shot flyer and that was it for the day as far as training. Mr. Hundemer managed to almost bury his truck in the mud, but we extracated it with minimal damage. Peridically the skies just opened up, but at least we didn't get hail. As I write this at 11:30 CDT we are in a tornado watch however, so things are still pretty unsettled.

Tonight's banquet was first rate and a heck of a good time. I managed to part with almost $500, but for that I got a vest from the 1991 Invitational, a new Gunner's Up winger and won the Nikkon range finder in the big raffle. Our boy Hundemer won the Ruger O/U, so he's a happy camper. Nice for the Maryland boys to win two of the big prizes. Frank, I didn't see who won your hunt as I was busy trying to figure out how I was going to come up with the money for the winger (which went for $370)

The judges each gave a nice little speech, and based on what they are saying we should have a nice enjoyable test. Land tomorrow, water blind, quarter and trail Friday, and water marks Saturday. I'm pretty beat, and need to be at the test grounds tomorrow at 8 so I'll try to expound a little more tomorrow. The Goon shouldn't be running until after lunch, so at least the morning will be slow.



Randy Carlson addresses the crowd, as co-judges Bob Riggs, Larry Dusanek and Joe Cook look on. To the right are co-chairs Travis Lund and Troy Tilleras (who has taken delivery on his fishing rod so that burden is relieved).

Thursday, June 12: Today was just a bloodbath. Nothing wrong with the test, nothing wrong with the dogs, but it was just bloody. Between the test dog and first three running dogs there were 8 handles on marks, one switch and one pickup. But before I discuss today, let me finish on the banquet.

The location was a very nice little place just down the road from the headquarters hotel. Pretty plain from the outside, but once you got inside it was a very elegant operation. Lots of wood, recessed lights, and perhaps best of all, four LCD projectors around the room that were used very effectively by the committee. Random pictures were displayed throughout the event, and as each handler was called up to receive their handler's gift, a picture of that dog was displayed.

The handlers received a very nice leather collar, including a brass name plate with the dog's call name and the Invitational logo. We also received a Dean Downer custom duck call, and let me tell you, it's a great item. Turned laminated wood and poly carb mouthpiece, with the NAHRA logo around the brass ring. Dean did a fantastic job on them, and each one is a little different. Very cool.



Bob Riggs addresses the crowd. You can see a better view of one of the LCD projectors on the left.


But I suppose you're all more interested in the test. It was quite the little challenge.

The test was a walk-up, and you walked down to the left of the judges and gallery, and when you reached the appropriate point a duck call sounded for the right hand bird and you could sit your dog. The bird came out right to left from the side of a small hill, and landed in a marshy little area with numerous little guts and cover. The second bird was from the far left, and fell left to right behind a line of raspberry bushes and small trees. The third bird was down the middle, thrown inward from left to right. When I first saw the test it looked hard to me, as each bird had some factors and fell in fairly heavy cover, but nothing that a good dog should have real trouble with. I was wrong!

The outside birds were at about 75 yards, and the middle bird was 45. Very reasonable distances. As mentioned earlier, all of the first four dogs had somewhat worrisome runs, with the major problem being picking up the right hand bird. After dog #3 picked up while trying to get that bird, the judges huddled and changed the test a bit. The line was moved about 10-15 feet to the right, which gave a better view of the right hand bird, and they also shortened up that throw by a few feet. The change was designed to give the dogs a better view of that mark, as apparently before a small rise between the dog and the fall obscured the last few feet of the fall from the dog. Dogs #1-3 were granted a rerun, and ended up going after all the other dogs ran. Picture of the test is below:



After the change things got a bit better, but it was still a bear, and even after looking at it for hours, I still can't tell you why. The right hand bird was generally the real tough one, although the left hand bird posed a challenge for many as well. On that right hand bird, most of the dogs sucked to the right instead of getting in the water early. They then went out of sight on the hill, where the bird station was, and they came back into view in some unusual locations. Once you got them back in sight, it was hard to get good consistent casts because of the guts and alternating swimming and running water. I also heard that the vegetation was some kind of sedge that was hard on the dogs' sense of smell, but I don't know about that. On the left hand bird many dogs sucked left, and if they did get back to the right they circled behind the bird. There was also quite a bit of drag-back scent from the blind for the later dogs, and that took some off to the right as well. I only watched about a quarter of the dogs run, but of that number I never saw a clean run on the marks. And there were many, many double handles.

The Goon's run was probably on the lower end of the scale, but by no means all the way down. He over-ran the middle go bird, which wasn't surprising, but then hunted back to it fairly well. It looked to me like he was right on top of the bird, and I thought that he actually picked it up, but then he scooted out to the right without the bird, so I felt like I had to handle him back to it, even though it was the go bird, and he then picked it right up. I sent him for the right-hand bird next, as the consensus among the guys in the gallery that I really respected and who had watched all the dogs said that the dogs that had the most trouble left that one for last. So he did what all the other dogs did, and headed too far right, but I decided that after seeing so many handles already (and some of them pretty ugly) that I'd bite the bullet and give a quick over and just be done with it. It turned out to not be quite that easy, but overall it was pretty good and I didn't get any refusals. I lined him up for the final left hand bird, and he just stepped on it, saving our ass for the time being. Then to the blind.

I haven't said much about the blind, but it was pretty straight-forward. Between the left and middle birds, it was downhill, through deceptively high cover, between two trees and up against the far brush line. Pretty much 100 yards on the button. The dogs that had trouble seemed to get into it pretty early on, and if you could carry a line to the far trees you were in pretty good shape. The Goon took a nice initial line, and I don't think I had to blow a whistle until he was about 50 yards out. Probably about 6-7 whistles, all of which he took and stayed in the corridor so we did fine on that. A little loose in the last 10 yards, but that was the usual "I smell it now" so I don't think that will hurt us much. Phil Deschene was my go-to guy in the gallery, since he knows what he's doing and watched all the dogs run, so he was very helpful about giving me good advice, although I've got to say I really miss Mr. Plewa out here!

Call backs were late in coming, as the judges had quite a bit to talk about, but in the end I believe three dogs were dropped or picked up and another three were requested to discuss their situations with the judges. After talking with one of them, the message was that you're bleeding pretty bad and need to really have a good rest of the test. I would have thought all 20 of my closest friends and I would have been in that group as well, but since we weren't I guess we have a couple of points left to give. Jim Hundemer is still in as are all the NW and AZ and NV guys. Paul Pommerening from Washington was dog #3, and he did very well on his re-run - quite the range of emotions when you're out and then 20 minutes later back in. I think that as long as your dog didn't blow you off when you were handling, you were carried, even with two handles. I can only assume that we've dropped most of our available points, but who knows. I've never experienced a test that just tore up so many good dogs - you could understand a weekend test with a bunch of dogs just moving up to senior but that was far from the case here. So I really don't envy the judges for the rest of the test.



Training partner Paul Pommerening adopts a religious stance on Tansy's rerun. She did fine!

A couple more pictures and i'm packing it in for the night. Please excuse the compression on the pictures and porr spalling, etc. but i'm working on an old steam-powered laptop and dial up, so this is the best I can do. I didn't do the exact call backs because I'm sure someone on the test committee will put that on the nahra site. Hopefully more tomorrow on the water blind, upland and trail.



Dan Hove and the job for which he was born!



Our little training group ponders how to get Mr. Hundemer's vehicle out from the mud, while the ever present cows keep an eye on things from the background.

Friday, June 13: Let me start off by saying it's late, I'm beat, and so I'll be a little briefer than I would have preferred. I'll try to fill in with more pictures in the next couple of days.

The water blind was first thing in the morning, and because I'm still on NE NAHRA time and not Mid-West NAHRA time, I was too late on scene to see the test dog. Probably wouldn't have helped us much, as the test was a bear. An absolutely fair, thoughtful, to the standard, no tricks test that was just vicious. Straight out from shore, to the middle of a pond after passing through one of two clearly defined keyholes, to the bird on a heavily vegetated island out in the pond. Piece of cake, except for the 20 mph, gusting to over 30 mph wind from left to right. Made it a real survival test for most of the dogs and handlers, and unfortunately I believe it was over The Goon's head.



The picture makes it look so simple. Straight out about 45 yards to the two keyholes, with the left one clearly the one to shoot for, then another 45 yards to the bird. The picture makes it look much shorter than it really was. Swimming water all the way, except for a couple of humps that the dogs could push off of in the second half of the blind, and that got a couple of dogs. The key was keeping your dog on line, and not letting them drift to the right. The judges were very clear that they weren't counting whistles, but you darn well better not get too far right or you were done for the day. Needless to say, nobody lined this puppy.

Most dogs had a pretty good initial line, and the vast majority of the dogs made it through the main keyhole that was in line with the bird. If you took the right keyhole you were still close to the corridor, even if it doesn't look that way from the picture, but your momentum was to the right, and most of the dogs that took that route ended up way right shortly afterward. Visability was tough too, as while the cover didn't appear to be that thick on the right side, it was enough to lose sight of the dogs if you weren't quick on your feet. The picture was taken from well behind the actual line, from the top of a small hill, so down where the handlers were it was much harder to see dogs on the right. Many dogs got way right without the handler seeing it happen, but everyone in the gallery did and was willing handlers to blow whistles. Another big problem I saw was that handlers were using angle backs to correct lines, and the dogs were just scalloping back with the wind. Most angle back casts were almost immediately followed by another whistle. Overs were the way to go, but a lot of folks were reluctant to use them for some reason. Not me, I used about a hundred!

The Goon did the best he could, and we never gave up, but he still spent too much time on the right side. I got him through the correct slot, but it took too many whistles to get him through the second half. On the bright side, a review of the tape showed that he did his land blind with only two whistles, not the 5-6 I thought, so for a change I wasn't putting lipstick on the pig.

The upland was next and it was a very straight-forward pheasant hunt. Head down the right side of the field where you pick up a judge and two gunners. Then about a 150-200 yard hunt to a launcher, and then another 150 yard hunt back out. Gunners were good, dogs were good, and only one dog was dropped, as a result of a break.



The upland field. Very birdy cover but easy to see the dogs at all times. Judge Larry Dusanek accompanied the handler through the flush, and the other judges stayed at the top of their observation hill, where they could see everything the dogs did.

The trail looked like a pretty basic one, along the right side of a small pond, across a small gut and up a low hill to the bird pile. Because of the high winds, it looked like a good spot primarily because the trees around the pond blocked the wind, and everyone thought that would make for a cleaner trail. Didn't turn out to be that simple, but in the end only one dog was dropped on it. As you can see from the picture below, the first part of the trail was right up the side of the pond, and then it turned left to cross a small gut. That was where dogs got into trouble, as they didn't want to drive across the gut and instead hunted up the right side. Eventually most made it over and up the hill.



Well, I'm off to bed. It appears that the judges' opinion of The Goon's blind was not as unforgiving as mine, so we're third dog to run the water marks in the morning. I'm sure we need to be absolutely clean, but at least we've made it to the final series and are still playing.


Saturday, June 14: About 1:45 PM, and I imagine the water marks are finished. I'm back at the hotel, and will be leaving shortly for the final festivities. No ribbon for us - a spectacular crash and burn on the marks - for sure we didn't get cheated. In the end I pulled The Goon. I hung in there when I heard the first book close, because I optimistically figured it was Bob Riggs, and since none of the other three judges dropped dead, his vote doesn't count. But then I heard the other three books close, and figured I'd better fall on my sword before the rustle of Joe Cook getting out of his chair to tap me on the shoulder reached my ears. Here's the test:



First bird was on the right, from a hidden gunner in a boat, about 45 yards. It landed in moderate cover, or in some cases in open water. Either way you got a splash. Long middle bird was next, also from a gunner in a boat, but not hidden. About 80 yards, on land, no splash. Final bird was on the left, about 60 yards and landed in open water with a splash. Short remote sit for dog, Honor dog on right. Brisk but not ridiculous wind, mostly left to right. All in all a very nice setup with no tricks - when I first saw it I thought it was very doable - not easy, but doable. You can see the path the dogs made to the middle bird; there were similar paths to the outside birds as well. The judges had the wit to run their setup dog a few times so even the first few running dogs had those paths to give them the same test as the later dogs; a nice touch I certainly wouldn't have thought of.

I won't go into Goon's misery too much, but in retrospect we pretty much were doomed as soon as he dropped that go bird on the opening land series. Because I had to then handle on that bird, and then on the memory bird in that series, I had no handles left to use on water. Had I been able to, I could have done a quick handle on the right hand bird that we hosed, and probably gotten an 8 and been fine. But because I needed that 10 I had to eat the whistle and let him go on his own.

I guess I watched about 10 dogs run, and most did the marks well. Go bird on left first, then the right bird and finally the middle bird. There were a couple of other handles, mostly on the right hand bird. Dogs would hunt short and then drive left into the wind and had to be handled back. The Goon did that, and since I didn't have that handle, I ended up watching him take a brisk and fairly direct swim all the way over to the middle bird like that was where he meant to go all the time. Sending him back again for the right hand bird just didn't work out for us.

They took 24 dogs to the water this morning. For the most part, I'm pretty sure that if you got away with two handles on land you were going to have to be clean today. Can't argue with that logic - three handles on six marks isn't really senior work. Will post more when I can.

Saturday, June 14, 10:30 PM:


The shrimp boil and ribbon ceremony were excellent, and I'm very glad we stuck around to enjoy them. As usual, I'm pretty beat, plus we're about to get another one of those MN thunderstorms and I don't want the laptop plugged in when it hits, so I'm not even going to try to organize my thoughts. You'll get a stream of consciousness with a few pictures and be content that, like everywhere else in life, you get what you pay for!

Overall, this was a throughly enjoyable experience, and if you've never been to an Invitational its a bit hard to understand what a unique opportunity it is. You have to work hard to get here, and you put a ton of pressure on yourself to do well. If you pass you know you have really done something, and if you fail it can really be a downer to say the least. I've done both, and either way I know coming was the right thing to do. THe NAHRA program has always attracted a great group of folks that genuinely root for each other, whether at a weekend test or the Invitational. But at the Invitational it seems to go to a whole new level, and you really bond with the handlers that you dont even know, much more so than at the weekend tests. I think that's because everybody knows that you're in with a group of folks that all have a pretty good clue about dogs - you know everybody there did the same thing you did to get there and you know how hard that was.

Random thoughts in no order whatsoever:

Organization was absolutely first rate. Everything started on time, tests ran flawlessly, I never saw a no-bird and every question was answered right away. I can't think of a single complaint.

The judges' test were universally respected. Despite the high degree of difficulty I never heard a single negative comment about the tests. They were tough but fair. I think part of the reason things were so well accepted relates to the point above - all of us had been to a few rodeos in the past, and knew a great test when we saw one, even if we all couldn't get it done. I also think the judging itself was exactly what I would hope for: It was a tough test, and the judges judged like it was a tough test. If you did the work and put forth the effort, you likely passed. If you didn't, you were a goner. I certainly can't say that I saw every dog that went out when they ran, but of the ones that I did see, including mine, it was just obvious that they didn't do the work. The teams took themselves out - there was no pencil whipping going on. You were given enough rope to hang yourself, and you either did or you didn't.

Because my little felon has mouth issues from time to time, I'm always very cognizant of how much the judges are paying attention to that aspect of things. I think most judges look more closely at that in the first series, and if they don't detect any problems don't pay it much attention thereafter. So it was with some interest that I noted that on the water blind, where the handler took the bird from the dog and then put it in a bucket well behind the judges, Joe Cook watched every team until the bird was in the bucket. If a dog had dropped a bird or had any sort of issue back there, he was going to see it!

More judge stuff: They said they wanted everyone to pass, and I could tell that they really meant it, and hated to drop a dog. When I went out on the marks today, in what would have been a very embarassing manner for me if I was the kind of guy that had any pride, I had a very enjoyable talk with them while waiting for things to be resolved and the test to begin again. They were clearly disappointed for me, but that few minutes waiting to get going again really helped make an unpleasant situation less so.



Dick Ofstedal dragging the trail on Friday. Dick was the first person that walked up to me and introduced himself at the HQ tent on Monday, and didn't just give me directions to the training area, he took me. He worked his butt off all week and really made us feel welcome.



I might not have mentioned it before, but each handler was given a bib with their number on the back to wear during the test. The bib was a loaner however, and had to be returned to the committee. This is a picture of Dick's lovely bride, Kathy, taking my bib back after our water marks. I found it very reminescent of Chuck Connors in "Branded" with the broken sword scene. Those of you under 50 find an old guy to explain that one to you! Kathy was a great marshall all week, and my only even remotely negative observation is that, as custodian of the call-back board, she was a bit too enthusiastic in obliterating the names of the teams that dropped by the wayside. I found it disturbingly similar to a Stalinist purge, and am grateful that we lasted until the final series so she didn't get a shot at us. In her defense she blames the whole thing on Dick, but I'm not so sure!



This is Bob Boeh from Idaho getting his ribbon. Bob is one of the guys that let me train with him at the beginning of the week, and he said a few nice words from all the NW contingent.



Now this is an interesting little picture that really lets you know what goes on at these things. On the left, you have co-chair Troy Tilleras handing the ribbon for the next qualifer to judge Joe Cook. To the right of Joe, you have judges Larry Dusanek and Randy Carlson awarding the ribbon to Bob Boeh. In the middle of the picture you have the other co-chair, Travis Lund taking a moment to engage in some sort of calisthenic activity. And finally you have Cathy Carlson, looking for any loose change that may have fallen out of Travis' pocket.



Here we have Bob Riggs and Mark Wilson transfering the shrimp boil from the boiler to the table. Mark spent a lot of time working out at the bird stations, and was nice enough to give me the lowdown on what my little felon really did out in the field.



And here we have the boys completing their task, under the watchful eye of Dan Hershberger. Dan and Brenda were nice enough to put the meal together and it was the star attraction for me.



This is Jim Tracey and me with The Goon and Maggie, sitting on the Group W bench (Those of you under 50, see above). The Goon and Maggie are brother and sister, and both qualified in 2007. Our performances this year were a bit more worrisome.



Bill Gillette from Nevada and Ripple going to the line at the water blind. Bill also let me hang with him and its much appreciated. All of his dogs are named with a character or other theme from "Sandford and Son" (Under 50, see above) which is a nice touch.



The sign as you drove to the HQ tent.



HQ



Well, its late and I'm about done. Its been a great time, and thanks to all that made it the great week that it was. If you'd like a copy of one of the pictures that's not compressed within an inch of its life, email me and i'll get back to you, although I won't have much internet access until the 23rd so if i don't get back to you right away i'm not really blowing you off. If you hit return below it will take you to the Northern Piedmont website and my email addy is there. Laura, I promise I'll return your call as soon as i can. Good luck to all the folks in the flood area - please don't forget about them. Give your pup a hug in honor of Magic. Thanks for the use of the hall!

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