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DAY 7: Flight D: Bill Blochowiak and Mike Jespersen; Test 5 “Clays"

"Clays" is a land triple using all pheasants with a blind and an honor. The first bird down is to the left of the line, shot to the left at 48 yards. Bird two is an out-of-order flyer shot to the right at 102 yards. The third bird, to the far right of the line, was shot to the right. The blind was run under the arc of bird three, crossing a small piece of water, placed 119 yards from the line. The placement of holding blinds for this test made it more difficult. The holding blind of bird one and flyer station two were almost in line with each other which seemed like it was in "flower pot" configuration; the judge referred to it as a "cornstalk."

In Flight D, 66 dogs were called back to the fifth test, "Clays." When we caught up with them, the temperature had warmed up to 74 degrees and the wind is between 8-10 mph, blowing on the handler's back. The flyer continued to be a problematic bird. There were several big area hunts as the dogs tried to find this pesky rooster pheasant. We watched one dog front foot all three birds. While we were at Flight D, we saw one handle, one double handle and one pick up. The test continued to range between 4-8 minutes a dog depending on how much time was spent hunting.

Pam and handler Kevin Bunnell with #143 MPR's One For The Road MH, "Shooter" 

#145 Break In The Storm MNH MH, "Joey," with handler Diane Green

Judge Bill Blochowiak

#147 AFC Biggun's Wild Rose Warrior MH, "Rosie," with handler Alice Woodyard

#149 Black Water Dogs Night Train MH, "Ranger," with handler Jim Dobbs

#13 Hi-Top's Sudden Impact MH, "Crash," with handler Carol Young

DAY 7: Flight C: Mike Collson and Corrine Clavey; Test 5 "Lakeside"

The “Lakeside” test is a land/water triple, double blind, walk-up and a diversion shot. The first bird is the walk-up thrown to the left at 38 yards to the right of the line, bird two is thrown to the left down the pond at 70 yards and the flyer is shot to the left at 66 yards right to the left of the line. The first blind is under the arc of the flyer at 109 yards. Blind number two is directly across the pond at 97 yards, landing up a hill under heavy cover. This test took an average of six minutes per dog.

We arrived at this test first thing this morning to find that 85 contestants had been called back to this test. It was a brisk 53 degrees, the winds were calm and the sky was clear. Despite the beautiful start to the day, "Lakeside" continued to offer problems for the contestants. Of the first seven dogs that we watched, there was one no-bird, one double handle, four handles and one clean job. The middle bird in this scenario is the one that offers the contestants the most problems. This is followed by the right-hand walk up bird. Some dogs just do not seem to get a good look at where this bird lands. The contestants in Flight C were all shaking their heads and agreeing that the sign left by Flight D which read, "Hamburger Hill," was an appropriate name for this test.

Lyle Steinman on "Lakeside"

The remaining "members" of Flight C!

#109Weller's Dream Keeper MH, "Trudy," with handler John Weller 

#103 Semper Austin Mini-Cooper MH, "Austin," with handler Katie Quarles

Pick-up dog, "Tux"

#106 Tiderunner II MH QA2, "Tide," with handler Lyle Steinman 

#122 Dreammeyer's For A Few Dollars More MH, "Hombre," with handler Art Stoner 

#119 Emberain Ivy Gotta Go Hunting MNH MH, "Ivy," with handler Judy Drum

Speckled Belly Geese migrated overhead …

DAY 7: Flight B: Megan Baker and Allyn Foster; Test 5 "Valley”

“The Valley" is a land triple with both a blind and an honor had the mat set in the shade of a grove of trees. All birds were rooster pheasants. The test was shot from right to left. The first bird located 70 yards to the right of the line was thrown to the left. Bird two was the flyer station located in front of the line and shot to the right at 85 yards. The third bird was to the left of the line at 63 yards and was thrown to the right. The single blind was run to the far left at 80 yards under the trees. Five to seven minutes appeared the average length of time to run the test.

We caught up with Flight B today and found 67 contestants had been called back to run Test 5, "The Valley." The temperature had risen to 72 degrees with the wind blowing across the test from right to left at 10-12 mph. Word from the gallery when we arrived was that this test had been hard on Flight B earlier that morning. We saw some outstanding blind work. We were able to see three dogs line the blind. We watched eight dogs complete this series. Three of the dogs had to handle on the right-hand mark. All of the dogs got deep of the mark and had to be handled back. 

The bibs finally made it!

#3Sunnyview's Ironwood Beckett II MH, "Beckett," with handler Barbara Martin

#12 Magicgold's Celtic Causeway MH, "Keltie," with handler Cheryl Baca

#11 Foxfires Maker's Mark MH, "Smooth," with handler Colby Williams

#24 Sierra Expresso Jack, "Jack," with handler Michael O'Bannon

Texas PRIDE!