National Amateur Retriever Championship Stake
June 13-19, 2004
Friday: Seventh Series and start of the Eighth
The test for Friday morning was scheduled to be a land blind in the same hay field on which the fifth series land quad had been held. Dense fog early in the morning had made it necessary to change the test to a shorter double blind setup. The line was very close to the same as the fifth, but both blinds were well to the right side of the previous test. From the line, a blind planter was seated to the right at 70 yards, to the left by 20 yards was located the short blind, which laid in front of a large hay roll. The line to the long was just to the right of the short blind and proceeded thru a strip of cover just past the short blind and up the hay field to a pheasant planted in front of another hay roll. The test began around 8:30 a.m. and concluded shortly after 11:00 a.m. The work was generally good and 34 were returned to the eight. Call backs were 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 18, 22, 25, 34, 35, 39, 40, 41, 43, 46, 47, 53, 55, 56, 64, 65, 68, 74, 80, 83, 84, 85, 89, 92, 93 and 94.
After a short move, the eighth was set and ready to run. The test consisted of a water quad with two retired marks and pheasant flyer. A pond with several areas of flooded grass and some swimming water was used. The test was set with three birds in an inline set down the right side and a flyer well to the left side. The first mark was the left center at 200 yards, it was thrown from a large point to the right across a channel of water, and was a duck, this was followed by the right center mark, at 125 yards, thrown hard angle back to a grassy point, this was a pheasant, both the left center (#1) and right center (#2) guns retired. The third mark was a flying pheasant well to the left at 125 yards, it was thrown to the left. The last mark was the short right mark at 55 yards, this was also a duck and was thrown angle back to the left. After the marks were retrieved their was an honor. The first test dog handled on both the flyer and long retired, the second test dog handled on the shorter retired mark, right center, the contestants had a short viewing of the line, then the test then proceeded. After a few dogs, it was not apparent if the test would be completed today. More to follow later.
