We had a light turn out for Saturday’s field trial, guess some looked at the weather forecast of hot and windy and declined to be humbled. Well it was hot and windy and some teams were humbled but regardless of how many birds they found, there wasn’t a dog that didn’t leave the field without their tongue hanging out and a big smile.

As you can see the first couple braces had the advantage of it being cooler with a lighter wind and once it warmed up and the wind picked up, 30-40 mph, things got tough. Imagine the scent cone of a quail like a drifting cloud of smoke, imagine that cloud of smoke in a 40 mph wind. The birds didn’t like it either, running on the ground after being planted looking for some very scarce cover.

Larry Naas and Gunner, the recent Puppy of the Year, proved my prediction about doing well on the open field, with a 1st place. Tom Alexander and his veteran GSP Boomer, came in with the same score in the second brace but just a couple seconds behind to take 2nd. Then things got tough and it wasn’t until before lunch that Gene Gray and Joe posted a score for 3rd, with Bob Williams and that good looking red setter, Mike, equaling it but just a little slower to that first bird for 4th. James Parnell and Livvi worked hard in the wind for 5th and Doug Hardesty and Cali, the last team on the field, came in with 6th.

We again had a gang of puppies and really appreciate everyone’s patience with the pace of play, as we were operating really short handed for judges. Michael Downey and his small Munsterlander Jack, methodically worked the puppy field and came in 1st. A Munsterlander doesn’t run the field like a setter or GSP, Michael says Jack moves more like a tank, but with a hot dry wind he doesn’t miss many birds either. Great team work and it proves that every dog has his day. Brian Wilson and his Wirehaired Griffon Sloane, another methodical, not slow, working dog took 2nd, and Jeremy Hermann and his setter Tennessee, came in 3rd. Both are new members, so welcome to the club and I hope your success has gotten you bit by the trial bug and we will see you all again.

Many thanks to everyone for pitching in. This is a all volunteer club so it takes everyone to make it work. A special shout out to Bob Dorn for judging all day, and everyone else who judged, both open and puppy. It was a big crowd and their flexibility was appreciated. Thanks to Jeremy Herman for picking up lunch, the cookies were a hit. To our board members, we were down a couple so they really had to scramble to fill water barrals, band birds, plant birds, judge, keep up the scoreboard, take in entry fees, and all the other things it takes to make a trial work.

A big thank you to Purina for their support as well as the Ohler family as usual or letting us play on their beautiful little piece of Prairie. Next trial is November 5th and lets hope it is a little more fall like. Hope to see you there.