Day 3 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Brought To You By Eukanuba
Good morning! The skies are mostly sunny this morning, with temperatures predicted to reach 69 degrees! Quite the change from the cloudy, rainy cool days we've been experiencing. Plus, the remaining days of the event are to be just as nice, if not better, than today. Winds are predicted to be quite breezy in the next few days with gusts up to 20 mph.
The starting numbers for the three tests today are as follows:
Flight A #70
Flight B #77
Flight C #161
(Both Flights A and B will be finishing up this morning)
Tonight, there is a "Camo Party" at Millies Roadhouse (event caterer) in Vienna, MD. Millies has been providing wonderful meals throughout these early days of the event and we expect their delicious shore-fare will continue to impress all those who attend the event tonight. Activities begin at 7:00 pm, there will be a band, so be prepared to dance, dance, dance. See you there!
Flight A "Crazy 8's" Land Triple with a Double Blind
Judges Dorothy Ruehman & Steve Elliott
Flight A, nicknamed "Crazy 8's" for the patterns of "8" that were mowed into the tall grass by Frank Durham, the landowner, was a land triple with a double blind. The Judges designed this test on the edge of corn rows, in the "Crazy 8's" field that sloped slightly away from the line and in grass that stood around 15 inches in height.
All birds used in this Flight are rooster pheasants. The first bird is a flyer shot to the right at 99 yards followed by the memory bird thrown from to the left and another dead bird thrown to the left along a tree line. There are two blinds in this test; the first blind is planted directly right of the line at 65 yards, along the rows of corn against the treeline; the second blind is planted 99 yards straight away from the line, between the falls of bird's one and two. The normal order of pick up has been the third bird, followed by the flyer, then the second dead bird at 75 yards, the short blind to the right ending with the straight-away blind.
Of a total of 185 dogs, 136 are back, 49 were dropped and 7 were scratched.
The dogs called back are: 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 27, 28, 29 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51, 52, 55, 56, 57, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 101, 102, 104, 105, 107, 109, 110, 112, 116, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 139, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 157, 158, 160, 163, 165, 166, 168, 169, 172, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 186, 187 and193.
The dogs dropped are: 1, 2(scratch) 4, 7, 9, 13 (scratch), 33, 40, 44, 48 (scratch), 50, 53, 54, 58, 60 (scratch), 61, 71, 83, 86, 87, 89, 98, 100, 103, 106, 108, 111, 113, 114, 115, 117, 130, 136, 137, 138, 140, 144, 155, 156, 159, 161, 162, 164, 167, 170, 171, 173, 174 (scratch), 175, 178, 184 (scratch) 188, 189, 190, 191 and 192 (scratch).
Flight A will be moving to the "12 Point Corner" test.
Flight A "12 Point Corner" Land Triple with a Diversion Shot – Blind & Walk Up
Judges Dorothy Ruehman & Steve Elliott
The test, a walk up land triple with a diversion shot blind, is set in a high brush area that opens into a cut corn field to the right, flanked by a line of trees to the left. The wind is blowing from the left at around 7 mph, at times gusting to around 10 mph. The area in front of the blind rises slightly into the distance. The Judges put together a challenging test. To the left of the line, a rooster pheasant is thrown to the right at 59 yards, almost away from the line near the trees on the left. The second rooster is thrown from to the right landing at 89 yards in/near standing corn stalks. The rooster flyer is shot to the right at 105 yards. Finally, the blind is planted just inside the standing corn stalks, straight from the line. Typically, the dogs have been sent to retrieve the flyer first, followed by the left bird (upon returning with this bird, a diversion shot is fired to set up the blind), the second dead rooster and, finally, the blind. The test is running just over 5 minutes per dog, with all dogs staying pretty level with their work.
Flight A started "12 Point Corner" at 11:00 am this morning with dog #117.
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| The Gallery was finally enjoying some sun. |
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| Steve Surfman, the MNRC Official Photographer, has a great vantage point. |
Most of the dogs are doing the mark and there are some good blinds. At 1:00 pm, 22 dogs have run, there were three pick-ups and one no-bird.
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| The WBOC News helicopter |
Flight A will start Wednesday morning with dog #22.
Flight B "12 Point Corner" Land Triple with a Diversion Shot – Blind & Walk Up
Judges Duwayne Bickel & Jim Wonnel
The test, a walk up land triple with a diversion shot blind, is set in a high brush area that opens into a cut corn field to the right, flanked by a line of trees to the left. The wind is blowing from the left at around 7 mph, at times gusting to around 10 mph. The area in front of the blind rises slightly into the distance. The Judges put together a challenging test. To the left of the line, a rooster pheasant is thrown to the right at 59 yards, almost away from the line near the trees on the left. The second rooster is thrown from to the right landing at 89 yards in/near standing corn stalks. The rooster flyer is shot to the right at 105 yards. Finally, the blind is planted just inside the standing corn stalks, straight from the line. Typically, the dogs have been sent to retrieve the flyer first, followed by the left bird (upon returning with this bird, a diversion shot is fired to set up the blind), the second dead rooster and, finally, the blind. The test is running just over 5 minutes per dog, with all dogs staying pretty level with their work.
Of a total of 186 dogs, 127 are back, 59 were dropped and 7 were scratched.
The dogs called back are: 1, 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 87, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 108, 109, 111, 116, 117, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 127, 128, 129, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 139, 140, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 186, 188, 190, 191 and 192.
The dogs dropped are: 2 (scratch), 5, 6, 7 (scratch), 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18 (scratch), 20, 23, 25 (scratch), 27, 29, 30, 35, 40, 41 (scratch), 44, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 66, 67, 70, 72, 74, 82, 83, 85, 89, 104, 105, 107, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 120, 124, 125, 126, 130, 131, 137, 138, 141, 142, 145, 149, 155, 156 (scratch), 157, 161, 170 (scratch), 178, 184, 185, 187 and 189.
Flight B will be moving to the "Wet Willie" test...
Flight B "Wet Willie" Land/Water Triple with a
Walk Up and Honor
Judges Duwayne Bickel & Jim Wonnel
Test 3, nicknamed "Wet Willie" because of the torrential downpour and sudden thunderstorm that called off work during test set-up, is a land/water triple with a walk up and honor.
There is a small pond of water in front of the line, surrounded by some high grasses. On the far side of the left corner of this pond, there are a few rows of standing corn. The wind was blowing at a steady 12 mph from the northwest, blowing in on the handlers from the right.
The first mallard drake was thrown from to the right, landing in a wet patch 46 yards away from the right of the line. The second mallard drake was thrown from to the left, landing straight away from the line creating a line through the small pond at 71 yards. The final bird was a flyer, shot from to the right, along the corn rows at 71 yards, shot far enough away that the dog needs to run through the small pond. The order was the flyer first, the right bird and then the middle bird.
By late afternoon, the skies were partly cloudy, it was breezy with gusts reaching 10 mph nad temps reached 66 degrees ... ahh!
According to a few handlers, people were smiling in the early morning simply because the sun was out. Can you blame them after the last few days?
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| Who doesn't love a puppy? |
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| Who wears "Wingtips" in the middle of a cornfield? -- See answer below. |
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| Reid Sterrett stopped by when he saw the signs in the surrounding area pointing to this event. He is a Charter Member of the MNRC, but has been out of touch with the sport for some time, now. |
Anyway, the middle bird was beginning to be difficult to see as the day wore on, the shadows along the treeline camoflaouged the majority of the birds arc. But, hunts seemed relatively short.
By the end of the day, the test was completed.
Of a total of 127 dogs, 111 are back, 16 were dropped.
The dogs called back are: 1, 3, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 65, 68, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 84, 87, 87, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 108, 109, 111, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 127, 128, 129, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 139, 140, 143, 144, 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 186, 188, 191 and 192.
The dogs dropped are: 4, 16, 22, 48, 60, 64, 79, 91, 97, 103, 106, 116, 117, 146, 160 and 190.
Flight C "4 Mil Pond" Water Triple with an Honor, Diversion Pop and a Blind
Judges Martha Kress & Dave Illias
The fourth test of the Master National is a Water Triple with an Honor, Diversion Pop and a Blind. The water in this pond is lungable and swimmable. The birds used in this test are drake mallards. The first bird is thrown from the close shore of the pond to the right, over a small inlet to the opposite side of the pond at 83 yards. The second bird is also thrown from the close shore, but it lands 49 yards away on the left edge of an island. The final bird, a flyer, is shot to the left on the shoreline with the area of the fall varying in distance from the water. Upon return with the far left bird, there is a diversion pop to set up the blind. Finally, the blind is planted 75 yards out on the far shoreline of the pond. The line to the blind clips the right edge of the island. There are goose decoys placed on the middle-right area of the island, while duck decoys are placed between the island and the far shore visible when the dog clears the edge of the island on line to the blind.
The order of pick-up has been (thus far) from right to left; the flyer, followed by the shorter island bird, then the dead bird at 83 yards first dead bird at 83 yards ending with the blind.
It's late morning here at "4 Mil" and we have a dteady breeaze of about 7 mph with gusts up to around 12 mph. The sun is out, the temperature is hanging in the high 60's (let's push for 70!) and with that, everyone is much more comfortable.
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| Come visit Frank Barton's truck for some delicious gourmet jelly beans. |
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| Alan Sandifer and Tommy Landers with "Hank" |
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| Bob Amen, Doug Ljungren and Jerry Mann of the AKC enjoy the event. |
At 11:10 am, around 38 dogs of the remaining 167 have run and reports are good. There have been some clean blinds and not too many handles with many rounds of applause from the Gallery. Dogs are averaging a 6 minute test.
Flight C will start Wednesday morning with dog #95.
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| Late night Callbacks in the lobby of the Headquarters Hotel--Holiday Inn Express. |
Trivia
Cue the Jeopardy theme song...
1. What test dog attempted to pick-up a flyer in a different series?
2. What was the "catch of the day" on the 1st day of the 2011 Master National?
posted by Retriever News Team
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1:00 AM
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