We drew 104 dogs for our annual spring trial, a record breaking number of entries for a New England trial this year. Saturday was overcast, but Sunday was rain all day. The quail that were released were not flying well after getting soaked, so it got very hard on the dogs. But field trials are like football, we play in any weather, we do NOT cancel ! Here is a picture of Paul Fuller, filming for his popular show, “Birds Dogs Afield” at one of “The Breakaways”, as we needed multiple courses to get it all done. The puppies and derbies ran on one course, The shooting dogs on another. Check out Paul’s web site, Bird Dogs Afield. In this picture Russell Olglive is getting ready to turn loose a dog. Russel is the wining handler of the 2022 Grand National Grouse Championship in Kilkenny last fall with his dog Spring Brook Maximus
The results of the White Mountain Open Derby Classic, Sat. April 29, 2023. First, Moxie, with Pro Trainer Adam Dubriske. Second, Long Gone Juniper, with old friend Jay Christian posing her for me. Third is Long Gone Kilkenny with yours truly. June had 2 brook finds and a forward race. She is sired by our Long Gone DeQuan. “Kenny” had 3 finished finds in his 30 minutes. His daddy is 2x CH Long Gone Porky out of RU CH Long Gone Juicy. ( she is sired by 3 x RU Grouse CH. Long Gone Studley , who was sired by our Grand National Grouse Champion 4 x CH Long Gone Buckwheat.
The results of “The Granite State Open Shooting Dog Classic”, Sat. April 29, 2023. This very competitive stake drew 26 dogs. Winning first and third was old friend, Frank Joyal with his string of very good pointers. Keeping up the honor of the setters, was our Long Gone DeQuan who ran in the fifth brace and was named second with 4 goods finds and a very forward and driving race. This stake took most of the day. Thank you to our judges Paige Davis and Grand National winning handler, Russel Olglive for walking many, many miles for us looking over 13 braces of fine walking shooting dogs.
Sunday, April 30th, 2023. Our featured stake on this day was “The Phillips Brook Amateur Shooting Dog Classic “. 24 talented walking shooting dogs were drawn for this stake. The rain, hard at times did not help as the birds simply would not fly once they got soaked, and many a fine young dog crashed on these wet bob whites. But many did not and made it through these difficult conditions to show their finish on game plus deliver the ground races the judges were looking for. We were thrilled when at The announcement the judges named Long Gone DeQuan the winner. “Quan” ran in the 11th brace, scored 4 broke finds on VERY unflyable wet tempting quail and gave me a forward driving race. DeQuan is sired by 3x RU CH Long Gone Studley, who produced a boatload of winners this weekend in other stakes, puppy, derby, etc.. Quan’s mama is CH Phillips Half Moon who had I think 9 championship credits to her resume, she is sired by our 2 x CH Long Gone Boston. I just want to mention, The second place dog, Jimmy Lévesque’s” Chippewa” must be running out of wall space for all the ribbon’s this good setter wins! I want to thank all the owners and handlers from all over New England and New York for supporting our trial. Especially Tony Bly for being the stake manager and organizing all the details to make this trail run smoothly, and Thom Richardson for being the camp cook, as the club donated all the cheese burgers and hot dogs they could eat! Thanks to Cal Robinson for donating all of the sodas and waters! The next event we have as a club will be working on the courses in Kilkenny this summer, getting ready for The New England Open Grouse Championship in late Sept., and we would love any and all help we can get. The work days will be posted on the cover dog message board. Come on out, and bring your dogs. There is no training on the courses but we can take you out to some places to get on wild birds after the work party. Thank you, see you this summer!