Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:43 pm Post subject: Hamptworth Oct 1
First day on pheasants. 7 Brittanys, Bill Pearson , John Anderson, Anne and Andreas Eissing and myself. 20 bird day in perfect weather.
More pictures will follow plus my own take on my two.
Anne Eissing
Archie retrieving through pumpkins
_________________ Guy, Ellie, Topaz, Catja and in memory Barley
Beauty from Structure
www.epagneulbreton.org.uk
Nice pics Guy. What were the birds like? most of those I've seen so far, up this way, have still got some growing to do. Maybe life's easier for them in the soft south _________________ My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am.
Yes, John, the young pheasants on the farm are still not fully grown yet. It is still early.
Come on Guy, don't keep us in suspense, how did you get on? any awards? Hope you have a great few days with your German friends. Hope they enjoy the show too. All the best to you all...great photos as usual
Patricia
It wasn't a trial, Patricia, not on our calendar as such anyway. Just a shoot day I think. _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
All the trials are on the calendar on the Club website. _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
Apologies for the delay in posting - life a bit hectic at the moment.
When Anne and Andreas were first talking of coming over they wanted to enter an English Field Trial with their dogs. As the dates of their visit were not fully decided John and I thought about running a day for them on the lines of a field trial complete with judge etc. However the best laid plans etc..
In the event I think what happened was the very best compromise. John secured Maurice Stanbury to come along and take photos for a future article in the Shooting Gazette. So watch that space.
The day was therefore designed as a Brittany only one, with a limited number of dogs running to allow all to have several gos. The ground - Hamptworth is near Salisbury and is a heavily wooded shooting estate who put down 20,000 pheasant and 1500 partridge. We must have seen about 19,950 of them! The ground was heaving with birds which were quite hard to point as they flushed very easily and once one got up so did a few dozen others. It was often like a scene from The Birds.
I took Topaz and Catja. Although we have been out training around partridge this was the first day for us on pheasant this year. I ran after Bill and John to give my guests time to see what was going on. Topaz's first run was in deep rough ground - twice as high as a brittanys eye! but he worked it well and even though he disappeared from view for about half a minute came back on his whistle, feathered up on some scent and pointed hard. A whistle command flush produced a bird which was shot; it landing on the top of a hedge. The gun poked it down and Topaz was sent on the retrieve which he brought back with a nice steady sit present. A very pleasing start to the day.
We ran on the basis that once an HPR the dog was picked up and not run on.
Topaz's second run, just before lunch was in a clover cover strip next to one of the release pens Wide and flat patterns, until the end of the field then some hedges. I was particularly pleased how he handled diagonally down wind, back into the field, so that he ended up on the hedge, which he worked back to me and the waiting guns - all without a whistle.
His third run in cover crop on the edge of a pumpkin field again high cover for a Britt - produced a nice run, him very steady to the birds popping all around him; he did try and run a couple of times but stopped immediately on the whistle.
Very pleased with his performance, he has come on so much over the summer - I think mainly an age thing = he is now three.
Catja - for her my goal was to connect scent with birds and develop 'passion' to 'hunt' rather than just 'look'. She has a tendency to sight point not scent point - she did some good solid points - the shivering type. Was quite good on her whistle - not as good as she can be and did run in several times - but as she is only 18months old I am not worried about that one.
At the end of the day we did some water work. Catja entered without a hitch - which was a great relief as I have been doing a lot of work with her in water; she has a thing about not getting wet, but once wet wants to keep going in. She also had a fright earlier in the year, paws catching or being caught by something. So her going straight in was a relief, however she only swam part way to the bird before returning (something she did on her REP in France) and I had to throw in another closer for her to pick. This she did, nice sit present before a commanded 'shake'. several of those close ones and I called it a day for her. For Topaz I had something else up my sleeve - I planted a blind on the adjacent bank and sent him out into the pond, stopped and redirected him. Very nice retrieve, single command into the water, one to stop and one to redirect; nice sit present before shaking.
I cracking day of dog work - I know however that it will once again unravel from there - but at least I know where I can get to.
It was a special day. The guns excellent - I am sure the cartridge ratio was under 2 ! My personal thanks to Hamptworth for hosting the day for us so early in the season. _________________ Guy, Ellie, Topaz, Catja and in memory Barley
Beauty from Structure
www.epagneulbreton.org.uk
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