Went to my first NSTRA trial this past weekend and really enjoyed it. Got to follow along with the judges and learned quite a bit from them. In my early 20's I thought I might be too early to the party but everyone was very welcoming.

Will be entering for both days at the Katy, TX trial so I am excited. Will then get more training in before starting again next spring!

Good deal. Do judges prefer a dog to hunt with minimal commands or like to see precise pattern work with lots of commands

Too many commands can run your obedience score down a little, but generally the dog that finds the most birds wins.

I tend to over handle a little too much sometimes, which causes the obedient score to go down a little bit. I'm working on correcting that though. Glad you could make it out Zach! Appollo is one this the biggest shorthairs I've seen and he should get some great ground coverage scores haha! Good luck at the Katy trial and let us know how it goes.

Thank you Bill Oxner for encouraging me to go to the NSTRA trial two weekend ago. I got there Sunday late afternoon and met some of the members. I enjoyed learning and watching the proceedings and hope some of the members come and chec k out what I have to offer for training and business hunts. I enjoyed my self, Walter Patton

Did the dogs just trail the 4 wheelers to find birds ?

Not exactly, but it sure helps when they do. The people who train and plant their birds from a 4 wheeler have an advantage.

When I used to plant and I knew a tracking dog was up, I'd drive out of bounds over half the time and see if I could get them DQed. Their handlers loved me for that. Haha

Everyone is invited. We'll be there all day Saturday and Sunday. Come out and see for yourself. I went to several AF trials before I went to my first NSTRA trials. I felt like I was a a formal wearing blue jeans at the AF trials. I went to my first NSTRA trials and knew right then that my hunting dogs could do that. Several of my hunting trips and quail leases, after that came from my NSTRA contacts.

Evil, Evil,Evil

The first time I found I had been tracked I felt a little violated!

I just got this email;

"Hi all, I have some open spots in the Katy trial this coming weekend. Anyone interested please email me your entries asap. I will be drawing on Wednesday. This is on a first come basis."




Maggie Parsley
Galveston, TX
409-771-9644

Thanks for the reminder. Just sent in my conformation email.

I ran against Maggie and her dog Bitty yesterday. Almost had a 4/4.....

The fields are generally open on Fridays for practice. I plan on getting a half dozen birds for Cracker and practice with them across the road. I'm not sure how much that helps. The national trials typically start on Wednesdays, and they'll have an open trial the weekend before. People come early to what they call the pre-trial and stay. I have nothing to do with my time, so I tried that strategy on the first Quail Forever trial which was held on some plantation in Georgia. I left home Friday, and ran a trial on Saturday in Alabama, drove from there and ran the pre-trial on Sunday in Georgia. My setter placed third in the Alabama trial, and both dogs did fine in Georgia. I was out to the field on Monday and Tuesday buying birds and practicing.

Both of my dogs were drawn for Wednesday. It was a beat your brace-mate trial. They both did fine, but not as well as their brace-mates, so I was done. We had a little poker game at the plantation after the trial dinner. I came back to the motel around 11:00 that night, and Scott Townsend was just driving in from Michigan With his dog Fritz. Fritz won the trial. Here' Fritz;

Registered Nbr: SN73084507
Owner: SCOTT TOWNSEND
Registered Name: CROSSWIND TRUCKIN FRITZ
Callname: FRITZ
Breed: German Shorthair
Region: MI
Sex: M
Date Whelped: Thursday, March 16, 2000
Sire: HARRISON'S BLUE JESSE
Dam: STARS LACY BABY

Number of Times Open Champion: 16
Date of Championship: Sunday, March 09, 2003
Total Open Points: 299