Anyone heading to Sharptail Championships in MT ??

[GrayDawg]

I was thinking of heading out to the GSP Sharptail Championships next month in Ekalaka, MT.
I spoke with Tom Osborne last week, the Championships start Sept. 4th and Tom confirmed that
there will be a 30 minute Derby Stake starting approximately Sept.8th.

Is there anyone in the Northest heading out to these Championships who would like to drive out with
someone to split the T&L costs? I'd really like to head out & take my Derby dog with me. Just to get
out to Montana and see the prarie would do my soul good. Maybe even get in some out of state hunting
along the way or on the way back?

PM me or reply back on this thread. I live in MA, so unless you're in ME, NH or VT, I'll be driving past your house
on the way out to MT.

Rob

[GrayDawg]

Nobody ?!?!?

Even if you're in the upper midwest (OH, IN, IL, MI, IA, WI) I'll probably be driving through your area
and would be happy to pick you up and travel together. How can any field trialer pass up an opportunity
to experience this?



Rob

[Anaconda Pintler]

I guess all the "easterners" are scared of the wild birds at this trial! Good luck to you sir if you decide to go, I was born in the metropolis of Ekalaka MT. and lived with thirty miles of there for thirty years! You will enjoy the trial with the wild bird format, that is if the courses are setup with wildbirds in mind and where they will be found thoughout the day given the terrain!




PS But the ground around Ekalaka does not come close to resembling that picture you posted!
If you decide to go let me know I will be up home horseback hunting around then and would show you around a little!

[Crestonegsp]

Rob,

I wish I could go since my dogs are going but that evil think called work. It is a great area, I grew up in SD and spent many a day in that part of the world and chased too many deer & antelope on the wrong side of the Little Missouri.

Good Luck if you make it out there.

[GrayDawg]

Fellas,
First off- thanks for the replies............ it gets my blood flowin'.
Secondly, I've made it over the biggest hurdle- my wife. For my birthday today, she told me to go on the trip,
take the dog and have a good time. She's willing to hold down the fort with my two boys.
I'm clear for work- we have the Monday off (Labor Day) so I only have to burn 4 vacation days.

So now, the pain in the @$$ obstacle- A partner to travel with, share the driving, fuel & motel costs.
It's the driving that's the biggest killer...... with someone else, we can take 4 hour shifts driving and go straight
through 'til we get there.

Back when I was 22, I drove a '76 Camaro (no A/C or cruise control) from Los Angeles to Hartford in 3 days by myself.
I only stopped to sleep in Tulsa after 26 straight hours of driving- other than that, I only stopping for gas, food & bio breaks.
From Tulsa, I went straight through to Hartford.

24 years later, those days are over. I need a Co-pilot !!

Who the heck wants to head out to the prarie? Can I get an AMEN?

Rob

[Anaconda Pintler]

Why dont you check into flying there and renting a vehicle! It would be way cheaper and way quicker equating to less travel time and more hunting/trialing etc.! Fly into Rapid City SD and you can be in Ekalaka via a backroad in 2 hours! Even if it cost you 1000 dollars for you and your dog it would be cheaper in the long run and way more use of your time!

[GrayDawg]

AP,
Thank you for the suggestion, I truly appreciate it. If I make it out there, I hope you don't mind if I take you up on your offer
to show me around. However, flying is out of the question. I have two friends in the airline business, they work for different
airlines and they don't know each other. They both basically told me the same thing-

"Never put any animal you care about in a crate and fly them cargo on an airplane."

Both of them gave me the same reason for their advice........ baggage handlers. Not that some of them aren't great. But all that
needs to happen is that you dogs finds their way to one of the bad ones- or one of the average ones who is having a bad day. They
shared HORROR stories with me about what baggage handlers were caught doing to animals traveling in the belly of the plane while
their owners were boarding the plane 20 yards away and completely unaware of what was happening.

Nope- can't fly......... won't do it.

Rob

[Dave Quindt]

With all due respect, I'd think long and hard about driving across the country for a derby classic stake. Especially one run in early September, with a dog that's not spent the summer on the prairie, being acclimated to the heat and terrain.

Even with two drivers, driving non-stop is no fun as when you get there you are completely spent. And then to go spend a day or two riding in 90* heat? No thanks.

IMO, I'd save the days off, the $$ and the goodwill from the better half for something with less pain and more gain.

JMO,
Dave

[GrayDawg]

Dave,
My little Derby bitch has been running 6 days a week this summmer for at least 45 minutes a pop.
On the weekends, she usually runs twice. I have access to the back 9 holes of a private golf course
here in town and we're usually out in the morning before the greenskeepers arrive or at night just
before dusk (I ride a mountain bike, so the pace is equivilent to that if I was riding a horse).
We've trained on some very hot & humid days. Hydration and conditioning are the key.........
I've taken this little girl to grounds she's never been to before & she's tore it up. She has a good ground application,
a better nose, a keen desire to find birds & handles like a dream. She'll be just fine.

I also plan to do some wingshooting while I'm out there, so I'm not going out for just a 30 minute
Derby stake. I am going out to get away, see some beautiful scenery, meet some nice folks, watch some great GSPs run
and enjoy time away from the office. If I'm driving every 4 hours with 4 hours of downtime in between,
all I'll need is one good night's sleep once we arrive & I'll be good to go........

Thanks for your concern nonetheless,

Rob

[DGFavor]

Not going to the trial but pretty sure I'll be out there hunting in the immediate area that week. Could maybe hook you up with a hunt - there's a farm with some enrolled BMA owned by a nice old prairie couple that kind of freak me out - pretty sure I saw a shrunken head on their mantle. If you go ask 'em for permission while I wait in the truck, I'll go hunting with ya' cause we found a bunch of birds there.

[mm]

Rob
I will be out there that week hunting. I am driving but I have to make a few stops and I am taking the wife along also. I will be hunting around circle and glasgow if you want to hunt togther one morning.
Mario

[tthaden]

Would love to go... but work work work. My Sonny will be there and gotta keep working so HE can go all over the country and just run around with ears in the wind!! Maybe next year. Plus gotta save Vacation for Nationals!!

[Anaconda Pintler]

Not going to the trial but pretty sure I'll be out there hunting in the immediate area that week. Could maybe hook you up with a hunt - there's a farm with some enrolled BMA owned by a nice old prairie couple that kind of freak me out - pretty sure I saw a shrunken head on their mantle. If you go ask 'em for permission while I wait in the truck, I'll go hunting with ya' cause we found a bunch of birds there.

hahahaahahahahahahaha Doug you have worn out your welcome!! For it is you that got me hooked in this "bleep" horseback thing to begin with I used to just walk around with my dogs and KILL birds by the limit full! Now I ask them to run out of sight and be broke just so I can come galloping up and fir a blank gun at them! :roll: :roll: Somehow i hold you personally responsible for my illness but the sharptails on the ranch sure thank you kind sir!!!!


PS btw nice picture I will let him know you are pimpin him again on the world wide web!

[DGFavor]

Somehow i hold you personally responsible for my illness but the sharptails on the ranch sure thank you kind sir!!!!

Uh huh, it's always someone else's fault!! (you'll have to stop in when you're in ID this fall for an HBV sharpie outing! Pay back!)

[Rich Heaton]

Gray Dawg,,,,, did ya find some company?

[GrayDawg]

Rich,
Nope- not yet...........

Rob

[Rich Heaton]

Hard to believe ya can't find any takers on this. Sounds to me like a pretty fair deal, get to hunt the world famous Montana Sharpies, see a gsp trial done on wild birds, meet the "who's who" in the gsp world, see the only full trycerotops skull in North American only 2 in the world, drink beer with the city cop/dog catcher (only given out 2 dui's in 20+ years because they drove back after he took them home), eat enough fried food/gas station food to last ya the rest of the year, and ya get to split the cost. Can't miss.

Oh yea,,, if your used to soft water and your skin is the "sensitive type" you'll love the place.

[GrayDawg]

Rich,
We're obvously cut from the same cloth. You're welcome to shoot birds over my dog any time!

Rob

[RuttCrazed]

Hard to believe ya can't find any takers on this. Sounds to me like a pretty fair deal, get to hunt the world famous Montana Sharpies, see a gsp trial done on wild birds, meet the "who's who" in the gsp world, see the only full trycerotops skull in North American only 2 in the world, drink beer with the city cop/dog catcher (only given out 2 dui's in 20+ years because they drove back after he took them home), eat enough fried food/gas station food to last ya the rest of the year, and ya get to split the cost. Can't miss.

Oh yea,,, if your used to soft water and your skin is the "sensitive type" you'll love the place.

After that description I don't just want to visit, I want to move there!

Rut