NSTRA Mid South Regional Championship

[Fieldmaster]

Would like to say Congrats to Brett Bryan and 2 x NSTRA CH. Bryan's Sin City Boss on winning the 2008/2009 Mid South Region Championship.

Robert

[mountaindogs]

Way to GO!

[Ricky Ticky Shorthairs]

WAY TO GO BRETT AND BOSS!!!

Doug

[BrettBryan]

Bobby, Doug, and Mountaindogs,

Thank "ya'll" much. I appreciate it. As some of you folks who know me pretty well, I haven't been going to near as many field trials this past year. Just a combination of a young family and money getting tight. But, i still manage to go to some field trials.

Saturday was a hot day here in West, TN. It got up in the high 70's. So, after the first brace of the day, scenting just went downhill for the dogs. I mean dogs couldn't smell a bird. Dogs come of the field with 2 birds each, leaving a bird on the field. Some dogs went birdless or had 1 bird with the other dog having 2. I mean, these were nice dogs that had qualified for the Region doing this. It was just one of those days. It was not a day for a young dog. Boss is a little older now and his experience helped him out Saturday.

Boss ran in the 4th brace of the day. I thought it was going to be a disaster the first minute into the brace. On the initial cast away, Boss was doing about Mach 1 and ran right over a bird. I thought to myself, here we go. But, after that bad luck, it got better. He jammed a couple birds, and managed to get two more birds on the card for a total of 4 finds/4 retrieves. The setter Boss ran put two on the card.

Now, to be considered a Regional Champion, the dog has to prove he can back. Boss didn't have a chance in the first 30 minutes to back. So, the judges set up a situation and told me to get Boss and turn him loose. Now, I know my dog. Boss has very rarely failed to back. If he does, it's usually because he just didn't see the dog. But, my stomach was knotted nonetheless. There's nothing you can do at that point but turn your dog loose and trust he will do his job.

So, I turned Boss loose and away we went. A thought ran across my mind, what if he fails to honor? I felt like puking. But, Boss was away and gone and heading for the hill. He had no idea what lay ahead for him. His mind was on hunting birds. I had chosen a white setter to point the bird. The judges were in the vicinity of the dog on point to make the call. I was a bit far behind now and as Boss went up the hill my stomach cringed. I could see the judges standing up on there four wheelers, to make the call. Boss went over the rise and the judge threw his hand up in the air. It was a neat moment. A moment I'll never forget. I made my way up the hill and over the crest. Boss was standing there motionless intent on the white setter bitch I had chosen to point the bird. They said, there was "no question, without a doubt" that Boss backed. They said he skidded to a stop upon seeing the white setter that was about 60 yards away. I thanked the judges for there comments and congratualtions and leashed the old man and headed back toward the clubhouse. It gave me a little time to pat him on the head and rub his ears a little before getting back to the clubhouse. He just looked at me as if to say, "what was all that about"?

Me and Boss have been through a lot together. But, the old man is still in shape and can still put it on the ground. I'm not sure if I'll take him to the NSTRA Dog of the Year or not. To be honest with you, his retrieve is sometimes slower than other nice dogs in NSTRA. It hurts him if he has the same number of finds at the end of the day because he may get outscored by a few points on his retrieve. When you get toward the top of the heap, the dog needs to score atleast as good on retrieves or better. You can't always just outbird all dogs in the 32 dog field.

Bobby Grove, thanks for breeding such a fine animal. He has a lot of bottom end, he's bold, he's tough, and he can find birds. I know you take pride in what you breed. You should, I can look at Boss and tell.

Thanks again fellows. It was a moment I won't ever forget!

[snips]

Big Congrats Brett! Sounds like an awsome weekend!

[ezzy333]

Isn't it funny the feeling we have about something we have seen our dogs do a thousand times in the past but there is so much riding on doing it just one more time. Maybe we need to have more faith but it sure is hard. Congrats!!!!

Ezzy

[BrettBryan]

Brenda,

Thanks so much. Yeah, it was a special weekend for me. Boss won that Saturday and i got my first longbeard on Sunday. I haven't hunted turkey very long, but I'm getting to like it. I plan on frying up some turkey on Easter Sunday afternoon. I may even toss a couple pieces into the kennel for Boss to chow on

Ezzy,

You are so right. As anyone here knows, dogs are capable of anything. You read about them in magazines like the American Field or other magazines like they are greater than thou. But, in reality, they are dogs. And they can make a fool out of you the moment you start bragging on them. That's just the reality of it.

I know Boss. I've seen him back hundreds of times and i know he will. But, like you say, it's for all the marbles. It just takes the dog once to blink it and turn to hunt and that's it. You drop down a notch. Even though I was confident in him, I was still nervous about what he was going to do with the win on the line. He did a nice job. Now, if it would have been my female Heart, I would have been real puckered up She will back, but she's not real fond of it. She's about 50/50 whether she will or won't depending on how far out she sees the pointing dog. If she's fairly close when she see's the pointing dog, she'll back nice. But, if she sees the dog a long ways and she has time to think a split second, she's liable to blink it, turn and hunt on. I think i started running her in trials too soon before she had it down good. Either that, or she's just a dog

Thanks for the compliments!

[DGFavor]

Huge thumbs up man!! Congrats! That's neat!

We need winner's circle pics!!!

[The Zephyr]

Brett, congratulations.

The two of you are having a nice run.

That's a very nicely written piece.

John L.

[BrettBryan]

Doug and John,

Thanks a lot fellows. I am going to try to post a couple pictures. I will post a couple more later on.

Boss%20regionCH_jpg_9166.jpg

Hope it works.

[snips]

Boy, am I glad to see Bill Moore still at it!!!

[BrettBryan]

Brenda,

Yeah, Bill Moore is still at it. He's a tough old bird. He's still tough in this game too. He knows the game about well as anyone I know and he knows how to play it. He can beat you in a minute. He loves the NSTRA game. He will have his dogs in shape in the middle of the summer. I've been fortunate to be around him and learn some things from him.

Bill has a couple nice young setters right now. He's got one he call's "bleep"(Di-k). He hasn't named a dog "bleep"(Di-k) since he had Tennessee's Tricky "bleep". And he won big back in the 80's with that dog. That's how much he thinks of this young dog. I've watched this young dog this year. He's nice. He has a big motor and a windmill for a tail. Start to finish, no letdown whatsoever. I think he just made a champion about a month ago. But, he's going to be tough in the future. He's one of the nicer young dogs i've seen.
Bill also has a setter out of Hytest Skyhawk and one of his bitches that's nice. He calls him Hawk. I judged him up in middle TN this year. He stands up tail on his birds. He's full of it too.

One thing about Bill Moore, he's going to have something nice to run. He has a slew of dogs and makes quite a few breedings. Not as much as he used to, but he's still got quite a few.
I can tell you this, i really like his young Di-k dog. His Hawk dog is pretty dang nice too. And i'm not a setter fancier. But, i see what these two are.

[snips]

I ran in the finals in 1990 with his Tricky "bleep" Jim that won the Nat'ls 6 yrs in a row. They were an awsome pair to watch work together. I will never forget it.

[DGFavor]

Good pics Brett! Great memory shots!! Boss looks like a tank!!

[BrettBryan]

Brenda,

I wish I could have been around to watch either Bill and Jim or Bill and Di-k on the field together. Bill can tell some stories about those two dogs.

I was talking with Bill Moore one day about a question a lot of people ask. Whether the great dogs of yesterday could compete with the great ones of today. He said, "sh-t yeah, they wouldn't just compete, they could win." He said, Tricky Di-k and Tricky Jim were the two best dogs he ever ran. He said they were better than the stuff he's running today. And I know if he says that, they had to be something nice. I think the great ones just come along every once in awhile.

Doug,

Yeah, Boss is twice the size of that setter in the blind. That setter goes about 28 lbs soaking wet. That makes Boss look even bigger in the picture. He is pretty big though. Boss goes about 62 to 65 pounds in shape. I like them a little smaller than him, but he moves well for his size. I'll try to post a better picture of him soon.

[snips]

I did not know "bleep", (before my time) but I saw Jim and it was not just him, it was the teamwork. Those 2 were in perfect scink (sp). There are a few dogs that read your mind (I have had a couple) but that is what watching those 2 was like. They are always right where they need to be.