112th running of the National Bird Dog Championship

gunner · Post by **gunner** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 6:23 am

Scheduled to start Feb. 14th, Ames Plantation, Grand Junction, Tennessee

Nominations to date from the Ames Plantation site.
http://www.amesplantation.org/field-tri ... ations.asp

history and more...
http://www.amesplantation.org/

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:14 am

The Field Trial Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies are this coming weekend, Feb. 12. Regrettably, I will be out of the country. Contact the Bird Dog Foundation, David Smith, if you are interested. They have a website.

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:31 am

Any word on the weather?

I suppose I should pull for a local team, but did it have to be a setter?

Neil · Post by **Neil** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:43 am

No snow here yet, but 10" reported in Arkansas, so it is comingm but even if we get that much it will be off the roads by Saturday (Friday's high is to be in the 40"s). I think the problem will be between points North and here.

Neil

gunner · Post by **gunner** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:26 am

Sunny skies and lower 60's temperature for this morning's breakaway at 8 am.

39 pointers and 2 setters drawn to run their respective 3 hour braces.
http://www.amesplantation.org/

from the Memphis Commercial Appeal
newspaper:
Bad weather not problem as field trials set to open
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... ls-set-to/

Hunting a champion: Top bird dogs a breed apart
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... -champion/

lvrgsp · Post by **lvrgsp** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:53 pm

Morning brace each had one find and picked up at some point

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:21 pm

With two pieces of bird work and two UPs, Patriote is the first contender to make it around.

gunner · Post by **gunner** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:26 am

West coast lady handler Lori Steinshouer gets setter around 3 hours clean with 3 finds.

From the Ames site...Partly Cloudy; breezy.
Highgrond Jax Jabba had three finds and finished the three hours.

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:27 pm

Heavy hitters running today, including a previous winner. Should be some nice pictures up this evening.

lvrgsp · Post by **lvrgsp** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:03 pm

Pride 4 finds an UP and finished the 3 hrs
Stoney River picked up

Snowatch 4 or 5 finds 2 backs strong finish
Pete had 3 finds picked up

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:26 pm

May have a repeat champ, then.

CowboyBirdDogs · Post by **CowboyBirdDogs** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:58 pm

Looks like somebody found a wabbit this morning.

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 2:20 pm

Females. Sheesh.

Gordon Guy · Post by **Gordon Guy** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:20 pm

That Ames Plantation website is great. An interesting observation: very few of the dogs pointing in the photo's have 12:00 tails. Lester Snowwatch and his bracemate are pretty much the only dogs with a 12 oclock tail????

Post by **ezzy333** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:35 pm

Gordon Guy wrote:That Ames Plantation website is great. An interesting observation: very few of the dogs pointing in the photo's have 12:00 tails. Lester Snowwatch and his bracemate are pretty much the only dogs with a 12 oclock tail????

I noticed the same thing last year but yet we keep hearing that we need that 12 position tail if the dog is to win.

Ezzy

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:45 pm

Maybe y'all should revisit the philosophy of Plato.

Mr. Crappie · Post by **Mr. Crappie** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:16 pm

Although it can happen, Snowatch made a real good run yesterday and I believe has set the mark. I'm anxious to see what Happy Jack does this afternoon. I knew that Snowatch would "dig in" (although I hear that can be dangerous as far as losing a dog is concerned) as most dogs weren't finding birds and early reports said there was a decent number at Ames for this trail. I think a 12 o'clock tail is pretty, but never thought that was what pointed the birds. Look at other champions like Shell Creek Coin, his tail was almost straight out, but found a ton of birds and won a lot of trials!! I have a Snowatch/Laws High Noon female that runs great and finds a lot of birds but she does not have a 12 o'clock tail. As far as the judges are concerned I think they are looking at other things than just the tail.
Several more great dogs to run in the upcoming days, but I will always pull for the white dogs!!

Gordon Guy · Post by **Gordon Guy** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:22 pm

Hey, I'm all for looking at more than tail set, but it's just funny that there sure is a lot of hype and emphasis put on tail set while sitting around the fire.

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:26 pm

Maybe the internet fire.

dan v · Post by **dan v** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:00 pm

Gordon Guy wrote:Hey, I'm all for looking at more than tail set, but it's just funny that there sure is a lot of hype and emphasis put on tail set while sitting around the fire.

Tom,

I suspect the higher tails may be early in the 3 hours....and if your doggie has a find around 2:50 he's lucky to still be standing, much less, able to get his tail to attention. But yeah, they don't look like we think they should do they? Also believe the judges at this level are pretty good too.

Vonzeppelinkennels · Post by **Vonzeppelinkennels** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:15 pm

Looks like Ike Todd with Touch's Whiteout has put down the performance to beat with 7 finds & scorching race.

gunner · Post by **gunner** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:33 pm

They 've had a busy season. Best of luck to Keith and Ike

Indiana dog, Touch's Whiteout had six finds in judgment, a strong finish, and a seventh find after time.

Owned by Keith Wright of Covington IN and handled by Ike Todd.

http://wrightkennels.com/training/

http://wrightkennels.com/about-us/

Birddog3412 · Post by **Birddog3412** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:51 pm

gunner wrote:They 've had a busy season. Best of luck to Keith and Ike

Indiana dog, Touch's Whiteout had six finds in judgment, a strong finish, and a seventh find after time.

Owned by Keith Wright of Covington IN and handled by Ike Todd.

http://wrightkennels.com/training/

http://wrightkennels.com/about-us/

Arent they Co-owners of him??

Big Dave · Post by **Big Dave** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:00 pm

They don't show Touch's Whiteout on their website.

Birddog3412 · Post by **Birddog3412** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:35 pm

Big Dave wrote:They don't show Touch's Whiteout on their website.

I looked to. I was curious how he was bred.

PntrRookie · Post by **PntrRookie** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:16 am

Birddog3412 wrote:
Big Dave wrote:They don't show Touch's Whiteout on their website.
I looked to. I was curious how he was bred.

Ike is employed by Wright Kennels...http://wrightkennels.com/ so in a nutshell "they" (the kennel) owns the dog. Touch's Whiteout was purchased and was originally Lester's Whiteout, He is by Lester's Snowatch x Lester's Nat and Nat is out of the late Ben Adams breedin (Chief Honcho's Bo x Chief Honcho's Sue). I assume he is not on the site because it wasn't updated after the purchase.

Great run by a group of hardworking individuals

ElhewPointer · Post by **ElhewPointer** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:58 am

ezzy333 wrote:
Gordon Guy wrote:That Ames Plantation website is great. An interesting observation: very few of the dogs pointing in the photo's have 12:00 tails. Lester Snowwatch and his bracemate are pretty much the only dogs with a 12 oclock tail????
I noticed the same thing last year but yet we keep hearing that we need that 12 position tail if the dog is to win.

Ezzy

There is more of an emphisis on tail set with shooting dogs. It is desired to be a more fancy, classy bird dog in shooting. The AA national is a 3hr brace. Those dogs are shot by the end.

Vonzeppelinkennels · Post by **Vonzeppelinkennels** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:46 am

Yes the dogs are spent after 3 hrs going full tilt ahead.If you have ran or hunted dogs for long periods of time you can see their tail drop as they tire out.In a hunting situation when I see that it's time to put them up & get out a fresh dog,but the last few yrs my tail usually drops first!/__

Post by **ezzy333** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:00 pm

Vonzeppelinkennels wrote:Yes the dogs are spent after 3 hrs going full tilt ahead.If you have ran or hunted dogs for long periods of time you can see their tail drop as they tire out.In a hunting situation when I see that it's time to put them up & get out a fresh dog,but the last few yrs my tail usually drops first!/__

Isn't that the truth!!!!!!!!!!!

Ezzy

smokinsam · Post by **smokinsam** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:05 pm

who won this?
or is it not over yet?

birdogg42 · Post by **birdogg42** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:14 pm

smokinsam wrote:who won this?
or is it not over yet?

Its not over yet

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:23 pm

The last brace is scheduled to run on Friday, February 25. Gamemaker drew that honor.

smokinsam · Post by **smokinsam** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:40 pm

ok thanks.
I dont know much about these trials and didn't realize how long it went on.
is this an all week thing or consecutive weekends?

Post by **ezzy333** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:43 pm

It takes a while when you run 3 hour braces so one in the morning and one in the afternoon means you only do 4 dogs a day if they go full time.

Ezzy

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:45 pm

smokinsam wrote:ok thanks.
I dont know much about these trials and didn't realize how long it went on.
is this an all week thing or consecutive weekends?

They run a morning and an afternoon brace every day except Sunday. It began on February 14, took today off, and will resume tomorrow.

Vonrommel · Post by **Vonrommel** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:25 pm

Was down there Thursday, Friday and Saturday to watch and ride a few braces. I was lucky to be out there for the morning brace on Saturday in it's entirety and someone is gonna have to "Bring it" to beat that performance! Whiteout was strong all the way with a 7th find just seconds after time. We had to canter the horses a bit to get to him as he had started to stretch it out after coming through a narrow gap at the end of the course into an open field. He finished strong!

Just my opinion!

Good luck to the remaining dogs!

Birddog3412 · Post by **Birddog3412** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:04 pm

Any info on this morning? What happened to White's Solid Reward?

Post by **Sharon** » Tue Feb 22, 2011 7:01 am

injury - scratched

gunner · Post by **gunner** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:48 am

Here's the skinny on Touch's Whiteout as the trial is in the middle of the final week's running. Six more braces to go...

From a post at the cover dog board...One very well known field trialer was heard saying about Ike's charge on Saturday, "a dog is going to have to have 10 finds to beat that performance."

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:01 am

With Gamemaker bumped up to run this afternoon, that just might happen. Poison turned in a good performance yesterday, just not strong enough, apparently.

gunner · Post by **gunner** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:21 am

SETTER WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!......................................................................LIFE MAGAZINE 1939

http://books.google.com/books?id=kU0EAA ... &q&f=false

Post by **kninebirddog** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:52 am

gunner wrote:SETTER WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!......................................................................LIFE MAGAZINE 1939

http://books.google.com/books?id=kU0EAA ... &q&f=false

Here is a more direct link to the daily synopsis of the braces http://www.amesplantation.org/field-tri ... nopsis.asp

Touch does still sound like the dog to beat

When these trials first began they were run and won primarily by Setters
This is an excerpt from a book titled The Modern Setter written in the 1920s by A F Hochwalt

.......Joe Jr, the
greatest of all the Campbells, for he defeated Gladstone on several occasions;
but the notable race was run December 15 and 16 1879, when he competed against
this greatest exponent of the Duke-Rheobe-Lavaracks in an endurance race and won
by a considerable margin. The race was originally to be of three days' duration
and the dogs were to run from sunrise to sundown but the night before the match,
Gladstone came to the meeting with a broken tail. The fractured tip was in
several layers of canvas stuck together with varnish. Because Gladstone's
condition the Owner, Mr P. H. Bryson, asked to limit the race to two days
instead of three as originally agreed upon, and those who had the Joe Jr. end of
it readily agreed. The race was for $500 a side and was to be judged on a point
system- that is, nothing was to count except actual points on quail;
style,speed,range and other field trial qualifications were not to be taken into
consideration. At the end of the first day Joe Jr had thirty-four points to
Gladstones thirty. By nine o'clock of the second day , Gladstone was two points
ahead of his antagonist and there was every apparent chance of his winning, but
by one o'clock, Joe Jr, although he was very lame, passed the blue blood and was
one point in the lead when a halt was made for luncheon. Resuming after a brief
respite Joe Jr started under a handicap, as his lameness seemed to be due to a
strained shoulder and the backers of Gladstone were jubilant, but the cross bred
warm bred warmed up like a spavined thoroughbred, the lameness seemed to
disappear as if by magic and he began piling up points fast until sundown when
the race was concluded, he had a total score of Sixty-one points to Gladstones
fifty-two. The despised Native had beaten the pick of the blue-bloods most
decisively......

there are some more races describe another in Grand Junction a race for $1000
bucks dec 20-21 Weather conditions were Abdominal even in the writing of this
book copyright 1923 they state no field trial judge would think of running dogs
in such weather it was a setter named grousedale a large dog with a heavy coat
againt Lita small bitch of sparse coat and light of feet. this race was extended
to 3 days but on the afternoon of the second day the larger Grousedale was in
distress and Lit became the winner

on page 24 the final paragraph

The race is food for reflection to present day field trial patrons and it
might be well to stop and ask the question, could any of our setters of present
day do as well as even this big plebian-born native under the same conditions?
or are we breeding dogs equal of Lit in endurance and all other qualities that
go to make the truly great field trial dog? Perhaps we are, but nevertheless if
that be so, we must admit the glaring truth that they are far and few between.

In the back of this book I got is an article clipping which states it might be
interesting to run back over the dogs that have won this Championship stake of
the National Field trial association down at grand junction

The first National Championship was run at west point Mississippi and

Count Gladstone was the winner in 1886
it was called off in 1887

Tony Gales setter won it in 1889 in New Albany Mississippi
then back to westpoint 1899 Joe Cumming another setter was top dog .

1900 the trial was shifted to Grand Junction
1900 Lady's count gladstone,
1901 Souix a setter,
1902 Sioux repeated the win,
1903 Geneva a setter,
1904 Mohawk II a setter,
1905 Alambagh a setter,
1906 Pioneer a setter,
1907 Prince WHitestone a setter,
1908 Prince whitestone II a setter,
in 1909 the pointer men got their first innings Manitoba Rap won
1910 Monora setter, 1911 Eugene M setter, 1912 Commissioner setter
1913 Phillipides setter, 1914 Comanche Frank Pointer, 1915 La Besita setter,
1916 John Proctor pointer, 1917 Mary Montrose pointer, 1918 Joe Munice setter,
1919 & 1920 Mary Montrose pointer, 1921 Ferris jake pointer, 1922 & 1923 1925
Becky Broomhill pointer, 1924 Doughboy pointer, 1926 1928 1930 Feagans Mohawk
Pal setter, 1927 McTyre pointer,1929 1931 1932 Mary Blue pointer, 1933 Rapid
transit pointer, 1934 Norias Annie pointer, 1935 Homewood Flirtatious pointer,
1936 Sulu pointer, 1937 Air Pilots sam, pointer, 1938 trial was not run then
1939 Sports Peerless Pride setter, 1940 Lester enjoy wahoo pointer, 1941 1943
1945 Aerial pointer, 1942 Luminary pointer and in 1944 the trial was not held

This newspaper article which is taped in the back of the book I attained ends with

"So there you are, Gentlemen, you adherents of both long-hairs and short-haired
pointing dogs. Since 1896 three pointers- Mary Montrose, Becky Broomhill and
Aerial- have won the national three times and one setter, Feagin's Mohawk Pal,
has duplicated the feat. All of which, of course, won't go even two hoots and a
hollar towards settling the pointer-setter controversy."

I am gathering this article was written sometime late 1944 early 1945

pretty interesting in some of the foundations of trials though this is pointers
and setters it is still the base of how we play today

ElhewPointer · Post by **ElhewPointer** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:02 pm

Setters could dominate again if they would gain focus on their breeding programs. That incentive fund should get someone fired up enough to get the setters up and going again.

I agree, Gamemaker could be the dog to put up double digit finds. He's proven to do so the past 3 years.

ymepointer · Post by **ymepointer** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:55 pm

kninebirddog wrote:.......Joe Jr, the
greatest of all the Campbells, for he defeated Gladstone on several occasions;
but the notable race was run December 15 and 16 1879, when he competed against
this greatest exponent of the Duke-Rheobe-Lavaracks in an endurance race and won
by a considerable margin. The race was originally to be of three days' duration
and the dogs were to run from sunrise to sundown but the night before the match,
Gladstone came to the meeting with a broken tail. The fractured tip was in
several layers of canvas stuck together with varnish. Because Gladstone's

What makes this even more interesting is that Joe Jr was a RED setter

tn red · Post by **tn red** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:27 pm

Gamemaker made the 3 hrs had 6 finds.

Post by **kninebirddog** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:37 pm

By the way they posted Touch had the better brace. Will be interesting to see

Crestonegsp · Post by **Crestonegsp** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:40 pm

You have got love the Kentucky connections, Lester with Snowatch who looked good and Todd(who used to scout for Lester) has a Snowatch son Touch's Whiteout who looks good also and oh Miller where the dogs go back to.

Well I love the Kentucky connection.

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:55 pm

Well, someone has to love Kentucky.

CowboyBirdDogs · Post by **CowboyBirdDogs** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:28 pm

Just out of curiosity, why aren't there any German Shorthairs in this?

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:32 pm

ElectricShorthairs wrote:Just out of curiosity, why aren't there any German Shorthairs in this?

Duck and cover.