OR Bird Dog Challenge

[EricW]

For anyone interested in the Oregon / SW Washington area, a bird dog hunting trial club is starting up.  It will be down in the Canby / Molalla area and is being sponsored by Metro Game Birds: (503)263-2284.  The first scheduled fun trial is this Saturday, Sept. 28 at 9:00 am.  

The basic format is this:  Three chuckar are hidden in a field.  Your mission is to take your dog out, find them, flush them and shoot them.  You're rated on your and your dog's success.  Shooting ability counts too.  You are only allow 4 shells, which ain't a lot for chuckar.     According to the landowner, the emphasis is on fun.  No poor sports or sore winners allowed.

The first couple of trials are for funzies.  Then, it's for score and bragging rights.  Chuckar are very reasonably priced at $15 ea.  (That's cheap, trust me.)  Throw five smackers in the hat & you can stay for BBQ shindig afterwards.  There's even a booby prize for the poor bastard that hits the fewest birds.  (*I* could be a winner!!!)

Email me if you'd like directions.  I'll be there with Zuzu, The Wonder Pup.  Hope to see you there!  

Eric

[twix]

Sounds like big fun, too bad I am so far away. What kind of dog is Zuzu anyway?

[EricW]

Zuzu is a 5 MO chocolate lab.  We'll be headed out there shortly.  

E

[EricW]

Well, I avoided taking home the Booby Prize, but didn't do much better than that.  We did get all three birds.  The last bird was perfect.  Little Zuzu did a near perfect job of tracking, flushing, and retrieving (to hand even, the scorekeepers were amazed).  That made it all worthwhile.  I did learn that I have zero interest in doing hunt trials competitively.  As long as the birds land in the vest and we have fun, I couldn't give a crap about my score.  

I thought I'd share a victory picture, though.  Is this the face of a happy dog or what?

[twix]

That's a really nice job for a 5 month old. Pretty dog.