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SERIES V, DAY 3, Saturday SEPT. 1 Saturday dawned overcast and cooler but the rain held off until the last dog ran Series V. We moved to a new pond this morning and handlers and dogs were asked to do a double water blind with a diversion bird. Scenario : Your eager hunting companion got to your favourite duck pond just ahead of you and shot two cripples. The first swims into the shore near you and the second hunkers down across the pond. As your dog returns with the shorter cripple, a third duck comes in and your buddy shoots it dead. Because you know it's dead and the one across the pond may be a cripple, you must ignore the dead bird and get the cripple first. Only then may you pick up the floating dead bird. The first blind, at about 80yds, was along the shoreline with the wind blowing at an angle into the shore and at the dog's face. A handful of decoys also enticed the dogs into shore. The diversion winger bird was shot approximately 10yds from the shore as the dog was returning from the first blind. The diversion bird landed 10yds left of the line to the second blind which was out about 112yds. Factors on the second blind included thick sticks directly on line to the blind, a strong crosswind and, of course, the suction of the poison bird. Work on both blinds were generally good although some dogs had a little trouble at the end of the shorter blind. Dogs dropped in this series were #3, 6 & 14.
Diversion bird on left hand side
The gallery puts on their thinking caps
SERIES VI, DAY 3, Saturday SEPT. 1
Our final series, during an afternoon that was rainy, was a water triple and blind. Scenario : We arrive for an evening duck hunt and position ourselves in a duck blind on a dike. As the ducks come in, our buddies at a distance shoot a bird which lands in the water. The flock continues over and our hunting companion on the far shore in a visible boat hits another. The last bird hit, by a gunner beside us, lands in a flock of 60 decoys and a working Robo-Duck placed just off line to the long bird. A fourth bird comes in as our dog is returning from the last bird and is shot to the left of the marks. The go bird, thrown right to left at 30yds, was fairly straight forward but the many decoys threw off some dogs a little. The centre bird, just behind the go bird and thrown left to right at 52yds, was selected second by most dogs. Although the bird landed in heavy swamp grass, most dogs did not have a problem with this bird. The left bird, thrown first at 110yds and left to right, was the most difficult. All but a few dogs handled on this bird. The correct line was over a small island, over a grass peninsula then into a running water pond where the dog had to ignore the suction of either shore. Most dogs elected to stay dry on the last third of this mark and hunted the right shore extensively. Pre-test | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Final Results
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