hunt test / field trials

[constructeur]

There are plenty of free places to train. There are a lot of options for local events to give yourself a comparison against which you evaluate your own training abilities and areas where you may be weak and need to improve.

My point about 'yesteryear' is that folks used to be able to live downtown, and still hunt/train/shoot 15-20 minutes from their house. Shooting ordinances have been expanded to rural areas in some regions...

All of the places you listed are 30+ minutes from my door, I'm looking at nearly an hour of window time to get somewhere I can legally shoot a bird for training. I'll personally be fine, I'm committed and have a core group of folks to help out, property 10 minutes away I'm allowed to train on ( starter pistol only) and this Summer will have both shooter and homing pigeons to work with. But Jon Q. Public that's just getting started or whatever, I think he's got more work/red tape ahead of him than he used to is all.

You touched on 'commitment' and I think in general it just takes more work to enjoy any outdoors type activities than when we were kids...


On another note, if you buy the data I've posted above, the AKC is in trouble, less folks are hunting (per capita) but since the internet has popped up I've noticed a resurgence in some breeds; hunting bred Weimeraners, Braque du Bourbonnais, Slovakian Pointers, that kind of stuff...

[Happy Gilmore]

I'd call Gary at Cooke if you need a few birds.

http://www.cookecanyon.com/

[addicted2hunting]

I'd call Gary at Cooke if you need a few birds.

http://www.cookecanyon.com/

ok good call thanks....

[Happy Gilmore]

If the AKC is in trouble I suggest you try to enter a retriever master hunt test outside our state. They have limited entries and tests are filled within minutes of opening. And, dog shows have seen high entries

[Don Fischer]

There are plenty of free places to train. There are a lot of options for local events to give yourself a comparison against which you evaluate your own training abilities and areas where you may be weak and need to improve.

My point about 'yesteryear' is that folks used to be able to live downtown, and still hunt/train/shoot 15-20 minutes from their house. Shooting ordinances have been expanded to rural areas in some regions...

All of the places you listed are 30+ minutes from my door, I'm looking at nearly an hour of window time to get somewhere I can legally shoot a bird for training. I'll personally be fine, I'm committed and have a core group of folks to help out, property 10 minutes away I'm allowed to train on ( starter pistol only) and this Summer will have both shooter and homing pigeons to work with. But Jon Q. Public that's just getting started or whatever, I think he's got more work/red tape ahead of him than he used to is all.

You touched on 'commitment' and I think in general it just takes more work to enjoy any outdoors type activities than when we were kids...


On another note, if you buy the data I've posted above, the AKC is in trouble, less folks are hunting (per capita) but since the internet has popped up I've noticed a resurgence in some breeds; hunting bred Weimeraners, Braque du Bourbonnais, Slovakian Pointers, that kind of stuff...

I think there is a reason for the other breed's showing up. Show people bred the hunt instint down and field people breed it to hot.

[constructeur]

Don- So what's your idea about renewed interest in rare breeds?

Paul-I understand your point, our NAVHDA events are packed to the gills for every scheduled event as well, with many folks lining up other options as far as 2 states away.
 As a whole though folks with shotguns and dogs breed for wing work are on the decline.

[jetjockey]

Traditional pointing dog trials are definately on the decline.  I'm not sure if it's the introduction of NSTRA and other venues, or that people just aren't trialing like they used to, but there has been a sharp decline.    The American Brit Club, probably the most well organized club there is, had the lowest entry for the Amateur All Age Nationals last year they ever had.  More and more clubs are opening their trials to all breeds just to fill them.  They have just relaxed the standards for a dog to qualify to run at Nationals, to boost entry's.  It's tough to run a quality National Championship with only 30-40 entry's, and to pay for everything needed to run the trial.  I HATE the fact that they have relexed the qualifications, because now it doesn't take a whole heck of a lot to get qualified, when it used to be pretty tough just to qualify, let alone win.  But that's the sign of the times, and I understand why they needed to do it.

[AspenBud]

The rare breed surge is interesting. But I suspect as someone said, the world wide web has made some of those breeds more visible and as a result have shined a light on the deficiencies people see or perceive in the traditional breeds. I watched a pudelpointer run in a fun trial a while back that actually held its own when braced against a wirehair. Off the course the dog was about as mellow as you can get and the owner said the dog was about the most mellow pointing dog he had ever owned.

The above said I can't help but wonder if some of the surge is also laziness. If people dig a little deeper than just generalizations about a breed they can usually find a dog that works. Or put another way, I think a lot of people wanting setters or Pointers would be happier with a Llewelin or line bred Elhew but they hop online, see what people have to say about those, and instead end up with a fire breather that is "too much dog." Or they see the horror stories of people doing that. That scenario applies to all the traditional breeds that have a heavy FT side.

[Happy Gilmore]

I'm glad retrievers have gone the opposite way pointers are described above

[Don Fischer]

Don- So what's your idea about renewed interest in rare breeds?

Paul-I understand your point, our NAVHDA events are packed to the gills for every scheduled event as well, with many folks lining up other options as far as 2 states away.
 As a whole though folks with shotguns and dogs breed for wing work are on the decline.

Last 10 or 12 yrs I've seen a lot of different breeds come in. The Pointing Griffon is one that I can actually spell. The lab people have what they call the pointing lab but no test's that I know of. NAVHDA started a long time ago and there lots of different breed's in there, several relatively new breed's.

I think the decline in AKC pointing dog trial's is cause by a couple things. First the trials clubs do little or nothing to bring in new people. The AKC field trials can get very expensive. You can of course lower the cost with a tent and borrowed horse but the entry fee's are still around $65. Gas is expensive and not a lot of people have a close field trial club, certainly not one with a program to get none trialer's into it. A guy I've   known a long time trials all he can. Told me a couple years ago it was running him $3000 a month!  You actually go to a trial and run in an amateur stake and you'll soon find that what is being considered an amateur is people with many years of trial experience, some pro's that quit and mostly they are gonna kick your butt.

The wirehair club in Bend has training days a number of time's a year and the wirehair club over by Portland used to do quite a few program's a year. I'' don't know if they do any more. It is very hard to keep field trialing going if your doing little or nothing to promote it.

[AspenBud]

Don- So what's your idea about renewed interest in rare breeds?

Paul-I understand your point, our NAVHDA events are packed to the gills for every scheduled event as well, with many folks lining up other options as far as 2 states away.
 As a whole though folks with shotguns and dogs breed for wing work are on the decline.

Last 10 or 12 yrs I've seen a lot of different breeds come in. The Pointing Griffon is one that I can actually spell. The lab people have what they call the pointing lab but no test's that I know of. NAVHDA started a long time ago and there lots of different breed's in there, several relatively new breed's.

I think the decline in AKC pointing dog trial's is cause by a couple things. First the trials clubs do little or nothing to bring in new people. The AKC field trials can get very expensive. You can of course lower the cost with a tent and borrowed horse but the entry fee's are still around $65. Gas is expensive and not a lot of people have a close field trial club, certainly not one with a program to get none trialer's into it. A guy I've   known a long time trials all he can. Told me a couple years ago it was running him $3000 a month!  You actually go to a trial and run in an amateur stake and you'll soon find that what is being considered an amateur is people with many years of trial experience, some pro's that quit and mostly they are gonna kick your butt.

The wirehair club in Bend has training days a number of time's a year and the wirehair club over by Portland used to do quite a few program's a year. I'' don't know if they do any more. It is very hard to keep field trialing going if your doing little or nothing to promote it.

Great post.

I think your point about the lack of promotion is a big one here. It's kind of hard to get people involved when they don't even know the events are going on.

The lack of training days is a big one too. The average guy coming to an amateur event for the first time is likely coming with a very good bird finder that isn't that steady on birds one way or another. There is a reason for that. Throw monthly training days into a club and guys have a chance to both train and test their dog's progress. There is a point to it then instead of simply getting humbled by the more dedicated people with means who train their dogs to a higher level. Much as I kind of wrinkle my nose at it, the folks with the Oregon Bird Dog Challenge have that right, you pay your dues and you get access to a training day and a competition day once a month. They also have singles events so if a person's dog has a bad day or isn't all that steady they aren't messing it up for a bracemate. Purests have a problem with that but for the games to succeed I think it's a necessary evil.