The 2016 National Retriever Championship travels to Dave Fowler's in Dodd City, Texas. As we wind thru the narrow gravel roads we come to a long gravel driveway heading north. Looking to the west we can see headlights in a large field with several ponds.
The 9th Series is a water quad with an honor. The mat is placed to the west of the gravel driveway on a pond levee facing to the south. The mat is no further than 20 yards from water's edge of two ponds.The test is thrown "around the horn"from left to right.
The first mark to be thrown is near the south east corner of the field about 100 yards from the entrance. This mark is placed at a distance of 282 yards on the east side of a gradual draw. The gunners are throwing a dead Rooster pheasant across the draw to the right. The gun station retires behind a bushy group of cedars. We will refer to this mark as the Long Retired or LR.
The next mark to be thrown is a twitch to the right of the field and a look on the side hill to find a Flyer station. The gunners throw a Hen Pheasant Flyer to the left, it lands in light to medium cover on the side hill. This station is at distance of 230 yards and remains visible through out the test. We will refer to this mark as the Flyer.
The third mark to be thrown in this 9th Series quad is an eye flicker in toward the far shore of the pond in which the mat faces. This gun station throws a dead Hen Pheasant to the right toward a round bale about 15 yards from the waters edge. The gunners take a few steps to the south east and disappear behind a gnarly tree near the pond. This mark is measuring a distance of 171 yards and will be referred to as the Middle Retired or MR.
The final mark to be thrown, known as the "go-bird" and is thrown to the right. This is a tempting Hen Mallard as it is thrown only 58 yards from the mat. This gun station remains visible during the duration of the test.
Once the dog retrieves all the bird the handler's steps to the east to another mat. It is here the dog must honor another working dog as the marks are being thrown. Only once the birds have hit the ground the honoring dog maybe excused from the second mat and the test of Series 9 considered complete.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!
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| Middle Retired |
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| Flyer Station |
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| The Go-Bird Station |
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| Long Retired |
