The 5th and Final Series of the 2013 Master National: We woke this morning to steady rain and wind. The fifth series called Duck Blind began late due to the weather. The rain continued throughout most of the morning, but no lightning or heavy rainstorms. The test was a triple water test with a single blind. The first dead duck was thrown from a launcher to the left of the line on a rise requiring the dog to cross some minimal water and proceed to the bird a short distance up the hill. The second bird was a dead duck launched directly in front of the line and landing in heavy cover near the shore or sometimes with a splash in the water. The GO bird was a live flyer coming right of the line over water and landing in the water. This was followed by a sluiching shot on the downed duck. After retrieving the marks there was a blind planted in cover on the hill between the first two marks. We entered the fifth series with two dogs from SMRC left in the competition. Scott’s Indy ran a good test and we are confident that she is coming home with a silver plate, but nothing is certain until they announce the qualifiers tomorrow afternoon. Dick Myers and Page put on another clinic and had a completely perfect run. There is no question about her second silver plate as for the second year in a row she has surpassed the performance of any other dog in her flight. We need to celebrate and cherish the performance of all the SMRC dogs, trainers, owners and handlers who participated in the Super Bowl of hunt tests. Just getting to this level and competing is an enormous accomplishment. Congratulations to all!
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 03:33:58 +0000