2002 DOY Trial
by Brent Underdahl

SEE THE PICTURES

Kari and I left 6:00AM on Saturday, October 19^th. We already had an extra dog along, Elvis owned by Doug Cartwright, but our string of dogs was going to grow further. We picked up Crystal from Leroy Rathbun in Glendive. Little did Crystal know that she would probably never see the Big Sky of Montana again. Crystal would be going into the NSTRA Youth Auction. Adrenaline was high and stopping to sleep seemed silly and counter productive. About noon the next day we were at the Mecca of NSTRA, the Conservation Bird Dog Club. History and tradition oozed from everywhere.
We then spent the rest of that day and the next 2 days putting birds out for our 3 bird finders. Crystal even got a few trips across the field. CBDC has 3 very complex fields that are "groomed" for the birds and the dogs. It includes heavy & light cover, ponds, brushy areas, milo strips, and other objectives. The topography also had some complexity. Each of the 3 fields were very unique and challenged both the dog and handler. We also quickly learned the term Tennessee Bald Rocket. Sam Jones of Tennessee provided the birds and by far these were the fastest birds I have ever seen.

On Wed. Elvis had the 5^th brace. The wind was steady out of the East and all the locals all said the dogs can’t smell birds in an east wind. This was proving to be very true as all the dogs were struggling in all 3 fields. Elvis ended up 1-1 but probably not enough to advance. Scenting never picked up and Elvis was in 15^th place going into the 15^th brace. We only had to beat 3 of the next 4 dogs to advance dogs. No small task considering Beeline’s Bullet Bravado (Brave) was one of the four. In the end we beat Brave and 2 other dogs and Elvis was the bubble dog (16^th). Terry Courtright got the old man Blaze in with 3-3 in the B field. Blaze showed his ears may be going but his nose sure hasn’t.

The next day we headed to the C field for the 2^nd brace with Kip. Kip put on 3 birds but after a protest we lost one because the less intelligent part of the team sent Kip in early on a backing situation. After 14 braces of sweating and pacing we held out to the end for the bubble spot again. Now it was Tucks turn. Kari made it very clear I had gotten Elvis in and it looked like we had Kip in she expected no less for her dog. Unfortunately Tuck couldn’t come up with a bird and after covering the field at least twice he headed out of bounds into the trees with about 9 minutes left. Since there was enough birds in there to win all 3 fields we didn’t see Tuck again until about 5 minutes after the trial was over. The judge and I were sure he was in there someplace standing on point but it was too thick to hardly even walk thru.

On Friday, half the dogs were gone and the rest went to work to try and stay alive. Today only the top 8 would advance. Elvis had a good run in the 2^nd on B field matching Bonnie and Ron Park with 1 bird but unfortunately his was out of bounds. Kip ran in the 10^th brace against a quick little Brit owned by Pat Conn from Texas. The brit could only come up with 1 but Kip found 3 birds including one with only a minute to go. Kip was 5^th and it was time to wait and pace. Watching the other dogs run was too hard. Luckily the waiting ended in the 15^th as we were in 6^th place. In the end we were the bubble dog again in 8^th place. Blaze hung in there again with 3 birds. Not bad for an old dog. Guess that’s why he is a 5X champion.

Saturday we started out with another quick little brit named Emma from South Carolina. Kip was struggling with the scenting and did some creeping and cheating up on the bird but found 3 birds. The 2 birds he creeped on were only scored 59 & 68 so we had a very beatable score. We had to be in the top two of 8 dogs and in the end we ended up 1^st. Blaze ran in the same field and got 1-1. Terry had a bunch of bad luck on the run including stepping on a bird. He attributes it to a new orange vest he bought the day before so you could probably get the vest pretty cheap.

The next round was all up on A field with 6 dogs. I now started to think about getting in the money and the top 4. We drew first brace and Nolan’s Last Bullet (Buddy). Buddy was one of the dogs favored to win so we had our work cut out for us. We put a bird on in the first cast that set the pace for a 2-2 to Buddies 1-1. I figured we had given it a great run and hoped for a 3^rd place at best. Amazingly we beat both dogs in the next brace which meant we were now no worse than 3^rd.. Now playing in the final hour brace started to creep into my consciousness. The next 2 dogs didn’t do much and our 2-2 held for the #1 spot. We were in the final hour brace and no matter what happened Kip was a 2X Champion. COOL

After an hour or so rest Kip and I were back in the blind with Jed (a setter) and Mark House. It was now determined the 2002 DOY would be a setter. The pressure was now much less and it was time to have some fun. Kip got the first bird and held the lead for most of the first half-hour. At one point we were up 3-1. Jed got a several birds late and beat us 5-5-B with a great score.

Overall the experience was obviously beyond our wildest dreams. However advancing and placing was only part of the fun. The people you meet are great and camaraderie is amazing. The long drive is defiantly worth it no matter where you end up.

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