Friday 1 May 2009

WGAA VIC & WGAA NSW Trial Weekend






















With the Pointer & Setter field trial season in full swing, two trials have been conducted at the time of writing. Saturday 25th saw the traditional Anzac Day trial (open this year to all pointing breeds) take place in Victoria’s Western District. A minutes silence at 7 am was followed by a tough event in in a native grass and stubble paddock that held a good number of birds. Weather conditions were wet and windy – excellent for the dogs, but not so good for some of the handlers who were caught out with the rain – who could blame them?
At around 2pm the judge, Denis Everard had seen enough, and Henry Foster’s pointer dog F Ch (CS) Koram Kris at Innistona (Imp Ire) NFTW (CS) was awarded first place over Vince Pino’s pointer dog Ft Ch Rocca Diesel and Panos Papas’ pointer dog Similax Brio was awarded third place.
The following day saw the NSW WGAA Branch conduct its inaugural pointer & setter trial in Victoria (quail hunting has been closed in NSW and shooting trials are unable to be conducted at present – a situation we all hope is reversed in the near future). The venue, near Ballarat, was an excellent stubble paddock. The birds were very wild, a situation brought about in no doubt by the wind that was getting stronger by the minute, and most dogs were having great difficulty scenting and holding game. Stubble, high winds and running birds can often be a tricky combination. The judge, Vince Guastella from NSW, was very mindful of the problems and was generous in his judgement.However, the large number of ‘bumped’ birds eventually could not be overlooked and a no result was the only logical outcome.
Despite the disappointing result on the second day, the weekend was a great success. Old friendships renewed, hard going dogs, wild weather, game birds ... who could ask for more?

Anzac Day Pointer & Setter Field Trial (All pointing breeds)

ALL POINTING BREEDS FIELD TRIAL - ANZAC DAY-SATURDAY 25th.APRIL 2009

The trial grounds were stubble and grassy rocky outcrops in Western Victoria.
There was a cool north westerly wind blowing and conditions were ideal for field trialing.
6Pointers , 1 German Shorthair Pointer and 1 Le’pagneul Breton made up the field.
Prior to the commencement of the trial one minutes silence was observed in respect to the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy our freedom today in this country.
Throughout the day there were plenty of quail and in the first round there was a number of dogs that impressed.
Angie Bloomer’s GSP bitch was competing in her first trial and worked her gound and drew on her birds beautifully. She had 4 birds but none were shot at.
Henry Foster’s PD Major put in a quality run and filled his card.
Vince Pino’s PD Diesel handled well and had a stylish find and back and roaded his bird out smartly.
Panos Papas’s PD Oscar did enough with a couple of finds and backs to be seen again.
Neville Whaley’s young PB worked her ground and found impressively.She had 4 finds but I think Neville could not get his safety catch off. He did shoot on her last find but Patch broke.
Barry Oliver’s PD Striker had 3 good finds and 2 retrieves. However he failed to retrieve the last bird that was shot and was disqualified.
4 dogs were taken into the 2nd. Round.
Major had 2 good finds and a good retrieve.His search and ground coverage was as required and I was very happy with his productions. He was well handled and his obedience and control was without fault.
Diesel found well, produced his birds on command smartly and showed good style and intensity on point. Vince was letting the dog down with his shooting but eventually he completed his card by doing a good seek dead.
Oscar had a satisfactory find and retrieve.
Angie”s bitch failed to back when it had several opportunities.

1st. MAJOR (H.& L. Foster)
2nd. DIESEL (V.Pino)
3rd. OSCAR (P.Papas)
Best Novice Dog. ATDAWN (A.Bloomer)

Denis J. Everard. (Judge)