More text below photos
The first cover
on that hill was up past and area of soft, uneven choppy ground with plenty
of rocks (similar to a plowed last year and left rough). I slogged through as best I could as I thought the first birds
might be in the vegetation above the plowed area. Farli found her first quail before I was half way through the plowed field. As I had told
the judges this was our very first trial, they kindly offered suggestions
to help me learn. Al Lucas had reminded me earlier that this was NOT Master
Hunter and I was allowed to talk to my dog. I did caution her with a few calls of "easy" and 'whoa". It was about then that I remembered that
I had forgotten to carry a blank pistol. I told Al Lucas of my problem.
He called to the gallery to ask if anyone had a blank pistol I could borrow.
Luckily someone did. Al Lucas told me that a blank pistol was coming
and to pay attention to my dog until they brought it to me. I walked to her side
just in front of her so I was in her field of vision and used voice and
gestures to re-enforce the importance of steadiness. He had it cocked and ready,
cautioning me that the gun had a 'hair' trigger. I don't remember the name of the kind person that saved me.
Kita, called
"back" for her dog, but I really paid no attention to Kita or her dog at
that point. I flushed the bird for Farli and tried to shoot the bird with the blank pistol. Al Lucas reminded me that I just
had to fire the pistol, not pretend to shoot the bird. He indicated that
I should pay more attention to the dog instead of watching the bird.I
put the gun in my pocket (carefully tethering the cord to my belt) and
got water for Farli. I heeled her off telling her she was good and insisting
that she have a few swallows of water.
The bird had
flown back to the west and I sent Farli on to the south, continuing along
the base of the hill. She cast first to the east and then back toward the west. I tooted on my whistle and used an arm
gesture to indicate her south to avoid a delayed chase. Fortunately she listened. This has been a bit difficult to teach Farli as we typically
follow a flown bird because Rusty has a better chance of catching wild birds on the reflush. Farli has learned that we do things a tad different
for gun hunting (guiding/trials/tests) than for falconry.
Farli found
one more quail on the south side of this hill. Kita and her dog Shasta
along with Smitty (the other judge) had moved on further south toward the next hill with relatively dense stand of mesquite
and other scrub. This is short mesquite only about 2 to 4 ft high. The
plan was to shoot the first chukar points, and let the quail go free. I'm thinking
that Al Lucas had the gunner come up on this point. (Gee it was only this morning and is seems ages ago - I had a wonderful, busy day - I hope
this next part is accurate). The gunner arrived and asked me where
I wanted him. I told him that I had not done this before and he would know what
was needed better than I would. So he chose a position down hill with his
back to the judge and gallery. I flushed by going forward between Farli
and the gunner. The gunner was not able to shoot (safety) so I needed to
shoot the blank pistol. I shot the blank pistol, with less attention to the aim
this time. I asked Farli to heel to the south and insisted she drink some
water.
Then we headed across a flat area toward the next hill to the south.
I was pleased that Farli ran, checking the down wind side of each chunk
of cover and moving to the next objective. Kita was in the thicket of the mesquite
working her dog on a bird as we approached the hill. Farli was well in front of me. I whistled to Farli and with arm gesture and body language
sent her to the down wind (east) edge of the mesquite thicket (and away from Kita to avoid potential interference as backing is not Farli's
strongest trait. I walked toward the east edge where there were running Chukar. I somehow got disoriented on wind direction (seems silly, but
I was a tad stressed in my very first ever field trial.) I tried to direct
Farli (incorrectly for the wind direction), but she pointed another bird.
The bird continued walking and Farli really wanted to relocated. I was
tempted to send her for a relocated, but Al Lucas was calling for a gunner.
I stayed with Farli waiting for the gunners to get in position. Evidently
I waited too long (the gunners were near Farli and I rather than where
the birds was near the judge). So with more cautions to stay still, I moved
to the vicinity of the chukar and tried to run up through rocks, etc to
flush the bird - I fell down, the bird flushed and Farli stayed put till
I asked her to retrieve. Farli could not see the bird fall from her location
and ran further than the fall, but she made good use of the wind to find
the dead bird and returned to me promptly by the easiest route (if not
the most direct). She derived nicely to hand and I gave the chukker to
the judge.
I was quite
happy with my hunting dog as we continued back toward the "camp" and the
end of our brace. Smitty had Kita wait for us as we were quite close by then. I was able to choose easier footing on the way
back. I was tiring and slowing as we started up the hill at the end of
the course. Kita let me hang on her saddle or horses tail a few times. One of the
judges promised a prize if "you run up that hill, young lady". Kita send her horse forward only to be told that he was talking to the "young
lady" on foot not the one on her horse. That was a nice chuckle. The dogs continued hunting until we were told time was up and each called her
dog to her. Farli came obediently, but was clearly NOT ready to stop hunting.
I was very pleased
with her run and happily walked her back to the van. There I fixed her
the mixture the vet recommended of the fluid from boiling unseasoned chicken and a bit of kayo syrup (or honey) and potassium
supplement. Farli seems to need this on all day hunting trips to prevent shaking from depleting herself. Ok this was only 30 minutes, but I
want her eager for the VCA field tests and for tomorrow's run.
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