Shooting an open springer trial

[Lloyd90]

It must be almost a weeks ago now but I have only just had time to sit down and write it up... 

 

Saturday 19th December - Mid Wales Open Springer held in Cheshire. A few last minute changes due to Covid and judges and guns unable to attend so there was a slot available. I messages the secretary and spend all afternoon juggling shifts at work and managed to secure the day time off so booked in as a last minute gun to shoot walked up at the trial.

 

Up early on the morning and drove up to Cheshire - 2 hours 15 min run. I arrived at the trial and it was good to be greeted by a few lads I met this last 2 years at tests and similar events. 

Met the shoot captain, the other guns who had shot at a lot of trials before (thank god) and a good bit of banter was followed by us setting up and off we went. 

 

The trial was held in mature woodland, with the woodland floor almost entirely covered with green bramble, and later on bracken ferns. We started with the dogs hunting and they dived straight into the bramble, bashing around inside no bother at all. That's that sort of horrible bramble that you get all tangled up in. I know my dog wouldn't dive into this flat out without being hot on scent so this was impressive to see, and was very different than shooting walked up in the cover crops. 

 

We hunted on and a few birds were flushed but they were running ahead rather than sitting tight and a lot of birds were getting up far out making for tough shooting when also behind woodland trees, bushes etc. A few dogs came and went but every single dog there was hunting like hell inside that cover it was something else to watch, really powerful animals. 

 

Finally a few birds started to sit tight and as we hunted up I managed to drop a bird going away which was picked and retrieved back to the handler. We hunted on further and a group of 3 got up and I dropped 1 into thick cover, which the handler picked and finished his run. 
 

Several birds flushed out of the wood and were dropped by the gun on the edge of the woodland, Arthur. 

 

Some of the dogs were the full package but I did notice that a fair few of them didn't handle amazingly, weren't that sharp on the stop whistle, and needed a lot of work on the retrieve, what they all did however was absolutely smash the hell out of the cover, ever dog there. Clearly I should be more concerned about getting the dog to hunt like a demon and sort a bit of handling later on by the looks of it! 

 

Towards the end of the trial a few birds got up, and a cracking flush was made on a woodcock, the dog sat to flush and I managed to drop the bird on the second shot. I was asked by the judge to keep the mark on the bird because the dog on the other side had just failed on a retireve and our dog who seemed to have marked the woodcock was taken over to try as a blind on the other side, I real shame I thought as I think he should have been sent for the marked woodcock he just flushed and had shot over him, but there we go I'm no judge. 

 

Both dogs failed to find the bird on the other side, but when brought back the dog on my side did get out and find the woodcock I shot, which tried to run when the dog arrived but was picked and delivered to hand. A fantastic retrieve considering it became a blind after the dog was taken away and brought back. 

We were told by the shoot owners wife just after this that we weren't supposed to shoot the woodcock on this shoot  ... but it would have been good if she mentioned that at the start of the trial ... 

 

We finished up with a Helmsway dog running, which was a real world class animal. The dog looked like he was attacking cover for dear life!! He charged and dived through the air into one lot of cover, only for a bird to erupt out. I raised the gun but it was another woodcock so just lifted the gun back up as the shoot owners wife started shouting "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"  ... I had already lifted the gun before she even noticed and just give her a nod and she laughed. 

 

 

We finished the trial with Helmsway Hoodlum running off against Whiznic Weetabix. All 4 guns got together at the end and the 4 of us picked those 2 dogs are the top dogs before the judges ever called them up. 

They were called up for a run off and Whiznic Weetabix just managed to pip the win after a real long run off. 

 

 

 

A cracking experience to see and learn from, and gives me some aims for training the pup that is coming along. I shall not be worrying about a lot of handling etc until the dog is really flying I am hoping as without that awesome hunting drive it's a bit of a waste of time... 

 

My older springer Ted would have hunted some of that woodland (especially when on scent) but would not have flown through that thick cover and bramble like those dogs did on the day, they really were a different league of animal. 

 

 

 

 

[Rob85]

10 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

It must be almost a weeks ago now but I have only just had time to sit down and write it up... 

 

Saturday 19th December - Mid Wales Open Springer held in Cheshire. A few last minute changes due to Covid and judges and guns unable to attend so there was a slot available. I messages the secretary and spend all afternoon juggling shifts at work and managed to secure the day time off so booked in as a last minute gun to shoot walked up at the trial.

 

Up early on the morning and drove up to Cheshire - 2 hours 15 min run. I arrived at the trial and it was good to be greeted by a few lads I met this last 2 years at tests and similar events. 

Met the shoot captain, the other guns who had shot at a lot of trials before (thank god) and a good bit of banter was followed by us setting up and off we went. 

 

The trial was held in mature woodland, with the woodland floor almost entirely covered with green bramble, and later on bracken ferns. We started with the dogs hunting and they dived straight into the bramble, bashing around inside no bother at all. That's that sort of horrible bramble that you get all tangled up in. I know my dog wouldn't dive into this flat out without being hot on scent so this was impressive to see, and was very different than shooting walked up in the cover crops. 

 

We hunted on and a few birds were flushed but they were running ahead rather than sitting tight and a lot of birds were getting up far out making for tough shooting when also behind woodland trees, bushes etc. A few dogs came and went but every single dog there was hunting like hell inside that cover it was something else to watch, really powerful animals. 

 

Finally a few birds started to sit tight and as we hunted up I managed to drop a bird going away which was picked and retrieved back to the handler. We hunted on further and a group of 3 got up and I dropped 1 into thick cover, which the handler picked and finished his run. 
 

Several birds flushed out of the wood and were dropped by the gun on the edge of the woodland, Arthur. 

 

Some of the dogs were the full package but I did notice that a fair few of them didn't handle amazingly, weren't that sharp on the stop whistle, and needed a lot of work on the retrieve, what they all did however was absolutely smash the hell out of the cover, ever dog there. Clearly I should be more concerned about getting the dog to hunt like a demon and sort a bit of handling later on by the looks of it! 

 

Towards the end of the trial a few birds got up, and a cracking flush was made on a woodcock, the dog sat to flush and I managed to drop the bird on the second shot. I was asked by the judge to keep the mark on the bird because the dog on the other side had just failed on a retireve and our dog who seemed to have marked the woodcock was taken over to try as a blind on the other side, I real shame I thought as I think he should have been sent for the marked woodcock he just flushed and had shot over him, but there we go I'm no judge. 

 

Both dogs failed to find the bird on the other side, but when brought back the dog on my side did get out and find the woodcock I shot, which tried to run when the dog arrived but was picked and delivered to hand. A fantastic retrieve considering it became a blind after the dog was taken away and brought back. 

We were told by the shoot owners wife just after this that we weren't supposed to shoot the woodcock on this shoot  ... but it would have been good if she mentioned that at the start of the trial ... 

 

We finished up with a Helmsway dog running, which was a real world class animal. The dog looked like he was attacking cover for dear life!! He charged and dived through the air into one lot of cover, only for a bird to erupt out. I raised the gun but it was another woodcock so just lifted the gun back up as the shoot owners wife started shouting "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"  ... I had already lifted the gun before she even noticed and just give her a nod and she laughed. 

 

 

We finished the trial with Helmsway Hoodlum running off against Whiznic Weetabix. All 4 guns got together at the end and the 4 of us picked those 2 dogs are the top dogs before the judges ever called them up. 

They were called up for a run off and Whiznic Weetabix just managed to pip the win after a real long run off. 

 

 

 

A cracking experience to see and learn from, and gives me some aims for training the pup that is coming along. I shall not be worrying about a lot of handling etc until the dog is really flying I am hoping as without that awesome hunting drive it's a bit of a waste of time... 

 

My older springer Ted would have hunted some of that woodland (especially when on scent) but would not have flown through that thick cover and bramble like those dogs did on the day, they really were a different league of animal. 

 

 

 

 

Great write up, I wonder is that fearsome hunting ability all ingrained in the blood or is it taught or encouraged in the way they are trained, a lot of trainers advocate getting a dog well heeled from the outset but I'm sure it was Joe Irving in his book who said some field trial trainers leave heel work to the end so it doesn't take away some of their natural hunting drive.

[Lloyd90]

4 minutes ago, Rob85 said:

Great write up, I wonder is that fearsome hunting ability all ingrained in the blood or is it taught or encouraged in the way they are trained, a lot of trainers advocate getting a dog well heeled from the outset but I'm sure it was Joe Irving in his book who said some field trial trainers leave heel work to the end so it doesn't take away some of their natural hunting drive.

 

I think it’s a combination of factors most likely Rob. 
 

They’re are running some of the best bred dogs you can get, in the hands of the best trainers, who have years of experience and hopefully by that point have access to game they can train and run them on. 
 

Although many of them boys did alright, a few of them were complaining about how hard it is to get access to decent ground with game on it to train and shoot over the dogs. 
 

 

The real top boys, the ones winning the championship year after year have plenty of access to game that I suppose us mere mortals can only dream of. 

[Rob85]

I suppose the top boys probably have a shoot right on their doorstep they can use for training....dogging in etc

One of the shoots I used to beat on had a guy who was making a fortune off his dogs being used for stud, 2 of which were international field trial champions, he also judged at trials as well....I'll omit the name to avoid controversies! But anything he wanted on the shoot as regards access or whatever he got what he wanted. I got put right off him though after being set up by him and his mates for a laugh when I joined the shoot with my inexperienced dog...story for another day!