Flight A Test 4 … the handlers arrived at the line to view the test dog at 7:45 am with the sun at their back, a 5-10 mph breeze hitting them in their right shoulder. The judges greeted the group and welcomed them to a duck hunt that's already in progress. The test begins with a Walk-up Flyer where the handler is advised to come out of the holding blind on the left. They pick up their gun and start walking towards a small green pine tree stuck in the ground. They are advised to stay left of the pine tree for maximum visibility. As they get to the pine, the gunners launch and shoot a live flyer from a station in pine trees in front of the line. This bird lands approximately 60 yards from the line in an open area.
Bird #2 is on the handler's far left and is across a road and out on a point in the water. This bird is launched to the left and lands across a cove on the bank of a small point that juts out into the water. The entire area is in a small bowl requiring the dog to go down a steep bank, cross a small piece of water and find its bird 63 yards from the line.
The middle bird is the third duck in this test and is launched to the left from a well-brushed blind. The line to this mark goes down a hill, across a small cove and up onto the shore. This bird lands with a splash actually right up against the bank 53 yards from the shore.
The handler turns to his far right, facing an open field dotted with hay bales including two areas of Avery full-body goose decoys. The line to the blind takes the dog across the dirt road, between the two clusters of decoys and out to the blind 108 yards from the line.
Test Dog "Yeti"with handler Mark Atwater came to the line at 7:58 am. He did an excellent job of both the middle bird then the flyer. He had to be handled on the difficult left-hand bird. He made short work of the blind and completed the test in five minutes.
Test Dog "Wyatt" with handler Annette Pacheco came to the line at 8:03 am. He drilled the middle bird, went straight to the fall area for the flyer. On the left-hand bird, he took a direct line to the fall area, made a few tight turns and got it. He overcame a few issue and completed the blind.
We watched the first ten dogs run … one bird had an extended hunt on the left-hand bird. There were four handles on the left-hand bird and two dogs had difficulty on the blind. The average time was 5-1/2 minutes on the blind.
