47 dogs passed the previous test and will be running Test 4. This will be a Land Triple with a Land Blind and an Honor and is held on the Nez Perce property. The line faces up a gently sloping hillside with an outcropping of rocks towards the top and a heavy treeline behind the rocks. Gun station #1 was moved approximately 20 yards closer to the line so that the bird would land in sparse cover that was free of holes and hazards. The gunner is nestled at the end of a treeline just out of sight to the right in the photo above. The bird is still thrown to the left into the same clearing, only15-20 yards closer to the line and safer.
The second bird is a flyer in front of the line. The duck is launched and shot from a group of evergreens to the left, angled back landing in an open field landing 99 yards from the line. Gun station #3 is on the left side of the hillside. The guns are hidden at the left side of the rocky outcropping launching a duck to the right. This duck lands approximately 86 yards from the line.
The Land Blind is between the line to bird #1 and bird #2. The dog should pass on the right of a pine and through a gap in the trees then on to the duck at 104 yards from the line.
The Test Dogs started running at approximately 3:45 pm. The wind is 10-15 mph hitting the handler in the back. Both test dogs did a nice job and the test took between four to five minutes per dog. We watched the first ten dogs run – this is a very challenging test giving both dog and handler some difficulty. Two dogs had to handle on right-hand bird #1. One dog had to be handled on the flyer. The blind also was proving to be difficult with several dogs being loose at the end.
