6. Henfield’s Zoe “Zoe”, LF, Danny Farmer

DF: Went straight to the bird

SR: Got into the water, traveled a good line toward the area, then took a right around the cover, and then went left diving in the cover to come up with the bird.

HF: Traveled the line square to the pond putting dog behind the gun station where he established a small hunt before moving over to the area and picking up the bird.

4. FC-AFC Ragin Eye Of The Storm “Cane”, LM, Alan Pleasant

Came to the line at 1:08  pm EST

DF: Perfect!

SR: Took a nice line up into the cover to retrieve the bird clean.

HF: Entered the water with a huge splash, traveled up the hill behind the guns, established a hunt to the left before making a move to the right and retrieving the bird.

Re-Run 82. FC Sweetie’s Easy Rider “Ford”, LM, Jim Gonia

Came to the line at 1:00 pm  ET

DF: Got up on the point, made a quick pass on the point before re-entering and going straight to the bird.

HF: Drilled it!

SR: Traveled toward the area, angling the cover, straight to the bird.

3. FC Rock River Benjamin “Ben”, LM, Bill Eckett

DF: Traveled out, just missed bird, went deep, drove to the levy, hunted the bank before coming back to retrieve the bird.

SR: Took a good initial line, carried it through the water, drove to the top of the cover where the bird lands, and then came back and dove into the cover to retrieve the bird.

HF: Went to the area, established a hunt in the area before coming up with the bird.

1. FC Peakebrook’s Secret Weapon “Bond”, LM, Al Arthur

Came to the line at 12:39 pm ET

DF: Had a perfect mark.

SR: Made a couple loops left and short of the area before diving into the cover to retrieve the bird.

HF: Went up and hunted behind the guns before working his way back down to retrieve the bird.

91. Utopian Sixteen Hands “Hunter”, LM, Jerry Patopea

Came to the line at 12:27 pm ET

DF: Entered the water with a huge splash and went directly to the bird.

HF: Traveled under the arc, Drove deep of the gun station, established a hunt before making his way over to the bird.

SR: Drove into the cover and just missed the bird, having to establish a small hunt before completing the retrieve.

Re-Run 57. FC-AFC Duckblind’s Real McCoy “Charli”, LF, Dave Opseth

DF: A nice mark.

SR: Dog went straight to the area to retrieve the bird.

HF: Traveled the line behind the guns made several loops to the left and right deep of the gun before finally working to the area to retrieve the bird.

Handle 85. FC Jazztime Montana Cowboy “Roper”, LM, Danny Farmer

Came to the line at 12:05 am ET

DF: Had a very long flyer. Dog drove the point and went to the left, while in the water got a snout full of scent to turn and retrieve the bird.

HF: Dove through the cover on the correct side, made a couple passes deep of the guns to retrieve the bird.

SR: Took a great initial line and carried it all the way to the top of the cover where the bird lands. Dog established a hunt around the area and short of cover, Danny then had to handle Roper into the cover to complete the retrieve.

No-Bird 82. FC Sweetie’s Easy Rider “Ford”, LM, Jim Gonia

HF: No Bird

Gun Change/Conditions Report

Gun Change at Noon...

Conditions are: the sky is bright, clouds have cleared,  temperature has risen to 58 degrees, with the winds consistent out of the NE at 6-10 miles per hour.

77. FC-CFC Laird’s Cynful Wisdom “Wiley”, LF, Dave Smith

DF: Drilled it!

HF: Took a great initial line up the hill and straight to the bird.

SR:Traveled the line at the holding blind, made a quick move to the left, jumping into the cover to retrieve the bird.

75. FC-AFC Coolwater’s Knockout “Punch”, LM, Alex Washburn

Came to the line at 11:32 am ET

DF: Smacked it!

SR: Traveled to the water where he squared the water, corrected his line while swimming to go straight to the area and straight to the bird.

HF: Traveled the line behind the guns, made a quick loop toward the area for a rapid retrieve.

74. FC-AFC-CNFC-CNAFC Nightwings Marsh Leader “Guide”, LM, Bill Sargenti

DF: Traveled out right of the bird and quickly scooped it up.

HF: Made one pass in a strip of cover just before the area, immediately making his way deep to retrieve the bird.

SR:Dog traveled to the area, established a hunt before retrieving the bird.

*** DISCLAIMER NOTICE ***

Due to current issues with internet connectivity, we are having difficulty keeping posts as current as we would like. For this reason, we apologize for the delays in coverage. We will be heading to a location that has a better internet connection so we can update the blog to include photos of the tests, contestant photos on their posts and new video commentary.

Please bear with us during this time....and thank you for understanding.
We are working hard to make this all possible, and our team always strives to keep information as accurate as possible and as up to the minute as much as we can!

~ Retriever News Team
Tina Styan, Tera Lanczak and Gwen Jones

Re-Run/No-Bird 57. FC-AFC Duckblind’s Real McCoy “Charli”, LF, Dave Opseth

DF: No bird

72. FC-AFC Trumarc’s Hollandaise “Holland”, LM, Danny Farmer

Came to the line at 11:09   am ET

DF: Nice Mark!

SR: Had a great line traveling towards the holding blind, established a hunt in the area before retrieving the bird.

HF: Hammered it!

65. FC Paddlecreek’s Carbon Grade “Coal”, LM, Ray Voigt

Came to the line at 11:02 am ET

DF: Chalk-lined to the bird.

HF: Took off toward the water, traveling a line to the back side of the flyer station, while swimming he adjusted to travel toward the fall area, exited angling the hill straight to the bird.

SR: Had a good initial line into the water, held the angle through the pond, established a small area hunt to retrieve the bird.

61. FC-AFC Rev Blu Genes “Rev”, LM, Ed Forry

Came to the line at 10:54   am ET

DF: Drilled the mark!

HF: Looked as if the dog was traveling toward the SR. But changed his mind mid-stroke to head for the HF. Going straight to the area to retrieve the bird.

SR: Took off the mat on a hard angle to the right, carried a hard angle to the right in the pond, traveling toward the fall area and scooping up the bird clean.

60. Beaverdam’s Blockbuster “Buster”, LM, Rick Roberts

Came to the line at 10:42 am ET

DF: Excellent Mark!

SR: Traveled a line at the holding blind, drove to the cover, made a couple circles around the cover before breaking into the cover and retrieving the bird.

HF: Left the line and entered the water with a big splash, squared the pond, exited driving the hill behind the guns. Est. a hunt deep and left of the guns before making a move to the right and hunting over to retrieve the bird.

59. FC-AFC Hoot N Holler “Hoot”, LM, John Henninger

DF: Had a short flyer, went out and smacked the bird!

HF: Chalk-lined out to the area, made a few passes in the area before retrieving the bird.

SR: Took a great initial line, angling the pond, up the hill, went wide left of the cover then turned back, dove into cover to retrieve the bird.

No-Bird 57. FC-AFC Duckblind’s Real McCoy “Charli”, LF, Dave Opseth

Dog came to the line at 10:32.

DF: No-Bird

55. FC-AFC Lubys And Whitewaters Pirate’s Jewel “Jewel”, LF, Ray Voigt

DF: Perfect Mark!

HF: Hit the water hard angled the pond, up the hill toward the fall area, disappeared into cover, and quickly reappeared with the bird in mouth.

SR: Traveled a good initial line, through the pond, up the hill, under the arc, deep of the bird to quickly turn back and complete the retrieve.

52. FC LKY’s Controlled Chaos “Riot”, LM, Kenny Trott

Came to the line at 10:14 am ET

DF: Smacked it!

SR: Took a hard angle into the water toward the fall, carried the line straight to the bird for a clean retrieve.

HF: Set up on a mission and hammered the mark. Good job!

51. FC-AFC Robbers’ Stray Bullet “Bullet”, LM, Alan Pleasant

Alan and Bullet came to the line at 10:04 am ET

DF: Drilled it

SR: Got into the water on a good line traveling up the hill to the right of the fall, went out of sight, dove into the cover and came out with the bird.

HF: Traveled up the hill toward the fall and went straight to the bird.

Handle 50. FC Baypoint’s Shades Of Bleu “Magic”, LM, Jim Gonia

Came to the line at 9:56 am.

DF: Hit the water hard, for a perfect mark.

HF: Got into the water, angled across he pond toward the fall area and straight to the bird.

SR: Entered the water on a nice angle, started to square and look as if he was traveling back towards the flyer. Jim handled Magic to the bird.

Series 7 Test Dogs

Test dog came to the line at 9:21 am ET.

Test dog #1: "Payton"/Sammie Thompson
DF: Dog entered the water hard, drove the point to re-enter and grab the bird.

SR: Dog hit the water hard again, angling across the pond toward the fall area, exited the pond driving the hill, and hunted the shorter cover around the area to then finally break into the cover and retrieve the bird.

HF: Traveled a good line into the pond, squaring the water, exiting to the left and behind the gun station. Started to drive the hill, half way up the hill, made a move to the right toward the fall area to retrieve the bird clean.

Ended at 9:32 am.



Test dog came to the line at 9:37 am

Test dog #2: "Sister"/Clint Joyner
DF: Hit the water hard, drove to the point, re-entered the water and retrieved the bird clean.

SR: Dog hit the water hard, swam angling the pond, exited angling the hillside toward the fall to dive into the cover and retrieve the bird.

HF:Perfect Mark.

Ended at 9:47 am

Series 7 Test Description

Water Triple with an Honor

We are situated on a side hill about 75 yards from the waters edge, the mat faces SW, the wind is coming out of the North at about 2-3 miles per hour. The skies have cleared to be partly cloudy.
There are several irregularly mowed hillsides on both sides of the pond.

The first bird to be shot in this water triple measures at 225 yards through the middle of the test and is a hen pheasant flyer, shot to the right over a hedge row landing in heavy cover. (HF)

The second bird to be shot is to the right and short in distance to the flyer along the treeline. This dead hen pheasant is thrown to the left, hard angle back and converges toward the flyers station where the gunners are sitting on a side hill. This bird lands in heavy cover of varying vegetation. This bird will be referred to as the short retired (SR) and measures at 203 yards.

The third and final bird (DF) to be thrown moves the dog across the test to the far left. These gunners are sitting on a very long point and throwing a drake mallard flyer to the right, landing in a piece of water behind the point. This bird measures 118 yards, and is sluiced once the bird hits the water. There are also a half a dozen Avery mallard floating decoys strategically placed in the water in-line with the fall area of the bird before the point. This is a wide open triple which is sure to get some answers from the dogs, as there is much room between gun stations for the dogs to get lost and put on large hunts in order to find the birds.

After the dog has retrieved all of the marks he will then move 5 yards to another mat to the right of the starting line and honors the next working dog.

 Test time is averaging 10.5 minutes per dog to complete.

Callbacks to the 7th Series

Callbacks

1,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,13,16,17,19,20,22,23,25,27,29,30,31,38,39,41,45,47,48,49,50,51,52,55,57,59,60,61
,65,72,74,75,77,82,85,91,

43 dogs

dog 50 starts

16 dogs dropped

2,12,15,18,21,24,54,58,62,63,68,78,79,80,81,86

15. FC-AFC Tweed’s Rough Rider “Teddy”, LM, Dave Smith

Pop:  nice mark!

Flyer: looked to have been sent for the LTR, cont. up the hill to put up a small area hunt before retrieving the bird.

LTR: traveled straight to the area for a good mark.

Mom: got to the area and worked it out quick.

Handle 12. FC-AFC Citori’s No Holds Barred “Free”, LF, Bill Sargenti

Pop: nice mark!

LTR: traveled tight to the holding blind and turn right to retrieve the bird.

Mom: looked to be driving the hill, Billy Handled Free to the bird.

Flyer: est. a large area hunt before retrieving the bird.

Handle 13. FC Topbrass Linekin’s Riptide “Rip”, LM, Rick Roberts

Pop:  nice mark!

Flyer:  looked to have been sent for the LTR, but drove up the hill to retrieve the flyer for a good mark!

LTR:  split the difference to travel middle of the field, looked like he was going back to the flyer, Rick handled "Rip" to the LTR.

Mom:  stepped on it!

Handle 10. FC Hyfly’n Turbo Jet “Turbo”, LM, Ray Voigt

Pop: straight to the area.

Flyer: drilled it!

LTR: pounded it!

Mom: dog looked to be driving the hill, Ray Handled Turbo to the bird.

9. FC-AFC Candlewood’s Skyrocket “Sky”, LF, Chris Ledford

Chris & Sky came to the line with a mission.

Pop: good mark!

LTR: stepped on it!

Mom: excellent mark!

Flyer: drilled it!

A near Perfect Performance! Way to go team!

8. FC Bigwoods Hillbilly Hammer “Hammer”, LM, Don Remien

Don & Hammer came to the line ready for action.

Pop: excellent mark!

LTR: traveled deep and right of the area putting on the brakes to retrieve the bird.

Flyer: traveled up the hill under the arc, drove deep of the area, est a hunt and hunted back to the area to complete the retrieve.

Mom: great mark!

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Re-Run 1. FC Peakebrook’s Secret Weapon “Bond”, LM, Al Arthur

Pop: good mark!

LTR: traveled out under the arc went a bit deep and quickly came back to retrieve the bird.

Flyer: traveled to the area put up a sizable hunt before digging out the bird to complete the retrieve.

Mom: Pinned it!

Handle 7. FC-AFC Texas Troubador “Tubb”, LM, Martha Russell

Martha & Tubby came to line composed at 7:02 am

Pop: scooped it up!

LTR: started on a good line but then drifted up the hill toward the Flyer then Martha Handled Tubby to the bird.

Flyer: traveled toward a similar line of LTR, pushed off his line and went up the hill to the wide left and hunted it out.

Mom: nice mark!

Series 6 Continues Test Dog

Today's conditions are very similar to the afternoon conditions yesterday. This sky is dim with cloud cover. The wind has remained constant out of the Northeast. The air is going from completely still to a gentle breeze. With a gorgeous sunrise to the East.

Test Dog # 1 Payton/Sammie Thompson.

Test Dog came to the line at 6:47 am

The mechanics paused for a couple minutes to sync the throwers and get the birds landing in the same places as the day before. Kudos to the crew for thinking of this, with a new day beginning and a series carried over into the next day keeping things running as consistent makes the test fair for all. Thanks!

Test thrown at 6:58 am

Pop: nice mark!

LTR: dug it out quick.

Flyer: went into the cover looking for the bird for an accurate mark.

Mom: Excellent mark!

Conclusion of Series 6 Day 5

Thus far this Series is making the Judges smile. The test has proven to hold up well in all conditions. There have been:

No-Birds : 7

Pick- Ups: 2

Handles: 16

We will see what the morning conditions bring about for the last seven contestents left to run the 6th Series of the 2013 NRC.

Stay Tuned.............

Wednesday Photo Album

Workers Party

The workers party was a hit with everyone!  The venue was very nice and the food was excellent. There was plenty of fabulous gifts that were generously donated by our sponsors Avery, Dogtra, Eukanuba and Tri-Tronics. Thanks to everyone involved for such a great time!

THANK YOU SPONSORS OF THE 2013 NRC

Here are our Sponsors and Patrons for the 

National Retriever Championship this year.

Purina Pro Plan
Avery Sporting Dog
Tri-Tronics
Kent Ammunition
Eukanuba Performance
Chris Chantland
Dogtra
City Of Cheraw/David Sides
K2 Solutions, Inc
The W.C. Russell Moccasin Co.
Retriever News

Please express your gratitude and show your patronage to these wonderful Sponsors, who without them there would not be a National Championship event.

Conclution Of Day 4

We ended competition at dog #6. Dog #7 then a Re-Run on # 1 will begin the day. Just a few dogs are left to fun this Land Quad with a Honor. A single Test Dog will run at 6:45 am and the competing

dogs will start at 7:00 am. Good Luck to All!