National shoot to retrieve association

duckn66 said:
Does anyone here in the KS forum participate in these or have in the past?
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I'm not from Kansas but I do run a dog in NSTRA trials. When I have brought up NSTRA on this site in the past it doesn't seem to get a lot of interest. I think there may be a couple of people that either do or have run NSTRA. I'd sure be happy to answer any questions you may have.
 
RoosterFetcher said:
That sounds like something really cool just to go and watch!
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I feel NSTRA is a fun venue. Just remember, NSTRA is for pointing breeds only. Go to their web site www.nstra.org and you can get a lot of info. Iowa is in the Midwest Region and most of their trials are held in Osceola and Afton, IA as well as Waverly, NE. Going to watch and visiting with some of the people is a good way to find out what NSTRA is all about.

Our Mid-North Region (SD, ND & MN) will be having a booth in February at the National Pheasant Fest in Minneapolis.
 
The site says there is one not far from me. Only about 30 minutes down the road or so on the the 20 and 21st of this month. I think I may go watch just to see what its all about.

Might call the number and ask about it as well. Kind feel wierd just showing up watching and nobody knowing who or why I am there.
 
duckn66 said:
The site says there is one not far from me. Only about 30 minutes down the road or so on the the 20 and 21st of this month. I think I may go watch just to see what its all about.

Might call the number and ask about it as well. Kind feel wierd just showing up watching and nobody knowing who or why I am there.
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No need to feel wierd. For the most part the people in NSTRA are a nice bunch and more than willing to explain things to you. When I first started everyone went out of their way to help me. It might be a good idea to read the rules and regs on the NSTRA web site so you have some idea of what's going on and how it scored.

The event is run in braces of 30 mintues each. A Brace is 2 handlers and 2 dogs. There will be a judge on a 4-wheeler with each handler & dog to do the scoring. Five quail are planted in the field for each brace. If the brace(s) before you didn't find all the birds there can be more than 5 in the field. The dog is the one that is scored, not the handler. The dog is scored in five areas:
Find/Point 0-100 pts for each find/point
Retrieve 0-100 pts for each retrieve
Ground Coverage 0-100 pts
Obedience 0-75 pts
Back (Honor) 0-75 pts (only 1 back per dog per brace is scored)

So you can see that the more birds your dog finds the higher the score. Once the dog goes on point if cannot move until the handler moves or flushes the bird. The dog does not have to be steady to wing & shot. The handler flushes the bird and shoots it. If you happen to miss you just hope your dog is able to follow the bird and retrieve it for a score. The pen raised quail don't always fly too far.

Go, ask questions and have fun.
 
I read through the rules a little bit tonight but didn't know that it was ran in braces. Put a little more excitement into I guess though.

You did answer one question the dog being broke or not. Makes it a little easier to run with hunting dogs as opposed to field trial dogs???
 
I did it in Utah, but not since I moved to Kansas. The Utah guys are a great bunch of guys and will go out of their way to show you around. I would imagine the MoKan guys are the same. I have heard this is one of the toughest regions around, I wouldn't mind seeing some dogs run, but I have soccer/football games to coach and watch until November.
For the most part the field trial guys stick with their venue and the NSTRA guys with theirs, but there are those who crossover and do just fine.

Rut
 
Ive been a couple times to the Salina trials. Ran a couple times. Nice guys. They used to have a set up "crows nest" type of platform so you could see a lot of what was going on.
Dont run anymore but they were very nice to me.
 
I run in NSTRA down here in the Lone Star Region in N. TX. I've been running for about a year and I love it. Just got back from a trial last night. It's a blast and really is suited for the average hunter and their dog. I've found that most all NSTRA people are great and will go out of their way to help you in anyway they can. You can watch and ride with the judge on their ranger and ask any questions you want while you get an up close view of how it works and is scored. I ran a National Champ and the 6th dog in the nation on Saturday and they put it on me pretty good. It's a sharp learning curve and there is a lot of strategy that goes to it. It's very addicting once you figure out what it takes to be successful. Great way to spend time in the field with your dog before and after hunting season. I can't encourage you enough to go check it out and see what they're all about! :thumbsup:
 
Hey ElectricShorthairs, do you know Dale Heaton from the Lone Star Region? I ran against Dale and his young setter, Macy last month in the National Purina Endurance in Lewistown, MT. Elle and I beat him by 2 pts. Dale sure seemed like a nice guy. Kind of quiet.
 
Yes sir I do. Very quiet guy. You're lucky you got Macy and not Trek. That's his really good dog. I think he was 7th nationally last year. And his shorthair, ToeBee won the national trial in Montana last year an that dog is a tracking fool. Both of his were in the top 50 last year and his 2 pups are coming along nicely. We had 3 dogs from our region in the top 10 last year and I think 8 in the top 50. Competition is stout! We've been fortunate enough to the take the national trial in Montana 2 years in a row. I got to see Wes Barr's setter JR this past weekend. He's won a couple national trials and is a 17x champion, pretty impressive. Dale works his dogs a lot though. Very hard worker.
 
I met Dale and his wife in Lewistown, MT. Nice people and I think everyone there has a lot of respect for him. However, you could not say that about Bobby Clark and David Deaton. Never heard a good comment about those two.
 
Hahahaha!! It's funny you should say that. You don't hear a ton of good things about Bobby anywhere :D. I dont know Deaton. Bobby's son in-law Bill Kinder has his own outdoor radio show down here in Texas and runs Rick Smith Brittanys in NSTRA. Couldn't find a better guy, a real class act with great dogs.
 
I probably should have left Deaton out of it. He was Bobby's gunner/handler. Bobby apparently hurt his back and had to get around on a 4-wheeler. I don't know Bobby and thus don't have an opinion. I was just picking up on what a lot of other guys from around the country were saying about him. Sounds like he's out to win at all costs even if he has to cheat. That's the kind of talk I heard.
 
Oh the stories I could tell you. He's in my region. Never a dull moment with him stirring the pot. He always has good dogs, which is why it's so confusing why he goes to such lengths to win.....I have an opinion of him. Good thing we have a lot of good people in our region to balance things out....
 
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