Gatz, how about just some marked retrieving land and water. Then all we need is a zinger and some 22cal launchers and dummies. No hassle with birds etc, and keep it simple. Keep each round more challenging until one is left. Kinda like playing horse in basket ball. Increase your shot in difficulty and see if the one who follows can hang on to the next round or is out. Once out, your out. Once we get out to two hundred or even less we will loose dogs. Especialy in water. Do one say starting at 50-75 land, then water. The ones that make them go to rnd 2 say 100 land then water etc until dogs drop out, fail or handler says I'm out. Dogs that miss mark and come back are out. if they hunt the area for a bit and get it, fine. But we can set a limit say 5 minutes to be fair, and you may handle, as long as you don't bring the dog back in, or the dog does not come in on his own. Then if we get to where we need to break a tie with a few we toss in a blind retrieve or something at the end. To run a field event on birds just takes too much hassle, too costly, and no commitment. We tried that idea in the past and it just don't pan out. Why some just have a hunt at a club and get together. This would have to be a weekend after everyone is done with breed events, trials navhda or what ever they are. Or people just cant make it. This would also just require any land with water near or at. No permits, can be private. Since we will not use any live ammo or birds, no DNR. basically just a glorified group yard training day. If it gets warm, well people will just have to be smart and sensible how much they let a dog work on a retrieve. But eliminating the "hunt" from it it should eliminate most of the concern for over heating. And I would say the dogs must be steady until the dummy hits the ground and handler sends on command. A dog who takes off under a launch and is half way or under the fall when it hits the ground is not marking anything. It is chasing. To prove marking and challenge a dog it must be steady. Its a thought any way, may have to wait till summer or fall to find grounds etc. Some including me will probably do hunt tests too. Which run later. I plan to go for a Master hunter title for Odie now that he is a Field champion, so those events I will be gone too. The problem has been finding time where several of us can get together at the same time for such a thing.
