Midweek at Eastern Iowa FT Grounds

Jack and I have the field trial grounds to ourselves. Around 5:00 pm a couple of foot handlers show up to run their hunting dogs but other than that we are alone here. Not wanting to go off and leave the dogs unattended we took turns today going to the store for supplies. We'll do the same tomorrow and get our laundry done.

The use of ATV's (four wheelers) is strictly forbidden on the grounds so I road dogs the old fashioned way. Can't do four at a time but it's helping to get the horses in shape as well.

We'll leaved here early Thursday morning for Thayer, IA where the Show Me Vizsla Club and the Hawkeye Vizsla Club are having their trial next weekend.

Dave

VIZSLA CLUB OF EASTERN IOWA FIELD TRIAL

Jack Sharkey and I arrived mid afternoon on Friday and got into the grounds and parked with the help of Jerry Jordan and Steve Whitney. It's always a challenge to get into new grounds with a big rig. It wasn't as bad as predicted but I was glad to have help. Once there there was plenty of room for the dogs and horses with a fresh water tank next to the trailer for the horses. We were a fair distance from the club house and breakaway but Jack unhooked his Honda from behind the motorcoach and did dog wagon duty for me all weekend.

I was in the 1st, 3rd and 5th braces of every stake I entered, those random drawings never cease to amaze me. Why do you put an out of towner in the first brace knowing that he and his scout have never seen the grounds is the question of the day. ZEKE ran from the first brace of Open Gun Dog, a retreiving stake, and brought home the blue! Congratulations to Kim and Ron Sayers and the boys for ZEKE's three point retreiving win. Open Derby didn't go as well with two of my three entries going birdless. PANNA however had a nice run and three finds with nice points on all.

Tim Carwile along with his wife had driven out from Virginia to scout for me and run COLONEL in the Amateur Limited. With the cover so thick on a short course lots of dogs got lost and the Tracker was used numerous times.

Open Limited Gun Dog was the last stake of the weekend with welcome showers that cooled things off from the 90's to the 70's. The hometown team did well with MASON taking the blue, MOXIE the red, HUNTLY the yellow and ZEKE the white. Congratulations to Lisa DeForest for the one-two finish of her dogs.

We fed and cleaned up in the rain. Jack and Tim were a great help all weekend. Jack and I kicked back with that other Jack (Daniels) and watched the football game.

We're still on the grounds and may stay here a couple days since you can train here and we're not ready to move on to Thayer, IA for the next trial yet.

CATCHING UP

It's been several weeks since I've had time to add to my Blog.

Audra Jaconetti and Kim Nelson visited us for a week spending much of their time hunting with Larry Piatz for Sharptails, successfully at that !

The picture above shows our camp looking back from the breakaway with Mike to the left, me in center and Mark to the right

Ray left Towner on Thursday, September 20 heading to Branched Oak for the Nebraska GSP trial. I decided to stay for one more week and then go to Branched Oak for the Nebraska Vizsla trial. Mark Howard, from Texas, joined Mike and me for that final week and provided spectacular meals each night. Mark has three GSP's, we enjoyed his company and culinary delights.

It took about a full day to break camp but I was able to leave a lot of things behind which will make the trip next year easier. John and Maxine Rognlien had a going away party/dinner for us all just before Ray left. The Rognlien hospitality is exceptional. At the party were the Rognlien clan, Larry and Nydia Piatz, Donny Schmit, Clifford and Mary, Ray, Mike and myself and Kim Nelson, Audra Jaconetti, Lance Fargo and Brian Wayson. Can't wait to post the pictures of Lance in a WW II helmet with WW II weapons and the picture of John and me with a bottle of "John's GOOD TO GO SIPPIN' WHISKEY".

I headed to Branched Oak on Thursday September 27, arriving Friday afternoon. There I met up with Ray and Jack Sharkey who had come in from Virginia for the trial and to travel with me through the VCA National. Grace Anne flew in to Omaha to scout for me and run a couple of amateur dogs.

The Nebraska Vizsla trial was well run, the grounds are beautifully manicured although a little green still. The only negative was extremely high winds all weekend, above 30 mph all day which made scenting tough and kept the cover extremely dry.

I was pretty happy with all the dogs, COLONEL won the Amateur Limited Gun Dog and got good performances out of others however no placements. Ray got 1 and 2 out of Open Limited Gun Dog.

Grace Anne left for Omaha and Jack, Ray and I left for Beatrice, NE where we had arranged for training grounds. I had been toting birds and a recall pen from North Dakota so we were pretty well set up in Beatrice in 500 acres of CRP where we worked on wild pheasant, prairie chickens and the quail I brought with us.

Jack and I are headed for Eastern Iowa Vizsla Club trial by Cedar Rapids, IA this afternoon with a stopover at Cabela's this evening.

Dave