NBHA Amateur Championship Trial

NBHA Amateur Championship Trial, April 2004

by Fred Lanting

There are many “registries” in the world of dogs. A registration organization is one that takes care of the paperwork regarding the ancestry and other details about the dogs belonging to a group of fanciers in a given association. On the 31st of March and running through the 3rd of April this year, one such organization held its annual national competition for amateurs — in Alabama for the first time. The National Bird Hunters Association, NBHA, got together at the Parches Cove Hunting Preserve, outside of Union Grove. Hunters from all over the South and Midwest, as far as the eastern seaboard, Texas, and Iowa, drove their horse trailers and dog carriers to this beautiful valley to compete in one of their most important annual events.

The Preserve is home to many special events, such as being the testing grounds for the Mercedes SUV before it was introduced, but is mostly known to bird and deer hunters. Last year it hosted the NBHA “Open” championship trials. That event attracts mostly the professional trainers, men who earn their livelihood training dogs for others. In this year’s event, only the non-professionals were allowed to run their dogs — or the dogs of friends who were physically unable or could not be here. The dogs also cannot have won a professional (open) championship, but many are indeed “professional” in their instincts and skills.

Track layers decide on a course about 4 miles long, past open fields and along tree lines, and for each brace (pair) of dogs, they throw down several birds (quail, generally) into the “cover”, which usually is composed of clumps of brush or areas of un-mown hay or corn stalks. There may be 35 or so birds “planted” in the course, but unlike other “plants”, these get up and move to wherever they wish. It is the dog’s job to run straight ahead from a starting point, quarter from side to side, running through and around such likely cover until he catches the scent of a bird. They may run full-speed for a mile before catching a whiff of one. There is a 1-hour limit and the dogs must not be out of sight for more than 20 minutes at a time. Sometimes they will hold a point for a very long time before the hunter finds them.

When they are sure they smell a bird, they are supposed to stop on a dime and freeze in position, pointing in the direction the scent is coming from. These birds usually flatten against the earth and escape detection by sight, so the dog must maintain his “point” or “set” (hence the breed names Pointers and Setters) until the walking hunter arrives and scuffs about to flush the bird. Judges and competitors on horseback, and spectators in a tractor-pulled wagon, can see when the bird finally decides it doesn’t want to be stepped on, and flies up. The hunter fires a gun with blank cartridges, during and after which the dog must remain standing still. Not even the sky-pointing tail is supposed to quiver. If the second dog is nearby and also smells the bird or sees the first dog indicate, it must honor or “back” the first one, and not move up in front of it.

Dogs are judged on a number of things, such as eagerness, speed, method of hunting and pointing/setting, etc., but mostly on the number of good “finds”. There are additional rules that can trip up an otherwise competitive hunter-dog team. One excellent-working Pointer had found several birds by the time we all got close to the end of the course and the end of the 1-hour time limit. But the handler misunderstood the judge’s order to pick up his dog and start him on the next leg for the next bird; he thought the time had expired and that the judge told him to put his dog in the crate on the wagon. He put the dog on leash, and walked toward the wagon. Once a field dog is leashed, that is the end. If it is done before the end, the dog is disqualified and cannot run again that event or claim any prize. Another came into heat after the entries closed, and a bitch in estrus is not allowed to run if there are other dogs scheduled to run the same or nearby course. A third disqualification was a dog that had been entered in the wrong class.

Mostly English Pointers were run, but a few English Setters did admirable jobs, too. These are not the large, fully-furnished (hairy) dogs you might see at a conformation show run by UKC or AKC. The dogs at these American Field Association trials are selectively bred almost exclusively for hunting ability, not looks. They are true athletes, with not an extra ounce of fat. While the hunter and horses walk the 4 miles, the dog may be running flat-out for more than 15 miles. This is not a game for sissies!

The class called “Shooting Dogs” is composed of dogs that have more training than the “Derby” (roughly 2-3-year) class or the Puppies (roughly 1-2 years). These experienced dogs ran the long course on the first two days.On the 4th and final day, the best six of those were called back to run off for the top titles of National Champion and Runner-up. The course was reversed, sort of like driving a race car in the opposite direction that you had at first. This caused one good dog who had a tendency to want to make more right turns lose himself far afield. Like hazards on a golf course that you’ve never played before, these things can turn a good start into disaster.

The over-all winner was a dog in the Shooting Dog class that many might have entered only in Derby because of his age. However, the owner Stan Wint pulled him from his Derby-class entry when this young Shadow’s Attitude did so well the first day, rather than tire him out the day before the run-off. Stan brought over a dozen dogs to this trial and has another hundred or so at home. He employs a full-time trainer and does a brisk business in selling and exhibiting. This one he bought from an Alabama school principal. The Runner-up was Premier’s Little Darlin, owned by the Mike Grose family, all of whom were at the event. The youngest, a charming little girl I could almost put in my pocket, rode her horse like the most experienced horsewoman you could imagine. The family had been out of competition for a while and just recently got back into it, and with great success, as seen this day.

All competitors showed good sportsmanship — even the three that got thrown from their horses! At the awards presentation wrapping up the festivities this sunny Saturday, after very cold and cloudy-windy days preceding, we finally got a chance to get some nice photos. Wherever the association decides to hold future events, you can bet a large number of votes will be for returning to the scenic site along the Tennessee River enclosed by 500-foot-high hills.