Chasing Duck Season Coming to an End
Actually, looking forward to the end of duck season this weekend. The ducks are now weary and scattered among thousands of water holes created by record rain falls in North Texas. Forecast for the last weekend in January calls for bluebird days, calm, sunny and high of 75 degrees. Nevertheless, we’ll venture out one last time on closing day.
Season Season High point
Overall, the season was a mixed bag for us. Illness kept me away way too many days. The highlight of the season came when I bagged my first Canvasback on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon. Absolutely thrilling to watch my prized retriever haul in a waterfowl referred to as the “King of Ducks”. This trophy duck will forever remind me of the wonderful dog I’m blessed to have in my life. Time to turn the page and close the chapter on an autumn filled with adversity and launch into our spring season. Let the “hunt test” begin!
Hunt Test Season Begins
The first shot of the Master Hunt test season in Texas was fired last night. I can’t describe getting into a test as exciting, but it sure gets your heart pumping as you feverishly try to get entered online before the test fills up. Turns out, entering the Rose Country HT wasn’t too bad. We easily got entered along with 150 other dogs in the first 10 min. Surprisingly, it took another 20 minutes to fill the 30 remaining spots. Everyone has an opinion on the growth of the master hunt test. It will be interesting to see how the new Master National Amateur club impacts entries this year. Perhaps Rex Carr said it best, “You must learn to accept and make changes. Our sport demands it.”
2016 Goals
Our goal this spring is to run a string of weekend master tests and qualify for the 2016 Master National in St. Louis. We must now return to a regiment of daily training in preparation for the spring tests. There will be hundreds of marks and blinds tossed and planted from 20 to 220 yards. Wingers will be dragged across miles of fields and set up in every possible combination known in the retriever world. We’ll train in the 90-degree heat, rain and snow all in one week, its “springtime” in north Texas after all. Hours will be spent on the road to a variety of locations that offer some unique factor the dogs might encounter in a test. Simply put, it’s a lot hard work, but the reward of standing at the line of the Master National together as team is worth the effort. Chasing trophy ribbons and ducks are what golden memories are made from.