WGAA Anzac Day Pointer & Setter Field Trial 2006
25 April 2006

Ray Goody shoots over 'Rosi' to complete a nice find Twelve pointers and setters lined up for the first trial of the Victorian 2006 Pointer & Setter field trial season. Most triallers had been experiencing difficulties in training with the lack of game, as satisfactory rains earlier on had given way to yet another extended dry period, and as the days had stretched into weeks and months the birds had started to leave.

Nevertheless, handlers from three States had entered dogs for this event, and on a day with an expected top temperature of 20 degrees the first brace was cast off at around 8.15 am. The first trial of the season is always time for a reawakening the things that matter for the outdoor sportsperson, open spaces, wild game and dogs that really want to go. These are the ingredients that make up for the early morning starts, the long drives and the tough days when things don’t go as they should.

The trial venue was native grass and stubble with extensive rock areas. Quail are always an admirable game bird for testing dogs, and on this occasion numbers were well down on the 250 plus birds that were seen at the same venue last year, but were nevertheless adequate for testing the pointers and setters that presented on the day.

Denis Everand receives first place
with FT Ch Russetray Tullamore Field trials can be unpredictable affairs with game, wind, terrain and the dogs themselves all containing elements that can confuse 21st century handlers. Why is it that on certain days game will sit tight and on other days it will leave well ahead of the questing dogs? Why is it that on certain days dogs can scent game from great distance and on others game is missed. Such questions about the natural world give all field sports their mystique and challenges, and this year’s Anzac Day trial was no different.

One of the unknowns in trialling is how a dog is going to respond to its handler’s commands when it is sent off. Unlike a training scenario, where a handler can exert a lot more control, dogs competing in a trial must be relied upon to do what they have been drilled to do in training. Much of what a bird dog does it will do by virtue of its genetic inheritance. However, working to its handler’s commands is only learned through training, and the best trained dog can sometimes “lose it” when the training scenario is replaced by the real thing. The introduction of factors such as another dog to compete against (dogs in field trials are run in braces), unpredictable wild game, an often tense handler, all of these things can combine to create a tensely charged situation.

The casual visitor to a trial can sometimes be heard to say that he has a dog at home in the kennel which is the equal of, or better than the dogs he is watching compete. Experienced triallers have heard all this before, just as they have seen such tyros enter a dog in a trial, only to be embarrassed and never seen again as their “best dog in the world” commits error after error.

Dick Hawkey with second place
getter Ywurrie Kirima As often occurs in trial situations, several dogs and their handlers on this Anzac Day became carried away with the competitive atmosphere in the first round and committed one or more of the errors that saw them slip from contention. Breaking to shot, poor retrieves, unsteadiness, flushing, lack of application… by the lunch break only 4 of the original 12 dogs remained in line for podium honours.

Denis Everard’s Irish setter and the pointers of Taner Ozsehitoglu, Dick Hawkey and Henry Foster were set down in a fresh area of the site to battle it out. Plentiful game was now being produced, and as events unfolded it was the Irish setter, handled by multiple trial winner Denis Everard, that was finally given the nod over the three pointers. Three clean finds, good productions and workmanlike seek deads saw Denis’ setter triumph over the pointer of Dick Hawkey. Dick’s dog was finding well but was having difficulty locating fallen game, and was awarded runner up. No third place was awarded.

by Barry Oliver
Judge