In his first quail trial start in more than a year and a half, Blast Zone, our 3 year old setter male, won the Chemung County FTC Open Shooting Dog, May 14, 2017. “Strike” recorded six sharp finds with arresting style to claim the blue ribbon. Our friend, Thor Kain, was the handler. “Strike” and Thor go way back as Thor took “Strike” at just over a year of age and had him handling wild birds of all varieties steady to wing and shot in just a couple of months. It’s “Strike’s” ability with finding and coolly and calmly handling wild birds that sets him above all the dogs we have owned in this critical category of bird dog skills. Since late in his derby year “Strike” has been trained and campaigned principally by Dave Hughes.
We generally don’t run our dogs in quail trials but sometimes when, as has been the case recently in PA, wild birds are scarce in grouse trials, we feel that a dog needs to find and handle some birds in field trial settings. Thus, “Strike” was entered in his first quail trial since placing in the DuBois ‘qualifier’ in August, 2016. We are pleased with the results.