The Winner of the 2017 National Amateur Championship is ... 43. FC-AFC MULLIGAN OFF THE RAINY "T", "Mully " LM Owned by Randy and Mary Spangler Handled by Randy Spangler
CONGRATULATIONS to our New NAFC – MULLY, and Randy on a job well done!!!
The Retriever News Team would like to thank all of the folks out there who tuned into the 2017 NARC Blog. We worked hard bringing you the coverage and we had a great time doing it. The reason for that was that the Blog is not a product of a small group of people. For starters, it couldn't even happen without the Sponsors who support the Blog. Also, the ideas and submissions of people attending the event or in the outside audience are invaluable. We had the help of many volunteers and folks at the event, itself: from people helping us set-up and breakdown our remote "office;" to those who lugged our equipment; to those who even parked our cars, because minutes counted; to those who commented on the coverage, both with encouragement and our mistakes, so we could correct them.
We broke some records this year. Just as it was a superlative year for the National Amateur – celebrating 60 years. It was a terrific one for the Blog. We had over 630,000 page views from ten different countries. And while the majority of those were from the USA, it is encouraging to think that many people from around the world were tuning in as well.
We strive for the best product we are able to produce each time, but it takes lots of people surrounding us to make it happen. So a great big "Thank You" to everyone who contributed to the Blog. This is not the Retriever News Blog – this is the Retriever Community Blog!
Please enjoy these last few pictures taken at the Ninth & Tenth Series and a couple of fun ones thrown into the mix … See you next time!!
Can you guess whose socks these are??!!
The Gallery at the Ninth Series
Waiting for the Tenth Series to begin
"Trick or Treat" – Come on, Charlie, make a decision!!
The future of our sport …
Sue Kampo better hurry up on knitting that scarf – we needed it that day!
Remote "office" wind block – Thanks to Avery Sporting Dog for our wonderful new tents!
LR: Got into the first piece of water, got out on the big point, made a couple passes, re-entered and exited on the right shore, hunted near the cove and got it!
LF: Hunted the water and left shore before getting his bird on the right shore.
ISLAND: Jumped in the pond, swam to the island and got his bird!
LR: Entered the first piece of water, swam to the big point, re-entered up on land on the right shore, got to the holding blind, made a couple of passes near the holding blind, before re-entering and hunted out his bird.
LF: Swam straight to the far shore, hit the shore, got in the water and went to grab the bird off the left shore.
ISLAND: Made a pass or two on land before the pond, then the dog jumped in the water and was handled to the bird.
LR: Got in the first piece of water, rand to the big point, made a 90 degree turn to the left, re-entered and swam to the "L" point, then punched up hill and hunted inward to dig out the bird!
LF: The dog hunted the shore where the gunners sit, and Legend saw his bird floating in the water so he jumped in and grabbed it.
ISLAND: Went straight to it!
LR: The dog jumped into the first piece of water, swam to the big point, re-entered into the cove on the right shore, re-entered again, exited near the holding blind, made 2 passes by the holding blind, then over to the cover to snatch up his bird.
RF: The dog ran down the hill toward the mark while making several passes up and down the hillside establishing a hunt when he finally retrieved the bird.
LF: The dog took a straight line passing behind the gunner station and diving directly into the water to retrieve the bird.
ISLAND: the dog ran a straight line to the water and entered swimming toward the island. The dog swam past the island and swam to the point and hunted the water between the point and the island. The dog swam back to the island and retrieved the bird.
LR: The dog entered the first piece of water, re-entered and swam to “L” point and made a couple of passes on the L point, then jumped into the water and hunted in the water until he found his bird.
ISLAND: Swam to the island and went straight to the bird!
LR:The dog jumped in the first piece of the water and got out on the big point, established a hunt on the big point for several passes, before re-entering into the water, swimming across the cove hunting, got out on land by the holding blind, hooked over left and got the bird.
LF: Bird drifted very far from where it landed, Hudson went where the bird landed, established a hunt in the area before leaving the area to retriever the floating bird by the dead tree in the water.
ISLAND:The dog swam straight to the bird!
LR:The dog entered the first piece of water, then re-entered angling right, the dog began hunting water just a channel shy of the cove where the bird lands, then went to the holding blind and punched up hill to the right and caught a snoot full and then went into the cove to make the retrieve.
LF: Dog went to retriever the bird, the bird was alive, dove on the dog twice before the handler was instructed to get to the line so he may rerun later
LF: The dog jumped into the water, under the arc of the
island mark and swam all the way to retrieve the flyer.
ISLAND:The dog
jumped into the pond and swam to the island and got the bird.
LR:The dog
entered the first piece of water and swam to the big point, re-entered and swam
to “L” point. The dog made a pass there and then went deep and right of the
cove to retrieve his bird.
We continue to be tested this week (just like the dogs that are participating in this awesome event) with internet connectivity issues. We are having a lot of connectivity problems here on location at the 10th series this afternoon. We are working hard to make sure the blog remains as up-to-date as we can! The coverage will probably include posts of few dogs being posted at a time as we can. Please bear with us!! … And most of all, enjoy the coverage as we are SO CLOSE to crowning the new National Amateur Field Champion of 2017!
As a first time handler the dog came to the line at 12:44 pm
RF: The dogfront-footed the bird
LF:The dog
jumped right in to grab the floating bird –belly up!
ISLAND:The dog
swam to the island and scooped up his bird.
LR: The dog jumped into the first piece of water, and made
one pass on the shore of the big point before re-entering into the cove right
of the holding blind and drove overland and to the bird.
ISLAND: The dog jumped into the water and swam to the island
to quickly retrieve the bird
LR: The dog jumped into the
water and drove to the big point
to the left edge of the “L”, and
drove the hillside left of the fall and made a big loop to the right and deep
before turning toward the water to hunt up her bird and make the retrieve.
RF:The dog
drove a bit deep and made two passes on the hillside, then went into the cover
to make the retrieve
LF:The dog ran
by the gunners on the shore deep in the cove, then jumped in the water and got
the bird.
ISLAND:The dog
swam straight to the island, and got the bird.
LR: The dog ran at the
area, jumped in the first piece of water, re-entered the water, swimming to the
big ”L” point to the left, got out deep and left of the holding blind on the hillside,
then turned and jumped into the water and got the bird.
ISLAND: The dog hunted back from where the gunners threw from, before swimming to the island, to grab the bird.
LF: The dog got near the flyer guns and jumped into the water, going to the backside of the island, then quickly jumped into the water and swam to the bird.
LR: The dog was en route and on a good path, then exited the pond, punching right around while coming right and deep of the holding blind, got a snoot full and made loop into the area to retrieve the bird.
Welcome to the Tenth Series. We are high on a bluff overlooking a marvelous technical pond that is in front of Mary and Randy Spangler's house.
The first bird down is the "Long Right Retired," a hen mallard flyer shot to the left at 361 yards. The bird lands in a small bay on the very far shore of the pond and is sluiced. After the dog is sent, the guns retire behind a mulberry bush.
The second bird is the "Island Bird," a hen mallard thrown right
angle back landing on a small island in the pond at 158 yards. After the
dog is sent, the gunners retire behind a small tree.
The third bird is on the far left of the test at 164 yards. This stand out gun is just to the left and deep of the Island gunners and is shooting a hen mallard and we will refer to as the "Left Flyer." The throw is a hard angle back that lands in the left corner of the water with a sluice. These guns remain standing out.
The fourth and final bird is the "Right Flyer" which is a big swing to the right. The gunners stand up on the hillside and shoot a rooster pheasant to the left at 128 yards. These guns remain standing out.
The 9th Series Test is in the books at 9:54 am. We are breaking down this test to move to our right down the ridge for the Tenth Series. We are awaiting the callbacks to see who gets to run the Tenth Series.
MF: headed wide right of the fall, reached the bales deep of the fall; established a hunt deep and right of the bird, then made a left of the holding and worked over to the bird.
LR: ran at the holding blind; began to angle toward the bird, midway and put his nose on it.
RF: The dog made a couple of passes in the area and had her bird.
MR: The dog punched through the cover, veering hard right, then established a hunt shallow of the fall, before working deeper to the left of the holding blind, then quickly made a move right in the area and to the bird.
LR: The dog went running at the holding blind, got to the right of the holding blind and began to hunt to the right of the holding blind, before making a move to the left to retrieve the bird.
RF: The dog made short work of this bird for an accurate mark.
MR: The dog veered wide right of the fall and followed a cover strip down the valley, away from the bird, going out of sight. The dog suddenly appeared and went straight to the bird.
LR: The dog took off way right of the holding blind, then began to hunt the cover strips shallow of the mark in the valley among the bales, before the dog was handled to the bird.
