Result: Georgia Florida Invitational Field Trial Club
Location: Leon County, Florida
Post Date: Dec 13, 2021
Submitted By: Tommy Rice
The Winners. From right to left: Snapback being held by Jeff Arnold, Pine Straw's Tupelo Honey with Lee Phillips and Harden's Hank the Tank held by Derek Harden, joined by the judges, club officials and participants.
On November 5-6, the Georgia-Florida Invitational FTC held its 60th annual fall open shooting dog trial at the fantastic wild quail paradise of Cherokee Plantation in northern Leon County, Fla.
John Fuller superbly managed this fine 9,000-acre block of land for 43 years before his second cousin, Derek Harden, took it over seven years ago. John paved the way with his all-bases-covered stellar performance of wild quail propagation and woods management for bird dog running. Derek has carried it on in the same manner.
Cherokee and Norias Plantations are both owned by GEM Land Company and are managed in like manner. Derek's dad, David Harden, manages Norias. John and his cousins, David and Derek, have all been the dog trainers, quail hunting guides, and managers on Norias and Cherokee for many years and know what to do and get it done at an extremely high level year after year!
Members of this club who have had the opportunity to run on these places for many seasons have been blessed to have these venue to run this field trial and GEM Land Company has been blessed to have had these three talented men working for them for so many years. The club would like to thank these three men and GEM Land Company for letting us run this trial on their places.
Judges for this trial were Charles Morton and Reid Hankley. Most know that Charles is well known for being one of the sons of Hall-of-Famer Billy Morton and brother of all-age handler Billy Wayne Morton. The height of Charles' career came when he won the Purina Award with Shell Creek Dan for the 1997-1998 trial season.
Reid Hankley was involved with bird dogs, quail hunting and field trialing with his dad when he was a kid in Virginia and came down to go to college at Florida State. He ended up doing his love and worked at several big wild quail hunting operations as scout at first and then head trainer and guide and is now working as dog trainer and hunting guide for James Groover on his newly acquired land from Sunny Hill and Loveridge Plantations. Reid has also judged quite a few trials in various parts of the country, including the Continental Derby Championship
THE WINNERS
Winner of this fall's shooting dog trial was Snapback, five-year-old pointer female handled by Greg Sheppard for owner Eddie Sholar of Leesburg, Ga. This team has now won this trial three times in a row -- last fall at Norias Plantation, 2021 spring version at Seminole Plantation and now 2021 fall at Cherokee.
Her owner, Eddie Sholar, has done a lot for this field trial club, field trialers and trials in general. He has done the whole field trial gammit to the benefit of field trials for many years now. He has handled, judged, owned and campaigned top flight dogs, donated money in various ways, and last, but not least, continues to provide field trial grounds for several different clubs. He has done it all in a gentlemanly and Christian way.
Snapback won this trial with an open shooting dog race which included three finds. She had one unproductive. On her first find early in the hour, she was found to the right front by scout Shon Powell. Greg came and kicked up her birds with all in order. Her second find was a little past the halfway mark in her hour. Shon found her pointing off to the right hidden by cover at good range. As the judges rode to the call of point, birds lifted and were seen judicially. Greg got down and shot and collared her and sent her on to the front. It was not long after her second find that she had the unproductive out front. She went on hunting forward then and had her third find ahead with all in order. She finished her hour well going on in the front.
Snapback is a good one, having, as noted, won this trial three times in a row at three different venues. She whelped a litter of pups in the seven months between her spring and fall wins of this stake. She is a granddaughter of Hall-of-Famer Ch. Elhew Fibber McGee on her top side through her sire two-time open shooting dog champion, three-time runner-up Ch. Elhew G Force.
The second place shooting dog is a pretty three-year-old setter female named Pine Straw's Tupelo Honey. She was handled by veteran pro Lee Phillips. She had three nice finds with pretty style and manners, and a smooth easy handling forward race. Her race was more moderate than the winners.
Third was Harden's Hank the Tank handled by Devin Harden. Hank is a very classy moving pointer male that had six tight, well handled finds that were all kicked up by Devin. He was the shortest in range of the three placed shooting dogs.
The shooting dog stake was concluded Saturday morning after seventeen dogs had run.
The Open Derby started Saturday afternoon. The Derby showed quite a few derbies that look like they might make winners at the next level. The judges chose three that were all forward, very classy moving and had very good style on point.
The winner was Mayhaw's Storm Bandit handled by Trey Mills. Storm Bandit had the most finds in the stake and was very good looking on everything. He did a nice job and was finished broke on three of his four finds.
Second was Real Thing Cuz, handled by this scribe, the older of the two Tommy Rices. Cuz was forward at open shooting dog range for the entire 30 minutes and had one stylish broke find on a covey at about twenty minutes. Third place Derby, Mayhaw's Storm Chaser, is a littermate to the first place Derby. He also was bred, raised, trained and handled by Trey Mills. He had two pretty shooting dog broke finds and a good race. The first and third place derby are both sired by Mayhaw's and Trey's runner-up Champion Mayhaw's Perfect Storm.
The club would like to mention that it recently mourned the death of a longtime club member and board member, Butch Bennett. Butch and his wife, Denise, are dear friends of this club and he will be greatly missed. He passed away on October 20, 2021. Butch and Denise were a happy couple, often together, and a wonderful example of marriage.
Leon County, Fla., November 5
Judges: Reid Hankley and Charles Morton
OPEN SHOOTING DOG [One-Hour Heats] -- 17 Pointers
1st--SNAPBACK, 1675717, female, by Elhew G Force--Beane's Line Dancer. Eddie Sholar, owner; Greg Shepherd, handler.
2d--PINE STRAW'S TUPELO HONEY, 1680909, female, by Erin's Hidden Shamrock--Pine Straw Sweet Tea. Michael Reeves, owner; Lee Phillips, handler.
3d--HARDEN'S HANK THE TANK, 1687599, male, by Like A Cowboy--Set The Pace. David Harden, owner; Devin Harden, handler.
OPEN DERBY -- 19 Pointers
1st--MAYHAW'S STORM BANDIT, 1696472, male, by Mayhaw's Perfect Storm--Mayhaw Queen Bee. Mayhaw Plantation, owner; Trey Mills, handler.
2d--REAL THING CUZ, 1694070, male, by Melrose Big Rambler--Melrose Ramblin Heart. Thomas Rice, Jr., owner and handler.
3d--MAYHAW'S STORM CHASER, 1696473, male, by Mayhaw's Perfect Storm--Mayhaw Queen Bee. Mayhaw Plantation, owner; Trey Mills, handler.