Result: Region 5 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog Championship

Location: Pickneyville, Illinois

Post Date: Mar 7, 2022

Submitted By: Dan Crunk

The Winners. From left: Brad Hargis, Rick Stanford, Don Heisner with Champion Beaucoup Creek Buck Judge John Hott, Jim Lawless with Runner-up Beaucoup Creek Gus, Judge Jon Lam, and Craig Hiatt.

PICKNEYVILLE, ILL. -- On February 19, 2022 Region 5 held the Walking Championship at Pyramid State Park in Pinckneyville, Ill.

For those unfamiliar with this venue, Pyramid offers a great place to host walking and horseback field trials. Brad Hargis was the chair for this trial and as usual he did a superb job planning and running this trial.

Weather was cool but perfect for the dogs and handlers. Only nine dogs were drawn for this trial, which is low. We are seeing low numbers in many trials, walking and horseback. Typically this trial draws closer to twenty dogs, but for whatever reason the numbers were down this year. This should be a trial that winning should be coveted. Quality of dogs drawn was very good as we had dogs from Missouri, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Brad arranged for Jon Lam from Makanda, Ill., and John Hott from Hoopeston, Ill., to judge this year's trial. Both men have extensive experience with bird dogs, horseback trialing, training, and judging. These two men were very attentive to each entry. In reviewing their notes, they did not miss a thing.

Brad prepared the lunch with cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Jae Crunk prepared home made cookies to add to the meal. Others who helped were Rick Stanford who planted birds for the day. The bird planter is so important at a trial. Birds need to be planted in such a way that the dogs have to hunt to find them and Rick is an expert at planting birds. Your scribe drove the dog wagon to pick up dogs and get dogs to the starting line.

All handlers were very helpful in having dogs ready to go to the starting line. Many handlers throughout the trial were willing to scout for other handlers. I see so much sportsmanship displayed at field trials and helping other handlers is a true show of sportsmanship.

THE WINNERS

First place honors went to Beaucoup Creek Buck setter male owned and handled by Don Heisner. Buck had three finds at 8, 15, and 33 minutes. Buck always stayed to the front and showed great intensity while pointing. Buck was very stylish when running and pointing.

Runner-up was Beaucoup Creek Gus, setter male also owned and handled by Don Heisner. Gus had four finds for his hour with a great race to the front for the hour. Gus also had an unproductive and a back.

Gus and Buck are littermates. I have asked Don repeatedly which one is the best or which do you like the best. His reply is always the same, "Depends on the day."

These two dogs were bred by Don, trained by Don and handled by Don. The dam of this litter was Beaucoup Creek Ellie. Don also trialed Ellie to several placements. Ellie would always come up with several finds at trials. She had several placements and Don bred this great female to Shadow Oak Bo. He has had success with Gus and Buck at all stages. He has won with them as puppies, Derbies, and shooting dogs. These two have also won in horseback trials as well as walking trials.

From the first brace on, the judges had a championship performance to use, and Buck came through and moved Gus.

THE RUNNING

Beaucoup Creek Gus has already been covered race above. Thumper's Anything But, pointer female, callname Riley, handled by Mike DuVall, had four finds and a back for her brace. On her last find, the bird flew back over her, almost hitting her, this being a bad piece of luck for Riley as she jumped trying to catch the bird. Riley ran a nice forward race.

Second brace featured Penrosa Hidincash, setter female callname Cash, for Tim Penn, and Craig's Runnin Roxie, pointer female for Craig Hiatt. Cash had four finds and a back for her hour. Roxie had three finds and a back. Both dogs had great style running for their hour.

In the third brace were Pond Rivers Pressures On, pointer male callname Gus, for Tyler Griggs, and Lawless Valentine, pointer female callname Tara, for Jim Lawless. Gus had one of the better finds of the trial at 14 and then failed to back Tara a short time later and was up. Tara, a very young dog had two finds and on he third find, Jim elected to pick her up. Tara is a very young nice prospect and look forward to seeing her in the future.

Running in the fourth brace were Beaucoup Creek Buck whose race was described earlier. Stellar's Natural Disaster, pointer female callname Danny, had a find at 38 and a back at 33. She had a forward race and good ground coverage always going to the right areas.

No. 5 featured Harg's Diamond Draw, pointer male callname Tex, for Brad Hargis, as a bye. Tex was running a big race and finally Brad lost contact with him and asked for the retrieval device at 32. We found Tex to the front and on point.

Again we would like to thank all the owners/handlers for entering their dogs and all those that scouted and helped during the trial.

Thanks to Purina for their continued support of our field trials.

Pinckneyville, Illinois, February 19

Judges: John Hott and Jon Lam

REGION 5 AMATEUR WALKING SHOOTING DOG CHAMPIONSHIP

[One-Hour Heats] -- 9 Entries

Winner--BEAUCOUP CREEK BUCK, 1666952, setter male, by Shadow Oak Bo--Beaucoup Creek Ellie. Donald R. Heisner, owner and handler.

Runner-Up--BEAUCOUP CREEK GUS, 1666953, setter male, by Shadow Oak B--Beaucoup Creek Ellie. Donald R. Heister, owner and handler.