Event: Miller's High Heat Index Named Winner of the
Result: North Carolina Open Shooting Dog Championship

Post Date: Feb 7, 2023

Submitted By: Ray Joye/Dwight Smith

North Carolina Open Shooting Dog Championship Winners (from left): Champion Miller's High Heat Index with Jack Kimbrell and Two Spot Tommy with Peyton Gumby. (Second row, from left): Bob Youngs, Mike Tracy, and Doug Ray. (Third row, from left): Judge Grayson Francis, John Adsit, and Gregg Robertson. (Back row, from left): Jeanette Tracy and Judge George Kimbell.

Miller's High Heat Index was named the 2022 North Carolina Open Shooting Dog Champion over 45 other top flight shooting dogs by Judges George Kimbrell and Grayson Francis. He is owned by Casy Hollander and Stanton Harrell and handled by Mike Tracy.
Two Spot Tommy was named runner-up. He is owned by Jett Ferebee and handled by Doug Ray.

The North Carolina Open Shooting Dog Championship is a well established shooting dog event held at the Robert Gordon Field Trial Grounds near Hoffman, North Carolina. The Robert Gordon grounds are a part of the estimated 60 thousand acres of the Sandhills Wildlife area managed by North Carolina Wildlife Commission.

The field trial area is composed of about 6 thousand acres and has six one-hour courses. A clubhouse, horse barn, horse corral and dog kennels are available for users as is electric hook-up camp sites. The Robert Gordon Grounds are the complete package as far as field trial grounds are concerned.
Lee Crisco is the man to go to on site to take care of any needs trialers need.
Crisco is a likeable man who fulfills his job requirements in a pleasant and cheerful way. In the 60 plus years this writer has been attending trials at Hoffman, no one has ever performed the position better than Lee Crisco.
Lee answers to Brady Beck, the biologist that oversees to this area plus, a lot of the Uwharrie Mountain sites in a five-county district.

Weather throughout the nearly four days of running was about ideal, with just a little rain one day. It's difficult to find fault with the Carolina weather in the fall and early winter.
Quail were scarce throughout the trial, but they can make themselves difficult to find and at times they are downright uncooperative. More about that later.
The North Carolina Shooting Dog Championship is hosted or sponsored by the North Carolina Field Trial Association, an organization that along with member clubs, conduct about 23 bird dog trials a season.

"Chairman of the Championship was Association President Ray Joye. He had the trial well organized. Ray did everything from helping John and Gretchen Adsit cook to keeping notes on the bird count and this report," says Dwight Smith.
Gretchen and John Adsit took care of the food needs by helping prepare lunches. How did we get along without them before they moved into the Hoffman area for the winter each year?
Gregg Robertson handled the dog truck duties. He has been added to the dog truck drivers pool and has become a fixture at North Carolina Field Trials. He is always pleasant to be around and helpful as he can be.

Judging the 45 topflight open shooting dogs was in the capable hands of Grayson Francis from Brookneal, Virginia and George Kimbrell of Fort Mill, South Carolina. Both are knowledgeable, good horsemen and experienced amateur handlers and trainers. A job well done by the judicial team was expressed openly by attendees.
A major championship like the North Carolina Open Shooting Dog Championship deserves a more complete report than this report, but first of all the scheduled reporter was sidelined with Covid 19 and secondly when only 11 coveys of quail are found in four days of running, there isn't a lot one can say.
The bird release program at Robert Gordon is headed up by Hall of Famer John Ivester. The release program has worked well since Mack Hillard changed the method of releasing quail six years ago.
As mentioned before, bird work was at a premium throughout the trial. There could be a low covey count, or as all field trialers know, that at times they just disappear.
THE WINNERS AND OTHERS
Miller High Heat Index, a multi-champion, drew the first course. He impressed early on. His first cast carried him through the bottoms in front of the clubhouse. He showed once before the elbow, was gathered up and sent toward the pine covered hillside. He had a find at 15 just past the second creek crossing. All in order at flush - a good piece of bird work it was.
Tracy sent the white and orange ticked pointer toward the big lake area then rode to find him standing, but the stand was fruitless, and Heat was charged with an unproductive.
One will notice from this report there was an unusual number of unproductives in the trial.
In the mile long field Mike Tracy took advantage of a far reaching, front running shooting dog's efforts by letting Heat do his thing.
The hill country before the clubhouse bottoms were hunted but no game was home today in the old cemetery area.
Miller High Heat Index finished well ahead at time. He had impressed with his footwork and his outstanding bird work, even if it was only one find.
Two Spot Tommy drew course three. The Farbee black and white pointer male had a similar ground effort as Miller High Heat Index. The hour started near McGee Castle and ended past the creek crossing going toward the Bill Andrews water hole. Course three has a variety of types of terrain and Tommy adopted his ground effort to hunt each area intelligently whether it was the long edges of the countryside or the more heavily covered area like the S Turn. His race might not have been as strong as Heat Index but there wasn't much difference.
Two Spot had an unproductive just past the creek crossing at about 55 minutes going toward the Naked Creek country. Doug Ray quickly gathered everything up and sent Tommy toward the Bill Andrews water hole then rode to find him standing at time. A beautiful find - all in order.
It was an exciting hour with a storybook ending.
Millers Extreme Heat had an impressive effort with one find at the end of the hour and a strong race. Quick Marksman's Dark had two finds on course one but might have lacked the ground effort of the Championship and runner-up.
It should be noted that the morning courses were run in the afternoon in this trial, and the afternoon courses were run in the morning. Any reference made to courses and locations were made in the regular order of courses.
Hoffman, N. C., December 12
Judges: Grayson Francis George Kimbrell
NORTH CAROLINA OPEN SHOOTING DOG CHAMPIONSHIP [One-Hour Heats] - 33 Pointers and 12 Setters
Winner-MILLER'S HIGH HEAT INDEX, 1685674, pointer male, by Just Irresistible-Miller's Bring The Heat. Casey Hollander & Stanton Harrell, owners; Mike Tracy, handler.
Runner-Up-TWO SPOT TOMMY, 1690417, pointer male, by Zip Tye-Cedar Ridge Shopper. Jett Ferebee, owner; Doug Ray, handler.