I had another great weekend. I was invited to be the Gun Caption at an AKC hunt test. The Welch Springer Spaniel club held the test at Circle W Hunting Preserve, in Heflin, Alabama. The picture above is the view from the club house. The weather was absolutely perfect. The mornings were in the 50’s and the afternoons were in the low 70’s.
The gunners at the test go in the field with the dog handler and the judges and hunt for birds. They use people like me who have a lot of experience shooting a shotgun for several reasons. The first is safety, with all the people at a test and very expensive dogs in the field you need to be sure of your shot. The next is each dog has a limited amount of time to find, flush and retrieve 2 birds. We have to make sure the birds are dropped so the retrieve can be made. If you miss too many shots you don’t get asked back. There is a long line of people who want to take this job away from me.
We shot over 20 dogs on Saturday and 21 on Sunday. There were 12 different spaniel breads represented this weekend. The official photographer for the AKC was at the test, and below are some of his pictures. You can see more at AKC.ORG then look on the right side for the Welch test.
Deb and I just got back from the Thanksgiving dinner at Camp Sunshine. It is a gathering place for families of children with cancer. It is one of the charities we support each year. This is our 4th year to serve the families. We fed over 100 people this year; unfortunately the bigger numbers are not because the food is so good. This is the start of the holiday season for us each year. It is that time again.
6 comments:
Sounds like the test went well. Beautiful weather, great dogs and a chance to get out into the woods. Makes life worth livin', don't it?
Congrats on the charity work. God bless the families with sick kids...
You have some of the best weekends of anybody I know, Glad things went well.
Love.
It is so great this time of year to be outside enjoying nature.
Sounds like quite a weekend! Maybe Nash will get to go hunting sometime!! :)
Great pictures.....sounds like you had a fabulous weekend!!! Hope you and Steve get the chance to take Dixie hunting. She told me she would LOVE to go with you guys!!! It was great to see you last night. Talk to you soon....Love ya!!
Great action shots of the dogs. People in TN go nuts over deer hunting, but I've always enjoyed hunting over dogs much more. I don't know if it is because you get to walk around instead of freezing in a stand, or if it is the dogs. Probably both.
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