MN Grouse Dog Association fun Shoot MN/WI Coverdog of the Year Awards Mother Nature was not kind to Coverdog enthusiast’s in MN/WI this “Spring” of 2013. Snow that would not melt and in fact just kept falling forced the cancelation of every trial in both states, and possibly for the first time ever, there was no spring trial season in these parts. Well this was a bummer but seeing that we are mostly a bunch of Swedes and Norwegians we expect this sort of thing and there is nothing for it but to think of something else to do. On June 29th the MGDA invited the field trial faithful to the Zumbrota MN Gun club for lunch, a fun shoot/raffle, and an awards ceremony announcing this year’s dog of the year winners. We met at the gun club for lunch at noon on a cool late spring day. It was great to see Jack LeClair of Spring Garden Kennel fame again! After a quick lunch and the announcement of some rules we headed out for a round of skeet and wobble trap. All shooters were given a raffle ticket before the shooting began, they could earn more by breaking black “rooster” targets and laying off white rimmed “hen targets”, breaking a hen target cost the unfortunate shooter $5. Some folks shot pretty well, others not so much, but we all had a good time. We were fortunate to have some great sponsors for this event, Sporting Goods retailer Scheels, covered the food and grounds fees, the Running’s stores provided us with the targets, and Federal Cartridge donated the ammunition. A big thank you to these folks and to club member Dave Moore for getting them on board. After the shoot we raffled away the dog food and hats that Purina so graciously provides us for our trials and Don Dack donated a beautifully hand braided whistle lanyard. MGDA makes most of the our “operating budget” for the year on the spring trials we didn’t get to have this year but this event put us right back on track for the fall. Thanks again to our sponsors, everyone who came down to shoot, and our friends from the Zumbrota Gun Club! The race for the MN/WI Coverdog of the year awards was short this year but still as competitive as ever. Points are earned by placing in trials held on wild birds and hosted by the MGDA, CVGDA, and most recently the Moose River club. Purina has always been there for us and we can’t thank them enough for their continued sponsorship and product donations to the OSD and OD winners. The winner of this year’s Open Shooting Dog award is Ch. Bloom’s Ole Dollar handled by Lance Bressler. “Dolly” was whelped March of 2007, sired by multiple champion Shady Hill’s Billy out of multiple champion Bloom’s Molly. She is owned by Denny Bloom of Grampian Pa. Denny worked Dolly extensively in her early years and it wasn’t long until he realized he had another extra special grouse dog. After the usual hard work and millions of miles through the country’s best grouse covers, Dolly emerged as a top field trial performer. In the fall of 2011 she was named runner-up at The Northern Michigan Cover dog Championship (sixty plus entries) 2012 she won The Wisconsin Cover Dog Championship in extreme heat middle of the day on a very dry course. Two weeks later The Lakes States Grouse Dog Championship was added to her resume. She finished off the season with claiming runner-up at the Rich Tuttle Grouse Dog Classic. In the past two seasons Dolly has pointed Grouse in every trial she was entered in. She is one of the most feared competitors running in the woods today Our Amateur Shooting Dog of the year is I’m Blue Gert (I’m Houston’s Image x Blue Silk) owned and handled by Dave Moore. Gert is no stranger to the winners circle being a 2X CH a 1X RU and a 1X classic winner. Gert has made her mark in wild bird competition winning on Sharptails in the open, Grouse in the woods, and quail in the Tennessee plantation country. This year both the open and amateur derby honors went to the same dog and Handler combination. JTH Izzie owned and handled by Jeff Hintz was the last pick of an all-female litter out of CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer in 2011. Izzie and Jeff spend the summer and fall in the North country and the winters in AZ and Izzie handles the wild birds in both locations. Izzie and Jeff have had an eventful derby year and Izzie’s name will the first one on this trophy with a CH in front of it! Here is Izzie’s impressive list of accomplishments…at just two years of age! • Champion, Region 12 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog, January 2013 • Minnesota/Wisconsin Derby of the Year, 2013 • Minnesota/Wisconsin Amateur Derby of the Year, 2013 • Region 12 Walking Shooting Dog of the Year, 2013 • 1st Place, Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Derby, Wisconsin, 2012 • 1st Place, Danforth Social Society & Fine Bird Dogs Open Derby, Minnesota, 2012 • 2nd Place, Region 19 All Age Derby, Wisconsin, 2012 • 2nd Place, Reuel Henry Pietz Derby Classic, Minnesota, 2012 • 2nd Place, High Country Bird Dog Club Amateur Derby, Arizona, 2013 • 3rd Place, Arizona Pointing Dog Club Open Derby, Arizona, 2013