Pointer and Setter Trials

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Originally Posted by el borracho

I was thinking this tonight that many that have achieved highly in the P&S scene have been people who have land , have pigeons and are breeders. Others have won of course but none more so than those with the means to practice their sport after work at home !

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How else can you expect to do well if you don't give your dog time on birds? Personally, I believe pigeons are just a preparation tool to get your dog sorted for game. This is where clubs come in to allow multiple handlers to utilize the pigeons.

[QUOTE=upnorth uplander;39824]

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Originally Posted by kawhia

the level of game all round is an issue for many trials, preserves have provided a welcome level of game to hold trials, but i really feel it's a reflection of the poor handling of our wild game bird resource for it to be that way......... even finding rabbits can be hard even for spaniels.
having a bird dog is made harder when you don't have the wild game to run them on between trials........ the two go hand in hand.

if we are to improve the sport here we must look to the uk and take note that keepered land with released bird populations is the future.[/QUOTE]

is this done on private property in the UK

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the uk is mostly private property.

Thats why you import an Irish dog El b ;)

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Originally Posted by Pointer

Been hanging round a few retriever trials lately, same there too. Friendly bunch, and as most dog men are, they are all dying to tell you about their old champ they owned years ago (they all get better by the year) or some promising young pup they are bringing on.
I usually get the response from most of the old timers that it's great to see younger faces, most of the triallists these days are getting on

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yeh bro my dogs going to be mean as !! in 20 odd years from now :thumbsup:

Im going to run some traps with RCGSP when he comes back from Rathmoy,anyone interested on a days training?

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Originally Posted by el borracho

I was thinking this tonight that many that have achieved highly in the P&S scene have been people who have land , have pigeons and are breeders. Others have won of course but none more so than those with the means to practice their sport after work at home !

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Birds are one thing, pigeons are easy to keep and if you look around most people are able to find a nice spot to run a dog on birds. However, another thing you touched on is selection pressure. Average Joe buys one pup, and if its a dud he is stuck with it. A guy who breeds his own picks the best, usually has the facilities to run a few of the litter on, instantly putting him at a better start with the better raw material - the best of the litter

homing pigeons -build a box on a stand put food in it shut the door and ?? I know nothing of keeping them

You just summarized it nicely. They don't call them flying rats for no reason

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Originally Posted by kawhia

the level of game all round is an issue for many trials, preserves have provided a welcome level of game to hold trials, but i really feel it's a reflection of the poor handling of our wild game bird resource for it to be that way......... even finding rabbits can be hard even for spaniels.
having a bird dog is made harder when you don't have the wild game to run them on between trials........ the two go hand in hand.

if we are to improve the sport here we must look to the uk and take note that keepered land with released bird populations is the future.

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something similar to this was tried near whanganui, not sure if it is still going or not but they did have a few issues with certain club members training there dogs on the grounds when they were not ment to

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Originally Posted by upnorth uplander

something similar to this was tried near whanganui, not sure if it is still going or not but they did have a few issues with certain club members training there dogs on the grounds when they were not ment to

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Do you mean Waitotara?

yep

Ryen would have a better idea than I, but I think that land is possibly public? Or perhaps its private but access is relatively easy to obtain? So it sounds like it can get quite a lot of pressure which is possibly why the 'keepering' of it wasnt as successful as was hoped.

It is great land to run on though. Vastly different to anything I've ever experienced! Probably more akin to the land you're used to hunting on up north though Zharn?

I think the release program they had there didn't really pan out either. I think Waitotara grounds were public, where they were releasing them was adjoining private land and the birds didn't last long

it is hard to believe they would have even bothered with a release program on public land ????????? its open to all and rightfully so without question .
We need a central location on a large mid north Island farm where a program could evolve for the good of P&S trials .

A breeding program of scale is no mean feat -Z you know Zippys Avery was very large and has to be managed well -who would do this for a club nad what would it cost ?? Ultimately it is upto us to make contacts and get friendly interested farmers on side that have land worthy of trialing on .Even land of interest is hard to find for a trial that one could conduct this sort of program on -its not as though we have the equal of a UK moor that has low consistent cover

whos zippy