Bird Dogs Afield host Paul Fuller is the gun dog columnist for Northwoods Sporting Journal. The Journal has granted permission to re-print Paul’s articles. Thank you Northwoods Sporting Journal.

2010 Grand National Grouse Championship

For pointing dog enthusiasts, watching good dog work is like viewing fine art; it brings great pleasure to the eye. And, I’ll go to great lengths to please my eye with good dog work. With that mindset, attending and filming the Grand National Grouse Championship in Stark, NH the first week in November was a no-brainer for me.

Many who hunt grouse with pointing dogs feel this bird is the ultimate challenge. The Ruffed grouse is unpredictable, it runs, it often flushes far in front of the dog and has more tricks than a magician. In other words, for the pointing dog to pin a grouse and the hunter then gets a nice flush in front of the dog and, on the wing, brings down the bird, well, those opportunities are so rare that we typically remember each episode for many years. Understanding all those difficulties a pointing dog encounters with grouse, seeing the best in North America would be a real treat.

I arrived in Stark, NH on Sunday, October 31st. The beautiful Stark Village Inn was where I would stay for the next three days. It was also the site of the drawing for bracing of the dogs on Sunday night. A total of 55 dogs were eligible and entered into the Grand National.

Dogs must be of a pointing breed and be registered in the Field Dog Stud Book or a registry recognized by the F.D.S.B. to be eligible. They also had to have won a first, second or third place in any American Field recognized open All-Age event for cover dogs.

One of the first people I met at the Stark Inn was the secretary of the Grand National, Mr. Dave Fletcher of Michigan. Dave was a walking encyclopedia for pointing dog field trials. He’s been active in the sport for over forty years. He’s been a judge (both walking and horseback) and is currently a reporter for American Field, which is the bible for field trialers. He was a pleasure to converse with throughout my stay. Also, much to my delight, Dave knows W.C. Kirk, the trainer of Johnny Crockett, the last English Setter to win (1970) the coveted National Championship at Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, TN. It’s always been a dream of mine to meet W.C. Kirk and I still hope to do that some day.

The drawing on Sunday night was conducted without a hitch. It’s not an entirely easy process, however. The trainers must indicate if a female is in season. If so, and that dog is paired with a male, then another brace mate must be drawn. This makes the drawing sequence a little difficult but Secretary Dave Fletcher, handling the draw, did a perfect job. After about one hour, we had 27 braces and a solo.

Secretary Fletcher announced that there would be six braces run per day. Each brace would cover a two-mile course and have a one-hour time limit. Only the activity within that one-hour period would be judged. And, speaking of judges, they were Joe Dahl of Bangor, ME and Dave Bogle of Du Boise, PA. It’s important to recognize what these judges were asked to do. In addition to judging, they were walking in excess of 12 miles per day through some of the thickest and mud filled cover you’ll find anywhere. Kudos to Judges Joe and Dave for still standing after four and ½ days of chasing dogs.

Lloyd Murray, Stake Manager, just prior to the first brace, announced to the gallery that I would be allowed to follow just behind the two handlers and two judges since I would be filming the trial. Many thanks to Lloyd, the judges and all the handlers for allowing me to stumble along.

Mother Nature delivered a fine cold and sunny day to open the Grand National. The first brace consisted of an English Setter male (Star’s Southern Idol) and Pointer male (Fireside High Noon). Professional Marc Forman of Shady Hills Kennel of Prattsburgh, NY, handled star and professional Bruce Minard of Hifive Kennels of Beulah, MI, handled Fireside.

Being a versatile dog owner, it’s always fun to watch a different style. These setters and pointers are fast and run fairly big…but not too big. The versatile breeds run a little slower and a little closer. I’m not going to get into the pros and cons of the different styles, but we will in a future column.

I learned quickly that the number of grouse finds was not the sole ingredient for a judge’s mark. A dog had to demonstrate a strong desire and search pattern throughout the entire course. A dog with one or two grouse finds but superior desire, stamina and search pattern will score higher than a dog with three grouse finds but gets lazy half way through the course.

Now back to the first brace. Both dogs ran hard as soon as they were put down. Fortunately, my recollection of the finds doesn’t count because I didn’t have a note pad and, throughout the trial, I would often follow one dog, end up with a non-productive and discover the other dog had a good find, solid point and flush. My recollection is that Star’s Southern Idol had one grouse find and Fireside High Noon had none.

The second brace consisted of Shady Hills Bean, an English Setter female and Chase Hill Molly, a Pointer female. Marc Forman handled Shady Hills Bean and owner, trainer and handler, John Stolgitis of Ashaway, RI, handled Chase Hill Molly. As with all the braces, they hit the course hard and maintained the pace throughout the course. Shady Hills Bean, according to my memory, had two grouse finds and Chase Hill Molly had one grouse find. And here’s where style, desire, search pattern and stamina all come into the equation. At the end of the week, Chase Hill Molly was declared the 68th Grand National Grouse Champion. There were many dogs throughout the week that had more finds, however, the judges felt that Chase Hill demonstrated greater strength in all the qualities required to be honored with the Grand National title. Congratulations to owner/trainer/handler John Stolgitis for a job well done.

Second place went to a dog I’m very familiar with; Long Gone Madison. I had the good fortune to film a training session with Madison in August of 2009 and then filmed her hunting the day before the Grand National began. Both videos are on my website at www.birddogsafield.com. Day in and day out, Long Gone Madison is the finest grouse dog I’ve ever watched and certainly amongst the top three or four grouse dogs in the country.

Space prohibits me from reporting on every brace, however, all the dogs running in the Grand National earned the opportunity to participate in this great event and, every dog I watched, I would be proud to own. They were all good…some simply better than others.

The Grand National rotates around the country so I’m unsure when it will return to New England. If and when it does, if you enjoy watching outstanding pointing dog work, then attend as part of the gallery. You won’t be disappointed.

Paul Fuller is host of Bird Dogs Afield TV which may be seen in New England on WBIN (Comcast Ch. 18) and Fox 23 in Portland beginning on November 5th at 6:30 AM and running through December. Previous TV broadcast episodes, and dozens of videos of training and hunting videos and Paul’s previous Sporting Journal columns may be seen or read on Paul’s website which is www.birddogsafield.com. Paul may be contacted at paul@birddogsafield.com.