Recap - A Look at the 9th Series after Day One
This is a short test with all birds under 200 yards, and not particularly "extreme" in design.
Nevertheless we are seeing a lot of hunts - some of them protracted - on the retired flyer, which is the middle bird of the triple and is shot first. This station has been throwing and shooting a nice long flyer on Day One. A long flyer really makes this test because several features of the terrain (dirt road, cover, and a finger of water) combine to funnel the dogs towards the hiding place of the gunners which is behind a prominent tree. As a result, many dogs develop their hunt in the area near the guns, a hunt which often extends to both sides of the gunners before the dog gradually works its way out to the fall. The fall of a long flyer can be beyond where dogs expect to find a bird, and makes for a nice marking challenge.
The short retired bird is giving little trouble despite the fact that from the terrain (a hidden pond and interesting cover areas lie just beyond this fall) one would expect some hunts on this bird. However most of the dogs running on Day One have been nailing it.
