JANUARY President s Column. Featuring Members Hunt Photos & Stories. Welcome to the Membership,

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1 M E R R I M A C K V A L L E Y N A V HD A N E W S JANUARY 2012 Featuring Members Hunt Photos & Stories President s Column Welcome to the Membership, Thank you for attending our Annual meeting. Last year was a great first year as your President. We went through some growing pains but came through great. We tested 41 dogs between the Spring & Fall tests. 30 NA; 1 UPT; 10 UT 17 Receiving Prize I 18 Receiving Prize II 4 Receiving Prize III 2 No Prize We tested 11 different Breeds of dogs. We had the pleasure of having Marilyn Vetter as our away judge for the Spring Test. Marilyn said she had a fabulous weekend of judging at New Hampshire's Merrimack Valley Chapter. We were blessed with decent weather, excellent dogs, and a chapter full of dedicated Members who revel in each other's successes. WE had FUN! What a great experience. Alain Binet was our Fall away judge he also enjoyed our hospitality & friendship. He said is it was a pleasure judging for our Chapter. Our other judges were Jason Wade, Lena Amerian, Suzi Moore & last but not least David Trahan. Thank you all for making last year a success. Each & every member of our chapter is part of the Chapter's success. Thank you to all the Membership! Thank you to the Board! On to Carol T.

2 Page 2 Merrimack Valley NAVHDA News January Events Calendar Day Date Event Location Saturday Jan 14, 2012 Annual Meeting (1pm) Elm Brook Park Saturday April 7, 2012 HELDCA Cleanup Day Sharpe's Farm Saturday April 28, 2012 Training Day Sharpe's Farm Saturday May 19, 2012 Pre-Test Clinic Sharpe's Farm Friday May 25, 2012 Spring Test NA/UPT/UT Sharpe's Farm Saturday May 26, 2012 Spring Test NA/UPT/UT Sharpe's Farm Sunday May 27, 2012 Spring Test NA/UPT/UT Sharpe's Farm Saturday June 23, 2012 Training Day Sharpe's Farm Saturday August 4, 2012 Water Clinic Sharpe's Farm Dam Saturday August 18, 2012 Pre-Test Clinic Sharpe's Farm Friday August 31, 2012 Fall Test NA/UPT/UT Sharpe's Farm Saturday September 1, 2012 Fall Test NA/UPT/UT Sharpe's Farm Sunday September 2, 2012 Fall Test NA/UPT/UT Sharpe's Farm Saturday November 17, 2012 Members Day Sharpe's Farm Monte Verde's Woodland Frit

3 Page 3 Merrimack Valley NAVHDA News January 2012 First Hunt (In Maine) Rob Marcotte, Ryegate, VT I have always wanted to sample the famed pa tridge hunting in Maine so this year I searched the internet for camps catering to bird hunters. It was a little difficult finding one that had a single occupant rate. One camp manager said, Well, you could bunk with me. No thanks! Some of the more famous Maine Sporting Camps never replied to my requests for information. I settled on Bowlin Camps 38 miles northwest of Patten, Maine. I think Patten is an Indian word for Wide Spot in Road, as there is only a small market and 1 gas station (closed on Sundays). Bowlin Camps has been a sporting camp since 1895 and has been under new ownership for the past 4 years. I stayed in one of the original log cabins. My cabin had an attached bathroom (flush toilet) that included a shower. Power to each cabin is supplied by a central generator which shuts down at 9 pm. At that time you can fire up the gas lights. Heat is supplied by a wood stove. I took my meals at the lodge. For the first day of the hunt I hired a guide to show me around the back roads. We left camp in my truck and within 100 yards a pa tridge was walking in the road. There s one right there. Glad I had a guide or I might have run over it. I told the guide that I wasn t road hunting. After the 3 rd round of me ignoring road birds, the guide said, You know, the dogs might like to have a little fun. So, the next time we saw a road bird I stopped the truck and let Scruffy out. He ran down the dirt road and locked up on the edge where the bird had disappeared. I went in and shot the bird after it flushed. For the rest of the week I drove down logging roads till I found some good looking coverts and then hunted those spots. I would alternate my 2 wirehaired pointing griffons, Scruffy (4) and Gris (18 months). These dogs had a lot of experience on woodcock but very little on pa tridge. They busted the first few pats but by the end of the week had the hang of it. A lot of those birds would hop into a tree after the dog pointed. (No, they weren t all spruce grouse) I was beginning to call my dogs wirehaired treeing griffons. At the end of each day I would tally up the bird contacts. I included points, stops to flush, bumps, and chases. At the end of the week we had contacts on 45 pa tridge and 23 woodcock. No too bad considering it rained at some point every day. My goal for this hunt was to get my dogs some experience on pa tridge and we met that goal and had a great time.

4 Page 4 Merrimack Valley NAVHDA News January 2012 First Hunt (In Maine) Rob Marcotte, Ryegate, VT The last evening of our stay I took Gris for a final hunt down this logging road leading out of camp. At the edge of the field he locked up and I killed one of two birds that flew out. As we were walking down the road I was thinking Gris was on his way to becoming a pretty darn good pa tridge dog. Just then a pa tridge ran across the road with Gris right tight behind him. Looked like Roadrunner and Wyle coyote. Guess we will have to go back next year. Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 8:43 PM 7 grouse ad 4 woodcock. Could have killed more but I won t shoot birds out of trees or on the ground.

5 Page 5 Merrimack Valley NAVHDA News January 2012 Rosemary Stanley / Kathy Duffy / Karen Oliver Karen Oliver's pointer "Lola" finished her championship this summer and her boy "Rider" got 2 legs toward his open obedience title. Hurry up and take the picture before it gets away! SQUEEZE RIDER STELLA Kathy Duffy s dogs.. "Simmer" finished her Excellent agility title; "Quiz" got his Novice agility title; and "Squeeze" got her Versatile Champion title Rosemary Stanley got a new puppy named "Zita"----We all enjoyed hunting this fall --dogs were great and we even shot a few!!!!! The fabulous three are ready to go!

6 Page 6 Merrimack Valley NAVHDA News January 2012 Gene Sartini & Brady Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 3:57 PM Brady and I took our first Pheasant this past Saturday. The NAVHDA training days really helped. Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 9:00 AM Brady second trip I am so happy with him. The NAVHDA training really paid off. I can t wait to go to another training day.

7 Page 7 Merrimack Valley NAVHDA News January 2012 Paul Bruk & Tess Here s another one dad Tess at Bolton Flats Tess at Salisbury Marsh

8 Page 8 Merrimack Valley NAVHDA News January 2012 Officers/Board of Directors Member Position/Term Carol Trahan President carolt@onpointkennel.com Sheila Bennett Vice President sheila.bennett@gmail.com Open Treasurer TBD Paul Bruk Secretary pbruk@comcast.net Suzi Moore Director of Testing tracadie@comcast.net David Trahan Director of Judging davidt@onpointkennel.com Joanna Korte Test Secretary joannakorte@gmail.com Chris Doherty Director of Training landlubber30@myfairpoint.net Casey Matthews Director of Gunners CamTile@AOL.com Jim Struttman Delegate At Large jstrutty@gmail.com Jessica Barker Editor mvnavhda.editor@gmail.com Mike Trull Webmaster webmaster@mvnavhda.com The Hunter The hunter crouches in his blind 'Neath camouflage of every kind And conjures up a quacking noise To lend allure to his decoys This grown-up man, with pluck and luck Is hoping to outwit a duck Ogden Nash Thank you to our Sponsors & Conservation Partners Official Remote Collar Sponsor