NAVHDA Yankee Chapter Annual Meeting Minutes

NAVHDA Yankee Chapter -- 2012 Annual Meeting Minutes Date: January 8, 2012 Time: 10:25am Location: Kittery Trading Post Kittery, Maine 33 members in attendance Patti Carter opened the meeting by thanking Scott Cataldi and KTP for organizing the room and KTP discounts. She also recognized the passing of Roland Drew. Reports Officers President: Patti Carter President s Report Vice President: Nancy Anisfield (Absent) VP Report read by Patti Secretary: Nick Racioppi Secretary s Report Treasurer: Cindy Tracy Treasurer s Report Motion to approve Officer Reports: Bill Tracy 2nd the motion: Casey Matthews Directors Gunning: Matt Lorello Training: Blaine Carter Testing: Jason Wade (Absent, read by Patti) Publication: Judie Bayles (Absent, read by Patti) Judge Development: Dave Trahan (Absent, read by Patti) Test Secretary: Margo Maloney (Absent, read by Patti) Delegate at Large: Bill Tracy Motion to approve the Director reports: Bill Tracy 2nd the Motion: Bill Richards Grounds Report: Dick Dilley Maintained grounds in Dresden and Bowdoinham $262.24 in fuel. Correspondence: Thank you letter received from House in the Woods. Matt Lorello discussed additional efforts to donate Upland Hunts to veterans. PSA mentioned the Yankee Chapter in the Sam Newsletter New Business Propagation license privileges needs to be researched Cranky Yankees are on it and will publish in the newsletter. Veterans hunting trips: Disabled veteran hunts need to be in designated area with access for wheelchairs and ATVs. Let s not reinvent the wheel and have YC setup these hunts when there are already organizations in place that has insurance to cover the hunts. o Bob Fabian has a friend that established a disabled veteran hunts and he can provide information if we desire. o Dick Dilley made a motion to develop a committee of 3 devoted to organized hunts with veterans. POC: Matt Lorello o 2nd the motion: Mark Morneau

Bill Richards made a motion to establish a fund to authorize Honorary Membership dues payment with Board of Directors approval. o 2nd the motion: Mark Morneau International Annual Meeting Delegate in San Diego, California o Bill Tracy made motion for Patti Carter going o 2nd the motion: Debbie Brey Chukar vs. Quail at testing o Bill Tracy made motion to have just Chukar at the Thurston Clinic. 2nd the motion: Bob England Director of Testing will make the decision on the percentage of large birds used during testing events. Water clinic alternative Bill Tracy discussed looking for possible alternatives to the Hopkinton Water clinic. Discussion to replace the Hopkinton Clinic with another location. o Carol Trahan expressed concerns about YC not attending this event. YC is a huge part of this clinic and getting your dogs to other areas is very beneficial. o Motion to establish a committee to restructure or possible alternative sites to the Hopkinton Water clinic. Committee POC: Blaine Carter 2nd the motion: Randy Schon Motion to vote Isaiah Robert as new member o 2nd the motion: Chip Amergian Patti read the motions to be discussed at the International Meetings. o Big Sky Chapter motion Chapters in various parts of the Western States is having a difficult time attracting Apprentice Judges to their chapter events. Passed by YC Chapter to approve o Delaware Valley Chapter: Rules for any test sequence or event whether new, changes or otherwise modified shall not take effect until January 1st following the date of adoption. Passed by YC to approve. o Kettle Moraine Chapter motion for NAVHDA to continue to pay for the plaques for breeder s that have qualified for a Breeder s Award. Passed by YC to approve. Dick Dilley made a motion for the Chapter to pay for fuel for mowing fields in 2012. o 2nd the motion: Bob Brey Matt Lorello made the motion for the Chapter to purchase a new single shot shotgun with ejectors for events. o 2nd the motion: Betty Blackman Casey Matthews made the motion to purchase a new winger for the Chapter if the winger left at Dresden is not found. o 2nd the motion: Bob Brey Election of Officers President: Patti Carter Secretary: Nick Racioppi Director of Training: Blaine Carter Director of Judge Development: David Trahan Director of Publication / Promotions: Judie Bayles Motion to accept the slate of officers: Mary Richards 2nd the motion: Ron Budesheim

Calendar of Events for 2012 January 22nd Winter Youth Day PSA January 28th Crystal Lake Ice Fishing Derby February 11th Indoor Clinic at Brunswick VOC10 February 15th Test Registration February 18th - Varney s Fun Shoot at 10:00 March 10th Bubba Day at PSA March 30, 31 & Apr 1 Maine Sportsman Show April 21st Thurston s Clinic May 5th Vermont Clinic May 19st Training Clinic Dresden Wildlife Management Area June 2nd Pre-test Clinic Dresden Wildlife Management Area June 8, 9 & 10 Testing Dresden Wildlife Management Area July 13, 14 & 15 Spinoni Only Days Bowdoinham Wildlife Management Area July 21st summer water clinic (location and details) TBA July 28th (tentative) Varney s Dean Croxford Memorial Shoot at 10:00 August 25th Pre-test at Bowdoinham September 7, 8 & 9 Test day at Bowdoinham Wildlife Management Area January 6, 2013 - Yankee Chapter Annual Meeting Meeting Close: Motion to Adjourn at 12:51 - Patti 2nd the motion: Ron Budesheim Respectfully submitted by: Nicholas Racioppi, Jr. Nicholas Racioppi, Jr. Secretary, NAVHDA Yankee Chapter

NAVHDA Yankee Chapter -- Officer & Director Reports President s Report I d like to start my report with wishes for a healthy winter and productive spring to all the woodcock and ruffed grouse I met last fall. I m planning a few do-overs this coming October. Sorry about the fast forward to October 2012 and back to business. The Yankee Chapter had a great year. Thanks to so many for the time and talents given to our chapter. Our membership is holding steady with many new faces, our treasurer is happy and the dog work keeps getting better and better. The NA,UPT, UT and Invitational testing dogs had great scores and successes. For the new NAVHDA member with his or her first versatile hunting dog, the NA test is a daunting task. Thank you all for taking new members under your wing and helping them to understand the ropes. Congratulations to our six new versatile champions on their huge accomplishment~ Terry and Tank, Casey and Corey, Suzi and Garbo, Isabelle and Cooper, Kathy and Squeeze and Jenny and Arrak. There are 8 chapter dogs qualified to test in the 2012 Invitational. Way to go Duke, Scratch, Riley, Bruno, Tiza, Geena, Raven, and Trapper and their trainers, of course! Our clinics were huge, organized and efficiently run. Our educational, charitable and fun events had great support. Your donations to our raffles helped purchase new training equipment and support our youth members. I d like to thank my officers and directors who make our chapter events run so smoothly. And lastly, I d like to thank you, our not so normal members, for always stepping up when a little extra is needed. It s been another year of fun with my not-so-normal chapter friends. Patti Carter Vice President s Report From the well-attended late winter indoor events to the miserably cold April clinic, from the delighted kids at our dog demos to the buckets of congratulatory water on test days, the Yankee Chapter filled the year s calendar with excitement and accomplishment. I join the other officers of the board in thanking all our members for making 2011 a not your normal chapter success once again. Along with recognizing the hard work of all our clinic and test day volunteers, we should give a round of applause for the small things that might not get more than a nod making special signs to quiet the crowd during duck searches, hauling the bird trailer or equipment trailer, catching escaped birds, baking crowd pleasers (notably cakes, brownies and whoopee pies), ride sharing, dog sitting, monitoring tides, scrubbing training bumpers, repairing equipment, writing Chapter condolences the list goes on and on, with every item deserving appreciation. On my end of things, the Vermont Clinic went smoothly. We had 33 dogs participating in three fields and a pond. As this clinic is open to non-navhda people, eleven breeds were represented with flushing dogs and retrievers training along with the pointing dogs. A hard-working (yes, we admit it hard partying, too) staff of Yankee Chapter volunteers ran the the clinic, bringing training expertise and encouragement to all the participants, especially the novice handlers. Terry and I look forward to hosting the clinic again this year. continued...

I also had the honor of taking over production of the Barking Dog Express. Todd Chrisman did a wonderful job with it for over a year; many thanks to him for his hard work. I ve just completed my ninth issue. The newsletter is currently running 9-13 pages, with the PDF file size 7MB or less when possible, depending on how many photos are included. Please let me know what types of articles or information you would like to see. The newsletter will always be a work in progress, with room to change and improve. Send me your news and suggestions any time your input is always welcome. A special thank you this year goes to Mark Levasseur who now oversees the Yankee Chapter website. Greg Berry was our webmaster for several years, giving many hours of his expertise to the position. This spring, Tom Waters from Creative Waters Design updated both technical and visual components of the site. Mark then took over the job of keeping the calendar, newsletters and photos current. THANK YOU, Mark! Finally, a note of tribute and thanks to our President. Patti does an incredible job. Few people realize how much time she dedicates to our chapter how many emails, phone calls, errands, research, trips to the fields and hours she spends coordinating events and responding to chapter members. We are very fortunate to have her. Nancy Anisfield Secretary s Report Another successful year for the Yankee Chapter. We held over 15 events that included the Training Clinics, Pretest, Test events, Fun Shoots, Bubba Days, Ice Fishing Derby s (Dog Sledding), Water Clinics and the Maine Sportsman Show. No matter what the event is, we always seem to make it fun and successful. Part of our events included travel to Hinesburg, VT to support a Training Clinic at the home of the Ugly Dog Hunting Company. We also traveled to Hopkinton, NH for the annual Water Clinic and BBQ at the Trahan s. The Chapter supported an organization called House in the Woods that provides veterans and their families various types of retreats to get reacquainted to civilian life. The Chapter made a monetary donation to this organization as well as provided 3 guided Upland Hunts up in the North Maine woods. We held another gun raffle for an Ithaca 28 Gauge that was donated by Terry Wilson of Ugly Dog and raised about $1500 dollars for the Yankee Chapter. This is a great chapter and it s our members that make this chapter a success. Your tireless support always comes through to make our events a success. Thank you for all the hard work and outstanding support you all provide to keep our chapter strong. I m looking forward to be part of another successful year for our chapter. Nick Racioppi Treasurer s Report Yankee Chapter Checking account: The beginning balance for 2011 was $10,388.42. The ending balance for 2011 is $10,050.17. Highlights: We paid to redesign our website, bought some new training equipment, and did some repairs to the bird trailer. We made $2618.00 in raffles and auctions of which we transferred $290 to the KK/BB. We also have a CD that matured on Sept. 23, 2011. The balance on the CD as of 12/31/11 was $17,684.84. The CD was renewed for 19 months and is currently earning 0.15% APY. It has earned a total of $189.52 this year. Kenny King/ Bob Bisson Fund: The Kenny King/ Bob Bisson Fund: The beginning balance for 2011 was $3,743.66 The ending balance for 2011 was $3,207.14 The Kenny King / Bob Bisson also has a CD. The Balance in this fund is $3755.77. It earned $12.48 in interest for the year. continued...

We paid for 2 lifetime hunting Licenses. Those recipients were Brennan & Julia Wade. We paid for 2 Jr. memberships for Landon Watson and Katarina Biasuz. We sent 4 kids to camp. They were Sarah Maybodi, Ella Carter, Katarina Biasuz and Emily (Keene) Pomeroy. Cindy Tracy Director of Gunning Report It was another safe year for the gunning team. No people had to be rushed to the emergency room and no dogs were wounded as well. That s always good. Our ratio of birds knocked down versus birds leaving the field remains high. The gunning team does a great job of seeing to that. I have to say that we have a great bunch of people that make my job a pleasurable experience. Because of the bar set by the former Director of Gunning, Don Bayles, we do more than just making sure that birds are shot. At test, most of the sequences are set up by the guys doing the gunning and without anybody telling them it needs to be done. If you look closely you ll see that these guys are always doing more than their share. Always willing to help out nervous handlers, offering to carry extra water, shading their dogs when they can and just taking care of little things so the handler can focus on the task at hand makes a difference and I truly believe that. We have had Judges from other chapters comment on how our gunners perform and conduct themselves during our test and if that doesn t speak volumes about this team than I don t know what will. As the guys can attest, I try to keep track of the ammo during the year. We average about 75 rounds per event. This includes three day tests as well as clinics. As much as the Treasurer doesn t want to hear it, I don t believe this is area we should be skimping on. I like to think that all the ammo that is used is vital in training and testing dogs. Our apprentice program speaks for itself in the finished product. So thanks guys for making my job easier. Matt Lorello Director of Training Report This past year the Yankee Chapter held 7 training clinics and a handler clinic. These clinics, with the organization and help of many members ran smoothly and all dogs had the many opportunities to work on new skills. As Director of Training, I am very fortunate to have so many talented and helpful members. When I was reading Margo s test secretary report, I noticed some interesting facts that relate to the quality of our clinics. We tested 35 dogs this year with only 11% not passing and close to 50% earning Prize 1s. I am very impressed with those statistics and we will continue to strive to make them better in 2012. The chapter had 8 dogs qualified to run in the Invitational. Out of the eight that qualified, seven attended and 6 are now Versatile Champions. The resources of our chapter played a big roll in all these accomplishments. Congratulations to you all. Thanks to all members and handlers who came and supported our chapter s events and hope all is well and we see you in 2012. Happy New Year, Blaine T. Carter

Director of Testing Report All tests went well in regards to volunteers. We had a normal crew of suspects that are always there to help and make sure the tests run smoothly, but I also noted that there were several new folks that tried there hand at many different things during the year. I want to thank all of you that helped and volunteered it is nice to know that even when I am away judging (our spring test) that all will be well taken care of. I appreciate the opportunity to do this job, although I will say that with a chapter like this one it is the easiest job in NAVHDA. Happy New Year and see you all soon. Jason Wade Director of Judge Development Report First, I would to thank all of the judges that came out and helped for our spring and fall tests. To this date, we have three apprentices: Terry Wilson, Bob England and Jared Gordon. All are doing well in the program. For this year, I have not yet asked any Judges for our tests I m waiting to see some people at the annual meeting. If anyone is interested in becoming a judge, they should contact me so we can talk. Thank you. Dave Trahan Test Secretary Report This past year provided us with two wonderful test weekends full of proficient yet nervous dog handling and good comradery! On June 11 & 12, we held our 2-day spring test at the Green Point Farm property, Rt. 128 in Dresden, Maine and on September 9, 10 & 11, we held the 3-day fall test at the Merrymeeting Wildlife Management Area in Bowdoinham, Maine. Overall we tested 35 dogs; 20 NA pups and 15 UT dogs. Of the NA pups, 50% received Prize I scores. Reviewing the test results reveals puppy weaknesses in pointing and tracking. Of the UT dogs, 47% received Prize I scores. Reviewing the test results reveals dog weaknesses in retrieving shot bird and retrieve by drag. Overall 11% of all animals tested did not receive a qualifying test score. Thank you for allowing me to be your Test Secretary for the Year 2011. This position can be trying at times but it does provide great satisfaction when all the paper work falls into its proper place come test weekend! I will volunteer to continue working as the Chapter s test secretary for 2012 unless there is someone else waiting in the wings that would like a chance at fulfilling this job title. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Margo B. Maloney DVM