05 07 05 209 W, 5 I - + 153 - 118
Missouri Valley Amateur Land Marks
Middle (100 yards), thrown from winger straight back into water right of the back side of flyer station. Up gun. Flyer (150 yards) thrown right to left. The long bird requires the dogs to drive the close water where the middle bird lands, then drive 200 yards of dirt, then cross a surprise canal up and out to long bird. Some dogs failed to cross the canal, but the ones that did seemed to come up with the bird. Later in the day, as drag back built up, the long bird got touger.
It was the short (100 yards) middle bird that did most of the damage.
The dogs could not see the bird land. Very few dogs checked down. Early on, a few handlers put quick whistles on their dogs when they looked like they would drive the bank. This established a pattern that most subsequent handlers followed.
No handles, big hunts returned. 49 starters. 17 dogs called back for land blind.