The Central Prairie Field Trial Club held their Jimmy Dale McNutt Memorial Amateur field trial at Sandy Run’s Tinkerfarm Field.  The trial started with the Shooting Dogs and setters taking all the placements.  Things were different in the Derby, with Pointers dominating the field.  I made my debut handling Ava in the Gun Dog Trial.  Setters again took all the placements with Ava getting third, despite her handler.

Jim and John Kunick came out for an upland bird hunt.  I filled the Clubhouse Field with pheasant and quail coveys and we set out with Doo and Curly to find them.  The pheasants played fair and were some easy targets, but the quail were flying excellent and were a nice challenge .  The next day, they came back with Jims’ kids, Bethany and Jeremy for more pheasant and quail hunting.  Steve Sanders brought his pointers to do the guiding on the second hunt.    This was Bethany’s first upland hunt and she scored on both pheasants and quail.  Great family time in the upland field.

Kevin and Tommy Diekroeger met up at Sandy Run for a two day quail hunt.  Tommy brought his young brittany, Abby and Kevin his wirehair, Ina and setter, Penny to find the quail coveys.  The first day they hunted the coveys I stashed around the edges of the Clubhouse Field.  The second day’s hunt was at the Tinkerfarm Field with quail coveys set around the south end and old pond.  Some nice work by Ina  and Abby, finding the coveys and later the running singles in the timber.

Larry Jones, Mike Beckett and Jimmy Robinson came out for a quail hunt. Larry brought his new Brittany, King, along with a couple of English pointers.  I set some coveys of quail and few chukars in the Clubhouse Field.  They came back with all their chukar and nearly all the quail.  

Karolynn Eilers came out with her 15 year old springer spaniel, Chippers and her two friends, Paul Willms and Jim Jacobs.  I set out some chukar doubles in the Cabin Field and Chippers jumped right in flushing the birds out of the foxtail and prairie grass.  Chipper found them all and a few misses led to some extra flushes.  Great day in the field with an old companion.

Rick St. George brought out his grandson, Lukas Snyder for his first upland bird hunt.   I set out some pheasant and quail  in the Clubhouse Field and got out Curly and Doo to hunt them up.  Likas knocked down his first pheasant and quail before I switched dogs to Mac and Sol to clean up the quail singles spread out around the field.

Brian, Jim and Jeff Gray came out for a pheasant and quail hunt.  Jeff  Powell brought out his setter, brittany and Buster, his newly acquired springer spaniel, he brought along for flushing the birds.  They had a great hunt getting some nice rises and knocking down a bunch of birds.

Tony Koberlein and John Adams came out for an upland bird hunt on a sunny, warm, spring day.  I set out some pheasant, chukar and quail in the Clubhouse Field and got Doo and Curly out to hunt them up.  We were successful on the pheasant and knocked down some of the chukar and quail.  The hot day required a switch to two new dogs, Mac and Sol, and we found some more quail and chukar to finish the afternoon.

Kevin Diekroeger along with his german wirehair, Ina and English Setter, Penny to find some quail coveys around the old Tinkerfarm Pond.  I set some in his favorite places, under the old cabin, in the pond bed and in the middle of the bamboo patch.  They still came back with all but one.

Bryan Hargrave set up an overnight hunt with his buddies Bryce Brazier and Shane Patton.  They came on a Monday around noon, got settled into their rooms and did some clay pigeon practice.   I set out some pheasant and quail coveys in the Clubhouse Field on a 70+ day with strong winds, not ideal conditions.  The first day’s hunt started out a little rough with a running and then a disappearing pheasant, but it soon got much better.  I ran through three sets of dogs on the hot day and came back with a bunch of birds and a spare chukar.  A couple racks of ribs, some cards, a good nights sleep and then some biscuits, gravy and eggs they were ready to go again for their second hunt.  Steve Sanders did the guiding this day, chasing around the birds in the Clubhouse Field again.  Another great hunt on a hot day, they headed back to Southern Illinois with a cooler full of bird meat.