The Report for the Dakota Sask OSD CH

Below is part of the Reporting of the Championship.  Watch for a more detailed report in an upcoming issue of the American Field.  

Dakota Saskatchewan Shooting Dog Championship

Covey Rise Offlee Amazin takes title;  Hytest Spymaster Runner Up

By Doug Meyer

The Dakota Saskatchewan Shooting Dog Championship held forth on the beautiful prairie just north of Kensal, North Dakota beginning Labor Day weekend.  Crops were late getting in this year due to extremely wet spring conditions following a tremendous winter snowpack.  Due to the late planting, harvest was also delayed with wheat and barley just being finished and corn and soybeans yet to begin.  Access to vast amounts of ground is the mark of a quality wild bird prairie trial and Trial Chairman Bill Holtan devised a plan that worked well despite routing around standing crops.  The first hour was mapped thru wheat stubble, CRP and alfalfa fields across four different landowners and then we “shuttled” cross country to big rolling pastures marked by creeks and the James River bottom.  Despite the differences between course one and two and three, there were many more similarities then would be expected – number one being huge amounts of real estate where a dog could show its moves.  All in all, it was a fair test for the prairie shooting dogs with birds encountered along every course.

            Hosting the Dakota Saskatchewan championship is the Northern Lights Club with Bill Holtan the main force.  Don Dack, John Larson and Todd Manns assisted with dog wagon duties, gates and the aforementioned shuttle process between courses one and two.  Laurel Holtan kept everyone fed at lunch time and was a great hostess despite being in a cast from a broken foot suffered while putting up a loose horse a few weeks prior.  Saturday night, a Calcutta and pizza party was hosted at the Wolf Den in Kensal.  Lots of activity and anticipation as dogs were selected and bid on for the championship.  Bar owners, Paul and Collette Wolf and patrons also picked their favorites (a little like horse racing – based on name or jockey).  Proceeds of this activity support a scholarship for Kensal area students in memory of Bill’s son, Izaak Holtan who was tragically taken in a motor vehicle accident.  Ike was his dad’s right hand guy and very much into the dogs and horses with Bill.  For Bill, the trial has been a labor of love and dedication since taking over the reigns of this championship and we all hope it can continue over this beautiful venue.  Purina, Spalding Fly Predator, Running’s Farm and Fleet, Arbor Wear and the Wolf Den Bar in Kensal all sponsor the trial with donations of dog food, products, day money and ad support.  Sunday night the Holtan’s hosted a supper at the farm on behalf of Tim Moore in honor of last year’s champion My Mustang Sally. 

Austin Turley dropped by to ride the last morning as he was traveling from Montana to the Region 19 Championship in Wisconsin.  Austin managed to see the champion run.

.Judges for the Championship were the well known Jim Michaletz, transplanted Minnesota building contractor now living in Goodman, Missouri and Doug Meyer in pharmaceutical sales residing in Tonganoxie, Kansas.  Jim has winning pointers and setters he competes with at the amateur level and keeps major circuit dogs with Alan Vincent including Jetsetter, the setter champion who represented the breed so well at Grand Junction this year.  Doug is the newly elected NBHA President, long time reporter of the NBHA Futurity and owner of the dogs and kennel bearing the Greypointe prefix.  Both have judged widely although this assignment was their first together.

The Winners and Others

Covey Rise Offlee Amazin was released onto the first course and put on an edge running show thru the wheat fields and fencerows for the first thirty minutes.  At 34, the pointer male styled up attractively along woodsline and a deer exited as Shawn Kinkelaar began flushing.  Taken on, the beautiful ground coverage continued for 15 more minutes into an alfalfa field ahead.  His bracemate, Mesaba Iron was spied pointed in the center of the alfalfa while Amazin was moving out of sight ahead.  When a covey of Huns was flushed for Iron, Amazin was noticed pointing some fifty yards ahead and to the side out of sight of the original action into one of the small rock piles that dot this land.  Kinkelaar flushed the area and asked for relocation when a single Hun lifted on its own outside the grassy rock pile with Amazin stopped and shot over.  Released from here, he headed forward to the leeward side of an east-west fencerow to establish point at the end.  Kinkelaar easily flushed an adult hen pheasant from grass beyond the fencerow with Amazin standing proudly throughout.  His finish was strong to the front to claim the Dakota Saskatchewan Championship for owners Gary Hertz who was riding and Drs Thomas and Robyn Morgan.  This is Amazin’s first championship having tasted runner up laurels twice previously.

Hytest Spymaster, big going setter male was taking in large chunks of the prairie with each stride for handler Jim Tande.  He was deep at times and required some effort to get him turned as the course angled away after some of his bigger casts.  The race was not exceptionally smooth but was not beyond open country shooting dog standards.  At 37, after rimming a good piece of country to the west of course, he was searched for by scout but ultimately spied by handler partially hidden behind hay bales in an alfalfa field.  As Tande approached, Spymaster was stretched out high and tight with a large covey of Huns exploding directly in front of his stand.  It was a nice find after an aggressive cast with Spymaster’s manners above reproach.  He continued to rim the first course and finished far to the front at time.  Spymaster, brother to Hytest Skyhawk is owned by Dr. Mary Beth Esser of Wisconsin.

The brace of the trial as far as ground coverage belonged to Elhew Hannabell and Butch Cassidy.  The rolling prairie pasture course was absolutely scorched by these two with Shawn Kinkelaar and Bill Holtan respectively directing their charges ever forward at range.  There were impressive hunting swings across the huge creek bottom and deep onto the side hills with scarcely a patch of cover missed in between.  Those riding knew they were seeing quite a show that would surely result in finds but ultimately nothing was pointed during the prairie rimming hour.  Disappointing that they were not rewarded but one race we’ll keep in the memory bank.  Merrihill’s Carolina also showed us how edges should be hunted in her hour on the first course.  Scott Beeler ran Doc’s Sixgun to a nice race with a good find on chickens.  Jason Williams handled Mom’s Apple Pie to a good race credited with two finds on chickens – one of them divided with Doc’s Sixgun.  Nella Runnin Tab and Hawthorne Big Shooter also combined for an enjoyable hour of ground coverage sans bird work.