Burns and Becks Gundog Club Cumbria

Open Walked-Up Test – 21st July 2019

This year’s final test event of the season took place once again on the sandy heathland of Brackenbrough estate, near Plumpton, in a mixture of heather and bracken, through the continued generosity of the landowners, the Harris family.

Mid July can bring all seasons of weather but we were blessed with overcast and relatively cool conditions, though the wind was slight in the morning, increasing in the afternoon. It was the wind that proved the downfall later of many a good open dog.

Steward of the beat Paddy Merrall had assembled a professional team of dummy throwers and they were dispersed two in front and two behind in the first round, and the dogs in line proceeded either side of a wide valley through a largely smooth first round. Over the course of two rounds each dog was asked to collect two marked retrieves and one blind, each retrieve saluted with a launcher blank. Few dummies landed in the open and most had to be found in moderate cover with variable scenting conditions.

While few dogs were lost in the first round, everything changed when the field wheeled to the left over a brow and into a strengthening wind. The two sides were separated by a wide valley with deep heather and dogs on the left found particular difficulty with crossed blind and marked retrieves across the valley into the stiff breeze. So hard was the task that two groups of four dogs were lost at this stage, and only the best dogs which would handle into the wind, or which could mark well enough managed to survive to the end of the third round, when the judges called a halt.

Demanding retrieves and the conditions had sorted out the dogs without the judges having to make too many elimination decisions, and awards were made to all six dogs who completed three rounds.
There was no surprise when Simon Capstick was declared the winner, having already drawn applause from the gallery for two of his faultless long distance retrieves.

Following the presentations made by landowner John Harris, who we were delighted to welcome to our event in the afternoon, thanks were given to all who had made the day possible, especially our Secretary Kirsty and Richard Howson, Paddy Merrall and our four judges David Logan, Ian Palmer, Paul Stogden and Kirsty Howson.