Spoon River NAVHDA Chapter

Greetings all. Ive been away for a while.

I talked to Don this morning. He did order in a few more birds!! So pheasant and qauil will be available!

I am again taking orders for birds for training day. If you will need shootable pigeons, please reply here. I am filling the order with Rick Sheets and having him bring them directly to Dons club house. You will pay him directly. I believe they are $3 per bird. There are only 50 birds as of now. I need orders in by this weekend ,saturday the 17th. After Saturday any unordered birds are going off to a sale. If everyone would place their order with me here prior to train day, I can call ahead and have the birds caged up and ready to go. This will save about 40 minutes that we usually waste waiting at the club house.

I will be competing in a field trial the saturday and sunday of training weekend, so I can not attend. I will line up any available birds for your train day though. I can see if Terry will drop off all ordered ducks. I will see if Don has access to any pheasant for tracking purposes. If anyone has some dead game (pheasant, chuckar,duck) please bring them to share for dragging.  I do not plan on calling people to make orders! If they do not contact me, I will not reserve. So if you have a training partner or friend who is not aware of this ordering system, please have them check in here, or call me via phone.

Remember, local testing opportunity is only about 6 weeks out! So get your birds, a training partner,a test spot reserved,and get busy training. You might have our Chapters next Versatile Champion!!

 GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!!!!  GO CUBS!!!!!!!!! GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!! GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!! GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!! GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!!

If you are needing to use homing pigeons for puppies or steadiness, Please check with Don to see what coop to use and expect to pay $1 donation per bird.

NOTICE* URGENT* THIS JUST IN!!!!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!

If you have not been out in the last week- be prepared for TICKS. They are out in FULL FORCE. Make sure you and your dog are prepared. We were at Dons for a short time for puppy water and picked about 20 ticks off. Just thought Id share the great news:D

Regarding this month's training day (April):

John and I will not be at this training day and Randy Ashman will only be there for a few hours.  This means that EVERYONE needs to chip in and help out.  Randy or Dave Maquet will have our new sign up sheet and we'll give it a whirl.  They can give a short description of the process in the morning.  We will be using that from here on out.  The idea is that you now train on a first-come, first-served basis.  Sign up when you get there and we'll run dogs in that order, with the next person in line setting birds for the person before (and/or helping them in whatever way needed).  This first attempt will be a work in progress, so don't get frustrated at how it goes, please.  If you don't know how to set birds or run a trap, just ask one of the more Senior folks.  We'll get you trained, and yes, it is an art.  Setting birds isn't as easy as it sounds.  Be aware that we will also have people coming from other areas this training day because of the following month's test.

Speaking of the test, anyone who can help out would be much appreciated.  Perhaps let John or Randy know this coming training day if you are available to help and what days.  They can write it down on our sign-up sheet.

If anyone wants more one on one type training, contact John after the training day.  

If you haven't started using tick preventative already, start now!  There are products out that prevent mosquito bites as well.  I've noticed my dog is less irritated by mosquitos since using it.  I believe I use a product called Vector.

Take care and see everyone test weekend!

I think we have fixed the click on map. Just go to Home, training, or testing and you should be able to click on "map" to get specific directions.

John, I will take 6 of those pigeons

Thanks Fred

John, I will take 15 birds. I have a guy with a english pointer who I think is going to join.

Thank you  to anyone who has cooperated! I think I can get an extension on the pigeons, as he may have some more coming in. Don will have some pheasant and qauil in, so buy some for training if you can use them.

Big group of people coming! Sorry I cant be there to help this month. Maybe someone should start a thread and start discussing who is wanting to work what, with who and start making plans in advance. I fear you are going to end up with 15 people wanting to run in small puppy feild and spend half a day waiting to launch birds only one time for dog. Does anyone have some launchers to bring and loan. Some groups of 3 split up would work best if there are enough launchers and experienced helpers. Or maybe some work tracks and drags, or water while others are in field. Need to coordinate early, or youll spend an hour at clubhouse trying to figure out whos doing what where-.