HRC Spring Grand

[Kevin Hannah]

Just saw the updates on the HRC web site.

They have set a new record and have 377 dogs entered for this one. It starts toward the end of the month. The convoys leave the HQ will be pretty long this spring.

Kevin

[3 black dogs]

Kev is it me or has this grand gone to the pro's if this keeps up they are going to have to change the venue to a amature grand and a open grand there are not even a handfull of those dogs entered being handled by thier owners it is getting as bad as field trial.

Chris

[Kevin Hannah]

There are definately a lot of pros running at the grand. I don't know this for sure but I would be there are more amateur handlers at the fall grands from the northern states and Canada. Some of the pro handled dogs may be owned by these people and there dogs spent the winter months with pros and then run the spring grand. For anyone in the northern staes and Canada it is very difficult to get any water work in before the spring grand which makes it very tough to go down and run.

Not sure just how big this event can get before it is too big to handle. The host club was preparing and planning for 400 dogs so hopefully everything goes well but there has to be a breaking point some where.

Kevin

[Kevin Hannah]

By the sounds of the talk on the internet, so take that with a grain of salt, many of the southern HRC people will not be travelling to the Fall Grand in 07, they are saying on some of the forums that they cannot see driving that far for a grand with the price of fuel. Guess maybe they don't realize how far and how much gas the people from the northern states and Canada go through driving from here to Texas or Louisiana every fall.

But they say it's no big deal because there are very few handlers from up here making the trip anyway. Hello, :idea: if you had the fall grand a little closer (say 12hr drive) from Ontario they may be suprised how many people from Canada and the northern states might show up year after year.

Kevin

[Drew Good]

I agree with ya Kev. If they held it more centrally located then they could draw handler's from all over NA. There is no way in Hell I would drive more than 12 hours, with my truck it would cost me a fortune

Drew

[LeeW]

I agree with ya Kev. If they held it more centrally located then they could draw handler's from all over NA. There is no way in Hell I would drive more than 12 hours, with my truck it would cost me a fortune

Drew

Well all it takes is a club to want to host the Grand .We have had two Grands in Canada and let me tell ya it is a ton of work to put one of these together and the bigger promblem is We tend to have smaller clubs in Canada and the Northern States so it is alot of work for a few members that are interested in the Grand.I have traveled to Texas Mississippi Louisana North and south Carolina .We traveled with a few people to split the cost and every trip was worth the expense even the ones that I went out in the first series.I have met alot of people and made many good friends.I can just pick up the phone and call anyone from here to Louisisana and have a place to stay and a place to go duck hunting .

To top it all off I own a Grand Hunting Retriever Champion.Which I'm Proud of ..Mission acomplished..Now on to a hopefully a field champion ...

[LeeW]

I agree with ya Kev. If they held it more centrally located then they could draw handler's from all over NA. There is no way in Hell I would drive more than 12 hours, with my truck it would cost me a fortune

Drew

Drew if you had a dog quilified for the National amature in Manitoba and you felt you had a good to great shot of winning would you go ?
(Manitoba is a good 20 hrs from here)

[Drew Good]

Drew if you had a dog quilified for the National amature in Manitoba and you felt you had a good to great shot of winning would you go ?
(Manitoba is a good 20 hrs from here)

Tough call Leew, if I had a GOOD SHOT at winning then yes I would go but I would make every attempt at trying to find a way to reduce costs ( hooking up with another Handler that is going to split fuel costs or look into flying).

I will admit that I came off a little harsh in my last post :opps:( by saying There is no way in Hell I would go) what I should have said was I really doubt I would go unless I could find a cheaper way.

Drew

[LeeW]

Well that is my point.To us HRC hunt testers for a shot at the brass ring you have to do what you got to do if it means saving and scimping to have a shot at the title you will go no matter where it is .

The jouney is sometimes better than the destination ..

Good luck to all in their retriever endevors .. Lee Woodhouse .

[Kevin Hannah]

I have been waiting for you to respond to this thread Lee knowing that you have made the long trip a number of times. I agree that if you have the dog and want to run it the choice is easy, you jump in the truck and go like many of you guys have. The part that bothers me is the guys that will not travel north to any of the grands. Some people on other boards have stated that they would not even travel 12 hours round trip (6 hours each way)to run a grand, I have travelled farther than that to a regular hunt test. If they did it would also help support the host club as well. I don't think every fall grand should be held up in the northern states or canada but it would be nice if they tried to have every second one or so within say a 10 hours drive of region 1. This would allow some of the people the chance to run a grand without the huge drives every time. I think that HRC being a national organization should and needs to think about some issues on a national level as well for the membership.

Kevin

[LeeW]

Kevin like I said the grand hunt commitee has no promblem with the grand being in a more northern location .The trouble is finding a club to host it ...

[ducksoup]

I'm in agreement with Lee -- if you have the dog -- have qualified -- then go for it -- you find a way to make it happen -- I don't play the HT game (at this point any way) but run FTs -- and if and when my dog qualifies for any Canadian National (Open or Amateur), I'm going to do all I can to run him in that National -- he may never get that chance again -- neither might I

[Kevin Hannah]

For the record I agree with everything Lee is saying as well. It is just unfortunate that the majority of southern HRC people will not travel to any grand held in the northern states or Canada and support the clubs that hold the event. They cost a lot of money to put on and the clubs need entrys to make it worth while and with low entry number comes lower income from fundraising and entry $ to pay the expenses.

Kevin

[LeeW]

For the most part the pro's do show up at least they did in Canada twice .Where you lose entries is the one or two dog guy that won't travel.Again the clubs are bigger down south and means that the average guy with a good dog will try the Grand if it is in their Backyard .Remember the pro's are getting paid to go wherever the clients want them too.
P.S I'm nethier pro or con on the pros They have done a great service to every game they play all of our trining methods came from them one way or the other ,I can also remeber a pro here in Canada at one time,that all the clubs loved to have come to thier hunt test years ago, when we were getting started because he would bring 8 dogs to the Hunt test ...

Just saying ..... Lee Woodhouse