Friday morning brought purely and simply ugly conditions. Lots of hard rain, ponds everywhere, gloomy forecast, but still positive attitudes from club members and guests. With a forecast of more and more rain, and after a two hour delay, the judges(Larry Cox and Dick Wilber) and the committee made the decision to get the second annual John D. Bodden Memorial Open Limited Gun Dog underway. A stellar field of Field Champions and Amateur Field Champions were scheduled to compete. Along with the wild quail, pen reared birds were released in a driving rain storm prior to the running. The first brace pitted FC AFC J and K's Baron York von Greif, white and liver male, owned and handled by Blake Biggs with Free Flight's Baron von Blitz, roan male, owned and handled by Keith Witt. Both dogs tore to the front with huge moves, showing after about a 3 minute absence. Biggs called point at 4 after finding York buried to the front in a deep thicket. The dog showing great style and intensity. However, his handler did not share in the style. During his attempt to dismount the horse the handler showed why it is a God's send that only the dog is judged in these events. The handler was caught on his saddle, the saddle ended up under the horse, and the horse ended up on top of the handler. Judge Cox gave the dismount a 6 in his scoring. Larry mentioned that Biggs is often entertaining. After regaining his feet, birds were flushed. York was turned loose again and was again found on point to the front at 7, with Prince backing. A covey of native quail was flushed with manners in order. At 12, Prince was found dug up deep in the cover with perfect style and manners at flush. York was found standing again at 14, a wet single was produced with manners in order. At 19, York was again found on the left edge of the course with birds walking in front of the dog. Manners were perfect at the flush. At 24, York was found in a thick hedge row, a small covey of native bobs was flushed with fine manners by the dog. Both dogs were to the front and finished with nice edge moves going away. Biggs was able to stay on his horse for the rest of the day. FC AFC J and K's Baron York von Greif was deemed the official winner of the stake.

The second brace included two outstanding GSPs, FC Blitz's Frontier Scout, Hank, liver and white male, owned and handled by Ronnie Sale of Free Flight Kennels, and FC AFC Will E Run, roan male, owned and handled by Grant Stanfill. Both dogs broke away with great speed. Hank showed after several minutes dead to the front. Will E showed after a reasonably long absence but within good time. Hank stayed on the edges, with great speed. His efforts were rewarded with a find at 12 on a covey of native bobwhites. Hank's style was as good as any dog in the stake. Although Will E had several absences, he always showed to the front, with one very nice find on a pair of bobs. Both dogs finished strong to the front. Hank would take second place honors and Will E ended up in fourth.

The third brace included FC AFC Duchess Cassidy MH, owned by Andy Gerdes and handled by Ronnie Sale. Cassie broke away to the front running a nice Gun Dog race. Her speed and handling were shown on this reasonably tight course. Cassie was found on point at 12, with a nice covey of bobs produced by Sale. At 23, another find with eye popping style helped Cassie to a nice third place finish.

With the poor start of the day, heavy winds and constant rain, it seemed that John was able to call in a favor and help to give us perfect weather for the running of the stake. The John Bodden Memorial Open Limited Gun Dog pays tribute to a good friend who tirelessly helped the Lone Star GSP Club to build its membership to one of the biggest in the US. John's smiling face was always a giant welcome to all who attended events held by the club. Certainly John's contributions to the German Shorthaired Pointer world will be seen for many years to come. We all look forward to this annual event, by and away the most prestigious event of the year for the Lone Star GSP Club.

Overnight, Friday night, apparently the dinner bell was rung for at least one, now very overweight, raccoon. The bird pen with 250 quail was destroyed and all of the quail were either free in the woods or were included on the raccoon dinner buffet. So, a mad dash was made by Scott Bodenstab to pick up more birds so that we could hold the weekend part of the trial. The Open Gun Dog, judged by Grant Stanfill and James Messer, started with the very first dog getting into a losing battle with a barbed wire fence. After 7 staples, Caden's River Runs Wild would be pronounced reasonably healthy again. His bracemate, Free Flights Baron von Blitz made some outstanding edge moves, showed an ease of handling, and was always to the front. Prince showed his ability to handle a tighter course with the ease of a veteran dog. In the third brace, due to the absence of Tina Carles, the professional handler and trainer of River, who was at the vet, Blake Biggs was asked to be the substitute handler of Tonia Doering's T & T's Armed and Dangerous. The young green broke Brittany proved to acclimate to these unfamiliar grounds quite nicely. Nitro ran a very nice, controlled, to the front, Gun Dog race, always showing at the right times, with nice speed and application. In the fourth brace, Terry and Kirk Bomer's Cactus Jack II, handled by Terry, showed moments of immaturity, but hunted hard, stayed to the front, and ran a nice Gun Dog race. The callback for retrieve went off quite well. In the end, T & T's Armed and Dangerous was named the winner of the Open Gun Dog, with Free Flights Baron von Blitz second, third and fourth was withheld.

The Open Derby included some nice races from several of Tina Carles' young dogs, Rippa, Mickster, and Twister, out of her FC Rawhide's Reno. But each dog proved to be too much dog for the grounds. Gene and Sherry Moseley's Harry, Texas Flying Wizard, showed his potential in Shooting Dog stakes as a young dog with tremendous maturity. Harry ran the edges, hunted the right places, made some huge All Age moves, and had several nice edge finds. Harry would win the stake. However, Frank Delmont's Oakridge's Oak's Pat proved that a true birddog will not be outdone by much in any field trial. Pat had several nice finds with a nice Gun Dog race and was judged the second place dog.

The Amateur Gun Dog, judged by Kevin Temple and Dick Wilber, had a nice field of GSPs. In the second brace Free Flights Baron von Blitz proved to be the top of the heap. Owned and handled by Keith Witt, of Fort Worth, Prince broke away nicely to the front. He ran as hard as he had earlier in the day in the Open Gun Dog. Prince had several nicely spaced finds and always showed to the front. This win finished Free Flights Baron von Blitz as an Amateur Field Champion. Second went to Penns Grant GA. Cracker Jack, owned by Diane and Frank Delmont and handed by Frank. Third was withheld. Fourth went to Cactus Jack II, owned by Kirk and Terry Bomer and handled by Terry.

The Open Puppy including 18 nice looking young dogs was judged by Dick Wilber and David Vogelsang. In the end, Slick's White Smoke, owned and handled by Ritchie Rogers had won the stake. Smoke showed his ability to take edges and stay on them. He ran as big as the grounds would allow, but showed when needed. Although only a year old, Smoke showed that he has the makings of being a good one. Smoke is out of NFC Heide's Mighty City Slicker who only passed away a month ago. Our condolences go out to Keith and Robbi Gulledge of Blue Dawn Kennels and to Bob Thompson and family on the loss of that great dog. Second went to RHR Texas Maid in the Shade, owned by Phil Hausman, and handled by Gene Moseley. Third was Texas Last Dixie Chick, owned by Gene and Sherry Moseley, and handled by Gene. Fourth was awarded to T & T's All Jazzed Up, owned by Keith Doering, and professionally handled by Tina Carles.

As is always the case, this trial could not have come off without the help of so many, including the judges of course, DavidVogelsang, Kevin Temple, James Messer, Grant Stanfill, Larry Cox, And Dick Wilber who drove the 350 miles from Lubbock to help us. Further, the tremendous help of Scott Bodenstab, Chad Baum, Diane Delmont, Frank Delmont, Gene Moseley, Andy Gerdes. The food was great, thanks to cook David Vogelsang. Huge thanks go to Scott Bodenstab, for picking up birds, racing to get additional birds, and then going back on Monday to catch the stragglers, to help us defray some of the costs of the trial. In the end, River will recover nicely from his fence battle, the coyotes at LBJ will be nicely fed on our lost birds, and Larry Cox and Dick Wilber were entertained once again by the horse dismount. Overall, just proves that we may not remember the winners, but we will have great stories to tell down the road.

End