Gotland is one of my favorite places for the field trials. The landscape is special on this island, open and low, it seems that there is more sky on Gotland than anywhere else. Its almost always windy. And the birds are wild. It is a real challenge to achieve a prize in a field trial here, the dogs have to be precise and solid in their bird handling to manage the wild partridge. We had a nice training weekend together with the GSP club and today we were lucky to get 1st prize both with Thelma and Ray in open class! The weather was warm and sunny, with only a light breeze, huge grounds to cover and many wild partridge couples out in the fields enjoying the sun. More than pleased with our girls, they worked very well in the heat – with high speed and good range. Thelma’s next start is in elite class, Ray has one more 1st prize in open class to achieve. 

 

 

Ray started in open class on SDPK spring trials in south of Sweden this weekend. Result 2 x 2nd prize, judge Juha Åkerblom. The weather conditions were difficult and there was a lot of hare on the trial grounds. The first day started out with beautiful, sunny weather and a lot of partridge. Ray started out with racing speed and two very nice points on partridge. The numerous hare tracks disturbed her search style in the second run and more hare was to be found during the trial, which she could not ignore. The second trial day was cloudy, freezing cold and the wind was gaining strength with every minute. The ground was frozen and partially covered with snow, we started out with the search on the vast empty fields. Ray got out of hand in her first run – there were no birds, but a lot of hare around, she had fantastic speed and range, but hunted by herself and did not have much contact with me. The next runs were carried out in more dense forest area, where she was more focused, her search became purposeful and systematic. She made several points on pheasants, unfortunately we could not make use of all of the situations. In the end of the day I’m very happy with her drive, the ability to find game and her bird handling. She is such a fun gundog with a lot of potential!

Luke’s son Lucky (Qasida’s Ag Lucky Hunter) was nominated the Weimaraner of the year in Finland, with the highest field points from the field trials 2017. His sister Nasu (Qasida’s Ag Lucky Star) with her handler Nelli Touru were nominated The Rookie of the Year. Impressively both dogs have achieved prizes from every field trial! Huge congratulations to owners Satu Virtanen with Lucky and Nelli Touru with Nasu as well as the breeder  Satu Rantamaa at Qasida’s kennel!

Satu Virtanen med Lucky

Snaiper’s Mad Max, Falco (11 months) has been hunting mink today to keep the predator count low in the wild bird paradise on the Swedish west coast islands. It is a very special way of hunting with Weimaraners that search, mark the predator in its hideout and apport – kill if necessary after the shot. Both Falco and the maste look quite pleased. Well done guys!

Our pocket rocket Ray official hipscore A, so happy!

Snaiper’s Macy, 9 months old, working on blood tracks ang getting good hunting experience. Since she is trained to report found game when pointing out of sight from the hunter, she reported the deer as well. She is becoming a nice allround hunter, nice to see!

All dogs worked so well, ran hard and tried to pin down the difficult late season pheasants. Luke did great job, flushing the bird from a very tense and bushy area, I got a long shot on the pheasant and Ray got to do the very long retrieve. Good team work!

Lovely day hunting with friends, perfect conditions with high birds, skilled dogs and decent shooting. Happy to see Missy, 9 months – a nice hunting dog in making!

(on pics Thelma, Anders and Luke, Anders, Luke and Torbjörn)

What a weekend! Luke’s son in Finland, Qasida’s Lucky Hunter – Lucky, takes 1st prize in open class with a high score 87 points!.Congratulations owner/handler Satu Virtanen and the breeder Satu Rantamaa at Qasida’s kennel!

Korkeankulman Heta andHäjy (Luke’s daughter and son in Finland) were shown very nicely at Helsinki Winner show and both received Junior Winner titles- HeJW-17. Heta was even honoured with the Nordic Junior Winner title – NordW-17. Congratulations owners Sanna Leskinen and Sari and Janne Tolppala, the breeders at Korkeankulman kennel!

 

Happy weekend, on Saturday we were in the fields finding birds with three of the M-litter puppies, Mad Max, Mojo and Missy. Great to see happy and enthusiastic young dogs on search – good speed and will to find game  – could not hope for more! Unfortunately the camera was on strike and we did not get any pictures.

On Sunday we were hunting with Luke, Indy, Thelma och Ray. We were lucky to outsmart some of the late season pheasants. Job well done!