Star Places 5th in the Michigan Gun Dog of the Year Trial

Star and I had a learning experience this weekend as we competed with the best flushing dogs in the state. We competed against 15 pre-qualified dog and handler teams that were competing to earn the title of Michigan's Gun Dog of the Year.

Entering the event we thought our dog Sky stood a chance to compete with the dogs in the upper echelon of the flushing division but due to a handler and shooting error Sky did not receive her scores for the retrieve leaving her out of the top 5. So as we moved on to the last brace of the day we prepared Star (2 year old lab) to run and prepared to shoot her birds. This is when my jaw hit the weeds as Star who has hunted 1000's of birds over the last year had the best run of her life. She quartered 15 yds on either side of myself, the gunner, and the judge and never left the designated gun range of 20 yds during her 20 minute evaluation.

We are so pleased that Star was able to compete at such a high level with dogs that were 2, 3 and 4 times her age. She is showing so much potential in this type of sport that we are pursuing entering more trials in the future with her.


For those of you that don't know the Michigan Gun Dog of the year trial is put on in order to support the Ruffed Grouse Society and establish a "fun" ranking system for pointing and flushing dogs from the state. This trial was the culmination of 6-10 trials across the state where dog and handler teams attempted to qualify for the year end trial. Over the course of the year nearly 150 pointing dogs and 75-100 flushing dogs competed to earn a spot in this year end trial. With only the top three dogs from each event qualifying for the year end Gun Dog of the Year Trial.

Brian Jr.

Congrats!
Is there a website somewhere with more trial information?

There should be more information on the Ruffed Grouse Societies website or visit the Michigan Sportsmans Forum Upland Section to find out more.

I know that the trial info will be out in March for next year. I will try and post any information I get about future trials.

Way To Go Star and Brian!!!!!

Great job team Star!