Today promises to be dryer and another beautiful Wisconsin day. We are at Laura and John Parrott's property, which is a wonderful rolling open landscape.
With the moon still shining, the skies are clearing and the winds are light northwest at 4 mph. We will see shuffling winds later today.
The mat sits halfway up a hillside looking southwest. It drops into a valley with a road going through the middle. The rolling terrain is dotted with hay bales, scattered evergreens and trees. The cover is hay meadow with areas recently cut.
The order shot on this series is Left Flyer (LF), Left Retired (LR), Right Retired (RR) and Right Flyer (RF).
Our first bird, a Flyer drake duck is shot right uphill at approximately 249 yards. The dog will angle across the road, drive the hill over a couple of lower dips and up again. The bird lands in a slight dip of a hill slope.
Second bird, Retired hen pheasant is 257 yards. The throw is a sharp angle back left. The line will take the dog across at a base of a hill, over a couple foot hills between a couple of trees and past the hay bale to the bird.
The third bird, Retired hen pheasant is 248 yards from the line. The dog will descend towards an evergreen and some hay bales before the road. Maneuvering through those, the dog will draw the far hill through a couple more hay bales, then up to a retired hen that is a flat throw to the left landing at midway up a hill at a base of an unmowed area.
Our final bird, a drake is shot to the right and lands on the far shore of a water structure. The line will take the dog down the hill, cutting across the roads and through a stick pond with tulles along the shore. This flyer is landing at approximately 134 yards.
The test is taking approximately 9 minutes. There is an honor mat to the right of the working dog.
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Sketch of the Ninth by Official Artist Cary Hunkel
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