1997-2008
By Barbel Fetkoter
We first saw “Samantha” in the fall of 1997 at Hoffman when she was chasing little birds across a hayfield. She was three months old and Gary Winall asked if we wanted to take her. He had chosen to keep her brother. We took her home.
The next summer Aubrey (Morgan) made his first trip to South Dakota to stay at Ed Husser’s camp for two weeks. He took Samantha with him. He told me that of all the dogs he took, she impressed him the most. She had fun pointing and chasing pheasants and chickens, making big casts across some buttes, but always coming back to him on her own.
That fall he took her to Bruce Jacobs. Aubrey told Bruce, “I think she is going to be a good one. Take your time with her.” Bruce did and she became not a good one, but one of the best dogs we ever had.
She had several Derby wins. At age three she won runner-up at the Region 3 Championship. She won the Region 3 Championship three times, the Tar Heel Open Championship twice, Atlantic Coast Shooting Dog Championship once and the North Carolina Open Shooting Dog Championship. She won the Carolina Lean Breed three times and was runner-up once.
Samantha was both Open and Amateur All-Age Dog of the Year in North Carolina several times. She was invited to the National Amateur Invitational seven times and was in the callback several times. She ran in the National Championship twice. She had a total of 31 placements.
Some people called her the “Hoffman Queen.” They thought she knew every covey location on the field trial grounds. A field trial was never over until she had run. She ran big on the prairies and bigger and bigger at Hoffman, but she always would handle and most always find birds. If she was lost, we would find her on point later.
Samantha was a dream for her handlers (Bruce or Aubrey), but could be a nightmare for her scout. You had to stay so focused and check out every place you thought she might find birds and be pointed. She was a lot more perfect than we were.
She gave us one son and a daughter to compete and, hopefully, there will be some grandchildren.
We knew this would be her last season. At almost eleven years she still had a big heart and wanted to go, but it was time to leave her home. After a short illness she was taken from us. Samantha was laid to rest at a special place at the Arcanum Cemetery.
She will always have a special place in our hearts.
Sam, we will miss you.