Result: National Amateur Shooting Dog and Shooting Dog Derby Championships

Location: Grand Junction, Tennessee

Post Date: Apr 30, 2025

Submitted By: Chris Weatherly

National Amateur Shooting Dog Derby Championship (back): Matt Backus, Kent Walker, Joe Hughes, Tessa Hughes, Brian Peterson with Southern Shadows Copper, Lance Servais with Erin's Sunshine Kate, Jeremy Taylor, and Piper Huffman, William Bain.

The National Amateur Shooting Dog Championship and its accompanying Derby were conducted on the historic field trial courses of the Ames Plantation beginning on March 4 and concluding on March 8, 2025. The host club for the trial this year was the Alabama Amateur Field Trial Club. Jeremy Taylor and Joe and Tessa Hughes represented the Club at the trial and helped facilitate the event in many ways. Many thanks go out to the trustees of the Hobart Ames Foundation and the director of Ames Plantation, Matt Backus, for making these grounds available for the running of this trial and others. The six one-hour courses had been hit hard by adverse weather and pressured heavily by continual use in the weeks leading up to this trial. Birds were jittery and quick to evacuate. These factors possibly attributed to birdwork being at a premium during the running, and the puzzling number of unproductive stands by the competitors.

Purina and Garmin are to be commended and profusely thanked for their continued support and sponsorship of this trial in particular, and the AFTCA and amateur field trials in general. Purina provided their top-of-the-line Pro Plan product for the winners and sponsored a meal at the Rube Rhea Memorial Clubhouse for all participants and officials on Wednesday evening following the day's running. Garmin once again provided its industry-leading dog recovery and training devices for the winners. The Saddle Guy, Kevin Parrish, provided nice leather judges' books as gifts for our judicial panel. Jeff Haggis Saddlery sent custom-made saddle bags for the judges to take home. Many thanks to all of these sponsors for their generosity.

Climbing into the judicial saddles this year were Jeremy Taylor of Rienzi, Mississippi, and Kent Walker of Collierville, Tennessee, for the Derby Championship, and the father and son duo of Mike and Frank Vicari of Hampshire, Illinois, for the Shooting Dog Championship. Thanks to you guys for graciously giving your time and opinions.

Piper Huffman, secretary of the AFTCA and all-around crisis manager, once again did a great job of organizing and managing the running of this year's event. She even dragged her husband, Larry, out to transport judges' and participants' horses between the morning and afternoon breakaways. Thanks, Piper, for all you do behind the scenes to keep the rest of us running in the right direction.

Your reporter, Chris Weatherly, and Zack Parsons of the Ames Plantation handled front and back marshaling duties and did our best to keep participants on course and get wayward canines gathered up promptly when the tracking devices were requested by the handlers. We were assisted when needed by Kent Walker and Daniel Bolden. Ken Blackman handled the dog wagon duties and helped to control traffic along the roadways. He was assisted along the road by Squeaky Powell. Fayette County Sheriff's Department sent a deputy as needed to slow down traffic as well. Thank you guys for all of your help.

Handlers showing up to compete in the National Shooting Dog Championship and Derby were Brian Peterson, Klaus Schmidt, Chris Catanzarite, Chris Koutras, Marion Brown, Mark Johnson, Marty Moore, Jim Martin, Lance Servais, Betty Shearouse, Brent Cox, Joey McAlexander, Scott Little, Ben Weddington, Bubba Spencer, Jason Super, John Van Horn, Hunter McDuffie, Alex Smith, Buddy Morrison, Gary McKibben, Jeff Hale, David Williams, Joe Hughes, Jeremy Taylor, and Bryce Cooper. Thanks to all of these folks for their participation, support, and sportsmanship.

National Amateur Shooting Dog Derby Championship
The National Amateur Shooting Dog Derby Championship began on Tuesday, March 4 at 8 a.m. on Course #1, a day later than advertised in order to give the birds and plantation staff a little more recovery time from the National Field Trial Championship, which had ended just the Thursday prior after three weeks of competition. There was no running on that opening Tuesday afternoon due to thunderstorms in the area. The Derby was concluded after the running of five braces on Wednesday. Sixteen dogs competed in the stake, and eight successfully completed their braces. Two coveys of birds were flushed for the juveniles under judgment.

Judges Taylor and Walker collaborated and came to the decision that they did not see a derby competitor with the combination of ground application and birdwork worthy of the title of champion. They placed the winners on ground race 1-2-3 as follows: Taking first place was Southern Shadows Copper, a pointer male handled by Brian Peterson and running in the first brace on Course #1. Released in the breakaway field, Copper made his way around Heartbreak Hill and crossed Ellington Road into the Morgan field to the front at the 9-minute mark. After swinging wide through the Morgan field and around the Avent house, he crossed Turner Road at 0:24, handling to the front and holding his edges like a seasoned pro. Copper took in the big edges around the Turner long neck field and the Tom Hurt field as well as could be done. He crossed National Championship Drive at 0:58 and finished fading to the front across the Mary Scott basin levee. Unfortunately, his nearly perfect ground race was not rewarded with any game contacts.

Finishing second was Erin's Sunshine Kate, a pointer female handled by Mark Johnson and running in the fourth brace on Course #1 Wednesday morning. Kate was released in the breakaway field across the road from the clubhouse and disappeared to the front. She was gathered up in time to cross Ellington Road and make a cast along the west side of the Morgan field, where she attempted to make game. Deciding better of the situation, she continued on through the new basin and across Turner Road. Kate continued her search for game through the Turner pines, across Govan Hill, and finished her bid to the front, crossing National Championship Drive. Though she hunted hard, she was unable to produce game.

Selected for third place was Southern Shadows T-Bone, a pointer male also handled by Brian Peterson. T-Bone ran in the fifth brace on Course #2 Wednesday morning. Released from the breakaway on National Championship Drive, T-Bone headed for the row of pines up front, then swung wide to the right, catching the wind in search of game. Finding nothing home, he crossed Turner Road and headed south, rounded the Avent house place, and continued on back to the north, hunting all of the likely places. He searched hard for the entire hour, hunting to the front. His handler took advantage of his lack of a bracemate, who had been scratched, and allowed T-Bone to dig in to the cover in his pursuit of game. The pursuit proved fruitless; the birds just didn't seem to be moving. He finished his bid to the front in the Tobe Polk field, still searching.

Grand Junction, Tenn., March 4
Judges: Jeremy Taylor and Kent Walker
NATIONAL AMATEUR SHOOTING DOG DERBY CHAMPIONSHIP [One-Hour Heats] - 17 Pointers
[Title Withheld]
1st-SOUTHERN SHADOWS COPPER, F1716938, pointer male, by Lester's Storm Surge-The White Pearl. Lance Servais, owner and handler.
2d-ERIN'S SUNSHINE KATE, F1709940, pointer female, by Erin's Bad River-Erin's Wild Covey. Mark Johnson, owner and handler.
3d-SOUTHERN SHADOWS T-BONE, F1716940, pointer male, by Southern Shadows T Rex-Southern Ritz Lane. Brian Peterson, owner and handler.

National Amateur Shooting Dog Championship
The National Amateur Shooting Dog Championship began on Wednesday, March 5, at 3:25 p.m. on Course #6, immediately following the conclusion of the Derby. It was concluded after the 17th brace on Saturday, we missed no time for weather. Thirty-three dogs competed in the championship, and 22 successfully completed their runs. Nine bevies were produced for the judges in front of the canine competitors.

Judges Mike and Frank Vicari easily selected Calico's Over The Top, a pointer male handled by Alex Smith, as their champion. Top ran in the eleventh brace on Course #4 Friday afternoon. Released from the breakaway into the east pasture, he worked the left edge into the irrigation pivot field, made a big cast, was gathered up, and continued on towards Buster Graves driveway, which he crossed at 0:15. At 0:26, Top was seen taking the far edge around the Horseshoe field. After hunting hard down the right-hand side of the chute, unsuccessful in his pursuit of game, he made the difficult turn at the end and continued on to the front. At 0:39, Top suddenly stopped in the broomsedge before the entrance to Wolf Crossing, looking stylish and insisting that he had found what he was looking for. Alex dismounted and immediately set a feeding covey to flight directly in front of his staunch canine. Alex and Top rejoined his bracemate at the front at Miller's Cove. After making the hard left turn upon entering the Jack Harris cabin field, Top crossed the ditch and disappeared. As Alex ascended Pine Hill, he nervously called for his dog. Soon, the call of point was heard from his scout in the dense cover on the hillside. Once again, a feeding covey was produced in front of the stylish pointer. At 0:55, Top went far to the front, crossing the Marshall's Jack Harris field and disappearing into Kerry's seven acres. As we entered that area, he was observed hunting through the pines in search of more game. He was seen at pickup time rimming the field just east of the agronomy unit shed. Everyone in attendance knew that they had just witnessed the one to beat.

The judges picked Cochise B, a setter male handled by Marion Brown, as their runner-up. B ran in the eighth brace on Course #1 Friday morning. B was released from the morning breakaway and hunted his way through the cut milo stubble in the breakaway field. He was then seen taking the hard left turn in front of Heartbreak Hill, to the front, and headed to the Ellington Road crossing. After negotiating his way through the Morgan field and the new basin, B crossed Turner Road with his handler. Released along the course heading toward the Turner long neck field, B suddenly stopped just to the left of the course at 0:29, insisting that he had game. Dr. Brown dismounted and easily produced a single in front of his setter, standing with style. B worked his way around the Turner basin and crossed Turner ditch at 0:45 after checking in with his handler. He followed the course around Govan Hill and finished his bid after crossing National Championship Drive, to the front.

The participants in this trial were the last ones in the field trial community to see the afternoon courses on Ames, #4-6, for the foreseeable future. The afternoon area was turned over to Tall Timbers immediately following the conclusion of this trial. Tall Timbers will be doing intensive habitat restoration on the afternoon courses for the next few years in an attempt to bring wild quail back to the Ames Plantation for us to run our dogs on. Once this improvement is completed on the afternoon courses, we will run dogs there again, turn the morning area over to them, and repeat the process. The goal is to once again have a sustainable wild quail population available to use to evaluate our canine competitors on the hallowed grounds provided to us through the generosity of the Hobart Ames Foundation. Changes can be a bit painful, please be patient as we go through them together. The hope is that the end result will be a much better product to be used for our benefit. Thanks to all for their continued support, and we hope to see you here running your dogs again next year.

Judges: Frank Vicari and Mike Vicari
NATIONAL AMATEUR SHOOTING DOG CHAMPIONSHIP [One-Hour Heats] - 30 Pointers and 5 Setters
Winner-CALICO'S OVER THE TOP, F1692315, pointer male, by Dominator's Rebel Heir-Calico's Country Strong. Calico Kennels, Alex & Tiffani Smith, owners; Alex Smith, handler.
Runner-Up-COCHISE B, F1695918, setter male, by Shagtime Max-Shagtime Hope. Marion Brown, owner and handler.

National Amateur Shooting Dog Championship. Back Matt Backus Chris Weatherly Bryce Cooper David Williams Tessa Joe Hughes Kent Walker Heather Mike and Frank Vicari Jeremy Taylor Piper Huffman. Front Alex Smith with Calico's Over The Top, Mabry and Brody Taylor.