The Treasure State Retriever Club held their summer field trial July 10-12 at the beautiful Bob Sparks Retriever Training Grounds near Butte, MT. Friday events started of with the Qualfying stake at 7:30 a.m. Judges Missy Bell and Anne Clark  set up a challenging land triple with the long gun throwing a mark pinched in with the short right gun and then retiring. The flyer was thrown from right to left and shot last. Most dogs had trouble with the tight two set of right marks, but some did a nice job. It took most of the day even with the extended daylight hours to finish the first series of this large Qual with 46 dogs entered. Susan Wing handled her dog Coolwater’s Moose Trax to the Qualifying win. Moose is out of NFC AFC Five Star General Patton and AFC Coolwater’s Makin Trax.

Open handlers were faced with a big quad set up by judges Jay Hearnsberger and A.J. Holborn. A long bird up the middle was shot first and thrown to the left with that gun retiring into a large group of trees. The left bird was shot second and throw to the left with that gun also retiring. A right stand out bird was shot and thrown left also which was followed by a short walk-out flyer thrown and shot directly on line to the left retired gun. There were many handles on various birds and several pick-ups. Many nice jobs were also completed. Bill Fruehling and FC AFC Wood River’s Franchise took top honors giving Shaq a total of over 18 Open points already this year. Along with a National Amateur finish this year, Shaq and Bill are on a roll!

Amateur handlers began their day on Saturday morning with judges George Malaktaris and Blair Clark setting up a triple with two retired guns and a big go-bird flyer run from atop a large hill. There were some nice jobs, some handles and a few pickups. Grounds in Montana are rough with many large boulders and gopher holes which can be hazardous, as was demonstrated when Jim Scarborough’s dog Gus tumbled at the bottom of the hill breaking his left front leg. Competitors continued, however, with a few additional scratches after the fact. Jim Smith’s dog AFC Paddy Kate’s Slick Mick came out on top of the pack with the win.

Beryl Zbitnoff

The Derby began on Saturday after the Qualifying was completed. Placements are as follows with much thanks to trial secretary Beryl Zbitnoff providing official placements:

Limited Open Results:  

1st Place: FC AFC WOOD RIVER’S FRANCHISE owned and handled by Bill Fruehling

2nd Place: RIVERSIDE ROUGH RYDER owned and handled by Dave Terry

3rd Place: FC COLONEL BOWIE’S REVENGE  owned by Gary Mathis and Jeff Jenkins and handled by Karl Gunzer

4th Place: FC FEN WIZZARD owned by Brian Johnson and handled by Eric Fangsrud

RJ: AFC Madam Berte of Rimrock owned by Ron Kiehn and handled by Don Remien

Jams: Sanpitch River Shore Thing owned by Steve Bechtel Jr. and handled by Bill Totten, Foxfires Lakoda Warrior owned and handled by Bill Kolstad, Midnight Sun Southpaw owned and handled by Joe Braverman

Owner Handler Amateur Results:

1st Place: AFC Paddy Kate’s Slick Mick owned by Jim and Nancy Smith, handled by Jim

2nd Place: NEW AFC!! AFC DUST DEVIL’S BLACK BLIZZARD SH owned and handled by Mike Heard

3rd Place: Shadowpines Chabasco owned by Bob and Nancy Byrum and handled by Bob

4th Place: FOXFIRES SLIGHT OF HAND owned by Bill and Lorna Kolstad and handled by Lorna

RJ: FC AFC REMINGTON’S DUK DAWG owned and handled by Linda Johnson

Jams: Cash handled by Steve Bechtel, Wrangler handled by Paul Foster, Chance handled by Larry Calvert, Sage handled by Charles Smith, Mia handled by Richard Underwood, Ninja handled by Armand Fangsrud, Buddy handled by Glenda Brown

Qualifying Results:

1st Place: COOLWATER’S MOOSE TRAX owned and handled by Susan Wing

2nd Place: CHUGACH SECURITY CA DE owned by Don Biesen and handled by Don Remien

3rd Place: Nightwinds Sharp Shooter owned by Steve Bechtel and handled by Bill Totten

4th Place: Topbrass Firestorm owned by David Cheatham and handled by Eric Fangsrud

RJ: Firemark Rackem and Stackem Casey owned and handled by Marie Doherty

Jams: Sanpitch River Frank owned by Steve Bechtel, Lightfarms the Great Divide owned by David Cheatham, JT Chaparron owned by Julian Lopez, Duk Tucker owned and handled by Don Remien, Bigguns Wild Rose Warrior owned and handled by Alice Woodyard,  Blue Earth’s Riding with the King owned and handled by John Terraciano, Heads up Fire in the Hole owned and handled by Lynn Nelson, Topbrass Lonesome Dove owned by Cheryl Talley and John Robinson

Derby Results:

1st Place: Rockliffs Justdoit owned and handled by Paul and Sally Foster

2nd Place: Moonstones Yellow-Dude Smith owned by Sarita and Bill McKnight, handled by Bill and Rob Erhardt

3rd Place: Upon the Wings of an Answered Prayer owned and hanlded by Bill and Mickey Petrovish

4th Place: Pah Rah Black Kat Kate owned and handled by James Jones

RJ: Moonstone’s Ham-Maid Marian owned by Sarita and Bill McKnight and handled by Sarita

Jams: Biz handled by Eric Fangsrud, Eli handled by Don Remien, Tiger handled by Dewitt Boice, Yancy handled by Eric Fangsrud, Smidgeon handled by Richard Underwood and Rob Erhardt, Smooth handled by Lorna Kolstad, Hammer handled by Don Remien, Freddy handled by Eric Fangsrud, Skatch handled by Larry Calvert, Nike handled by Eric Fangsrud, Onyx handled by John Kinnard, Huck handled by Eric Fangsrud, Rita handled by Rob Erhardt

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL TRIAL PHOTOS!!