2012 NBHA at Pheasant Fest
NBHA displayed at Pheasant Fest 2012 put on by Pheasants and Quail Forever on the three day weekend of February 17-19. The booths were open from Friday 1pm-9pm, Saturday from 9am to 6pm and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. I have not heard an official attendance report yet but on Friday afternoon and most of Saturday, it was hard getting up and down the aisles for the number of folks crowded in. I expect the crowd was in excess of 25,000 for the three days.
Our booth was located on “Bird Dog Alley” where breed clubs and other dog competition groups were set up along with a few pet food and supplement companies. We were just one row behind the “bird dog stage” where Delmar, Rick and Ronnie Smith along with Bob West and Jim Morehouse (formerly with Tri Tronics – now with Sport Dog) were doing talks, demonstrating dog training techniques and answering audience questions. There were MANY dogs in the aisles and used as attraction to booths, etc. Purina and Sport Dog were also just around the corner from us. Gailen Cooper and Gail Inman whom we worked closely with on last summer’s Purina awards were there and manning the booth and making sure Purina Pro Plan bags were displayed at our location.
We talked to a bunch of people but mostly concentrated on those with pointing dogs who might be interested in doing more with their animals. Emphasis was on walking trials of course and how to get involved. Almost all of them thought field trialing meant horses….Lots of different breeds represented at the show and in the ownership of those attending. Over 40 different pointing, retrieving and flushing dogs were in the sporting dog “parade” which kicks off the beginning of the show. We provided a listing of the various field trial websites including NBHA, American Field, phone numbers for our local Kansas, Missouri and Iowa dog trainers and a general overview of NBHA trials, how to set up a club, etc. We were very pleased with the response and we gathered some 55 names and contact info of those interested. I even invited a fellow from South Carolina to Patrick for the NBHA National Open Championship the end of the month.
Our new banner looked great – thanks Greg! The first thing that was usually stated was, “N… B… H… A…., I’ve never heard of you – what do you do?” We’d explain and they would get interested or if they had labs, etc., we told them and they moved onward. I was really expecting a lot of shorthairs, Brittanies, etc but there were more pointers and setter people then you would expect. Most of those were interested – just didn’t know there was something they could do without a horse. We also had interest with the Missouri Brittany Club in partnering with us to host some trials – nice bunch of guys. There were also a few guys that trialed in the past and thought they might try it again.
I’m not sure I could come up with another way to produce 55 new hunting dog contacts that could possibly attend an NBHA event in the spring! This Pheasant Fest concentrated our target audience into that convention center – there were guys there from Oklahoma (gave them Jerry Myers contact info), Illinois and St Louis where we have little activity right now. I’d love to see this event scheduled into southern Missouri some time or Nashville, Atlanta, etc even though Quail Unlimited may have left a bit of sour taste to some in those areas.
On the habitat and “Quail” stage were folks such as Dale Rollins from Texas and a guy from Tall Timbers Research station. Down and dirty habitat information was provided by quail biologists and agronomists, farm bill experts from NRCS, etc. I was able to get both of my farms looked at from Google earth and suggestions made about possible improvements including ridding one of my places of about 20 acres of Reed’s Canary grass. They discussed the value of “loose” brush piles for quail such as piling up a few small trees or half cutting vegetation which I think we are all familiar. Good stuff.
By Doug Meyer - NBHA President
