Blount County Alabama
The Blount County NBHA trial was conducted on January 25, 2014 in Murphy Valley, AL (on Ken Tolbert’s Training Grounds). Tony Bailey was a first time Field Trial Chairman, with the help of his future wife -Teresa Green, and future Father in Law - Ken Tolbert. Tony's two teenage sons (Riley and Ryan) were the bird planters and go getters...they are two fine boys and we hope to see them running dogs in the near future. Teresa has been raising, training and field trialing birddogs for years and is also a great cook who knows how to keep a trial going. Teresa was aided by her Mother - Pat Tolbert, and they provided a great meal and especially the coconut cake.
The weather was cold, but no rain or ice. We had a lot of folks that had family commitments and could not attend, but we still had a nice trial. Edwin Cooley and Brud Powell judged the Open Shooting Dog stake and we appreciated their willingness to help with whatever needed to be done. Ken Tolbert's, Jack did a real nice job, with several nice finds and a strong race, to take first place. Jack is a first year shooting dog and was last year's National Open Derby of the year. Sand Mountain Andy was second with good shooting dog race; several finds and a nice back. Both Jack and Andy were sired by Ken's National Champion Eboga Cracker Jack. Mike Otinger's puppy aged, Sand Mountain Icy took third place with broke finds and a back. Mike is and should be proud of Icy. Edwin Cooley's dog Fridge was the only Amateur Shooting Dog to finish, Stanley McCain’s Andy was the bad luck dog in this stake, he was lost and two minutes after asking for his tracker, Andy was two hundred feet, pointed behind a brush pile, we have all been there. The Amateur Shooting Dog was judged by Teresa Green and her dad Ken Tolbert; they also judged the Open Derby. The Open Derby was the last stake and I might say a very exciting one. Ronnie Bryant's Alabama Heritage (Tye) got the nod for first with a strong classy race and four finds, two being limb finds. Mike Otinger's Sand Mountain Icy took second with a real classy run, four finds and a back after just placing in the Open Shooting Dog stake. Dominator (Hank) rounded out the placements with strong race and three finds. Hank is owned by Marty Robinson. The judges announced that they had several more derbies that could have won, and they had a hard time sorting out their placements.
We had a fun day and we appreciate all the work Tony and Teresa and their family members put forth. We cannot begin to tell our sponsors – Garmin, Purina, Gundog Supply, and Christie - how much we appreciate them
Submitted by: Oscar Whitt
Alabama Region
