Category: Bird Dogs

Let’s Hear From a Few Trialers and Hunters for A More Detailed Perspective

Story By Mark Chesnut

As an avid quail hunter for more than a half century (wow, that just made me sound really old), and a field trialer for the past six or eight years, both hunting and trialing are near and dear to my heart. Consequently, when the editor asked me to write a story on whether field trial dogs could also be good hunting dogs, I jumped at the opportunity. I knew what my opinion was and that many of my field trial compadres hunt their dogs regularly, but I hadn’t really talked much with others outside my circle to learn their take on the matter.

I distinctly remember as a child wanting my first bird dog. An old-timer who was also my father’s hunting partner distinctly warned me against getting a pup from field trial lines. “They run out of the country,” he said on more than one occasion. “Stay away from dogs that have many field trial champions in their bloodline. You’ll only be disappointed.”

At his insistence, I subsequently got a pup that was out of solely hunting lines with few field trial dogs in her lineage. Unfortunately, she turned out to be a runaway that I was never able to hunt over without great angst and frustration. The problem, however, wasn’t her breeding, but rather her training. I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t spend enough time building a foundation with her, and, as most bird dog lovers know, that’s a recipe for failure.

These days, it seems that many people still feel that there are field trial dogs and there are hunting dogs, and never the twain shall meet, although the number of people who believe that is likely fewer than decades ago. The line between hunting dogs and field trial dogs has somewhat blurred over the years, with many field trialers getting into the sport solely so they could stretch the number of months chasing birds beyond their open bird seasons. Likewise, many field trial participants love working with their dogs so much they want to be in the field nearly every weekend, whether participating in a trial or hunting birds with family and friends.

In order to get a little more information on this topic to share with our readers, we went straight to the lion’s mouth and talked to a couple of avid field trialers to get their opinion.

One Man’s Take

Professional trainer and avid field trialer Scott Townsend is the owner of Crosswind Kennels in Maybee, Michigan, and president of the National Shoot To Retrieve Association (NSTRA). Scott knows a thing or two about breeding and training good bird dogs, having produced and/or trained a number of NSTRA national champions over the past 30 years. Scott runs both English pointers and German shorthaired pointers, and I caught up with him by phone as he waited out a rain delay at a trial in Indiana.

Since he lives in Michigan, Scott does a lot of grouse and woodcock hunting with his dogs. He also heads out West every year to hunt pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, and Hungarian partridge. In his opinion, field trial dogs can make excellent hunting dogs, and sometimes hunting dogs make great field trial dogs.

“I don’t own a field trial dog that I’m not wild bird hunting, also,” he said in an exclusive interview with American Field. “They absolutely learn to play two different games. There’s no doubt in my mind that they know one from the other. There are very few guys that only field trial in this organization. Almost everybody also wild-bird hunts.”

Of course, shoot-to-retrieve trials are different from many other types of trials. In these trials, released birds are flushed, shot, and retrieved to hand, much like in a hunting situation. “Our organization is a little bit different,” he said. “The rules are more along the hunting dog line where our dogs, once the bird flushes, they’re allowed to break. So, we don’t have to keep our dogs steady to wing and shot all the way through the process.”

To Townsend, steadying a dog for hunting or for NSTRA trials is a very similar process. However, he admits there’s more than one way to undertake the task. “A regular conversation among us is, do you break them first and then put them on the wild birds, or do you put them on the wild birds first and then you break them afterward,” he said. “I personally like to get mine broke first and then take them wild bird hunting, but there are guys who will take that first season and just let that young dog go chase wild birds, then when their season’s over, they’ll break them for field trials.”

Unlike many field trialers and hunters, Scott also believes that the more time you spend with your dog—including time inside the house—the better the dog will become. “With field trial dogs or hunting dogs, you get people that say, ‘I don’t think that they should be raised or kept in the house,’” he said. “I’m in the other camp with that, too. I think these dogs that you spend so much more time with in the house and communicate with them so much more are usually better bird dogs than the ones that are just kept in the kennel.”

Scott also has an answer for those who advise others to stay away from horseback field trial lines when breeding for a hunting dog. “All these dogs that I run are pretty much the same lines as horseback dogs,” he added. “We just teach them to hunt off-foot. I’ve broke a lot of hunting dogs, too, over the years, and there are a lot of times they’re not driven like these field trial dogs. They’re always more difficult to break, but when you get them broke, you’ve got a lot more bird dog. There is a lot of thought that goes into breeding for field trial dogs. They pay attention to what they’re breeding. The genetics are there and, of course, there is a lot of history to these field trial lines.”

Another Perspective

At this point, you might be saying, “Of course, shoot-to-retrieve dogs make good hunters. But what about those big-running dogs that win other types of trials where birds aren’t shot?” For the answer to that question, I turned to Sarah Deline Gomes, an avid field trialer from Ontario who participates in trials in Canada and throughout much of the United States.

An electrical engineer by trade, Sarah participates in cover dog trials targeting grouse and woodcock in the upper Midwest, along with United Kennel Club (UKC) American Field walking trials with mostly released quail. She also hunts wild birds from Maine to Montana, and points in between. “I think to have success in either, and especially in field trials, you have to have a bird dog that can hunt and use its nose,” she said. “And when you get into the cover dog trials with grouse and woodcock, those dogs need to know how to handle those birds. They can’t crowd them. Then, when you’re hunting, you’re going to be able to get the shot off on the bird because the dog’s not in there busting a covey or a brood of grouse, especially when you’re in thick grouse woods. If you have a nice, solid broke dog, you’re going to be able to get your shot off. The level of training we put into these field trial dogs makes hunting way more enjoyable.”

While some believe hunting and trialing the same dogs simply breeds confusion, Sarah said people who think that way aren’t giving dogs enough credit for their high intelligence—they’re far smarter than that. “I think a dog definitely understands a hunting situation opposed to a trial situation,” she said. “When you’re walking to the line with judges behind you and another dog that you’re cutting loose at breakaway, that competition starts to come out in them. They know the game. They know when you show up at a field trial, that’s a game to them. When you show up and a bunch of people are shooting the breeze around the truck and then you get your shotgun out and put your vest on, they know that they’re out hunting. They don’t have to have that same level of competition and drive and speed.”

Sarah said that for a number of reasons, hunting can make a dog a better trial dog than it would be if it didn’t have hunting experience. “Especially in cover dog trials, I think it teaches the dog where to look, which cover to be in, and I think it makes them use their nose a lot better,” she said. “You take them out and they bump a grouse and they learn not to crowd the birds. All my dogs point pretty far off in quail trials now because they’ve learned to not crowd birds because of their hunting experience. When we do a lot of trials in Pennsylvania and Ohio, we have multiple woodcock points at almost every trial. If you don’t have a good wild bird dog, your dog is going to get picked up if it chases that woodcock.”

Conversely, she also believes that field trialing with hunting dogs can make them better hunters in the long run. “I think field trialing keeps your dog in top shape to be able to perform during hunting season,” she said. “Field trialing not only keeps the dogs in shape, but it also keeps them finding birds so you don’t take your dog out of the kennel two weeks before the season and have an injury because it wasn’t in shape.”

In the end, Sarah said that field trials have historically been very important to improving dog breeds and lines within breeds, and that hasn’t changed over the years. “Another thing about field trials that is really good for hunting is that you are evaluating your breeding stock,” she concluded. “Essentially, field trials are a breeder’s stake. You’re getting to go out, test your lineage and see what’s working and what pairings worked better than others. And that’s very important.”

My Two Cents

I hunt and field trial field-bred Irish setters in American Kennel Club and UKC American Field trials, mostly off horseback, throughout the central U.S. I’ve learned that my dogs are often smarter than I think. They definitely know the difference between me slipping on my vest and grabbing my shotgun, and me climbing up on a horse and riding to the breakaway.

Sure, there are challenges, not the least of which is keeping a young dog steady to wing and shot when birds are falling from the sky. With some work it can be done, however, and in the end, it will make the dog a better field trial dog.

Since most trials in my part of the country use liberated quail, which are often very stupid with no survival instinct, hunting wild birds can teach dogs things they need to know in weekend trials. Conversely, the number of birds dogs are able to find when trialing weekend after weekend makes them better bird dogs the next time we head afield to chase bobwhites for the dinner table.

Are there some field trial dogs that aren’t suited for hunting? Almost certainly. But there’s a much less defined dividing line between trial dogs and hunting dogs than some people think, especially in the pointing dog world.

Ultimately, the wide world of hunting dogs is a grand one, and it’s amazing how many different roles dogs can play successfully, from treeing mountain lions out West to pointing grouse in the Maine woodlands. Whether you want to hunt with your field trial dog or field trial with your hunting dog, enjoy the time afield with your four-legged companion.

Story & Photos By Ben Brettingen

If you asked me 10 years ago what I thought of pointing dog field trials, I would’ve rattled off some vague image of galloping horses, runaway pointers disappearing over the horizon, and a line of trailers worth more than the average mortgage. It looked like a world meant for professionals with dogs on their string owned by wealthy backers—not a place for someone like me. That image kept me from diving in, even though I’ve always had a deep fascination with the world of field trials.

But something changed when I brought home Amos, a young pointer pup. I’d trained and tested versatile dogs through JGHV (Jagdgebrauchshundverein) before, but pointing dog field trials always felt like an intimidating leap. That is, until I came across an Instagram account run by a guy named Kyle, who was involved in Cover Dog trials—walking stakes run on wild grouse and woodcock. No horses. No big rigs. Just handlers and working dense cover on foot. Suddenly, trialing felt approachable.

Before Amos had even been whelped, I decided to go watch a spring trial hosted by the Minnesota Grouse Dog Association. I half expected a row of living-quarter trailers and standoffish pros, but what I found couldn’t have been more different. It was just regular bird hunters—guys with muddy boots and dog boxes in the beds of their pickups. They were welcoming, too. That day flipped a switch. I saw something special in that community and in the way those dogs worked.

Trial By Fire

Fast forward to that fall, and I’d decided to run Amos in his first trial. He was just eight months old and entered the “Derby stake”—a class for young dogs generally under two-and-a-half years old—held by the Moose River Grouse Dog Club. I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully, Kyle helped me through the entry process, and I showed up with a mix of excitement and anxiety. The club was in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service and no GPS pins to rely on. That only added to the nerves. It was my first time handling a dog without an e-collar, and the idea of losing him in the woods weighed heavily.

The course was 30 minutes long, weaving through classic grouse cover—young aspen, swamps, and young pines. Derby dogs aren’t required to be steady to flush or shot; judges are mainly looking for potential to become a good shooting dog. Can the dog hunt independently but in tune with the handler? Is it forward-moving and hitting likely cover are all considerations for judges. About halfway through, I realized Amos hadn’t gotten lost. He was checking in, casting forward, and making it look like we actually knew what was going on. Then his bell went silent. I walked up to find him locked on point, facing into a blowdown. Seconds later, a grouse blew out, I fired a borrowed blank pistol, and we finished out the brace.

I thanked the judges, shook Kyle’s hand, and figured I’d hunt my way home. That’s when Kyle looked at me and said, “You might want to stick around for announcements.” I was floored when Amos took third. That white ribbon poured gas on a fire I didn’t know had been lit. From that point on, I was hooked.

The Basics of Bird Dog Field Trials

If you’re a hunter and have ever thought about field trialing—or even if you haven’t—you might be surprised at how much it can add to your experience with your dog. But like me, you probably have a ton of questions. So here’s what I’ve learned so far: how to get started, what to expect, and why this intimidating world is far more accessible than it appears.

To begin, it helps to understand what a pointing dog field trial actually is. Most of the trials you’ll encounter in the U.S. fall under the United Kennel Club’s (UKC) “American Field” program. Trials are structured competitions designed to evaluate a dog’s natural hunting ability and training. Unlike testing systems that score dogs against a fixed standard, field trials are competitive—dogs are judged against each other, and only a few will place.

Dogs run in braces—two at a time—on a set course, usually ranging from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the stake. Courses are held on wild birds when available, or liberated birds. The “stakes” or classes are Puppy, Derby, Shooting Dog, Gun Dog, or All-Age. Puppy stakes are for dogs under 15 months and judged mostly on enthusiasm and potential. Derby dogs, like Amos at the time, are judged on their forward race, independence, and how they handle the terrain. Broke dog stakes like Shooting Dog or All-Age require steadiness to wing and shot, and a higher level of polish. Gun Dog stakes are for dogs of any age, and similar to a derby, the judgement ceases at the flush. The difference between the two main stakes, All-Age and Shooting Dog lies mostly in range and independence—All-Age dogs run bigger and are expected to be more independent.

You’ll see a wide variety of breeds at these events. Pointers and setters dominate, but Brittanys, German shorthairs, vizslas, and other versatile breeds will be seen occasionally. Many of those breeds such as Brittanys and vizslas even have their own dedicated trial circuits.

School Is In Session

One of the first things I had to learn was how to tell the difference between walking and horseback trials. That part isn’t always obvious. A good rule of thumb: If the announcement includes All-Age stakes, it’s probably a horseback event. If it’s part of the Cover Dog circuit, NBHA (National Bird Hunters Association), or U.S. Complete Shooting Dog Association, you’ll be on foot. Walking trials are generally easier to get started in—no horse needed, and the logistics are simpler.

It would be my recommendation to attend a trial as a spectator first. At most events, there’s a gallery that walks behind the handlers, judges, and reporter, observing the action as it unfolds. This is a great opportunity to watch braces, learn how the trial operates, and get a feel for what’s expected—without the pressure of running your own dog. Be mindful, especially in Cover Dog trials, where handlers and judges are listening intently for the dog’s bell. Stay quiet, hang back, and observe. It’s also the perfect setting to ask questions—quietly and respectfully—as folks in the gallery are usually more than happy to explain things to a newcomer. Watching a trial first builds a foundational understanding of how everything works and helps connect you with people, which makes a huge difference once you’re ready to step into the arena. Just having a friendly face around when you’re getting started can take the edge off the nerves.

Getting Started

So how do you find a trial? Your best bet is to start with the American Field website or reach out to your local pointing dog club. Social media can help, too—many regional clubs post trial dates and entry info on Facebook or Instagram. When in doubt, don’t be afraid to message someone directly. Most people in this community are happy to help, especially if you’re just getting started.

What do you need to compete? First, your dog will need to be registered with UKC or American Field through the Field Dog Stud Book. Second, you’ll need a tracking-only collar—this means a unit that cannot tone, vibrate, or stim. Most people run Garmin T5 or T20 collars, which are legal in trials. If you don’t have one, don’t stress—someone will almost always loan one to a first-timer. You’ll also need a blank pistol, proper footwear, and of course a bird dog. That’s about it!

The Benefits of Bird Dog Field Trials

Trialing has made me a better trainer, handler, and hunter. It brings structure to the off-season. Trials happen in early spring and fall, which means I have firm goals and deadlines to work toward. I know when my dog needs to be conditioned and tuned up, which helps avoid the kind of training procrastination we’re all guilty of when no one else is watching. Trialing also builds community. I’ve met people through trials who’ve become close friends and hunting partners. These are folks who live and breathe bird dogs and learning from them has been invaluable.

It’s also an incredible way to evaluate other dogs and bloodlines. In a single weekend, I’ll see more dogs run than I would in an entire hunting season. And these aren’t just average dogs. They are the cream of the crop that have been carefully bred and developed. If you’re looking for a pup, attending trials is a fantastic way to see the finished product, and be able to compare what attributes you like in a line.

Since starting out, I’ve added another dog to my string—an English setter named Fred, who is currently a spring Derby. Fred was bred for the woods, and working with him has been a different experience from training Amos. Developing a dog for trials has taught me more than I ever imagined—about patience, pressure, and reading a dog in the moment. Fred had a great puppy season, including a first-place finish and a solid showing at the Grand National Grouse Futurity last fall.

Amos, now older and wiser, has transitioned into a Shooting Dog. That jump from Derby isn’t easy—you’re suddenly running against veteran dogs in their prime. But with each day in the field, Amos continues to refine his skills, and he even placed third in his first season as a Shooting Dog.

Over time, my role in the sport has expanded. I’ve had the opportunity to judge Puppy, Derby, and Shooting Dog stakes, and I can confidently say that judging is one of the best ways to sharpen your eye and grow as a handler. You get to see dozens of dogs, each with their own style, strengths, and shortcomings. It’s helped me understand what judges key in on, and where I need to improve as a handler. Just as importantly, it’s deepened my appreciation for the dogs, the people, and the game itself.

At the end of the day, the best reason to get into trialing isn’t ribbons or bragging rights—it’s the time you spend with your dog and the people you meet along the way. If you’re just getting started with a pointing dog, or you’ve had them your whole life, field trialing adds a new dimension to the experience. It pushes you to be better, gives your dog new opportunities to grow, and plugs you into a passionate community that lives for bird dogs.

So if you’re sitting on the fence wondering if field trialing is “your thing,” I’d say take the leap. Go watch a local trial. Ask questions. Show up with a curious mind and a dog that loves to hunt. That’s all you need. Everything else, you’ll learn along the way.