Omaha daily bee., 1910-09-10
Things YOu Want to Know Hunting Dog.

The 1910 season for the great American
sport OF hunting with the dogs has begun
the initial number on the program being
the field trials now being conducted by
the Manitoba Field Trial club at Dominion
City, Manitoba. Dogs from every section
of the United states and Canada, are taxi
Ing part in the trials. and from now undl
the beginning OF next summer there viii
be busy times for both the dogs and their
handlers For bird dogs the season starts
with the Manitoba meeting and ends with
the United States field trials and the
championship stakes, which will be held
In January at Rogers Springs Tenn. As
all roads of the political world st one time
led to Rome, so all roads Of the bird shoot
ing world lead to Rogers Springs To
win the championship and the United
states Derby or all-age stakes is the last
letter in bird dogs career, and the whole
circuit of field trials constitute a process
of elimination looking toward the final
event at Rogers Springs. E.
The present season is to be the longest
! in the history of field trials, and dates are
so arranged that dogs may attend every
| one of these trials just as horses make the
] circuit Of the great shows or Of the princi-
| pal race tracks. II requires from 10 600 to
10000 acres Of land for conducting a mod
ern field trial, and 1T is growing harder
each year to find sufficient contiguous
! territory. When trial week arrives the
dogs are assigned by lot the order in which
! they shall run. The names of all candi-
dates entered are written on slips Of paper
and placed in a hat. They are then drawn
out one by one, and the dogs are assigned
to run in braces. The dogs getting into the
first race run first and so on until the
whole list is completed, which usually re-
! quires many days. Much depends on the
luck OF the drawing, since the dogs which
start in the frost of the morning or the
| heat Of the afternoon are at a disadvan-
tage. After all of the braces have had their
run, the judges select the best dogs for the
second series, and the winner of this sec
ond series is awarded. first honors.
The handling of dogs for these events is
an art in which but few men are skilled.
To train a dog so as to make him as much
a master Of his work in the field as If he
we're human being, while at the same
time developing that wonderful power of
sense which makes him the most dis
criminatory animal in the world, is no
! small task, and requires a degree of pa
| thence that is almost sublime. A we'll
trained bird dog can point birds at from
ten to fifteen yards, with no other guide
than his remarkable sense of smell. He
can tell whether a bird is alive, dead or
! wounded. He can unerringly recognize
whether the scent is from a covey or from
a single bird When crossing foot trail
| ne can recognize the difference between
| that and body scent. and is able when
! crossing foot-trail to decide instantly
| which way the birds went. He will barely
pause at a roosting place, but invariably
| will stop when he approaches the game
While the dog is displaying this marvellous
power of his ofactory organs, he is al
the same time giving MS master an init
mate picture Of adj the mental operations
going ON in his mind. To see him coursing
| over broad acres choosing with unerring
accuracy the spots where birds are likely
to be found, ranging through a large field
with as much Intelligence as man,
pointing when the birds are near, backing
when his brace-mate points, dropping at
| shot and wing, makes picture to warm
the cookies of the heart of any man, how
ever slowly the blood may course through
his veins. AS the dog is travelling at the
rate of about ten miles an hour when he
perceves the body scent of the quarry he
first perception of this scent, the feat be-
comes the more remarkable.
There long has been a controversy be-
tween the lovers Of the setter and the
supporters of the pointer, as to which IL
the better from the sportman's point OF
view. The friends of the setter declare
that the pointer never has won a cham
pionship stake; while the friends Of the
pointer reply that the pointers have wor
high honors in proportion to the number
entered at the big field trials. To this the
setter people reply that the reason there
are so few pointers entered at the biz
trials is that few of them are able tC
make sufficient showing in the smaller
events to get chance in the more i'm
portant trials. The pointer is claimed K
be a little weak in endurance and gain
illness, and to be a less steady worker In
the field than the setter. Yet IT must mo-
be presumed that he is without his good
qualities. Judge Macdonnel OF Manitoba
! has a dog known as Old Point, which hi
declares is so well posted on the game
laws that in hunting Monaghan pheasanti
he invariably recognized the difference
between the hen and the cock pheasant
and never points the former.