Page 114 - ShowSight, November 2020
P. 114

                 TO HONOR
THE GREAT BIRDI DOG
 BY WALTER SOMMERFELT
n the southwest corner of Tennessee, about an hour’s drive east of Memphis, sits the small city of Grand Junction. Founded in 1858, this small town with a population of about 300 residents is known around the sport of field trialers as the “Bird Dog Capital of the World.”
Grand Junction, Tennessee, is home to the National Bird Dog Museum, Field Trial Hall of Fame and Wildlife Heritage Center, as well as Ames Plantation, home of the National Field Trial Championships.
To those enthusiasts who are bird dog lovers, the National Championship for bird dogs is the premier field trial event worldwide. The National Championship was first organized and run near West Point, Mississippi, in 1896. Later, the com- petitions were moved to field trial grounds south of Grand Junction near Rogers Springs, Tennessee, before finding its permanent home north of Grand Junction at the Ames Plantation, the early 20th century home of Hobart Ames, a wealthy Mas- sachusetts factory owner. Each year since 1915, the running of the Championship has been on the “hallowed” field trial grounds set in place by the late Mr. Ames. The gentleman’s bird dogs participated in the trials three times before Ames himself became a longtime President and Judge of the National Championship. There are numerous books available that chronicle and detail the great history of this presti- gious event.
The National Bird Dog Championship is held under the guidance of “The Amer- ican Field.” The American Field has followed the field trial sport since 1874 and the “Field Dog Stud Book” is the oldest purebred dog registry in the United States.
If you love bird dogs and field trials (especially Pointers and Setters), you need to make plans to witness this fantastic event. The running of this event takes place on a 6,000 plus acre area of Ames Plantation and is an annual event that begins on the second or third Monday in February. The average entry consists of about 36 English Pointers and/or English Setters. However, as late as 2016, there have been nearly 50 competitors. The qualifiers are winners or placers at over 80 qualifying trials held throughout the United States and Canada.
It is an event that—to be ideally executed—requires a good population of bob- white quail in an all-age field trial habitat. Thousands of field trial enthusiasts from all over the world come to Grand Junction to attend the trials every year.
Following the drawing of the braces, the trials host two braces each day to travel one of the two separate courses. The dogs range over about 6,000 acres searching
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