So you want to get involved with the tournament hunting game. Welcome to the group. Of course it’s not quite that simple, but if you truly have the desire to compete, there’s a place for you in the game.

Hunt Native Birds

You’re probably already a serious game bird hunter and there’s no better preparation for tournament competition than a full season of wild bird hunting. Whether you’re tramping the prairies in search of the wily Ringneck or clambering through deep thickets of grouse cover, the pursuit of native birds is not only great fun, but also excellent preparation for you and your dog. Hunt every chance you get during the season and concentrate on honing your shooting and dog handling skills. It’s also a lot cheaper to chase down the wild ones.

Get a Good Dog

Although you’ll get as many opinions as there are breeds, your final choice is more of a personal decision. Some hunters choose based on serious analysis of recent top performers. Others rely heavily on the opinions of expert handlers and breeders. Still others choose the breed that a favorite uncle brought on childhood hunting trips. In reality, a good hunter can come from any of the recognized breeds.

Experienced dog handlers insist on picking a puppy, generally at around six weeks of age. Regular work and play with the puppy creates a lifelong bond that is tough to duplicate with an older dog. Criteria for picking pups varies – some choose the biggest, most aggressive pup in the litter. Others go for the runt, operating on the assumption that they’ve had to struggle for survival. Well-known trainer and Top Gun competitor, Todd Vinson of the Smokey Hollow Hunting Preserve of Newberg, Missouri says, “No matter how you choose, picking a puppy is like buying a lottery ticket. The odds are against you, but you stand to win big.”

If you’re new to the world of serious bird hunting, you should consider an older dog that’s already been trained by a competent handler. Many levels of training are available, ranging from basic find and retrieve to first hand exposure to competition. As with most things in life, you pay for what you get. The skill of trainers varies widely, so take your time. Go to some events and observe the way individual trainers handle their dogs and how the dogs respond. If you’re like most hunters, your dog becomes part of the family. You want a dog to be an aggressive hunter, but content to lie at your feet in front of the fireplace or play with your children.

Shoot a Lot

The best dog going won’t bring home the gold if you can’t make the shots. Shoot whenever you can, whether it’s trap, skeet or sporting clays. To be successful in this sport, your shotgun must be an extension of your arm.

In your shooting practice it’s good to shoot from a variety of positions to emulate the surprises that pop up in the field. Some good positions to perfect include sitting, kneeling and balanced on one leg. Each position mimics some of the odd spots you will eventually find yourself shooting from in competition. Birds often flush at just the moment you’ve climbed halfway over an obstacle or begun an awkward slide down an icy slope, so your practice should prepare you for similar misadventures.

Tournament Hunter columnist Randy Travalia offers some tips to improve your shooting technique elsewhere in this issue. We especially like his advice to practice your gun mount in front of a mirror. Work both hands in unison for smooth movement, observing your technique in peripheral vision in the mirror. Check Randy’s column for more shooting tips.

Pick a Good Partner

Most human activities are improved by the addition of a good partner. Whether you are choosing a spouse or a hunting partner, making the right choices at the beginning is critical to the long-term success of the venture.

Reasons for having a partner (as opposed to going it alone) are numerous. Some are purely practical, such as sharing travel and lodging expenses, or having someone to take a shift behind the wheel on a long drive home. For many competitors, practical reasons are enough to hook up with a like-minded shooter, but beware of some traps that can spoil otherwise excellent hunting experiences or even ruin friendships.

It’s important that the intensity level of both partners match up. Putting a “Type A” aggressive competitor in the field with a more relaxed “walk in the park” casual hunter is a recipe for trouble. Both partners need to be at a similar level of intensity to make the combination work. Honest communication up front will avoid problems later on. Will your prospective partner really be up for it if you want to enter multiple dogs in doubles events? Is he really prepared to enter as many tournaments as you have in mind? Come to a meeting of minds in advance of the season. Be completely honest with each other. If your campaign strategy involves hitting every event within 800 miles you will need a partner with the commitment and resources to match.
Finances are an important component of any partnership and our sport is no exception. It’s no secret that this is an expensive game and money will play a role in your success, both on and off the field. You need to discuss the financial arrangements thoroughly before the first kennel is slid into the truck and come to a solid and realistic expectation of the level of expenses each partner is expected to bear.
Dan Sjoka and Casey Powell campaign their dogs in many events each year. Dan and Casey’s agreement is that all money spent and won is shared 50/50, even if one hunter is running an extra dog. Dan says, “We like to split evenly, even if one or the other gets in an extra run or brings an extra dog. It keeps the math easy and it all works out in the end.” One point that Dan and Casey agree on: The owner of the dog takes home the trophy. Make sure you’re both in agreement on that point as well.

In most partnerships the sharing will be equal, so it’s a good fit to have comparable levels of financial resources. Picture losing a partner before the Nationals because he’s come to a choice between making the trip and paying the mortgage. Financial situations can always change for the worse, but you should avoid jumping into an unbalanced partnership if at all possible.

There is an exception to this advice. One partnership arrangement that has proven workable is a scenario where one partner has extremely limited finances while the other has no concerns about money. If these positions are clear at the beginning and the person who will shell out the majority of the cash is okay with it, this setup is viable. Generally, the one with less cash brings some intangibles to the partnership, such as great dog handling, sharp shooting skills or the vigor of youth.
If you’re the one short of resources, the time to make this plain is at the beginning, not when you come up short of gas money along the road home. Honest communication early and often is the key. The partner sporting the long green has to be certain that he will not harbor resentments over the financial inequity, or come to view his partner as a lackey.

Another consideration in a partner is dog type. If you’re a pointer guy you should team up with a flusher enthusiast. This will avoid one of the most common areas of partner friction – head-to-head competition. Two pointer owners will inevitably come to a point of disagreement over which dog to campaign, resulting in tensions that should be reserved for other competitors. It can also be a strain on the relationship to have your partner knock you off the Top Gun board several weeks in a row. A mixed team has the advantage of competing on both sides of the event, offering more opportunities to compete. You also get a chance to see how the other half lives, even though you may be certain in your heart that your chosen breed is the one true way.
Don’t forget that you’ll be spending a lot of time with your partner, so try to find someone whose company you enjoy. Teammates Craig Steinbach and “Bernie” Birkenholz longtime friends whose first hunting experience together was running coon hounds. “It was mostly an excuse to drive around at night drinking beer”, Steiny recently told us. “Once we got taste of bird hunting, we traded off our hounds and haven’t looked back.” They run German Shorthairs in the pointer classes and English Cockers in the flushers, keeping their friendship from undue strain.

Join a Dog Club

Dog clubs provide a tremendous resource for new hunters. Check with hunters in your area for a club that specializes on your breed of dogs. It’s an inexpensive way to gain access to training grounds, birds and the accumulated wisdom of some great dog people. Get involved with the club and be a giver as well as a taker of club services. Dog clubs often work with hunting preserves, giving you some access to the preserves without the financial burden of a full membership.

Dog clubs offer the additional benefit of activity during the spring and summer when hunting opportunities are less available.

The German Shorthair Pointer Club of Colorado (http://www.cgspc.org/) is typical of the local organizations that benefit dog owners. Tom Stander of Lakewood, Colorado told us about his club. They offer AKC Field Trials and Hunter Trials, help for new owners unfamiliar with the breed, advice on seeking advanced professional training, training days where newcomers can benefit from the experience of experts and a little bit of socializing with like-minded dog lovers.

“I want to see a dog that is steady to wing and shot (does not release from point until given the command by the handler), but most regular hunters don’t care to get that polished”, Tom says. “There’s something in a club like ours for anyone interested in improving the performance of their dogs.”

To locate a club in your area, Tom suggests talking with other local owners of your breed or contacting the American Kennel Club. (On the web at http://www.akc.org or by phone 919/233-9767)

Read the Rules

Whatever circuits you choose to compete, read and study the rules. A thorough understanding of the rulebook will make you a better competitor by sharpening your focus on the goals of the game and the pathways to the highest scores. Perhaps even more importantly, it can save you from making a spectacle of yourself arguing the wrong side of the regulations. Caution is in order. The judge is still the judge and it’s his job to make the call. Trying to play Philadelphia lawyer can be hazardous to your scores.

Physical Conditioning

You wouldn’t take a rusty, broken down gun into the field. Why would you drag a broken down, out of condition body into competition? Walk. Run. Weight training. Whatever it takes to get in shape and stay in shape. Your success in the field will be strongly influenced by fatigue. Decision-making is one of the first areas to suffer when you get tired, making this a safety concern as well as a performance issue. Poor conditioning can also lead to injury problems. Joints are stabilized by the surrounding muscle tissues, so out of condition legs can lead to season-ending knee and hip injuries.

The best conditioning for tournament hunting may be chasing wild birds. If you’ve had a full season of hunting wild ones, you and your dogs should be ready for the demands of the tournament season. Will Pick of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is fond of saying “The best conditioning for hunting is more hunting”.

The reality of this situation is that most hunters don’t do any specialized conditioning for the hunt, but those who do find that they have a distinct competitive advantage when the going gets tough.

If you find yourself barely able to crawl out of bed after a few demanding runs on Saturday, it stands to reason that your Sunday performance will less than optimal. Since that’s when the prizes are handed out, get in shape to do your best and look good on your way to pick up the trophies.

Be Part of the Game

A great way to get a feel for the game is to be on the inside. Judging gives you a unique perspective on the dynamics of the competition. Judging is the closest you can get to the top guns in action — there’s nothing like it for a ringside seat. Think of it as a free tutorial from the best hunters around. Get a feel for the strategies that experienced players use to clear a field in a hurry. Hear how teams communicate between hunters and see the top dogs going through their paces.

Two Tournament Hunter Magazine regular columnists are accomplished hunters as well as respected judges. Bob Monio and “Doc” Faulkner both feel they get an edge from working with top competitors.

Setting birds can also help you to get an edge on the competition. Learn how to think like a bird setter so you will have a better sense of where to start looking for birds when you hit the field. Running tournaments is a labor-intensive operation. Volunteers are always needed, so step up to help make things go more smoothly for everyone and learn at the same time.

It’s a Family Affair

Bring the wife and kids along. She’s already noticed that your dog is just another member of the family, but one who gets to spend a lot more time with you than she does. Get her involved as a spectator, official or participant. Although this is mainly a man’s game at this point, there are many competent female competitors.

Sarah Cartwright of Minneapolis, Minnesota is a recent convert to tournament hunting. She grew up around hunting and was lucky enough to have a father who realized that hunting would not make his daughter unfeminine. This clever fellow bought her a shotgun when she graduated from high school, perhaps realizing that his little girl would meet a higher class of men on the hunting grounds.

Sarah loves the competition, even though she finds it a little intimidating to be competing with the “big boys”. Her message to fathers: “Don’t assume that your daughter won’t like to hunt, just because she’s a girl. A lot of us love the hunting and thrive on the competition.”

Some hunt clubs offer a Youth Division to help get the kids involved. Competition with kids their own age in supervised settings offers youngsters a chance to become the next generation of hunters. Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club offers a youth camp where kids get a chance to learn about the full range of hunting skills, from gun safety to bird cleaning. Scholarships may be available for youngsters who can’t afford to pay. Contact the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club at 952-447-2272 for more information.

Just Do It!

Although the well-worn motto of that big athletic shoe company has become a bit of a cliché, it is right on point. There’s nothing like jumping in the water to learn how to swim. And there’s nothing like playing the game to help you learn.

by Mike Urseth
Previously published in MENZ Tournament Hunter Magazine