American Field Futurity

I read with sorrow that the American Field Futurity, one of the premier breeders stakes for bird dogs, has been cancelled this year due to to lack of nomination of litters.
The futurity began in 1903 and was established to enable breeders to show the success of their programs in competition.
That announcement, along with the cancellation of several amateur trials this season, causes me great concern for the future of our sport not to mention the future of the availability of well bred upland game pointing dogs.

Wow. Times are a- changin' Tim. Sad, but that's the way it is. Different generations than when we started with dogs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qQ6_RV4VQ

Hey Tim,
what do you feel is the problem? General lack of interest or lack of hunting oppurtunities?

There are a few issues.
First and foremost is the lack of habitat for upland game birds
Second is the lack of interest among the next generation. Seems that these days if it doesn't have horns then it isn't worth pursuing.

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Originally Posted by Tim Tufts

I read with sorrow that the American Field Futurity, one of the premier breeders stakes for bird dogs, has been cancelled this year due to to lack of nomination of litters.
The futurity began in 1903 and was established to enable breeders to show the success of their programs in competition.
That announcement, along with the cancellation of several amateur trials this season, causes me great concern for the future of our sport not to mention the future of the availability of well bred upland game pointing dogs.

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I'm a newbie to the sport and wish there were more participants from ontario.I driven to michigan on my own and would love to have some more canadian participants and or younger participants regardless were there from.
Looking at the photos of different field trail placements tells the story,older crowd.
Speaking to Spencer Ray who helps with the training ,there is encouragement.
Some of his clients recently are younger.
Here in ontario we certainly need the help,Michigan for example has large plots of land which caters to field trails.
Unfortunately the liberals are more concerned about ugly money loosing wind mills.

Very sad indeed. Like many dog sports it can easily become a lifestyle and not everyone is cut out for it. Other dog sports have increased by leaps and bounds such as flyball, agility, skijoring etc. I have seen this many years ago when i was heavily involved with dog sledding. The sport was dyeing out where i use to live in Eastern Ontario. A few of us mushers got together and started a local race and before you know it over a 15 year period two clubs started with well over 100 members involved with dog sledding, skijoring and bikejoring. Dog sports can be cyclical.

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Originally Posted by Tim Tufts

There are a few issues.
First and foremost is the lack of habitat for upland game birds
Second is the lack of interest among the next generation. Seems that these days if it doesn't have horns then it isn't worth pursuing.

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I think the hunting media has a lot to do with "who" gets recruited into hunting. The tv shows very rarely include bird dogs. I was a serious big game hunter until I bought my Brittany. Now big game is secondary to me. I love the simplicity of a quick 2 hour hunt and walking up on my dog on a solid point just makes me grin.

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Originally Posted by terrym

I think the hunting media has a lot to do with "who" gets recruited into hunting. The tv shows very rarely include bird dogs. I was a serious big game hunter until I bought my Brittany. Now big game is secondary to me. I love the simplicity of a quick 2 hour hunt and walking up on my dog on a solid point just makes me grin.

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This is the main reason I do not bother watching Canadian hunting shows because of the lack of bird dog work. I got really sick of seeing the same Preston Elk being hunted in the blah blah mountains of blah blah blah. Or the ego driven fishing/hunting shows laughing at all the fish they are catching because some sponsor suckers gave them a free trip. The only fishing show celebrity that i have some respect for is Bob Izumi. He and his brother came from from very humble beginnings and I know that for a fact.

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Wow. Times are a- changin' Tim.

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Yeesh. You win one Nobel Prize for Literature and the next thing you know, people are quoting you all over the place....

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Originally Posted by Tim Tufts

Second is the lack of interest among the next generation. Seems that these days if it doesn't have horns then it isn't worth pursuing.

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Come mothers and fathers throughout the land / and don't criticize what you can't understand, etc. :)

By coincidence, I ran into a couple of guys from the OBDCA group up at Hullett last weekend and was chatting with them about this very problem. Look at any field trial group and you will see a lot of grey hair. There are not many young people in any given group ... it seems if you're in your 40s you count as a youngster.

I think upland hunting in general and field trials in particular face a real challenge here. Let's face it: owning and training dogs is expensive and time consuming, and running dogs in trials even more so. Tough on younger people who are trying to launch careers and start families. This is not to mention the single most significant demographic shift of the 20th century, the migration off the land and into cities, accompanied by steadily more mechanized farming ... it is even tougher when you have to find places you can use as training grounds and so on. And it doesn't help that the existing trial crowd, being generally older, isn't easy to track down on the internet. It's a tough thing to get into.

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Originally Posted by that a boy

Here in ontario we certainly need the help,Michigan for example has large plots of land which caters to field trails.
Unfortunately the liberals are more concerned about ugly money loosing wind mills.

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Our habitat problem in southern Ont contributes to the local decline and the lack of a small game strategy by MNRF doesn't help. But this is not new. I can recall almost 20 years ago talking about this with the then-Area Biologist for MNRF Aylmer District, who pointed out that not only small game hunting but also the tradition of blackbirding, etc., as a hunting apprenticeship was dying out. Instead, new hunters were leaping directly into turkey and deer hunting.

We don't have a small game strategy because not enough hunters demand one; not enough hunters demand one because they are happy hunting the more abundant species; they are hunting more abundant species because of the lack of a small game strategy. The snake eats its tail.

People are also hunting deer and turkey because this is what outdoor media promote. They hunt the species that are marketed heavily. Those species are marketed because there's money in it. Hunting is big business. And there's no big business interest in upland hunting, which at heart requires only a pair of boots, a shotgun, and a dog. Go to Bass Pro or Cabelas: a gazillion square feet of floor space devoted to camo, calls, etc; one little rack with upland vests on it. It's a market reality: outdoor media relies on sponsors and advertising, and so the hunt that gets promoted is the one with the money in it.

The only big expense in upland hunting (and it's a big one) is the dog, but this money goes to breeders and vets and dog food manufacturers -- a bunch of little guys. At a big box hunting store, you can't buy a spaniel whistle. You can't even order one -- it's not in their product file. The gun dog world is a niche business. The only corner of that business that the big box stores really pay attention to is the corner where the money is: the e-collar business.

Marketing has a lot to do with the decline in small game hunting, which in turn has a lot to do with the disappearance of small game from the landscape.

Originally Posted by Sharon http://www.oodmag.com/community/imag...post-right.png
Wow. Times are a- changin' Tim.



Yeesh. You win one Nobel Prize for Literature and the next thing you know, people are quoting you all over the place.... quote Welsh
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LOL I've loved his music since he was 20. :) Sharon

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I'm a newbie to the sport and wish there were more participants from ontario.I driven to michigan on my own and would love to have some more canadian participants and or younger participants regardless were there from.
Looking at the photos of different field trail placements tells the story -older crowd.
Speaking to Spencer Ray who helps with the training ,there is encouragement.
Some of his clients recently are younger.
Here in ontario we certainly need the help,Michigan for example has large plots of land which caters to field trails.
Unfortunately the liberals are more concerned about ugly money loosing wind mills." quote that a boy

Spencer has made a tremendous difference to the field dog circuit over the years. My hats off to him. (Of course he had a great trainer himself. :) ) quote Sharon

I think the biggest thing is the loss of habitat in Ontario. It's just not a bird hunter's dream. With bird numbers declining it's hard I think for young people to get into it (in young myself - 29). As far as hunting goes there are tons of young folks out there but I know even in my own social circles everyone hunts big game or waterfowl. Waterfowl are the only bird numbers that are constant. Even myself - if I could only hunt one thing it would be upland but it's hard when you don't have good bird numbers. I'm even at the point where I'm starting to think about a second dog. I was thinking initially of getting into a pointing breed but realistically I will probably go with a lab and ramp up the amount of waterfowl I hunt.

As a young Canadian field trialer running in Coverdog at 31 yrs old I am by far the youngest person that is at these trials the majority of the people are well past 65.
As far as getting the younger generation involved in trials I think the first step is more public awareness that field trialing exists . Second I think that years ago people ran American field trials because that was the only game in town now you have nstra, navhd ,ckc etc .
This is only my opinion but younger people of my generation don't want to put the time and effort it takes to get a dead broke competitive dog that is capable of winning in American field trials. Most people I meet who have hunting dogs are fine if their dog finds the occasional bird and breaks on the flush or shot and to get them to train to the next level is of no interest to them , I am not sure if it is the same in the retriver world.

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Originally Posted by trkyhntr21

This is only my opinion but younger people of my generation don't want to put the time and effort it takes to get a dead broke competitive dog....

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I think this is true of people of all ages ... it's a lot of work and most people are satisfied to get partway there and have a hunting dog.

I think your point re promoting trials is well taken. The trial community does things the old fashioned way ... there tends to be little web presence, etc. Younger people (and here I mean younger than 45!) tend to expect to find things online.

But on the other hand look at the UK where although small there seems to be a vibrant gundog community, at least in the spaniel and retriever worlds. Difference being, a formalized system of shoots at which you must have a fully trained dog, and a lot done to promote dog training and dog events as a result.

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Originally Posted by Tim Tufts

There are a few issues.
First and foremost is the lack of habitat for upland game birds
Second is the lack of interest among the next generation. Seems that these days if it doesn't have horns then it isn't worth pursuing.

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This is bologna. Waterfowl is incredibly popular amongst young hunters because of the fast and constant action.

The problem with young hunters I would think is a few things. Mainly, IMO, is the lack of good hunting opportunity. Why should anyone in southern ON invest the time, money, and effort into an upland dog when he can buy a deer tag and shoot one of the plentiful whitetails (antlered or not) and feed his family for a good while at a reasonable fee (and without the monetary commitment of a dog)? And back to the waterfowl, the opportunities are monumentally higher for waterfowl over upland birds.

For myself, someone who was once very involved in NAVHDA it was two fold; 1) not enough upland opportunities within a reasonable travel distance 2) it is very expensive to train an upland dog in comparison to a waterfowl dog.

I was spending almost all of my training time preparing for upland hunt tests only to hunt waterfowl all fall. Membership in the chapter was about $70/year, each training day has a $5/dog fee, each pigeon and you usually use three was $5/bird, chukars were $12/bird, pheasants and ducks $18/bird, that was only training days, if you are training through the week then you have higher costs, you also have hunt test entry fees ($150-200), travel/gas ($50), fundraising efforts, etc....I budgeted around $2,500/year to run two dogs in NAVHDA.

At the end of my time a chapter president I had to ask myself, is it worth it if I am only going to hunt waterfowl?