NBHA National Awards Banquet Announcement

[PntrRookie]

We look forward to welcoming all of you to our annual NBHA National Meeting and Awards Banquet. A social gathering will be held for everyone, on Friday evening July 26th at 6 pm in Memphis, TN at the Holiday Inn Wolfchase. The business meeting will be held Saturday, July 27th at the Holiday Inn Wolfchase Meeting Room from 8 am – 3 pm.

The 2013 NBHA Awards Banquet will be held Saturday evening July 27th at 6:30 pm at the National Bird Dog Museum in Grand Junction, TN! We will be honoring the 2012-2013 Dog of the Year and Handler of the Year recipients as well as Hall of Fame Nominees.

A bus will depart from the hotel around 5:45 pm. There will be a social hour, allowing attendees the opportunity to walk through the Bird Dog Museum. We will begin dinner at 7:30 pm and the live auction will begin around 8:30. There will be plenty of time to review the raffle items and the list for the live auction.

Watch this post for further auction item updates!

Contact information for the Holiday Inn Wolfchase is as follows: 2751 New Brunswick Rd., Memphis, TN 38133 - (901) 266-1952. Make sure to tell them you are booking a room for the NBHA National Meeting.

[PntrRookie]

Another busy field trial season has wound down for the National Bird Hunters Association and we are pleased to report that 2012-13 was another good year for NBHA walking trials.

Here are a few tidbits from the past year for NBHA and welcome the new clubs who ran some NBHA events this year. Much like politics, so much of field trialing is "local". You join a club because you like the folks and the grounds and later you jump in with both feet after you get some wins on your dog. Walking trials are where most folks start and having a local club is how they get introduced. So thank you for organizing and hosting walking trials in your area. You mean a lot to your local trialers and to the NBHA!

We keep track of our statistics on the dogs that are run and the DOY and HOY points and will be providing more info on those winners later. To paint a bigger picture...the overall number of dogs run. NBHA again grew year over year some 15.75% in number of dogs run in our trials despite some spring cancellations due to inclement weather. Growth is good to paraphrase Gordon Gecko and we are duly proud of the clubs that expanded their trials and the new clubs that worked to help increase those overall numbers. Great job by everyone!

Breaking down those stats some more, NBHA entries were well in excess of 1600 this year and our stakes (Puppy, Derby, SD, Amateur or Open) averaged over 10 dogs. We did run an additional 220 stakes in total accounting for most of the increase. That is phenomenal even though it does include some championships with well over thirty dogs entered. It still means that good numbers of dogs were entered in all our trials.

Our NBHA Futurity program successfully transitioned to its new home in Missouri - not too far west of St Louis for those of you not familiar with the Whetstone Quail Demonstration area just north of I-70 at Williamsburg, MO. Great grounds, clubhouse and horse stalls in the barn there. The Futurity program is now a three stake trial with the Futurity, the Jerry D Kilgore Puppy Classic and the NBHA National Open Invitational Breeders Championship running in conjunction. You can access more info on the Futurity program on the http://www.nbhadog.org website.

We would like to invite all of the walking trialers, club members and those interested in growing our great sport to the NBHA National meeting July 26-27th. The banquet honoring our DOYs and HOYs and newest HOF electees, auction and raffle will be Saturday evening at the Bird Dog Museum in Grand Junction. This is a good time so please join us and enjoy some more time at the HOF there.

As we look back on 2012-13, we are happy with the growth in NBHA and walking trials across the country. From all indications, the 2013-14 season is poised to continue our growth and efforts to reach out in some of our traditional states that are dormant is underway. NBHA wants to continue to provide a venue for people to showcase their foot handled shooting dogs, Derbies and Puppies and compete at any level they wish. Our weekend club trials are the backbone of our organization and we will continue to support and encourage more local trials. Our classics and championships are no less important and will continue to be promoted and conducted to the best of our abilities.

Again, YOU are invited to Memphis and Grand Junction for our annual meeting. We'd like to hear from you or meet you for the first time and have you provide input to the NBHA in how to make walking trials better for everyone.

Doug Meyer
NBHA President

[PntrRookie]

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS: Get your reservations in today, give Christi a call and mention “National Bird Hunters Association”. 15 rooms have been ear marked to hold until 7/12/1013. After this date price subject to change and may not be available.

Holiday Inn Express Wolfchase Galleria
attn: Christi
2751 New Brunswick Road, Memphis, TN
(901) 266-1952
Group Code: NBHA

Auction Items will be updated soon!

[PntrRookie]

Here is a list of this year's National and Regional Champions, as well as Futurity and Puppy Classic winners. Congratulations to all and thank you to everyone who entered our stakes and made this a successful year. We will be honoring many of these dogs and handlers at our upcoming national awards banquet, July 27th and the Bird Dog Museum/HOF in Grand Junction, TN!

National Open Championship
Winner – Erin’s Sweet Alabama, PF; owner/handler, Mike Sandifer
Runner-up – Sand Mountain Spirit, PF; owner, Mike Otinger; handler, Oscar Whitt

National Free-For-All Championship
Winner – Barado’s River Queen, PF; owner/handler, Jeff Markham
Runner-up – Erin’s Sweet Alabama, PF; owner/handler, Mike Sandifer

National Amateur Invitational Championship
Winner – Starfire Supersport, PM; owner/handler, Ray Brown
Runner-up – Vitali Grouseringer Purdy, SM; owner/handler, Gary Vitali

National Open Invitational/Breeders Championship
Winner – Greypointe Gladiador, PM; owner/handler, Doug Meyer
Runner-up – Du’More Back in Black, PF; owner/handler, L. G. Barnard

NBHA Futurity
1st – Legacy, PM; owner/handler, Jim Wirths
2nd – El Thunder, PM; owner/handler, Dan Martin
3rd – Hard Rappin Shadow, SF; owner/handler, Alan Worth
4th – Milomix Sunny, SF; owner/handler, Dr. Bill Wright

NBHA Jerry D. Kilgore Puppy Classic
1st – Paint Me Gold, SM; owner, Bobby & Mildred Taylor; handler, Bobby Taylor
2nd – Round Table’s Last Knight, PM; owner, Joe & Kim Shearer; handler, Joe Shearer
3rd – Shockamo, SM; owner, Bobby & Mildred Taylor; handler, Bobby Taylor
4th – Penrosa Jane Doe, SF; owner/handler, Tim Penn

National Amateur Championship
Winner – K C’s Leer Jett, PM; owner, Ken & Melissa Sauer; handler, Melissa Sauer
Runner-up – Hawk’s Black Diamond, PM; owner/handler, Steve Schiber

Southeastern Regional Championship
Winner – Browntown Wynot Hank, PM; owner, D. H. Hardison; handler, Jerry Raynor
Runner-up – Moehill’s Carolina Ruby, PF; owner, Moehill Kennels; handler, Jerry Raynor

North Central Regional Championship
Winner – Remlap’s Doc Feel Good, PM; owner, W. P. Garner; handler, Oscar Whitt
Runner-up – Skydancer Swift Current, SM; owner, G. Stone & B. Francis; handler, Brett Francis

Mid-South Regional Championship
Winner – Neely’s New York, PF; owner, Regis Linn; handler, Daryl Thomas
Runner-up – Going For Broke, PM; owner, Marty Robinson; handler, Oscar Whitt

Western Regional Championship
Winner – Du’More Back in Black, PF; owner/handler, L.G. Barnard
Runner-up – Go For Broke, SM; owner/handler, Larry Hedge

Northeast Regional Championship
Winner – Crow Creek Sugarbaby, PF; owner, K. Black & F. Brown; handler, Ken Black
Runner-up – Dale Creek Chelsea, PF; owner/handler, Mike Duvall

Midwest Regional Championship
1st – Penrosa Knox, SM; owner/handler, Tim Penn
2nd – Starfire Supersport, PM; owner/handler, Ray Brown
3rd – Kozican, SM; owner, Bobby & Mildred Taylor; handler, Bobby Taylor