By Bonita Austin

The VCC held its first licensed AKC Hunt Test October 28 & 29 at Cedar Grove Plantation near Clarksville, Virginia.  It is difficult to think of enough superlatives to describe the beautiful grounds at Cedar Grove.   “Spectacular”, and “bird-dog heaven” are some that come to mind.  The VCC is once again deeply indebted to Mr. James Kinnear, the owner of Cedar Grove, and Don Brown, the property manager.

The tests ran very smoothly both days.  The weather improved steadily after a very wet and warm start to the weekend on Friday.  Saturday’s judges, Kevin Craggs and Dick Teal, evaluated 28 dogs, while Sunday’s judges, Randy Hall and Lynn Worth, evaluated 25 dogs . The overall qualifying rate was 68% on Sat. & 72% on Sunday, with the majority of the qualifiers in the Junior division. 

One of the best things about the tests was the participation of 4 junior handlers – Connor Grant, Sam Lewis, Kurt & Olivia Wedegaertner.  All four kids ran dogs in the Junior Hunter division.  While not all qualified, all the kids did a very good job with their dogs.  Kurt Wedegaertner and his dog, Stella (Stella Rouge of Bayleaf), earned one of only two PERFECT SCORES given out over the weekend.  The VCC Hunt Test Committee wants to extend special congratulations to Kurt along with its appreciation to all of the parents for bringing the four kids out to participate.

The Hunt Test Committee decided to present special rosettes to participants who finish titles at our events.  The participants are awarded these beautiful keepsakes in addition to their qualifying rosettes.  It was a real pleasure to give three of these special awards to participants affiliated with the VCC over the weekend (see above).

The Hunt Test dinner on Saturday night at The Pink Giraffe in Clarksville was a huge success.  The food was excellent and plentiful.  The club held a raffle in conjunction with the dinner with “an arm’s length” of tickets for $20.  People soon realized that gunner, Ross Adams, had the longest arms at the dinner and flocked around him to have him measure off “an arm’s length” of tickets.  Thanks to the generous club members who donated bird bags, wine, sweaters, quail stationary, picture frames, retrieving dummies and other great prizes.

Send mail to webmaster@carolinavizsla.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: June 11, 2008