Putting on a hunt test....

[goosebruce]

I have been asked my thoughts a couple times on putting on a good hunt test . Figgered Id make it a post, and maybe several people could benefit from the discussion.

I'd say the #1 thing to a sucessful event is communication. I can't stress it enough. 9 out of 10 times something is jacked up at a hunt test, is because somebody didn't communicate. Not because someone is lazy, they didnt do what they said, they didnt know, or didnt care. Its first and foremost a communication problem.

Communication starts when you decide to have an event. A chair is named, a sectary is named, a committee is formed, a date secured, and a location is decided on. Seems like the ball is rolling. Thats when things go wrong. 2 different personality types, one who decide they will do every task that comes up themselves, and one who decides they'll do whatever they are asked. Neither can work to put on an event like this. I assure you, you can't do it all yourself, and still have fun or the event you want. And I also say, if you wait for someone to ask you to do something, they probably already did it and wondered why the hell you didnt. Communication means everyone knows who is doing what... not every little thing, cause so many times it causes more discussion than it is worth. But if everyone knows who is doing what, then when issues come up they know who to go to. And if everyone talks beforehand, unseen issues seem to come to lite. SO many times, when a group is assembled, someone has a way to resolve something easily that seemed big to you. Maybe they have an answer you don't, or a resource you don't. You'll only know if you talk.

Delegate stuff. Being a chair is not hard, if you got good folks, and you delegate duties, and FOLLOW UP. Lots of people got good folks, and they delegate stuff, but rarely follow up. Only when something is jacked up on game day, do they say, hey joe, I thought you where going to bring shotguns. When things are delegated, and the hunt is done modular style, Joes job fits with Marks job fits with Sams job, and a central person follows it all up, things come together remarkably easy.

Include as many people as you can. Make them understand this is their event. If they are proud of it, they will do all they can AND have fun. If they simply feel they have to do it, they will do as little as they can AND be misaerable. Its not my hunt, its not your hunt, its our hunt and its the best.

Take your hunt committee and sit down and spend 30 minutes thinking of things that have pissed you off at hunts you've been too. Make a list and make sure you don't do any of them. Sounds basic doesnt it. I wish all clubs would do it. Hey something can happen you didnt see... but you knew you didnt have signs. or maps. or gravel and its now raining.

Run your hunt test like a business. Not ness about money, but about customer satisfaction. Each handler and dog is a customer. None are more important, none are not important. They are all very important to your business success. Watch your money where you can, not on things that effect the quailty of the test the dog receives. Its much better to save 20% on your sat night meal, than 20% on your bird bill. Your bottom line will the same, but the quailty of the test will be much better with the added birds. Saving judges expenses with club judges is great, IF you have the help. You can't have your help in the judges chair, and expect your 'customers' to understand and be happy about it.

Marshalls make or break a hunt. Nobody is through, till we are all through. SO starting on time, rebirding, lunch breaks, bye dogs, multi dog handlers, and knowing how many dogs you are going to run, is key. Best hunt in the world, running in the dark, sucks. A marshall should be introduced to the judges the day before the test, and be there for set up if at all possible. A marshalls box should have poppers, judges sheets, skeeter dope, rubbers and zip ties, wd40 or gun oil, paper towels, orange flaggin tape and snacks for the birds boys and judges. It should have of that in there the NIGHT before. Firday night they are loaded, sat morning given to the marshalls, and sat night returned to the person who is in charge of those boxes (the offical gun). Guns cleaned, boxes and books loaded, and stacked up. Marshalls have to know they must get the books to the judges, and from the judges. Get that box back to get filled, and the guns. Radios from stake to stake are a must, you call when you start looking like you need Joe Handler, not once your test is waiting for him. You call when you got 3 dogs left, and its time to flip, not when your through. If your hunt area doesnt allow for frs contact, then a cell phone list of all hunt committee members and marshalls needs to be provided. Make name tages that clip on your shirt, and on the back of it is a cell phone list. Make sure your hunt area has cell coverage.. if it doesnt, and frs radios wont work, you are asking for problems.

Have a team of people dedicated to flipping tests. We call it our swarm team. You cant expect joe to flip them all. What if started needs to flip, and joe is running his dog in seasoned? When you down to 3 or 4 dogs, called for the swarm team. People who are free will respond. No need for 10 people for one stake. If joe & mark say they are going, its covered. Find out where else you need to be. The same people are dedicated to test set up and tear down. Nothing worst than being the only person hammering winger stakes on sat afternoon for every judge on the grounds, and theres a dozen people sitting at hq. When the last judge coems out of the field, the day is done. Not until then. Communicating that to everyone so they know what is needed, means plenty of help when the time comes. And your done faster, and everyone is happier.

Your judges are your guests. Not your brother in law you got to put up with. Someone you like, want to spend a weekend with, and you asked a favor of. This is there weekend to judge dogs and enjoy themselves. That means plenty of help, plenty of food, plenty of drink, and plenty of thank yous. Make it a goal every active member of your club meets every judge, and hoepfully thanks them personally. But at the least, the judge knows who they are, and feels a lot better because instead of one or two people in the club, he now knows them all. I often have judges come to judge for me from several states away (texas for instance).. they often dont know anybody in my club expect for me. But when they leave, they got a whole bunch of new friends, and they are blown away by our hospliaty.

Judges dinner. A resturant is the worst place for a judges dinner. You talk to the person next to you, and the person across from you. I just drove 4 hours, volunteered for a weekend of judging, and am having dinner with the only 2 people I know. Seems stupid doesnt it? A shop where the club cooks, a persons house, a lodge, anything you can do to make that family lo key atmosphere is a terrific bonus to the judges. As much fun as our luau party and disco party was last year, the friday nights before both where just as fun. And #1 reason was we where all together, and not in a resturant. Besides that, you can save a ton of cash and put on a better meal. Our last 2 judges suppers combined after sponorships cost us less than 200 bucks. And they where both as fine of a meal as I have ever eaten.

No stake is done setting up, unless birds and birdboys can be brought out, and it is ready to go. Do not leave a stake needing a couple holding blinds, or a gun stand, or a blind pole. Come sat morning, nobody will know who is supposed to take care of that. Set up means complete, anything else is a time waster.

Every marshall MUST be instructed about the boxes, and returning the boxes. Otherwise someone is going to be waiting for popper or sheets, instead of running dogs.

When equipment is taken down, it all goes in one truck, or one trailer. Everyoen wnats to help. Say I drive around and get the wingers and trash, and you pick up the line. Our judges are gone over the hill for tommorrows test. I follow, you get sidetracked, stop and talk, or have to run a dog, or something else. Now we had a full stake of equipement, now we dont. It all goes in one vehicle from stake to the next. No exceptions.

Out of town judges judge the quicker stakes on sunday so they can go home. Get their milage checks early, so they are waiting around on sunday feeling like a heel for having to ask. Never make a friend you asked a favor feel bad by asking for something. Do it ahead of time.

Get with youe sectary, so you know who is running dogs in what stakes. The running list is a living breathing thing. You got joe and mark marshalling finished a, your sec has mark in finished b with 2 other people. The sec doesnt know who your marshalls and help is... you do. Again, you delgated, and you followed up.

Every stake has 2 marshalls if at all possible. Team an experienced marshall with someone new. Many new people are put off by not knowing what is going on. Most want to be involved. Get them involved, and they'll have more fun, meet more people, and feel like it is their event. Again, if you cant make people proud of it, they'll never do all they can. The only stronger motivater than pride is love... if they are proud, they soon love it.

Lunches. One person needs to be in charge of lunches. That person will get an offical count, and send the lunches to the stakes. He might take them, or send someone with them. But that person, and that person alone makes that call. Too many times someone wants to help, and Ill take lunchs to seasoned, and they go to water.. but season has flopped and they are at land waiting, and someone comes up to get lunches. We've tried everything, and the only thing that works is make an offical lunch person.

If you have a potintal bottleneck at your test, identify it and make it work. Seasoned water last fall had a blind that needed a bird boy in a pe-roy. You cant trust a boy scout to that. I had one of my teenage sons do it. I knew I had a potinetal problem, and I advoided it by having someone dedicated to that BIRD. Another test had to be rebirded by boat, and had a potiential of being a problem. 2 people where dedicated to that test.. not marshalling, just making sure the boat issue was dealth with at all times. It was slick. They stayed at finsihed water all weekend, not the flight, or the judges, the water test... to make sure we didnt shoot our sevles in the foot. Hoping something works out, is not an option. You know snafus and work them out ahead of time.

The hunt committe can head off a lot of potintal time problems. If a test is too lenghty, polietly tell the judges it wont work. Dont allow time wasters like 75 yard walk ups, waders on to walk 5 foot in the water instead of on the bank, props that make no sense to the test. 3 minutes a dog wasted, is 3 hours at the end of the day. How long does it take to wade to start a test? If its a nessissty, fine. If its just for chits and giggles, can it. A bridge across a ditch where handlers walk in, can save hours.. think about dogs having to cross a muddy ditch with a nervous handler... if its just 2 minutes a dog you saved, you're at the party 2 hours earlier. Isnt it worth a little prepration and 20 minutes to build a bridge?

Your in the middle of nowhere, you can't just poop what you need. When your committee looks at the grounds, make a list of special equipement, delegate someone to bring those items, and follow up.

4 wheelers (where allowed) are a must. They do no good sitting at the shop, while kids walk 150 yards to get birds. A land test takes 2 minutes max to rebird. If its take 10 minutes, thats 8 minutes wasted per rebird. Typically theres 4 rebirds in a finsihed test... thats 32 minutes x 2 you wasted, over an hour cause you didnt plan for it. Most water tests can be rebirded at least 1, if not 2, while the test is running. Dog coming back from the waterblind, test is done, you can send birds to the stations on the bank your running from. So you start the test with one bird at the left gun, and 2 at the right. First dog is done running, send those birds to left gun. Second dog done running, send those birds to right gun. You just saved a complete rebird, maybe 10-15 minutes on a water test. You got a bird thats almost impossible to rebird, send all the birds so you never have to rebird it again. Send a couple drinks with that kid, cause you waont see him till its over.

Start on time. That means when you can fairly test dogs, you ought to be running dogs. Never been a hunt test that started too early, been to a bunch woulda been good to have that hour (or more) back because of the weather or darkness. Starting on time comes from prepration, period.

You need a sheet that tells you offically dogs checked in at each stake. Otherwise you're waiting on a dog thats in the book, and somebody swears they saw him there, so you wait. Dogs scratch, people are wrong, dogs title and move up, whatever. If you got a check list, you know and there is no wait for a dog that isnt coming. Waiting is wrong, it means you didnt plan ahead.

Dont be afraid to tell multistake handlers where they need to go. be nice, and explain why. Lots of times, 8, 10, 12 dogs are on one truck. If a handler has that many finished dogs, the stake with the honor cant start until he gets there. But that cant be determined at 830 and the handler in question is in line at another stake. Determine it beforehand, and explin it beforehand.

One person decides what judges are a, and b, and they decide to who goes to land when and water when. If 5 people are asked who ought to know, they will give 5 different answers. Best to right it beforehand on the premium, and to look at that and your judges all know. Often times when water is at a premium, you'll have to juggle started and seasoned on water. Started gets water first both days... they always get through before seasoned water does. If you run seasoned water first, and started has to wait, you'll add hours to everyones day. Maybe somebody doesnt like running water first both days... so what, we're not done will everyone is done. Having a plan, and communicating that to everyone as to why, will keep snafus and hard feelings out of it.

If anything comes up, I mean anything, inform the entire hunt committee. Maybe something was said, or something happened, and its handled. Communication with your hunt committee will be paramout if something else needs to be done. You dont have to gossip, but anyone whose name is on the premium as a hunt comittee member may have to answer for events, they should know they are going on. And many heads are better than one, always.

Certain things happening on time are critical to your event. Plan for more help than you need. One person killing birds is insane. Have 2 or 3. Maybe joe has a death in the family, and hes not there. If you plan on several your still covered. Swarm the teardowns, set ups, and the flops. Asign people to all stakes to make sure their tests are set up. Otherwise there will be 20 know it alls at finished, and started and season judges will be setting their own stuff up, or one poor smuck doing it all for them. We're not done till we're all done.

Any confrences with judges and handlers, should have a committee member present. He isnt involved, hes just standing behind them. Sometimes handlers get loud or rude with judges. At that point, they no longer become important to your 'business'. Its not your friend you asked a favor place to come get someone to witness the abuse, or to ask to have something done. Poleitly step in and ask the person to calm down. If they don't, ask them to leave. In 10 hunt tests, we havent had but one handler have a problem like that. He is no longer welcomed, we wont accept an entry from him. Not now, not ever. We dont need the dogs that bad. Adults can disagree without being rude, even passionalty disagree. When it crosses the line as abuse, its your job as a committee to stop it. You cant do that if you dont know about it cause your sitting across the room.

If it rains on set up day, those tests do not appear out of the ground like wild flowers. Make ESPEICALLY sure if your supposed to be there, and its raining, you show up. Having set up lots of wingers in the rain, I havent melted yet... hehe.

Have a person at headquaters whose whole purpose on sat morning is to run to stakes to bring them things they didnt think they'd need. Never a bad ideal if you got the goods, to leave an extra winger head at every stake (10 minutes to change rubbers, 30 seconds to swap a head, if your dog was on the honor during the no bird and repair, you'd be a lot happier) and an extra holding blind. When marhsalling, and its almost a time to rebird, take advantage of a no bird, a dog that broke, or a winger coming up.. anything that stops a test, fill those bird buckets up. If you can rebird on an honor dog thats out, compared to a dog thats in, all the better.

Think about things from different peoples point of view. Think about lots of people wanting to help in a very disorganziaed way. Think all of that out beforehand, and tell people, this is going to happen, and you do this and why. Then they'll understand. Like say flopping the finished tests... tell both your marshalls, take you kids, guns, and birds, LEAVE everything else. If you dont, one stake will take their gun stand and buckets, trying to be helpful. The other stake will leave theres, trying to be helpful. Nobody meant anything but the best, but it was jacked up because of no communication. Tell your marshalls to leave their trash, in a pile at the line, but leave it. Have a trash detail come pick it up. How can a marshall carry trash, when they need to be flopping a stake, or setting up tommorrows, or making sure the equipment all gets there in one vehicle, or filling up their box and getting their gun ready for tommorrow? Someones 14 year old kid with a 4 wheeler and trailer can ride the grounds and get all the trash outta piles at the stakes, in 20 minutes. I want the people who have something to do thats timely, to do it timely... anyone there given a bike and trailer and where to put it, can pick up the trash. Someones 14 year old is wanting to drive a 4 wheeler around... heck odds are someones 12 year old is dying to put some waders on and fish those deeks out of the drink. Use your 'skilled (ugly word, but you know what I mean)' help where its needed, and the help thats there but doesnt know the score where its needed. Like I said, most everyone wants to help. But if they dont know there is a trialer load of trash to be picked up, how could they volunteer? Communicate, delegate, and follow up.

Every person in your club has different streghts & weaknesses. Play to those streghts, not their weaknesses. Some people are better at organzation stuff beforehand, some better at physical work on game day. Some can get you anything beforehand, but wont hit a lick at a snake. YOu can plan ahead, and work with different personalites, or you can clash personalites and make yourself mad and loose what you do have in them. Everyone would much rather do something they can, than something they cant. Follow up on tasks, and if someone is having a problem they can tell you and get it worked out, take it over, or get someone else to do it. Sat morning 8 am isnt the time to find out anything, except to see if the dogs are ready. travis

[B3]

Thanks Travis, thats a post to bookmark for sure.

[msbigdawg1234]

Your right on every aspect. West Ms has put on 2 test and learned from both and the advise from folks that have been doing this alot longer.Everyone knowing and doing thier job is the oil to make it run smoothly. It helps to have grounds that are easy setups . Our last test was hard because of the terrain. Cattle ranch spread out time consuming.Mahanna on the other hand it simple easy setup. One road down the middle test run off the road a little. Just a great setup. I been trying to get ya to came down Trav. Ya gona be able to make this one. Hope to see ya. Can always use advise from guys like you that have been there done that.

[MC3]

this post has been bumped at the request of meeka....for everyone helping put on the test this weekend at mahannah