Pat Burns -
Like most Nationals, we have hit a stretch of bad work. It has been my experience that a longer retired gun often times gets more difficult as more dogs run. Drag back and 80 plus pheasants being shot with feathers drifting onto the line to the long bird all play a role. It appears that the foot scent of the dogs that are hunting behind the longer retired bird are influencing the dogs hunt pattern. In other words, the more the dogs hunt in area the more the other dogs are attracted to hunt there as well. Another factor is definitely the temperatures. The dogs are heating up and that affects their ability to smell and think. It turns out that an earlier number was more favorable on this test.