Whats your best bird boy story????

[Shayne Mehringer]

The thread about which way to face bird boys in the derby and the deviation you will deal with over the course of a series got me thinking back to some (funny now, but at the time - not so much) bird boy issues when judging.

More than once i've had a bird boy stand up and start walking out of the field after throwing a bird so he can use the restroom. We've had to send a four wheeler out to pick up a kid who demanded he be taken to the porta potties. Once had a bird boy walk out of the field in the open because his coach told him he could leave at 1pm and he was tired of dealing with us (remember that Kippy??).

Most recently we had a bird girl have an asthma attack in the field while a dog was running. That was pretty scary.

SM

[Charles C.]

I was at Acadiana a couple of years ago, and a birdboy refused to touch the ducks. He didn't say anything until everything was set up, and a test dog was ready to run. He was relieved of his duties and spent the rest of the time playing a gameboy or other such gadget on the equipment trailer. I don't know if he got paid or not.

[crowncreek]

Not a bird boy story as most field trialers think of bird boys, but anyway. UKC finished test in North Carolina. Water series in the afternoon, triple with blind off a mark and by a point. Dog picks up the three marks clean, and is clean that morning. This pass is for a title on a black dog who never got any of the breaks. Back to the story, three clean marks and I am lining the dog for the blind when the bird boy on the mark that is just off line stands up, Judges tell him to set back down, dog is looking every where thinking this is a set up. Bird boy stands back up and tells the judges that there is a Skunk in the holding blind and he is leaving, he proceeds to leave and walk around the pond, dog is out of her mind by now, he takes his time walking all the way, as the skunk is following him not 20 to 25 yards behind him. Once he is out of the way and out of sight, I send for the blind, of course the dog falls apart like a two dollar watch, half way to blind she sees the skunk and is hot on the trial, after several recalls, and hand throwing ducks to get her back and away from the skunk. I pull her off line, Judges talk about it and decide to give me a rerun, but not before they shoot the skunk. Come to the line again and give it a college try, of course it was way to late for anything good to happen at this point.

[Jay Dufour]

Bird boy yells in that he needs to use the restroom.Judge tells him to just turn around and go.Note: nothing to hide behind.He embarrassingly looks around,then turns away from the gallery,and proceeds to drop his pants! WoooooHH the judge jumps up and sent someone out for him.Poor kid ! At least he was good at following orders.

[gracie]

There is a great story in the Bill Tarrant book, hey pup fetch it up. He recalls the judges wondering why there was so much suction on one particular blind until someone discovered that one of the blind planters had built a small fire and was roasting a pheasant when discovered.

[1st retriever]

Seems like they should allow bathroom breaks every couple hours!

[Troy Williams]

Funny story told to me, I laughed until I cried:

A newer bird girl was helping a very successful pro and his partner on a Thursday before the trial. They were running dog after dog after dog on the pretrial test trying to get done so they could leave. She ran out of caps or bullets for her pistol. So she called in and said "Hey I don't have any more bullets". Pro responds in his hurriedness as he turns to leave line so his partner can run next dog, "Just say Hey-Hey!". Soooo, the girls sits down, looks around and says "Hey-Hey!"; looks around again and in a split second gets on the radio and says, "I'm still out of bullets!"

T-Roy

[frontier]

I was judging the Derby/Qual at Cimarron a few years ago, and our bird boy in the Derby had a close encounter of the Chessie kind. He was stuttering and stammering on the radio. I think a certain Oklahoma trainer teaches bird boy intimidation fundamentals as part of their program. Remember Chris???

[Shayne Mehringer]

Funny story told to me, I laughed until I cried:

A newer bird girl was helping a very successful pro and his partner on a Thursday before the trial. They were running dog after dog after dog on the pretrial test trying to get done so they could leave. She ran out of caps or bullets for her pistol. So she called in and said "Hey I don't have any more bullets". Pro responds in his hurriedness as he turns to leave line so his partner can run next dog, "Just say Hey-Hey!". Soooo, the girls sits down, looks around and says "Hey-Hey!"; looks around again and in a split second gets on the radio and says, "I'm still out of bullets!"

T-Roy

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA thats too funny!!!

At the handlers request, we had a birdboy stand up and HEY HEY a dog that was lost. The very next dog was heading in the same direction as the previous and all of a sudden whips around and starts back towards the bird boy/mark. It was a long mark, but i could have sworn i heard a "HEY HEY" from the overly proactive bird boy. I asked him on the radio if he yelled at that dog and he was like "um..... no sir, i didn't say anything". I said ok, make sure you stay quiet unless we ask for your help. The next time a dog missed the mark, he gets on the radio "do you want me to yell at this one?" LOL

SM

[Richard Halstead]

A bird boy with poor cordination shot himself in the big toe resting the waiting for the next dog. The same guy swamped a boat getting out at a licensed Qualifying had bids and garbage floating all over that had to be clened up so we could resume.