Setting Up Derby Marks

[DaveHare]

Ted looks good wide open and fair!!I like in your set up nothing conflicts!! , When you ran the derby last year is this what you would see ,or would it be a tighter set up in the first series.
Dave Hare

[MooseGooser]

New Pic?

[Codatango]

Geez, I didn't even see there was already a mat and marks way off to the left! I had to scroll way to the right to get a feel for the width and my eye just caught the yardage markers on the middle and right.

I have to remember that young dogs will hunt both sides of the gun, it is likely they could get close to where a future mark and gun station is planned.

Debbie

[Ted Shih]

Let's do land before water

Here is a photo Walt gave us some time ago. Ignore his markings in red.



Set up a first series double. Do not worry about a second series on this field. In real life, we might be able to move to the far ridge and run from there.

You will have a flyer in this set of marks.

My preferences on flyers:
- Close enough to be flyers, but not so close as make the dogs break (especially babies)
- I like 15--250
- Lots of room for birds to fly and dogs to run

We are not going to shoot a flyer out of order in the derby, so it will be shot second

We are NOT going to shoot our birds short and tight.
We are going to let the babies run and we are going to avoid - as best we can switching and hunting old falls.

We are NOT going over 400 yards.

Mat is down. Wind is at your back.

Set your marks.

[JeffLusk]

M1 thrown up hill and will have to fight the hillside to stay above the gunner.

F2 will add enough up front to suck dogs down the hill. Flyer is shot out in the wide open and any dog that doesn't dig it out right away might turn into a monster hunt.

Also a north wind isn't my ideal wind. I'd like this test with wind blowing NW

[ReedCreek]

This first series looks challenging and fair. Here are a few of the challenges I see both in the dog running it and in the judging of it. Would welcome comments as to my thinking (especially if I am seeing it incorrectly); I am learning here and am a rookie.

The memory bird is very visible and the bird lands out in the open with plenty of room to hunt around it; plus as Ted says, it allows the derby dog to get out of the truck and run. It doesn't look to me like a series that is designed to eliminated a huge amount of dogs. In trying to establish separation my question is: there appears to be a slight hill side that dogs would need to hold in order to not drop behind the gun station; the trained dog would hold the hill; however another dog, not so well trained, may not hold the hill and might end up behind the gun station and loop around to get the bird – still showing excellent natural marking ability. My question is how you would mark a dog that fell off the hillside went behind the gun and hooked to the bird as opposed to one that took a straight line directly to the bird - both could be displaying natural marking ability? Would the slight hook be an issue in separating the dogs? The flyer gun station being so visible would present a strong opportunity for head swinging and missing the memory bird.

[Ted Shih]

Jeff

Off to Costco with my wife. Back in two hours

Tell me what the factors are in this test
And how they work with or against your marks

Ted

[JeffLusk]

Jeff

Off to Costco with my wife. Back in two hours

Tell me what the factors are in this test
And how they work with or against your marks

Ted

Ted, the flyer itself shouldn't be a tough bird for most. It has a slight slope, but at 150-200 yards I think most dogs will get this bird. The open field may let a few dogs have monster hunts, especially the younger ones that haven't figured out the game.

The memory bird is thrown along the hillside and the dogs must fight the hill to stay above the gunner. The flyer shorter will add a little bit of suction for the dogs and pull them down to backside. I left the mark short enough to leave room to run past the gun and get out of the AOF. I'm not sure if that is snow??? Either way I don't think most dogs will care about it too much.

[Ted Shih]

Jeff

When you throw a bird downhill, it will land farther from the gun
Than if you throw uphill.

To maximize distance of your flyer shoot it downhill

[helencalif]

For example, you might want to run this as a second series

Ted,

My only concern with series #2 is the road behind M1. Young Derby dogs with run in them could easily run over the bird at M1 and end up on the road. If you stick with placing the M1 mark where it is shown, I would have traffic control on the road.

Helen