Master test. Triple on land. blind up the middle. Orange stake to give you point of reference. Handlers are told to handle to the orange stake. at that point there has been a trail dragged aprox 10-12 feet off to the left of the orange stake. Handlers are told that once you get to the orange stake to release your dog to trail the cripple. You can say fetch it up, hunt it up, ect.
My question as a judge. is say I handle to the stake great 2 cast and I am on it. I have a 8-9. I have sat my dog and said fetch it up. and the dog goes wild. does not pick up on the trail and is all over the place, now I have to handle back to the area, and to the actual bird.
I watched 40+ dogs run this blind. And I don't think 2 dogs did the same thing. There where handlers that handled directly to the bird. some dogs would not release on hunt it up and had to be casted over, ect.
So with out a standard to score by, how would you judge?