Happy 40th Birthday HRC!
I rolled down the window when I saw the cloud of smoke billowing out from behind the food truck. It didn’t matter that there weren’t many restaurants in Bono, Arkansas, ’cause this one smelled great. There was a man sitting at a picnic table in the shade and he was getting ready to power clean an enormous plate.
“Get the baby backs,” he said to me and I nodded. Judging from the pout on his belly I figured he knew what he was talking about. “Where y’all coming from?” he asked.
“Webb Footed Kennels just up the road.”
“That’s Chris Akin’s place,” he nodded. “Brett Copeland works for him. When they pull up to a hunt test, they’re like a pair of limousines.”
“How’s that? I asked.
“They’re 27-feet of winning, baby.”
And he was right. Just about every weekend in the spring, summer and fall, Akin and Copeland roll up to a test with the goal of titling dogs. Every pass indicates mastery that sets them up to work toward the next step. The proof comes when owners pick up their dogs for duck season. Everyone’s happy because those highly trained dogs always put on a show.
This year is a big one for the Hunting Retriever Club (HRC). It’s the HRC’s 40th anniversary, and Akin has run dogs for 35 of those 40 years. He’s titled more dogs than any other competitor, including 81 Grand Champions. “HRC hunt tests are contagious,” he said. “I never get enough hunting and dog work during the duck season, so the tests are a perfect way to keep working all year long. The events are family oriented, which makes them a great way to get the next generation involved.”
The idea for the HRC came from observations made in the 1970s by Omar Driskill, a full-time field trialer. Driskill believed that the precision required by field trials created mechanical dogs. They no longer were for every man, for to win handlers had to invest a tremendous amount of training time and money. The spark came after Driskill read an article written by the legendary trainer Richard Wolters who wondered if there was room for a dog to be titled not as a field trial dog but instead as a hunting retriever champion?
“I’ve trained more than 1,000 retrievers in the past 20 years, and everything Wolters says in that article is true and down to earth,” Driskill wrote as a letter to the editor. “Ninety-eight percent of the people who come to me to get their dogs trained would rather see or get involved in a gun dog stake than the big trials. They want a hunting dog that will love them and work hard for them, not a field trial machine.”
Wolters read that letter and called Driskill with a proposition; how about driving from Louisianna to Ossining, New York, to help create a hunting retriever association with other dog men? He did and, along with other stakeholders, they hammered out the rules and regulations of a group known as the North American Hunting Retriever Association (NAHRA). Driskill did a test run of the first hunt test in 1983 at the Louisiana Hunting Retriever Club. A whopping 120 dogs were registered.
Bill Tarrant attended the event and featured it in his Field & Stream column. “I’m standing in J.D. Blondin’s horse pasture outside Arcadia, Louisiana, watching the most important event in American retriever history and I need a new vocabulary to talk about it. There are 120 Louisiana duck hunters here with their retrievers, and together they’re bird hunting. Not so that they need a license or a duck stamp, but nevertheless hunting. Test hunting, that’s what they’re doing. A test hunt actually duplicates a day’s hunt afield, and the betterment of the retriever breed is the only concern.”
After that article was published, Driskell received more than 400 letters in his mailbox. Growth in 1984 was inevitable, and discussions about forward movement differed and stalled. Many NAHRA stakeholders wanted to align with the American Kennel Club, but Driskill wasn’t one of them. To fulfill his vision in the way he imagined, Driskell shifted to the United Kennel Club, renamed his organization Hunting Retriever Club (HRC) so that it was shorter and faster, and moved on. Bob Rathe, Jr. came along as his Vice President/Secretary and, together with many others, they created the standard that exists today. The result is higher quality dogs with factually proven breeding. The AKC continued along a different direction and launched its own hunt test program in 1985.
Domenick Muoio is the United Kennel Club’s Hunt Test and Field Trial Program Manager. “We currently have more than 150 nationwide clubs with new attendees participating every year,” he said. “Hunt tests are about working dogs after hunting season ends. They’re about being outdoors and around like-minded people. Hunt tests are for everyone, and it’s terrific to see so many kids getting involved. At one event I saw a seven-year-old handler earn a Started Hunting Retriever pass. In fact, her dog was the only one to earn a pass that weekend.”
Hunt tests also serve other purposes. “To pass a hunt test requires handlers to push their dogs to reach that next-level training,” Muoio said. “Not only do they give handlers a goal, but they require handlers to train beyond what a gun dog will normally experience in a hunt. When opening day rolls around, all dogs are more than ready. Thanks to hunt tests we all speak in a common language. When a dog reaches a particular level, we all know his skill sets and if he can run blinds, pick up multiples, honor, be steady and everything else. That’s especially important when breeding so that duck hunters can buy puppies that meet their expectations. A lot of clubs hold training days where members can focus on next-level training. Older handlers help younger ones improve, and there always is someone around with wisdom to pass along.”
For a guy who has been there since nearly the beginning, Akin believes the HRC’s goals have been achieved. “The quality of dogs has dramatically improved, their performance has been elevated and the marks and blinds they have to run are a lot more challenging than they were in the beginning. The competition has increased as well. I remember there being about a hundred dogs in the first Grand Championship. Last year’s Grand had more than a thousand.” That birthday present is as good as it gets.
HRC offers five, ability-based categories. Clothing appropriate to the test is worn, with blaze orange for the Upland Hunter category and camouflage for all others. Other gear representative of a real hunting situation is used as well and includes shotguns, boats, paddles, life preservers, motors, stools/chairs, decoys, calls, camo material for blinds and the like. Creating an authentic hunting situation in which the dog works is key.
1. Started Hunting Retriever: A Started Hunting Retriever should be able to do a simple dove or waterfowl hunt and retrieve game from land and water.
2. Seasoned Hunting Retriever: The Seasoned Hunting Retriever will have five tests consisting of a double-marked land retrieve, a double-marked water retrieve, a walk-up, a blind land retrieve and a blind water retrieve.
3. Finished Hunting Retriever: This will have at least four tests that consist of a triple-marked water retrieve, a triple-marked land retrieve (either or both of the triple-marked water retrieves or the triple-marked land retrieves must include an honor), a water blind retrieve and a land blind retrieve.
4. Grand Hunting Retriever: This title is evidence that the hunting retriever has demonstrated versatility and excellence in performing under hunting conditions, ranging from various waterfowl environments found in coastal marshes, inland waterways, flood timber or western prairies to upland game conditions while hunting upland birds such as pheasant, grouse, chukar or doves. The Grand Hunting Retriever is expected to be steady, under control at all times and demonstrate an eager and prompt response to all commands with style and precision. The Grand Hunting Retriever Champion should represent the best of the breed.
5. Upland Hunting Retriever: The Upland Hunting Retriever test shall consist of a simulated walk-up hunt, a quartering test and an optional tracking test. The upland hunting dog must be steady to wing and shot and honor another dog. During this test the dog will be required to locate and retrieve game.