Havre -De Grace Waterfowl Festival 2010

[John Akehurst]

Mark your calendars to attend this year's waterfowl festival in Havre De Grace Maryland.

29th Annual Decoy & Wildlife Art Festival


Decoy and Wildlife Art Festival April 30th and May 1 &  2, 2009.  Fri: 6 – 9pm, Sat: 9 – 5, Sun: 10 – 4.  Over 140 artists exhibiting and selling their art work, food, and children’s activities, live and silent auctions, retriever demonstrations, carving competitions and more. An Outdoor Hunting show, sponsored by Delta Waterfowl, will be held at the Havre de Grace Activity Center along with goose and duck calling contests and other waterfowling activities.  Show is located a Havre de Grace Middle School, Recreation Center, and the museum, Delta Dogs Retriever Challenge will be held at Harris Stadium adjacent to Havre de Grace High School.  Free shuttle buses are available to all show locations and downtown Havre de Grace.  Admission is $6/day, $10/weekend.

Those of you in the area, need to come on out.  And stop by the CFC booth to say hello! 

Your admission fees also go towards supporting the Decoy Museum, so you can also write it off.  So it's a win, win situation.

http://decoymuseum.com/index.html

[John Akehurst]

This just in:  2010 Delta Dogs Retriever Challenge @ the Festival

Delta Dogs will be hosting the 2010 Delta Dogs Retriever challenge on May 1st and 2nd, 2010 at Harris Stadium located across from the Havre de Grace High School.This is all part of the 29th Annual Havre de Grace Decoy & Wildlife Art Festival.The price to enter each event will be only $5.00 or you can enter all the events for $25.00.Ribbons will be awarded for each event and if you enter all events there will be a winner for best overall performance for each day. The events are listed below.Come out and enjoy a day with your dog. The event is open to any breed of dog.There will also be dog related vendors and retriever and K-9 Police dog demonstrations and a Micro-chip clinic.

2010 Delta Dogs Retriever Challenge Events List


1. Out Law Gunner - You have just unloaded your punt gun on a raft of ducks on the flats, and you need to pick up your ducks as fast as you can before you get caught. Canvasbacks are bringing top dollar at the market so you want your dog to pick them up first, followed by Mallards and then if time allows the Coots.

This is a timed event and Dogs will be picking up bumpers marked by
colored flags indicating the different species of ducks, each with a different
point value. This will test both handler and dog. Here are the point values:

a. Canvasbacks - 10 points,
b. Mallards - 5 points
c. Coots - 2 points.

Highest total score in the allotted time wins.

2. Super Single 100 Yard Retrieve - This will be a timed 100 yard retrieve and the handler must predict how long their dog will take to complete the retrieve. The winner will be the handler who is closest to their predicted time. Your dogs speed will not have a factor in this event, just your ability to guess how long it will take them to complete the retrieve. Delivery to hand is not required; time will be determined by dog crossing a finish line with bumper.

3. Birds on a line - You have completed your days hunt and all of your ducks are hanging on a line, and it is time to take them to the market. Your dog must go pluck them off the line and return them to you. This will be a timed event and the dog who plucks the most ducks will be the winner. In the event of a tie a second heat will be held to determine a winner.

4. Speed Retrieve 100 Yard - This will be a timed event with three, 100 yard retrieves thrown as singles all landing in the same area. Dog handlers will signal when they are ready to start and for the following marks. The dog with the fastest time for the three total retrieves will be the winner. Delivery to hand is not required, but the dog must return with the bumper to a designated area.

5. Speed Retrieve 50 yard - This will be three 50 yard retrieves run in the same manner as the 100 Yard speed retrieve.

6. Poison Mark- This event will be a single white bumper throw at 75 yards from the starting point. The route to the bumper will be “poisoned” with non retrievable white distractions such as white bottles staked down so they can not be picked up by the dog and also some decoys. The line to the bumper will be clear but the distractions will be close to pull your dog off line. The fastest time will be the winner.

7. Duck Toss - It is time to give your dog a rest and test your skills. This event will be a distance toss with a Foam dog training duck. The winner will be determined by the longest distance thrown, from the point where the duck hits the ground.

8. Duck Soup - Time to make some Duck soup. This will be a foam duck tossed into a 36” ring (The soup pot) surrounded by a six by six foot square. There will be three different pots at increasing distances. The first pot will be Merganser soup and worth 10 points in the pot and seven points in the square. The second pot will be Mallard soup and be worth 20 points in the pot and 15 points in the square. The third pot will be Canvas Back soup and be worth 30 points in the pot and 25 in the square. Each contestant will get three throws and can choose which pots you want to earn points from. You will be allowed two practice throws before starting. The points will be determined from the point where the duck hits the ground and not from the bounce. Each contest will be secluded from the area until you have completed your throws so you will not know the score you have to beat. Running order will be determined by a random number drawing and in the event of a tie a second heat may be required.