Land Blinds

Zion Road

CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, temps in high 20s, northwest winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph, wind chill in the low to mid teens.

SERIES A. Double blind with poison bird (Laddie, then Lumi)

To start, I walked out 30 yards and threw a duck from near a tree in the center of the course, throwing it right to left so that from the dog's point of view, the duck disappeared behind a tree and then reappeared on the other side. After throwing the duck, I returned to the SL and ran the dog on a blind on the left at 110 yards. Then I ran the dog on a blind on the right at 180 yards, on a line 90° to the right of the line to shorter blind. Finally I sent the dog to pick up the duck. Both of the blinds were ODs.

I would guess that both of these would be considered difficult blinds, especially the longer one. The most difficult part of the series, at least for me, was the bitterly cold wind, which was a headwind for the 180-yard blind. A second difficulty was the poison bird that was thrown down the center before the blinds were run and not picked up until both blinds had been completed. Other factors:

The line to the 110-yard blind went past a pelt lying in the grass and, near that, a skeleton, the remains from some animal about the size of a fox. The line then passed close to a section of woods that jutted out from the woods on the left. Finally, the line dropped into a low-lying area filled with clumps of knee-high grass. The dummy was not visible until the dog was close.

The line to 180-yard blind crossed over a low crest, then thru a keyhole formed by a hole in a line of trees, then thru a second keyhole formed by a hole in a second line of trees, then diagonally across a dirt road, and finally halfway up a steep hill on an angle.

I ran the dogs within as narrow a corridor for both blinds as I could.