Interrupted Out-of-order Indent Triples

Muncaster Mill Farm

Today, while driving on Muncaster Mill Road, I discovered the driveway to an old, burned out building, and behind that, an entry to a network of massive hay fields. The hay had been recently cut, providing a good training surface and dozens of hay bales scattered around. Other features included hills, road tracks, areas of woods, and areas of high cover. With sight lines of hundreds of yards in many directions, the fields seem to offer countless set-up opportunities.

I've been gradually increasing the difficulty level of Laddie's practice Hunt Test land triples, and today's were some of the most difficult he's ever run, if not the most difficult.

We ran three triples. All were the same configuration, though in different locations, with different orientations, and with the throws in a variety of directions: some angled in, some angled back, and most flat. The configuration they had in common is called an indent: the first throw was the longest mark (80-100 yards), the second throw was the shortest mark (40-50 yards) and was in the center, and the last throw — the go-bird — was of middle distance (60-70 yards). Because the shortest throw was not thrown last, these were out-of-order triples in addition to being indent triples.

In addition, each of the three series included two blinds:

• For Series A, the first blind was run after the three marks were thrown, but before they were picked up, making Series A an interrupted triple. The second blind, 420 yards, was run after the three marks were picked up.
• For Series B, the two blinds were run before the three marks were thrown and picked up.
• For Series C, the first blind was again run after the three marks were thrown, but before they were picked up, making Series C another interrupted triple. The second blind, 380 yards, was run after the three marks were picked up.

All the triples were run with two BBs and a RL. Before each throw, I blew a duck call at the SL, then sounded the BB's duck call if the gun was a BB, and finally fired. The blinds were OBs. I used no stickmen or any other marker for any gun station nor any blind.

NOTES ON PERFORMANCE

Laddie nailed nearly every mark, though he did need handling on the go-bird for Series A (not like a true go-bird, however, since Series A was an interrupted triple). He also handled well on most of the blinds, though twice in the early going, I didn't feel he responded quickly enough to the WS and walked out to pick him up, then reran him.