LACEY : (aka - The Red Rocket)


I have always wanted to see if I could put a JH (Junior Hunter) title on a 6 month old Irish Setter.

Since our boy (Hunter) got together last fall with Claire's girl Mona, I had a shot, as she had pups that turned 6 months old during hunt test season here in the Northeast.

Lacey turned 6 months old on April 15th.

She had already come here to visit the birds, but we had hunt test coming up back to back weekends. It was time for her to come to "camp."

"Camp" here in Maine, consists of being fed to the Gordon Setter girls we have. They are constantly hunting when outside. If you want to be a part of the pack, you'd better hunt... Well it took a couple of days, but she was hunting and backing the Gordons.

Lacey was entered in her first hunting test a day later, and I hoped she was ready.

She breezed through the first weekend, covering lots of ground and pointing several birds each day. She passed with ease, but with an Irish twist...

It seems that she had developed her point in the old style, when the Irish got really low so that nets could be thrown over the dog, to capture the birds.This was new to me, but very pleasing to the eye.

Well, as I previously said, back to back weekends of Hunting Tests. Two down - two to go.

This weekend, Saturday came, and so did a glimpse of summer, at the grounds in New Hampshire.

Very few dogs were passing, as scenting conditions and the heat were difficult. - But the little RED ROCKET cared not.

She tore up the course on Saturday, with 3 dynamite finds.

Her points were stretched out, low and STAUNCH.

She would not move until after each bird was flushed. It was a wonderful sight to behold. Genetics at its finest - and all in a little package that was barely over 6 months of age.

Her tally for the day was 9-9-9-9 (10's are the highest you can get, and as rare as hens teeth to get).

Today was the defining moment - could a young little Irish girl get her JH at such a young age?

Conditions today were just as bad as Saturday, except we had a breeze. We ran eight brace, with a pointer.

We broke away, and headed up the trail. We came around a corner a ways up. She was on warp speed, when suddenly, she tumbled into a ball, sprang up, and locked on point near a big pine tree.

I approached and saw feathers, so released her, she relocated 20' feet more, and locked up again. More feathers, but wait, right in front of the pile, was a bird hiding under a branch.

I called point, flushed the bird, shot and released her. It had begun.

She then proceeded in the next 10 minutes to have 5 more finds, each more impressive than the one before.

Her final find was one to always remember.

She was ranging thru the field, when she stopped dead, crouched low, stretched out and was on the most gorgeous point I have yet to see. She was also close to 200' away.

I took my time getting there. She was dead serious. Lacey was pointing a clump of bushes. I approached, and could not see anything. The judge poked his head in also - nothing. Then a little white thing moved. It was the head of a male quail that had burrowed under a root. I reached in and flushed the bird and fired my blank gun. The bird flew right past her head, and she never moved. It was awesome. I was figuring the bird just committed suicide, but instead just flew away.

Time was called. I collared her, and we headed down to the river to cool off.

We came back after about 15 minutes, and I crated Lacey.

I went to check the scores. The club secretary handed me the ribbon and said "congrats."He commented that we had just gotten the highest scores he had seen for a junior.

I looked , 10 - 10 - 10 - 10 (perfect scores).

So at just barely 6 1/2 months old, Lacey is now a JH (Junior Hunter). I think this is also the youngest an Irish has ever gotten there JH title.

What's next? . . . . . . . Can You Say Seniors?

Mike Brnger