May 12, 1892.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



458 



FIELD TRIALS AND FIELD TRIAL JUDGES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A correspondent of the American Field in its issue of 

 March 2fi. writing under the nam dc vlvmc of ''A Scrub," 

 has a long article on "The Method of Conducting Field 

 Trials." This article should be carefully read by every 

 member of a field trial club, and by every roan who judges 

 or expects to judge a trial. If what "A Scrub" says be 

 true, certainlv field trials have fallen very low and should 

 •foe relegated to some one of those circles described in Dmte's 

 Inferno. . 



The writer believes in healthy criticism; some vices yield 

 to criticism when they will yield to nothing else. All per- 

 sons employed in a Dublic capacity should quietly submit to 

 public criticism, so long as the critic stays within the 

 Pounds of truth and his criticism intends to remedy exist- 

 ing abuses. Believing that the real object of "A Scrub" is 

 the correction of errors io field trials, rather than a male- 

 diction against clubs and judges (which in reality it is) I 

 -have decided on its review. 

 The features of the article that most impress me are: 

 First— The fraudulency of the "spotting system." 

 Second— Its real object the placing of certain dogs. 

 Third— That judges and clubs are alike corrupt. 

 Fourth— That there is no actual competition. 

 Fifth— That no efforts are made to equalize chances. 

 Sixth— That errors in placing dogs are not errors in fact. 

 Seventh— That field trials are nuisances and should be 



abated. \ 



The fraudulency of the spotting system— Quite a number 

 of the younger members of field trial clubs and a large 

 .number of public patrons are not thoroughly conversant 

 with the many changes that field trial rules have under- 

 gone for the benefit of these clauses, so I will give a short 

 resume of pre-existing rules: 



The first public trial held in America of which we have favorable conditions 

 any knowledge 



represented by members of field trials clubs as by the same 

 number of men in any other walk in life. No, the charge is 

 without foundation. 



Fourth— That there is no actual competition in the field 

 trials of to day. — This charge could not have been made 

 without one of three things existing: First, "A Scrub" does 

 not know what competition 13, or he was not in the proces- 

 sion the past season, or he misrepresents the facts. The 

 writer has been at quite a number of the trials, including 

 the first and the last, and can safely sav that he has seen as 

 keen competition in trials as he ever saw in any branch of 

 sport, and thit the keenest competition he ever saw in a 

 trial was in the last. 



There are no three men in America more competent to 

 judge of competition than D. E. Rose, Charles Tucker and H. 

 M. Short, and if either one of these gentlemen will say there 

 was no competition in the field trials of the past season I 

 will doff my hat and retire. In fact I was very much im- 

 pressed with a remark made by Mr. Short, which was "That 

 competition was so hot and the dogs were of such a high class 

 that unless a man had something almost phenomenal in the 

 dog line he had better be at home." 



Fifth— That no efforts are made to equalize chauces. This 

 charge we know to be without foundation. During the 

 past season I saw every effort made to equalize chances. In 

 the Southern trials, when dogs were drawn to run in the 

 middle of the day, if the dogs showed fine natural qualities 

 they were called again, when the scenting was good. The 

 writer was sent off to judge a side heat, bsing accompanied by 

 the handler, H. M. Short, Mr. Tracy, the artist, and a press 

 representative. Owing to the scarcity of birds, the grounds 

 having just been drawn, time of day, scenting, etc., the dog 

 made but one point, and that on a stale scent. 



That dog went into the next series of heats. Why? Just 

 because the judge thought the conditions were unfavorable, 

 and that the dog should have an opportunity under more 

 I have knowD other similar cases. 



THE DRAW. 



was held 

 Tennessee Field 

 Trial Club, near 

 Memphis, in 1874 

 First money went 

 to John David- 

 son's Isabella, and 

 second to Arthur 

 Wheatley's Coun- 

 tess, if my memory 

 serves me right. 

 This trial was run 

 under what was 

 then known as the 

 ** point system." 

 Under this system 

 a dog was given 

 #ve opportunities 

 to point, if he 

 availed himself of 

 ail his opportuni- 

 ties to point his 

 score stood 25, if 

 he made a flush, 

 intentional or 

 otherwise, it rep- 

 resented 5 Now 

 let us suppose a 

 case: A's dog is 

 very fast and go- 

 ing down wind 

 makes three ex- 

 cusable flushes 

 and then makes 

 two points: his 

 score will then 

 stand 10 — 15 = —5. 

 Suppose B's dog 

 by careful potter- 

 ing makes five 

 points, his score 

 will stand 25, and 

 transferring A's 5 

 to B's side with a 

 change of the — 



sign to -f and the score stands A = 0, B =30. It can be easily 

 seen from the above that one of the three great requisites 

 in a field dog (speed! would under such a system be event- 

 tually done away with, as under such a system a potterer 

 could beat a fast and stylish dog. It is needless to say that 

 the system became obsolete. Next came what was gener- 

 ally known as the "heat system " 



This sjstem was virtually the same as that now in exist- 

 ence in Europe for running the Waterloo Cup for grey- 

 hounds, so far as the heats are concerned. 



The dogs were drawn in braces and at the end of each 

 series, one half of the dogs went out unless there, was an odd 

 number of dogs, then one dog in the series won his heat by 

 virtue of having no competitor. The bye-dog in this series 

 generally ran with the dog that won the first heat in the 

 first series. Now let us suppose a case, suppose the stake 

 consisted of sixteen starters, and suppose the eight better 

 dogs were drawn together and the eight poorer ones were 

 drawn together; now at the end of this series four of the 

 better dogs would remain in and four of the poorer; now 

 suppose the weaker dogs should be drawn against each other 

 and likewise with the stronger, we have the spectacle of three 

 of the stronger dogs in the stake being left out and one of 

 the weaker dogs running the strongest dog in the stake for 

 first honor and money. 



This system resulted in the placing of certain dogs that 

 should have been spotted out early in the competition. To 

 remedy the errors that crept in under this system, what is 

 aow known as the "spotting system" was introduced. Tbe 

 .ypottirg system is intended tobea"diagncsisby exclusion," 

 in other words at the several stages of the trial's to exclude 

 these cogs that have no chance to win. This system has 

 proven not only the mcst satisfactory one yet introduced 

 rat has in some form or other, so far as I kBow, been 

 adopted by all field trial associations both at home and 

 abroad. A rule of one of the most prominent clubs says, 

 'After each series those dogs shall be spotted out that have 

 no chanre to •win." To me it seems that nothing could be 

 fairer. TjDder the heat sj stem some of the best were spotted 

 out and some of the poorest. 



We can readily see the fallacy of the heat system in the 

 running off o>f the Waterloo cup this, season. 



Simonion was shut out in one of the heat series, but he 

 turns up winner of the Waterloo Plate, a race for beaten 

 dogs, and demonstrated that he was about as good a dog as 

 his brother Fullerton. 



Second— Tbe real ol riect of field trials, the placing of cer- 

 tain dogs. Surely "A Scrub" has not thought of the gravity 

 of such a charge, Hs far-reaching and banelul influence. It 

 charges the club with malice prepense and the judges with 

 being pan leers niminis. The charge is not only without 

 fouidation. lut is unbecoming of its author and does not 

 demand a refutation. 

 The third charge is virtuallv tbe same as the second, but 

 — -d as exis"--' 

 3ges. L 

 _Eg for its judges „ 

 mo rally and socially depraved? Does he really think that 

 men are sought to judpc tftftis vfco are unacquainted with 

 teld_ sports and who aie unworthy of public trust? 



v Ui ls auu " I)0 aie unworiny 01 puDiic trust.? long race ana 



It is safe to ssy that there is as much honor and brains | for anything. 



DUKE OF METEOR AND LAUNCELOT. 

 Owned by Mr. E. H. Bichards, North Dana, Massachusetts. 



Sixth— That errors in placing dogs are not errors io fact. 

 This is another charge that should not have been made, it is 

 untrue, and unfair to the many gentlemen who judge at our 

 trials. Who have been the more prominent as field trial 

 judges, John Davidson, D. C. Bergundthal, Capt. Pat 

 Henry, Maj. Taylor, P. H, Bryson, F. I Stone, Arthur Mer- 

 riman, etc Now I will guarantee that these gentlemen 

 stand as high for honesty and uprightness of character as 

 any men in the country, they are the peers of any men in the 

 country in any sense of the word. It is an outrage against 

 common decency to charge them with corruption. I have 

 been impressed for years with the fact that but few men are 

 capacitated to play at games of chance, they neither know 

 how to win or lose; they can never see the errors in things 

 of their own. I was impressed with an owner's reply 

 to certain inquiries regarding his dog's loss of a 

 heat at a field trial the past winter. The dog was 

 known to be a good one, and it was thought he would be 

 somewhere in the money, but he struck one of the winners 

 and was shut out. A gentleman asked: "Well, how did 

 your dog do?" "Just as well as I ever saw him." "Well, 

 how did it happen you got beaten?" "The other fellow had 

 a better dog." That gentleman had traveled a thousand 

 miles, saw his dog beaten, and knew it. He was capable 

 of seeing work as it actually was. He will run again, and 

 such are the men who sooner or later own winners. 



Seventh — That field trials are nuisances and should be 

 abated. No field trials are here to stay, revolutions never go 

 backward, "A Scrub" may enter his protests, but the car 

 of progress still moves upward and on. 



Phoebus will still whip his fiery steeds amain; Neptune 

 will wave his trident over the sea; the wrathful Juno mav 

 importune Boreas to turn loose bis coldblastson "A Scrub," 

 but field trials are here to stay. 



In conclusion I wish to ask a few hypothetical questions: 



First: Knowing a field trial club to be corrupt and its 

 judges nobetter, does not the man who runs before them be- 

 come 2Jartieeps criminis? 



Second: Is not the man who consorts with thieves, engages 

 in their forays and attempts to share in their spoils' 'know- 

 ing them to be thieves) as guilty as they? 



Third: Is he not estopped from saying anything against a 

 club knowing it to be corrupt when he runs under it? 



TARQUIN. 



The smart little Pomeranian, Sheffield Lad, helped to vary 

 some of the miscellaneous classes at the shows this spring. 

 Few who admired him knew him for anything but a "Spitz," 

 and credited him with the probably merited reputation 

 for variable temper, which is attributed to the more or less 

 mongrel Spitz as known in this country. The Pomeranian 

 is an invaluable watch dog, and we wonder he does not 

 become more popular. In England they have toy Pome- 

 ranians. A Mrs. Gordon Lynx owns the smallest one. Lissel, 

 which weighs but 3^\bs., and which has, according to 

 Fanciers' Gazette, exploded the popular idea that a dog can 

 be too small to breed by having two puppies recently by the 

 same lady's Commodore Nutt, who himself can only pull 

 down the scales at Ubs. Lissel is quoted as having a typical 

 long face and small, sharp ears. She must be "too cunning 



WOLF AND COYOTE HUNTING IN ALBERTA. 



I SAW in Forest Asd Stream of Feb. 25 an article, "Chi- 

 cago and the West," byE Hough, in which he mentions 

 a wolf race between the Borzois and Western greyhound. 

 This race will be watched with great interest by many 

 sportsmen of this province. In winter wolf and coyote 

 hunting with wolf, stag and greyhounds is the chief amuse- 

 ment here. Hundreds of miles are ridden over our prairies 

 and foothills in quest of these destroyers of our flocks and 

 herds. There ?ire six packs of dogs within fifty miles of my 

 ranch, nine to twelve hounds in each. 



In '76 and '77 most of the buffalo left this country and 

 drifted on to the great plains, never to return. The Sioux 

 crossed the Missouri into the Northwest Territory after their 

 fight with General Custer in the Little Big Horn, inter- 

 cepted the buffalo and prevented them returning to their 

 winter home. The wolves followed the buffalo in large 

 numbers, but many remained behind to subsist on the old 

 bulls left in the "drag." Most of these were killed by 

 "wolfers." In '80 and '81 there were very few wolves to be 

 found on the plains and foothills. But soon cattle, horses 

 and sheep in thousands were driven into these then desolate 

 plains until in '85 there were over one hundred thousand 

 cattle, beside many thousand horses and sheep to take the 

 place of the departed buffalo. Wolves and coyotes in- 

 creased enormously. Poison apparently made little or no 

 impression upon them. 



Wolves prefer fresh meat and are quite able to kill any- 

 thing they come across, seldom returning to a kill after 

 satisfying their ravenous appetites. The cattlemen decided 

 to procure dogs and see what effect that would have in 

 destroying these cunning pests. A large number of dogs 

 were imported, and with very few exceptions were found 

 utterly useless. They took no interest in hunting or Rilling 

 wolves as they had not been entered when young. I may 

 say we had no good dogs until they were bred on the range. 



The method usu- 

 ally followed here 

 in hunting is this: 

 When a den of 

 wolves is found, 

 three or four 

 ranchers with 

 their dogs meet at 

 a rendezvous and 

 camp for the 

 night. Before 

 dawn horses are 

 saddled and all 

 are ready to start. 

 Each one is told 

 the line to be rid- 

 den, and at the 

 first sign of day 

 the riders are off 

 seeking the wily 

 wolf. Coyotes go 

 unmol ested ,unless 

 they jump up near 

 the dogs, in which 

 case it is hard to 

 hold them back. 

 Mr. Coyote is 

 broken up in a 

 very short time 

 when the dogs run 

 into him, but 

 fights wicked to 

 the end and is no 

 mean adversary. 

 I know of a few 

 d ogs th at can catch 

 and kill a coyote, 

 but they do not 

 care to repeat it 

 often; as a rule it 

 takes three dogs to 

 do it, and tbey will 

 not stand killing 

 over two or three 

 in a day. Of course 

 a great deal de- 

 pends on the length of the run and the strength and fight- 

 ing qualities of the coyote. I have killed seven coyotes in a 

 day with three greyhounds; in all cases I got in and gave 

 the coup lie grace. It saves your dog wonderfully and gives 

 them courage to know help is coming, and unless one has 

 five or six dogs they are very apt to get cut when tired. 

 When dogs run into a timber wolf then the fun begins; with 

 hair on end, back arched, a sweet smile showing a full set 

 of teeth, the wolf means business, and it takes four tried 

 clogs to turn one over and hold him until help comes. I 

 mean four dogs that can catch him. No dou nt there are 

 two dogs that could hold a wolf, but they have not the 

 speed to overtake him. This autumn I ran into a very 

 large bitch wolf with eight dogs. They turned her over 

 several times, but she broke away just as often and ran 

 with six dogs clinging to her and making a running fight, 

 when a cowboy rode up and shot her. Last year I rode into 

 a band of fourteen wolves with ten dogs and killed five, but 

 in every instance I assisted the dogs in killing. This 

 autumn I ran into an old dog wolf, I had six good dogs. 

 The lead dogs (t wo greyhounds) ran into Mm and turned 

 him over when the other dogs coming up, they turned him 

 over several times, seized him by the neck, breast and hind- 

 quarters and flank, and tore and worried with all their 

 might. The wolf would break away, turning like a flish, 

 snapping to the right and left, his teeth coming together 

 like a fox trap. The dogs ran him down into a coulee; here 

 I left my horse, it being too steep and rough for him to 

 follow, as the edges were lined with huge projecting rocks. 

 The dogs appeared to be having the best of the fight, and I 

 yelled to them to go to him, but the wolf broke loose and 

 ran to the top of the coulee with most of the pack holding 

 on to him; at the top they turned him back, and dogs and 

 wolf came on the run to the bottom of the coulee. I could 

 not shoot for fear of hitting one of the dogs, as they were 

 mak 1 '" side jumps to keep clear of the wolf's jaws. At 

 rasL i^c dogs pulled him into the dry bed of a stream and as 

 he was getting out I gave him his medb-a. . The dogs 

 were quit? blown. I gave them thirty mi ' tes rest and 

 tout tiiotu to water and killed two coyotes on m y way home. 

 These the dogs killed before I could get to tf. ; m They just 

 held them in the air and tore them up. 



I give you the height and girth of some of my dogs, as it 

 may be of interest to some of my brother sportsmen: 



Greyhounds— Pedro, height, 27%in; girth, 30in.; Rowdy, 

 height, 27m ; girth 31in,; Buz, height, 26in.; girth, 29>£iu. 



Staghounds— Poison, height, 29in.; girth, 32in.; Parson, 

 height, 80in.; girth, 33m. 



Cross-bred boarhound and staghound — Jack, height, 

 29^in.; girth, 33in. 



The man who has two dogs that can catch and kill a big 

 timber wolf can make lots of money on them if he wants to 

 gamble on it. Sportsman. 

 Alberta Tehbjtoby, Canada. 



THE POTKT. 



WILL BEAGLES FOLLOW A DRAG ?-Ottawa, Can. 

 — Editor Forest and Stream: Can any of your readers tell 

 me if beagles are ever used to follow a "drag," and, if so, 

 will they kindly give any information they have on the sub- 

 ject through youpvaluable columns?— Axered Geddes; 



