Judging Seminar
When: Friday, April 5, 7:00 pm
Where: Miller Welch-Central Kentucky Wildlife Area — 9 miles southeast of Richmond, KY
Speakers: Dewey Mullins, Jim White, Jim Crouse, John Russell
Cost: $25 includes dinner which will be prior to the seminar. Please come early!
ALL ARE WELCOME!
A small contingent of long-time field trial enthusiasts advanced the idea of a Judging Seminar to take place in Berea, Kentucky on April 5, 2013. The state is home to the four prominent field trial personalities who will panel this seminar, Dewey Mullins, Jim White, Jim Crouse, and John Russell. The moderator will be Georgie Casey from Southern Illinois. The seminar will be video-taped and DVDs made available here on Strideaway for those who cannot attend.
This is a great opportunity for all field trialers regardless of their experience handling, judging, and putting on trials/hosting championships. Come take advantage of the countless years of combined judging experience of these four knowledgeable men. Our sport is dependent on well-informed judges if it is to continue to thrive.
Dewey Mullins
Dewey Mullins was manager of the Central Kentucky Wildlife Management Area near Richmond, KY until his retirement in 1989. He did much to afford a fine venue for bird dog competitions at that locale. He is an avid sportsman who enjoys quail hunting, fishing and trap shooting. Dewey has been active in the affairs of the Kentucky Field Trial Association, has served as president of Region 4 (AFTCA) and is past president of the Blue Grass Sportsman’s League.
Dewey Mullins’ list of previous judicial assignments covers a wide gamut, and notable among his engagements have been the All-America Quail Championship, Kentucky Quail Classic, Indiana Open Shooting Dog Championship, United States Chicken Championship, and several AFTCA Region Championships, to name just a few.
He has also enjoyed a good measure of top bird dogs as well, and some that come to mind include Hattie Again, Diablo, and Builder’s Transit, not to forget the superlative brood matron Bearwallow Babe. Babe was the dam of thirteen winners, including Ch. Builder’s Free Boy and National Champion Builder’s Addition.
Dewey Mullins also judged the Florida Open All-Age Championship, the Pheasant Championship and the Canadian Open Shooting Dog Championship.
Jim White
Jim has been associated with bird dogs almost his entire life. He is a breeder, owner, handler and has judged extensively (over 250 trials) from Canada to Mexico. He judged the National Championship from 2001 through 2005.
Among his other judging assignments were:
• Florida Open All Age Championship
• Pheasant Championship
• North Carolina Open Quail Championship
• Chicken Championship
• National Brittany Championship
• National Vizsla Championship
• National Amateur Shooting Dog Championship
Jim owned well-known dogs including Whippoorwill Wild Card, Hamilton’s Blue Diamond as well as bred several well-know dogs including White’s Solid Reward. He has competed successfully winning the Pheasant Futurity twice and R-U in the GA Derby Championship as well as many other placements.
Jim Crouse
Quail hunting with his father at the early age of six instilled a life-long love of bird dog and the outdoors in Jim and a few years later, his brother Mike. Field trials brought a new dimension to the sport when the brothers participated in a local walking warm-up trial for the upcoming 1969 quail season. Jim and Mike began actively participating in trials and started a small kennel operation in 1970. Their dogs have been campaigned since that time on the amateur and open circuits, both shooting dog and all-age.
Crouse Brothers Kennel has produced several Champions notably: All-American Champion, Nugent’ Daisy Duke; International Pheasant Champion, Blackbelt’s Spellbinder; Monty’s Breakout; Livingston’s Maximus; Freddie Fender; Pink Ice; Wheel’n Dealin’; Quail Futurity Winner, Lester’s Seminole Wind; and Sliprail.
Jim is a board member of the West Kentucky Field Trial Club; Chairman of the Kentucky Quail Classic; past president and current board member of Region 4; Secretary/Treasurer of the Coalfield Bird Dog Club; President-Elect of the A.F.T.C.A. and President of the Ohio Valley Field Trial Circuit.
Judging assignments have been from the Canadian Prairie to Florida, including the last three National Championships held at Grand Junction Tennessee.
John Russell
John Russell literally grew up with bird dogs — a family story describes a bird dog puppy chasing John through the house and pulling down his diapers as he tried to climb onto the couch. Following graduate school, John returned to Western Kentucky where J. D. Boss decided it was easier to “recruit” him to field trials than it was to catch him “poaching” the birds on the field trial courses on the West Kentucky Wildlife Management area, home of the Quail Championship Invitational — thus beginning an involvement with field trials spanning forty years and counting.
A protege of Hall of Famers J. D. Boss, Arthur Curtis, and Floyd Hankins, John “paid his dues” in the sport serving in every capacity from horse wrangler, marshal, scout, bird releaser, club official, circuit official, field trial chairman, reporter and judge. Since the retirement of J. D. Boss, John has served as the President of the West Kentucky Field Trial Club and Chairman of the Quail Championship Invitational. John breeds, develops, and runs his own dogs — having made more than thirty trips to the prairies in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and North Dakota.
He has had winners, primarily in amateur competition regularly since 1974 — most notably National Amateur Runner-up Champion Solid Hilltopper. John is an devotee of the all-age class and has judged open and amateur major stakes from Canada to Florida and from North Carolina to California.
