Jacksonville pointer wins championship
Patch, a 3-year-old white-and-liver male Pointer owned by Ronnie Spears of Jacksonville, recently won the 53rd annual Purina Top Field Trial Bird Dog Award in St. Louis after dominating the 2015-16 all-age bird dog field trial circuit.
Patch capped his season by winning the national championship for field trialing bird dogs.
Larry Huffman of Michigan City, Miss., is Patch’s handler.
“In the field, Patch is a natural who runs to the front and points well,” Huffman said. “He doesn’t need much help from me.”
Team Patch was honored at a ceremony in June in Reno, Nev., where it received an oil painting of Patch, a satin award banner, an award plaque, a cash award that was doubled to $5,000 because Huffman is an active Purina Pro Club member, and a year’s supply of Purina Pro Plan SPORT Performance 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula.
Arkansans impress
at national 4-H event
Arkansas 4-H shooting sports teams and individuals recently placed among the best competitors during the National 4-H Shooting Sports Championship in Grand Island, Neb.
Arkansans were among 679 competitors from 36 states, making it the largest single 4-H national gathering.
The competition included team and individual competitions in nine events, including compound and re-curve archery, small bore pistol and rifle, air pistol and rifle, muzzleloader, shotgun and hunting skills.
Nine teams comprised of four Arkansas 4-H members participated.
Rex Roberg, a 4-H Youth Development program associate, said the composition of the Arkansas teams was unusual.
“We do things differently here in Arkansas,” Roberg said. “Most states will send an all-star team in every event. Their best four shotgun shooters, for example, go to nationals.
“We send county club teams that win our state competition. Our kids all shoot everything. They’re wellversed in all the shooting disciplines, and when they come to a competition like this, where they’re facing all-star teams of individuals, who’ve shot nothing but that thing they’re shooting for the last 4-5 years, to do so well against that kind of competition from other states is just amazing. It speaks really well of how our volunteer instructors do with those kids here.”