This is a newly formed club and we are not yet sanctioned by the American Brittany Club (ABC) or the American Kennel Club (AKC). We are working toward this as rapidly as possible.
Meetings, Minutes And Records
First Meeting of the newly formed Montana Brittany Club, April, 2007. From Left: Emma Gaineyrichardson, Sari Breitenfeldt, Skye Breitenfeldt, Tana Kradolfer, JoAnn Kish, Eric Kaelin, Diane Bakun, Peter Bakun, Alex Burks, and Jan Breitenfeldt. Attending but not pictured: Alex Nixon, and taking the photo: Todd Breitenfeldt.
Past
Meetings, Minutes And Records
Montana Brittany Club Meeting Minutes, March 12, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 8:05 by President Todd
Breitenfeldt. Members present were, Todd, Jan, and Skye
Breitenfeldt,
Tana and Eric Kradolfer, and Alex Burks. Bob Myers via cell phone.
The minutes of the last meeting, January 30, 2008, were approved.
Jan Breitenfeldt, treasurer, reported that we have $985.00 in our account at the present time.
Membership: Jan reported the following people as paid members as of March 12, 2008:
Charter Members: Alex Burks, Jo Ann Kish, Tana and Conrad Kradolfer, Todd and Jan Breitenfeldt and Don Vondra.
Annual members: Rod Richardson, Bob Myers, Leslie Andreas, and Brandon Moss.
Annual Family members: Robert and Barry Bartlett and Eric & Melody Kaelin.
Concerning dealing with our large state, we have decided to have three regional officers, breaking the state roughly into thirds, East, Central, and West. Alex Burks is the Eastern Regional Director, we are hoping to get Terry Courtright for the Central Region, and someone from the Missoula or Kalispell area for the West.
Concerning meeting by conference call or Internet we decided the best we can do for now is to use our personal cell phones on speaker mode. This was done at the meeting to contact Bob Myers from Helena. Bob Meyers offered that we might want to look into a new internet service called Go to Meeting .com. Alex Burks had also heard this service advertised and said they are offering a free one month trial. Apparently everyone logs into the same site on their computers and sees the same screen; I believe you still need the phone or some sort of vocal connection. If we needed to look at a lot of graphics, charts, printed material this might be of interest.
On the topic of club fund raisers the following projects are in the works: A Mike Okamura clinic scheduled for May 17-18 in the Helena area. At the present time we think this will be held at the White Earth Campground close to Winston, MT. Bob Myers is the point man on this clinic for our club, (the clinic is being co- sponsored by the Montana German Shorthaired Club and our Club), and is sending out the information on this by e-mail and any changes as they occur. Bob says the maximum number of people we can have for this is 40. Bob attended a previous Okamura clinic sponsored by a Helena dog club and they had 18 in attendance.
Fund raiser # 2 is a raffle for a Garmin GPS, “Astro” dog collar. Tana is doing a great job on this and already had tickets printed. She distributed them to everyone at the meeting. We are selling the tickets for $5 each or 5 for $20. We discussed sending a few tickets to all paid members for them to sell and return by mail. Bob Myers wonders if Sportsman Warehouse would help us sell the tickets.
Fund raiser # 3 is a Rattlesnake avoidance clinic, otherwise known as a snake breaking. The well known trainer Butch Nelson is going to handle this for us at the Kradolfers in Bozeman. The date that was chosen for this is July 12, 2008. The details will follow concerning times and fees. Tana Kradolfer offered to do a dog dental care presentation at the snake breaking to fill some time as people waited for their dogs turn.
Fund raiser # 4 is still in the planning stages. We are considering offering a porcupine avoidance clinic as well. Todd has researched this a little and thinks he can come up with a porcupine at short notice. He is going to check into the legal aspects of this with his local game warden. He says he has even found “domesticated porcupines for sale on the internet and suggested this might be the way to go is if it is against the law to use a wild porcupine. Stay tuned for more info on this, in the past I have has some serious porcupine problems with certain dogs and one of my friends had some expensive vet bills last year with one of his dogs.
The last fund raiser on our plate at this time is the possibility of providing lunch for an AKC Hunt Test sponsored by the Montana German Shorthaired Club to be held at the Three Forks Trial Grounds on April 18, 19, and 20th.
Todd Breitenfeldt, Conrad Kradolfer, and Bob Myers thought they could handle this, if the German Shorthaired people wanted us to help.
Website: Todd reported he has added a counter to our website and the last count was 123. Bob Myers asked about listing his upcoming litter on the website and Todd told him to get his pictures and information sent in.
E-newsletter: We received articles from Jan Breitenfeldt and Alex Burks. Alex Burks is going to attempt to convert these articles into a PDF and get our first e-newsletter out.
Dog and Pony shows: OK just dog shows, Todd suggested we should do a “Supported Entry” at the 2009 AKC Dog Show in Helena. Jan thought we should try doing a fun match first.
Field Trials: Tana reported that Terry Courtright of Great Falls has offered his training grounds on a private ranch for a fall trail. Terry says this is great Hun country and we could eventually turn this trial into an ABC Hungarian Partridge Championship like the ABC Chukar Championship.
Todd and Tana’s research so far, points to us having a late summer trail in far eastern Montana. Ed Tillson is training north of Circle, MT and we believe he might attend a Montana Trail that was handy for him before he leaves for the first trail of the Midwest circuit in Bonesteel, SD. So far the West Coast Pros have not expressed any interest in coming to Montana for a trial. Tana is going to ask some West Coast Field Trail people about coming to a Montana trail at an upcoming trail she is going to attend.
Concerning field trail equipment Tana told us she had purchased three sets of walkie talkies that are available for club use when we have our field trails.
Networking: Todd recommends that we get to know our local dog clubs, AKC, NSTRA, and breed clubs. Let them know what we are doing. He is going to check with the American Brittany Club and see if they will provide us with a membership list for Montana. We are developing a very good relationship with the Montana German Shorthaired Club as evidenced by the joint sponsorship of the Mike Okamura training clinic.
Annual Meeting: Tana suggested that we could work in our annual meeting for the club at the time of the snake breaking in July. This could be a BBQ or Pot Luck lunch after the snake breaking at the Kradolfers home and kennel.
On behalf of the club I want to thank the Kradolfers for hosting the meetings and offering the use of their kennel and facilitates for the snake breaking and annual meeting. They have a wonderful home and kennel and have been extremely generous with the club, THANKS.
Dues: As you can see the club has been making steady progress and we are moving toward being AKC and ABC sanctioned. If you have not yet filled out the membership application and mailed you dues in we would really appreciate it. One of the first things we have to do before holding any events is secure liability insurance and that is the main reason we could use your dues at this time.
Next meeting: The next meeting will be held on April 19, 2008 at the Three Forks Training Ground, Missouri Headwaters State Park, Horse Pasture. This is the German Shorthaired Pointer Club’s Hunt Test where some of our folks are planning on providing the lunch as a fund raiser. The meeting will take place around the noon break at the trial.
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Minutes, Montana Brittany Club Meeting
June 4, 2008
The meeting was called to order by President Todd Breitenfeldt at 7:10 PM at the Kradofler’s home in Belgrade, MT. Members present were Todd Breitenfeldt, Tana Kradolfer, Conrad Kradolfer, and Alex Burks, participating via telephone were Bob Myer from Helena, MT and Terry Courtright from Great Falls, MT. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved with a motion from Tana Kradolfer and a second from Alex Burks.
The treasures report stated that the club now has $1,469.82 in the bank, with 30 paid members.
Concerning other fund raising activities, Bob Myer, of Helena who was our point man on the Mike Okamura training seminar that was recently held there as a joint venture with the Montana German Shorthaired Club, reported the seminar grossed $3,450 and had expenses of $894. Bob stated that our share of the proceeds is $1,280. This money has not been received yet and is not reflected in the treasurer's report above.
Bob reported that the seminar was very well received and that we picked up a couple more members as a result of it. He said most of the participants came from Great Falls, Helena, and Bozeman. He said our club brought in about 16 or 17 of the 31 people who attended. As a club we were very glad to know that we did our part in bring participants to the clinic as the Montana German Shorthaired Club was very gracious in letting us co-sponsor the event with them. As far as the dogs the people brought to the seminar he said it was about 1/3 German Wirehairs, 1/3 German Shorthairs, and 1/3 Brittany's. Nice job Bob, THANKS!
Tana Kradolfer commented that our club can now afford to buy our insurance before we have our snake breaking which is scheduled for Saturday, July 12th at the Kradolfer’s in Belgrade.
Another fund raiser we currently have going is a raffle for a Garmin Astro Collar. This is the new GPS tracking collar that Garmin makes. The tickets are $5 each or 4 for $20. Tana suggested we draw for the winner of the collar at the snake breaking on July 12th. Alex Burks suggested that we mail each club member a few chances so they can purchase some themselves and perhaps sell a few. Alex will send these out with a brief letter and explanation. We will need all of the sold tickets and money back in by Wednesday July 9th unless members want to hand carry the tickets and money to the snake breaking.
Details on the snake breaking: well known trainer Butch Nelson will be running this for our club. This will take place on July 12th, which is a Saturday at the Kradolfer’s in Belgrade. The time is 8:00 AM until 12:00 noon. The cost per dog is $40 to the public, $30 to members, and $20 for a retest. A retest is a dog that Butch Nelson has done before.
There was a discussion about how to advertise the snake breaking and it was finally decided to make posters and advertise the event through local veterinarians and dog clubs. Our primary concern is offering this to our members and of course we will be sending e-mails to our members.
Bob Meyer suggested we look into having a veterinarian present to offer the Rattlesnake vaccinations. Tana is going to run it by a couple of vets to see if they are interested. She said that the cost for the vaccine is about $40 a shot and two shots re required.
In conjunction with the snake breaking Tana offered to host a club picnic that would serve as our annual club get together. We plan to do this at the conclusion of the snake breaking, after 12 noon. The BBQ will be free for members and $5.00 for non members.
Concerning other up coming fund raisers: We have been investigating doing a “porcupine breaking”, we now feel like we have the necessary information, equipment, and a source for our porcupine. Todd has spent quite a bit of time on this checking with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, people that have done this before, etc.
The dates and places for the porcupine breaking are as follows; Saturday, August 2, the Billings, MT area, Sunday, August 3, Three Forks, Helena, MT area, and Saturday, August 9, the Missoula area. The prices will be the same as the snake breaking, $40 for members and $30 for non-members. This year their will not be a special “re-test” price offered as this is our first year to offer this service.
Rick Smith Seminar: Tana and Conrad Kradolfer have sponsored Rick Smith Seminars in the past and have a personal relationship with Rick. Rick has offered us the date of July 17, 2009 if we want it. The seminar is typically a Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. The estimated cost is $350 per person. Bob Myer of Helena volunteered to be the contact person for the clinic as Rick Smith does the magazine advertising etc. but always list a local host that takes the calls and books the participants.
We also decided to offer this opportunity to the Montana German Shorthaired Club and let them co-sponsor the event if they are interested. Our club really values the friendship and cooperation we have received from them, in such things as the Mike Okamura clinic and AKC hunt test.
Tana will call Rick Smith and tell him we want the date and Bob will call the German Shorthaired club and see if they are interested in co-sponsoring this clinic. Todd is going to check in with a Whitehall area ranch and see if will let us use their property for the clinic.
Concerning a bird hunting experience for handi-cap hunters it was mutually agreed on that the club was very involved in fund raisers and that we already have a lot on our plate for now. Tana suggested we move that project to a back burner for now.
Todd mentioned articles for an e-newsletter. Alex Burks is going to send out an e-mail requesting ideas for articles people would like to see and looking for people to submit articles in areas they have expertise in.
Concerning dog shows, Todd will talk with the Bozeman and Helena Kennel Club about doing a supported entry in 2009. Tana says she is going to join the Bozeman Kennel club.
Club Sponsored Field Trial: At this point in the meeting we called Terry Courtright of Great Falls, MT. Terry has a couple of ranches where he hunts that offer us an excellent field trail venue. The same grounds are currently being used for an American Field trial. Terry reviewed the attributes of these grounds and what they can offer. Alex Burks, club secretary, had a chance to have dinner with Terry, the night before the meeting and go out and look the grounds over. The grounds are only 18 miles from Great Falls and only about 8 or nine miles off of I 15. That night on our tour we saw a couple of Hungarian Partridge and Terry says the grounds not only have a good population of Hun’s but also some Sharptail Grouse se and Pheasants. Terry has several continues courses laid out through large expanses of CRP, dry land wheat stubble, and native range. There are good ranch roads where we can operate a dog wagon with no need to drive off road.
Terry believes there is a spot in the AKC Brittany Trial schedule for a trail in our area around the last week of August.
Alex Burks did some looking around in Eastern Montana in the last month or so talking with the Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks Information Officer in Region 7, Miles City, MT. This gentleman used to be the State Lands Manger for Eastern Montana. Alex told him the club was interested in holding a field trail in late August or early September in Eastern Montana. He stated that most of Region 7, (South Eastern, Montana), was privately owned other than for some areas of the Custer National Forest, and that private owners were very concerned about fire danger at that time of year. He did have one suggestion on an area that has quite a bit of state land and BLM land that was east of Broadus.
Alex told the club that the logistics of running a trial in such a remote part of the state, with no supporting local members, would be really difficult.
Terry Courtrights’grounds appear to be really great from several different perspectives, large grounds, good cover, lots of wild birds, easy access off of the interstate, close to a major city that has restaurants, motels, medical facilitates, and a local member who has supporting help and equipment!
Todd is going to call Marylynn Little concerning a Montana Trail for late August to see what is available schedule wise. Bob Myer is going to talk with Dave Walker on the same vein.
We continue to discuss ways to include more people in the meetings: Tana has been investigating different Conference Call ideas and suggested we look into one called freeconferencecall.com; she says you need to set it up 48 hours in advance and get a PIN #. Then every one that calls in pays for their own long distance call. We agreed to try this for our September meeting.
Remember the annual meeting and picnic will be run in conjunction with the Butch Nelson Snake Breaking on July 12, 2008. The BBQ will be held immediately after the snake breaking which will run from 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon. We will also be drawing for the Garmin Astro Collar.
The snake breaking and the picnic are at the Kradolfer’s 5075 Clearview road, Belgrade, MT 59714, telephone 406-388-4974.
Tana Kradolfer moved that we adjourn and Conrad Kradolfer seconded.
June 4, 2008
The meeting was called to order by President Todd Breitenfeldt at 7:10 PM at the Kradofler’s home in Belgrade, MT. Members present were Todd Breitenfeldt, Tana Kradolfer, Conrad Kradolfer, and Alex Burks, participating via telephone were Bob Myer from Helena, MT and Terry Courtright from Great Falls, MT. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved with a motion from Tana Kradolfer and a second from Alex Burks.
The treasures report stated that the club now has $1,469.82 in the bank, with 30 paid members.
Concerning other fund raising activities, Bob Myer, of Helena who was our point man on the Mike Okamura training seminar that was recently held there as a joint venture with the Montana German Shorthaired Club, reported the seminar grossed $3,450 and had expenses of $894. Bob stated that our share of the proceeds is $1,280. This money has not been received yet and is not reflected in the treasurer's report above.
Bob reported that the seminar was very well received and that we picked up a couple more members as a result of it. He said most of the participants came from Great Falls, Helena, and Bozeman. He said our club brought in about 16 or 17 of the 31 people who attended. As a club we were very glad to know that we did our part in bring participants to the clinic as the Montana German Shorthaired Club was very gracious in letting us co-sponsor the event with them. As far as the dogs the people brought to the seminar he said it was about 1/3 German Wirehairs, 1/3 German Shorthairs, and 1/3 Brittany's. Nice job Bob, THANKS!
Tana Kradolfer commented that our club can now afford to buy our insurance before we have our snake breaking which is scheduled for Saturday, July 12th at the Kradolfer’s in Belgrade.
Another fund raiser we currently have going is a raffle for a Garmin Astro Collar. This is the new GPS tracking collar that Garmin makes. The tickets are $5 each or 4 for $20. Tana suggested we draw for the winner of the collar at the snake breaking on July 12th. Alex Burks suggested that we mail each club member a few chances so they can purchase some themselves and perhaps sell a few. Alex will send these out with a brief letter and explanation. We will need all of the sold tickets and money back in by Wednesday July 9th unless members want to hand carry the tickets and money to the snake breaking.
Details on the snake breaking: well known trainer Butch Nelson will be running this for our club. This will take place on July 12th, which is a Saturday at the Kradolfer’s in Belgrade. The time is 8:00 AM until 12:00 noon. The cost per dog is $40 to the public, $30 to members, and $20 for a retest. A retest is a dog that Butch Nelson has done before.
There was a discussion about how to advertise the snake breaking and it was finally decided to make posters and advertise the event through local veterinarians and dog clubs. Our primary concern is offering this to our members and of course we will be sending e-mails to our members.
Bob Meyer suggested we look into having a veterinarian present to offer the Rattlesnake vaccinations. Tana is going to run it by a couple of vets to see if they are interested. She said that the cost for the vaccine is about $40 a shot and two shots re required.
In conjunction with the snake breaking Tana offered to host a club picnic that would serve as our annual club get together. We plan to do this at the conclusion of the snake breaking, after 12 noon. The BBQ will be free for members and $5.00 for non members.
Concerning other up coming fund raisers: We have been investigating doing a “porcupine breaking”, we now feel like we have the necessary information, equipment, and a source for our porcupine. Todd has spent quite a bit of time on this checking with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, people that have done this before, etc.
The dates and places for the porcupine breaking are as follows; Saturday, August 2, the Billings, MT area, Sunday, August 3, Three Forks, Helena, MT area, and Saturday, August 9, the Missoula area. The prices will be the same as the snake breaking, $40 for members and $30 for non-members. This year their will not be a special “re-test” price offered as this is our first year to offer this service.
Rick Smith Seminar: Tana and Conrad Kradolfer have sponsored Rick Smith Seminars in the past and have a personal relationship with Rick. Rick has offered us the date of July 17, 2009 if we want it. The seminar is typically a Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. The estimated cost is $350 per person. Bob Myer of Helena volunteered to be the contact person for the clinic as Rick Smith does the magazine advertising etc. but always list a local host that takes the calls and books the participants.
We also decided to offer this opportunity to the Montana German Shorthaired Club and let them co-sponsor the event if they are interested. Our club really values the friendship and cooperation we have received from them, in such things as the Mike Okamura clinic and AKC hunt test.
Tana will call Rick Smith and tell him we want the date and Bob will call the German Shorthaired club and see if they are interested in co-sponsoring this clinic. Todd is going to check in with a Whitehall area ranch and see if will let us use their property for the clinic.
Concerning a bird hunting experience for handi-cap hunters it was mutually agreed on that the club was very involved in fund raisers and that we already have a lot on our plate for now. Tana suggested we move that project to a back burner for now.
Todd mentioned articles for an e-newsletter. Alex Burks is going to send out an e-mail requesting ideas for articles people would like to see and looking for people to submit articles in areas they have expertise in.
Concerning dog shows, Todd will talk with the Bozeman and Helena Kennel Club about doing a supported entry in 2009. Tana says she is going to join the Bozeman Kennel club.
Club Sponsored Field Trial: At this point in the meeting we called Terry Courtright of Great Falls, MT. Terry has a couple of ranches where he hunts that offer us an excellent field trail venue. The same grounds are currently being used for an American Field trial. Terry reviewed the attributes of these grounds and what they can offer. Alex Burks, club secretary, had a chance to have dinner with Terry, the night before the meeting and go out and look the grounds over. The grounds are only 18 miles from Great Falls and only about 8 or nine miles off of I 15. That night on our tour we saw a couple of Hungarian Partridge and Terry says the grounds not only have a good population of Hun’s but also some Sharptail Grouse se and Pheasants. Terry has several continues courses laid out through large expanses of CRP, dry land wheat stubble, and native range. There are good ranch roads where we can operate a dog wagon with no need to drive off road.
Terry believes there is a spot in the AKC Brittany Trial schedule for a trail in our area around the last week of August.
Alex Burks did some looking around in Eastern Montana in the last month or so talking with the Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks Information Officer in Region 7, Miles City, MT. This gentleman used to be the State Lands Manger for Eastern Montana. Alex told him the club was interested in holding a field trail in late August or early September in Eastern Montana. He stated that most of Region 7, (South Eastern, Montana), was privately owned other than for some areas of the Custer National Forest, and that private owners were very concerned about fire danger at that time of year. He did have one suggestion on an area that has quite a bit of state land and BLM land that was east of Broadus.
Alex told the club that the logistics of running a trial in such a remote part of the state, with no supporting local members, would be really difficult.
Terry Courtrights’grounds appear to be really great from several different perspectives, large grounds, good cover, lots of wild birds, easy access off of the interstate, close to a major city that has restaurants, motels, medical facilitates, and a local member who has supporting help and equipment!
Todd is going to call Marylynn Little concerning a Montana Trail for late August to see what is available schedule wise. Bob Myer is going to talk with Dave Walker on the same vein.
We continue to discuss ways to include more people in the meetings: Tana has been investigating different Conference Call ideas and suggested we look into one called freeconferencecall.com; she says you need to set it up 48 hours in advance and get a PIN #. Then every one that calls in pays for their own long distance call. We agreed to try this for our September meeting.
Remember the annual meeting and picnic will be run in conjunction with the Butch Nelson Snake Breaking on July 12, 2008. The BBQ will be held immediately after the snake breaking which will run from 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon. We will also be drawing for the Garmin Astro Collar.
The snake breaking and the picnic are at the Kradolfer’s 5075 Clearview road, Belgrade, MT 59714, telephone 406-388-4974.
Tana Kradolfer moved that we adjourn and Conrad Kradolfer seconded.
Montana Brittany Club Meeting Minutes, March 12, 2008
The minutes of the last meeting, January 30, 2008, were approved.
Jan Breitenfeldt, treasurer, reported that we have $985.00 in our account at the present time.
Membership: Jan reported the following people as paid members as of March 12, 2008:
Charter Members: Alex Burks, Jo Ann Kish, Tana and Conrad Kradolfer, Todd and Jan Breitenfeldt and Don Vondra.
Annual members: Rod Richardson, Bob Myers, Leslie Andreas, and Brandon Moss.
Annual Family members: Robert and Barry Bartlett and Eric & Melody Kaelin.
Concerning dealing with our large state, we have decided to have three regional officers, breaking the state roughly into thirds, East, Central, and West. Alex Burks is the Eastern Regional Director, we are hoping to get Terry Courtright for the Central Region, and someone from the Missoula or Kalispell area for the West.
Concerning meeting by conference call or Internet we decided the best we can do for now is to use our personal cell phones on speaker mode. This was done at the meeting to contact Bob Myers from Helena. Bob Meyers offered that we might want to look into a new internet service called Go to Meeting .com. Alex Burks had also heard this service advertised and said they are offering a free one month trial. Apparently everyone logs into the same site on their computers and sees the same screen; I believe you still need the phone or some sort of vocal connection. If we needed to look at a lot of graphics, charts, printed material this might be of interest.
On the topic of club fund raisers the following projects are in the works: A Mike Okamura clinic scheduled for May 17-18 in the Helena area. At the present time we think this will be held at the White Earth Campground close to Winston, MT. Bob Myers is the point man on this clinic for our club, (the clinic is being co- sponsored by the Montana German Shorthaired Club and our Club), and is sending out the information on this by e-mail and any changes as they occur. Bob says the maximum number of people we can have for this is 40. Bob attended a previous Okamura clinic sponsored by a Helena dog club and they had 18 in attendance.
Fund raiser # 2 is a raffle for a Garmin GPS, “Astro” dog collar. Tana is doing a great job on this and already had tickets printed. She distributed them to everyone at the meeting. We are selling the tickets for $5 each or 5 for $20. We discussed sending a few tickets to all paid members for them to sell and return by mail. Bob Myers wonders if Sportsman Warehouse would help us sell the tickets.
Fund raiser # 3 is a Rattlesnake avoidance clinic, otherwise known as a snake breaking. The well known trainer Butch Nelson is going to handle this for us at the Kradolfers in Bozeman. The date that was chosen for this is July 12, 2008. The details will follow concerning times and fees. Tana Kradolfer offered to do a dog dental care presentation at the snake breaking to fill some time as people waited for their dogs turn.
Fund raiser # 4 is still in the planning stages. We are considering offering a porcupine avoidance clinic as well. Todd has researched this a little and thinks he can come up with a porcupine at short notice. He is going to check into the legal aspects of this with his local game warden. He says he has even found “domesticated porcupines for sale on the internet and suggested this might be the way to go is if it is against the law to use a wild porcupine. Stay tuned for more info on this, in the past I have has some serious porcupine problems with certain dogs and one of my friends had some expensive vet bills last year with one of his dogs.
The last fund raiser on our plate at this time is the possibility of providing lunch for an AKC Hunt Test sponsored by the Montana German Shorthaired Club to be held at the Three Forks Trial Grounds on April 18, 19, and 20th.
Todd Breitenfeldt, Conrad Kradolfer, and Bob Myers thought they could handle this, if the German Shorthaired people wanted us to help.
Website: Todd reported he has added a counter to our website and the last count was 123. Bob Myers asked about listing his upcoming litter on the website and Todd told him to get his pictures and information sent in.
E-newsletter: We received articles from Jan Breitenfeldt and Alex Burks. Alex Burks is going to attempt to convert these articles into a PDF and get our first e-newsletter out.
Dog and Pony shows: OK just dog shows, Todd suggested we should do a “Supported Entry” at the 2009 AKC Dog Show in Helena. Jan thought we should try doing a fun match first.
Field Trials: Tana reported that Terry Courtright of Great Falls has offered his training grounds on a private ranch for a fall trail. Terry says this is great Hun country and we could eventually turn this trial into an ABC Hungarian Partridge Championship like the ABC Chukar Championship.
Todd and Tana’s research so far, points to us having a late summer trail in far eastern Montana. Ed Tillson is training north of Circle, MT and we believe he might attend a Montana Trail that was handy for him before he leaves for the first trail of the Midwest circuit in Bonesteel, SD. So far the West Coast Pros have not expressed any interest in coming to Montana for a trial. Tana is going to ask some West Coast Field Trail people about coming to a Montana trail at an upcoming trail she is going to attend.
Concerning field trail equipment Tana told us she had purchased three sets of walkie talkies that are available for club use when we have our field trails.
Networking: Todd recommends that we get to know our local dog clubs, AKC, NSTRA, and breed clubs. Let them know what we are doing. He is going to check with the American Brittany Club and see if they will provide us with a membership list for Montana. We are developing a very good relationship with the Montana German Shorthaired Club as evidenced by the joint sponsorship of the Mike Okamura training clinic.
Annual Meeting: Tana suggested that we could work in our annual meeting for the club at the time of the snake breaking in July. This could be a BBQ or Pot Luck lunch after the snake breaking at the Kradolfers home and kennel.
On behalf of the club I want to thank the Kradolfers for hosting the meetings and offering the use of their kennel and facilitates for the snake breaking and annual meeting. They have a wonderful home and kennel and have been extremely generous with the club, THANKS.
Dues: As you can see the club has been making steady progress and we are moving toward being AKC and ABC sanctioned. If you have not yet filled out the membership application and mailed you dues in we would really appreciate it. One of the first things we have to do before holding any events is secure liability insurance and that is the main reason we could use your dues at this time.
Next meeting: The next meeting will be held on April 19, 2008 at the Three Forks Training Ground, Missouri Headwaters State Park, Horse Pasture. This is the German Shorthaired Pointer Club’s Hunt Test where some of our folks are planning on providing the lunch as a fund raiser. The meeting will take place around the noon break at the trial.
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