Columnist Barb Henderson: Retrievers fetch ‘em up in local hunting club

Barb Henderson

Friday, Sept. 27, 2002 | 10:19 a.m.

Barb Henderson is an outdoors enthusiast, freelance writer and producer/host of outdoors radio television programming. Her column appears Friday in the Sun.

Huddled in a hunting blind on a cold brisk morning, a waterfowler begins to make those distinctive sounds from a birdcall that imitate real waterfowl echoing off the water.

The hunter sits motionless as a flock of birds begin their descent toward decoys that are floating freely in the water.

The only thing that kept the cold at bay was the warmth from that ol' retriever's sparkling brown eyes, looking upward as he patiently sat by the hunter's side. The dog's eagerness to retrieve kept the excitement of the hunt at full throttle.

Both hunter and dog, cold and excited, continued to wait as the waterfowl continue the flight in, eventually getting so close they could actually hear the wind whistling through the cupped wings.

The shotgun sound placed the retriever in readiness as he waited for the hunter to speak those three little words:

"Fetch 'em up."

The excitement of the hunt along with a love of retrievers is why Roy Horsley and a small group of individuals embarked on forming the Las Vegas Hunting Retriever Club (LVHRC.) It was several years before Horsley was convinced there were enough folks who had both interests, and who used their retrievers for what they had been bred for -- retrieving.

The soon-to-be club members started organizing and writing by-laws that would satisfy both American Kennel Club (AKC) and the North American Hunting Retriever Association (NAHRA).

The non-profit LVHRC incorporated in 1998 to encourage and promote quality in the breeding and training of purebred retrievers and to promote and educate the use and training of hunting retrievers as a conservation tool for wildlife resources management.

The club meets once a month, and also sponsors fun days, an annual banquet, seminars, workshops and an annual "snake break clinic" to educate bird hunters and to train dogs.

Monies raised from LVHRC programs are used to administer the club's activities and finance conservation projects. LVHRC last year participated in the OWMA hunting blind project by purchasing materials for duck blinds.

The LVHRC has two NAHRA approved field tests. This past spring the club hosted the Southwest Regional test at the Overton Wildlife Management Area on the outskirts of Overton. During these field tests, retrievers never compete against each other and are judged only on performance in categories that simulate actual hunting situations.

If you're interested in getting your retriever's paws wet, contact the LVHRC via the Internet at: hppeople@earthlink.net or call 243-1811.

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