Congratulations and welcome to this year’s Grand National Grouse and Woodcock InvitationaI Championship judges….

Sitting in the judicial saddle this coming April will be:

Craig Merlington of Howard City Michigan and Eric Munden of Phillipsburg Pennsylvania.

Both arbiters and well known, raising, training and competing with championship dogs. Both are of the highest caliber and will exercise their duties with the utmost attention to fairness and detail.

Once more, please welcome them to the judges panel.

The following is a list of the top 20 Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational points earned as reported for the dogs and their owners.

The 2026 Invitational Championship will be held at Black Moshannon State Forest in Phillipsburg Pa, the drawing will be Tuesday April 7th and running Wednesday/Thursday April 8th & 9th with callbacks on Friday April 10th.

The top 14 dogs left after any declined invitations will be the running field. Judges and a reporter are still to be chosen and will be announced after selection.

Congratulations to all the dogs, owners, trainers and handlers, for all their hard work and dedication has paid off.

1. Snyders Fireside Ed-Automatic Steve Snyder

2. Northwoods Cedar-Automatic Eric and Lindsay Saetre

3. Bird Doggin True Confidence-Automatic Ben Fleischacker

4. Ralphys Chasehill Rip 1512 Brian Ralph

5. Mohawk Mill Good Advice 1152 Bill and Karen McFadden

6. Millers Dusty Version 1120 Mike Husenits

7. Stan The Man 992 Tom Fruchey

8. Springpond Rockin Sidney 954 Leeann Parnell/Roger Johnson

9. Over The Hill Try 832 Rod Lein

10. Resin 720 Kevin Lahoda

11. Lake Effect Allie 680 Tim Kaufman

12. Chasehill Snoop Dog 648 Bill and Karen McFadden

13. Pauchecks Little Tommy Tucker 592 Kelly Short

14. Chasehill Poison Ivy 576 Bill and Karen McFadden

15. Back Creek Lucy 536 Steve Graham

16. Mohawk Mill Miss You 528 Bill and Karen McFadden

17. Grouse Trails Warrior Cat 512 John McKellop

18. Big Big Energy 510 Jordan Ferris

19. Planet Queen 504 Scott Anderson

20. Grouse Trails Bathilda 504 John McKellop

1st Place– Legend, pm, bred by John Mckellop, owned and handled by Brian Ralph.

2nd Place– Watch Me Whip, sm, bred by Steve McKalko, Owned by Dr Pershke, handled by Mark Hughes

3rd Place– Seldom Rest Pork Chop, pm, bred by John McKellop, owned and handled by Brian Ralph

4th Place– Tuscarora Timber Ghost, sm, bred by Ronnie Eldridge, owned by Andy Wert/Matt Null, handled by Matt Null

On behalf of the Grand National Grouse Board of directors we would like to thank the Flanagan family for use of their grounds and all their help.

Thank you is also in order for judges Kelly Hays and Bill Bonnetti for their time in the saddle. Both judged with a positive attitude and were attentive to all entries.

Thank you to all the breeders. This is a breeders stake and without you we couldn’t run this prestigious stake

Last but not least thank you to Greg Blair and Nestle Purina for their unwavering support to Coverdog field trials

The 2025 Grand National Grouse Championship will be at the historic Grouse Ridge Kennels in Oxford NY on Sunday November 2nd.

Lodging

The Purina Awards Dinner will be at Freds Inn Norwich NY on Monday November 3rd. Freds is also the recommended place to stay for the Grand this year. They only have 25 rooms so make your reservations soon 607-334-9282.

Other hotels in the area are Super 8 607-296-0524 and Red Roof Inn 607-334-2200.

The 2025 Grand National Grouse Championship will be at the historic Grouse Ridge Kennels in Oxford NY on Tuesday November 4th.

Reminder Grand Entries Close 10/30

Judges

Bruce Minard from Michigan and Ben Mergens from Minnesota were our top two in votes to judge this years Grand National Grouse Championship. I am happy to report that both have agreed to accept the roles.

Lodging

The Purina Awards Dinner will be at Freds Inn Norwich NY on Monday November 3rd. Freds is also the recommended place to stay for the Grand this year. They only have 25 rooms so make your reservations soon 607-334-9282.

Other hotels in the area are Super 8 607-296-0524 and Red Roof Inn 607-334-2200.

2025 Grand National Grouse & Woodcock Invitational Championship Winners

Champion Snyder’s Fireside Ed
Runner up Northwoods Cedar

74th Grand National Grouse Puppy Classic Winners

1 Grouse Hill Buddy Capocci/Capocci/ S. Forman
2 Northwoods Rip Roy Kolter/Johnson/Johnson
3 Hifives Belvenie Minard/Sloan/Dubriske
4 Grouse Hill Patch Capocc/ Capocci/S. Forman

Top 20 Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Points Earners

The following is a list of the top 20 Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational points earned for dogs and their owners.

The 2025 Invitational Championship will be held near Malone New York, drawing Tuesday April 15th and running Wednesday/Thursday April 16th, 17th with callbacks on Friday April 18th.

The top 14 dogs left after any declined invitations will be the running field. Judges and a reporter are still to be selected and will be announced as appropriate.

Congratulations to all the dogs, owners, trainers and handlers, for all their hard work and dedication has paid off.

Grand Winner Snyders Fireside Ed-Grand Winner Guaranteed Steve Snyder

Meridith Grade Corky-Invitational Winner Guaranteed Denny Keysor

Over The Hill Merry-Invitational Runner Up Guaranteed Rod Lein

Ralphy’s Chasehill Rip-1284 Points Brian Ralph

Northwoods Cedar-1284 Eric and Lindsay Saetre

Shadyhills Zeena-1120 Deb Nihart

Aspen Hill Bandit-1096 Jon Cullen

Chasehill Snoop Dogg-992 Erin Stolgitis

Warrior Zeke-944 Mike Husenits

Grouse Ridge Mags-889 Bill Ballin

Chasehill Poison Ivy-852 Bill and Karen McFadden

Northwoods Atlas-772 Greg Johnson

Lake Effect Allie-714 Tim Kaufman

Ponderosa’s Copper Penny-708 Robert Ellis

Mohawk Mill Miss You-684 Bill and Karen McFadden

Back Creek Lucy-659 Steve Graham

Meredith Grade Penny-648 Denny Keysor

Over the Hill Morgan-624 Robert Zilkie

Faith’s Maximum Justice-564 Ken Delong

Grouse Trails Buddy-486 John McKellop

Paucheks Little Tommy Tucker-480 Kelly Short