GRAND NATIONAL GROUSE AND WOODCOCK INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
ARTICLE 1
NAME AND OBJECT
Section 1. The name of the event shall be “The Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship”.
Section 2. The object of the event shall be to compete the top grouse and woodcock dogs of the current year against each other for three consecutive days to determine a true cover dog champion. The event should be conducted so as to take as much luck out of the trial as humanly possible.
Section 3. The event shall be conducted annually in the spring trialing season with the date, time, and place to be decided by the Grand National Grouse Championship board of directors at the annual fall meeting.
Section 4. The event shall be governed completely by the parent club, The Grand National Grouse Championship, Inc., and its board of directors.
Section 5. A season shall be a term used from here on describing a period of time starting at the beginning of a calendar year and concluding with the final fall cover dog field trial of the same year.
ARTICLE II
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
Section 1. Secretary-Treasure.
A Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected annually from the membership of the parent club and shall become a voting board member on the parent clubs’ board of directors and also will be included on it executive board.
Section 2. Board of Directors.
No other board of directors shall be needed as all directors concerning the well-being of the event will be decided by the directors of the parent club.
Section 3. Region Chairpersons.
A member from each region (as described in the by-laws of the parent club) shall be elected annually to tabulate points (used to decide contestants of the event) and forward them to the secretary-treasurer at the conclusion of each trial session (spring, fall). This person may or may not be a current board director.
ARTICLE III
DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER
Section 1. The Secretary-Treasurer shall maintain a bank account funded by the parent club at a local federal insured bank. A Minimum of three parent club board of directors shall always be named on said account.
Section 2. An annual financial report shall be submitted to the total membership of the parent club before each annual meeting.
Section 3. He or she shall tabulate contestant points received from the regional chair-persons after each trial season.
Section 4. After all points are totaled they will be posted in the American Field no later than January of that seasons’ running.
Section 5. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be responsible for sending and receiving invitations for the contestants of the upcoming event. After all entrants are known, they should be declared along with the notice of the event in the American field, with the minimum standards for hosting a championship being met.
Section 6. He or she shall be responsible for all necessities prior to the field trial, selecting a field trial chairman, advertising, horses, lodging for judges and reporter, etc..
ARTICLE IV
INVITATIONAL POINT SYSTEM
Section 1.
Point calculations: Points x number of Starters
Grand National Grouse Championship
Winner ………………………………………………..Automatic
Runner-Up ……………………………………………14 points
All Championships
Winner ………………………………………………….16 points
Runner-Up ……………………………………………..12 points
All 1-Hour Classics
Winner ……………………………………………………10 points
Runner-Up ……………………………………………… 06 points
1 Hour Shooting Dog Placed on Quail
1st place …………………………10 points …………. 05 points
2nd place ……………………… 06 points …………..03 points
½ Hour Shooting Dog Placed on Quail
1st place ………………………… 05 points ……………2.5 points
2nd place ………………………….03 points ……………1.5 points
Section 2. Any cover trial that schedules its running date to conflict with the Grand National Grouse Championship shall have its invitational points withheld for that trial. What constitutes a conflict is any trial whose scheduled starting date is the same as the Grand National starting date, or 1 through 4 days prior to, or up to 5 days after the scheduled starting date of the Grand National.
Section 3. For a club wishing to be considered for a point trial they must first sponsor a multiple course grouse and, or, woodcock field trial event. Then, send a written request to the invitational secretary. The written request shall be presented and reviewed at the parent clubs’ annual board of directors meeting. In order for a new club to qualify for this, they must attain a unanimous vote from the present director at this meeting.
Section 4. The total points for the top 20 shall be recorded and advertised in the American Field no later than January of that same field trial season. Any protest of the posted points must be made in letter form to the invitational secretary, no later than February 10th of the following year. Any protest shall be researched by the current executive board of the parent club. Their decision shall be considered final and executed before February 10.
ARTICLE V
INVITATIONS
Section 1. The first three dogs to be invited shall be the Winner and the Runner Up of the previous years event, and the current year’s Grand National Grouse Champion. The rest of the field should be invited in the numerical order of points achieved until a full state of 14 dogs are achieved as described in Article IV Section 1.
Section 2. In addition to the full slate of competitors, two reserve dogs may be held in case one of the original invites drops out. However, this is not a mandatory practice.
Section 3. In case of a tie in points, the dog with the most number of wins of that current season,shall be considered first. If this is also the same, then the oldest dog shall be chosen.
Section 4. A minimum of 200 points must be attained before a dog can qualify for an invation.
Section 5. If 14 entrants and two reserves cannot be achieved using this system, then the Secretary shall re-invite dogs in a numerical order from the previous season’s running list.
Section 6. All invitations shall be sent via mail and each invitee shall respond within 10 days by submitting $150 of the entry fee as a first forfeit, along with their completed entry form.
Section 7. When all the entries are in to the secretary an announcement of the trial and the slate of contenders shall appear in the American Field.
ARTICLE VI
LOCATION AND GROUNDS OF EVENT
Section 1. The location date and host club of each years event shall be decided by the parent clubs board of directors during their annual fall meeting.
Section 2. The host club shall provide suitable grounds, field marshals, and enough volunteers to conduct a high quality field trial event.
Section 3. The grounds used must have at least four one-hour courses.
ARTICLE VII
RUNNING RULES
Section 1. The process by which judges for the Grand National Grouse Championship are selected shall also be followed to select judges for the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock invitational.
Section 2. The winner of the Grouse and Woodcock invitational must compete three consecutive days running one hour each day.
Section 2a. A runner up may be declared in the discretion of the judges if there is, in their opinion, another dog in the stake close up behind the winner, and outstanding in comparison with the other contestants.
Section 3. The winner shall be determined by the two chosen judges who will decide the best and most consistent performer over the entire three day trial. It should be noted that all three days must be considered before rendering an appropriate decision as one fantastic hour does not necessarily mean this dog should be the winner.
Section 4. Native Grouse or Woodcock must be located and handled satisfactorily to place a Champion and Runner-Up in this event. The dog should be shot over for each find with a .32 Caliber, or 209 primer, or larger blank pistol or shotgun. It should be noted that grouse and woodcock work should be considered equal to each other.
Section 5. The guide lines set forth in the running rules of the Grand National Grouse Championship should be used when judging this event unless otherwise noted in these running rules.
Section 6. The first day’s running shall be decided by a random drawing conducted before the scheduled starting date of the trial. The second day’s running will be decided by the secretary also at the drawing. The intended format of the Grouse and Woodcock Invitational is to have the competing dogs on the second day run at a different time of the day, on a different course and with a different brace-mate. No female dog should be scratched because she came in season during the running of the trial. If a bitch comes in season or is in season during the trial, the secretary shall pair that dog with another female.
Section 7. All dogs must compete the first 2 days of the event. The third day’s running shall be decided by the current judges. On the 3rd day’s running, they shall pick a minimum of two or a maximum of 8 dogs. They shall also pick the courses they want to see each brace on. The judges shall also pair each brace and the time of day they wish, in order to see each brace.
Section 8. At the end of each of the first two days of running, the judges shall declare the top performance of the particular day. The handler who wins this honor shall receive a cash award of $100.
Section 9. Additional running may be necessary after the three days of running are concluded. The decision to do this is at the sole discretion of the judges. They shall choose the dogs, course, and the time of day in which they wish to see them.
Section 10. The judges should not order any dog up unless it is severely interfering with its brace-mate. A handler may volunteer to pick his own dog up but must realize that in doing so, he/she has disqualified his/herself from winning the Championship title. However, he/she still could run his/her dog on day two for a chance at the 2nd days top “dog of the day” money. All judging should be done from a positive perspective, that is, the judges should look to place the dog doing the most things right instead of the least things wrong. In this three day trial, the judges will have ample time to observe each dogs stamina, style, biddability, backing, bird finding abilities, and how it handles its game.
ARTICLE VIII
PURSE
Section 1. The purse shall be decided by the parent clubs Board of Directors. It currently is set at $2000. If a runner-Up is named, the balance of the purse after the two days monies are taken off, shall be divided 60% – 40%.
1st day money = $100
2nd day money = $100
Winner = 60%
Runner-Up = 40%
The guaranteed purse should never exceed 60% of the total entry fees collected so as to assure expenses can be met. In the event no champion is named, the stake shall revert to an Open Shooting Dog Stake and the said purse shall be divided 50-30-20.
Section 2. The owner of the winner of this event shall receive a rotating trophy to keep in his/her possession for a period of one year. This trophy should never be retired. The winner and runner-up should also receive a certificate of achievement to keep as a permanent possession.