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**NOTE**-This is not a Minnesota NAVHDA Event but Washington County PF is looking for volunteers, including handler/dog teams.  Our chapter members have participated in this in the past.

 

Washington County Pheasants Forever

The annual Disabled Hunters / Wounded Warrior Pheasant Hunt will be taking place on Saturday, April 2, at Whispering Emerald Ridge Game Farm near Menomonie, WI.

The purpose of this special event is to provide up to 24 disabled hunters with an opportunity to get out into the field and hunt pheasants. To conduct a successful event we are asking for your support as a volunteer to help out during the day, or by making a financial contribution. During the day we will need 40-50 volunteers to work with the hunters or to participate in other ways. Many of you have participated in prior years, and we would appreciate your participation once again. There are AM and PM hunt times, so you can decide if one or both of these times work for you. Volunteer assignments include being a gun handler for the disabled hunters, driving a 4-wheeler to transport the hunters in the fields, being a dog handler, catching and planting the birds, taking pictures, etc. We also need to identify who can bring a side-by-side UTV with a bed (like a Gator, Ranger or Mule) to transport the hunters, many of which are in wheelchairs. If you own one or can get access to one for the day, please let me know. Another need is to provide well-seasoned hunting dogs (pointers only) to work with each of the hunters and locate the planted birds. Again, let me know if you can provide a dog.

We also need to identify disabled hunters who are interested in participating, so if you know of someone who would like to hunt, please let them know and pass along this email with the attachment.

CLICK HERE FOR VOLUNTEER FORM

Note: The first two pages of the attachment is the Donation/Volunteer Form. It needs to be completed and then returned by mail or email to Whispering Emerald Ridge. The email address is teresa@whisperingemeraldridge.com

The final two pages contain the application which the disabled hunters need to complete and send back to Whispering Emerald Ridge in order to register for the event by March 20. **Please keep me informed so I have visibility of who has responded. I also need to maintain a list of volunteers and donations. The donations can also be mailed to me at my address below. Please make the checks out to Whispering Emerald Ridge Game Farm.

The event will be held at:

Whispering Emerald Ridge Game Farm

N3954 640th Street

Menomonie, WI 54751

**If you intend to make a financial donation, please do so as soon as possible so we know how many disabled hunters we will be able to include in this hunt. If you would like to sponsor a hunter the cost is $125.00 each (to cover the cost of 5 pheasants, ammo, and food), however, any contribution is appreciated. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact me or you can also reach out to Bruce Olson at Whispering Emerald Ridge Game Farm at 715-233-1281.

On February 15th, Minnesota NAVHDA held its annual meeting via a virtual teleconference.   You can see the full meeting minutes here.

For our 2022 Fundraiser, we are excited to announce a raffle in conjunction with one of our new sponsor partners-The Upland Gun Company.  You can read all about the raffle here.  Tickets will be sold at our events throughout the training & testing season.

As I am writing this, the 15 day forecast unfortunately does not look to be indicating any signs of an early spring.   Spring will come, though, and we are anxiously waiting to get started on our outdoor training and our 2022 testing season.  To help meet demand, we expanded our tests to 18 days over 8 weekends this year.   This will likely be an all time record for any chapter in NAVHDA.  We can only pull this off with the help of our member volunteers.  Please consider volunteering at our training clinics and tests this year.  You find contact information for event coordinators here.

We still have room in our 2022 NAVHDA Aims & Rules Clinic on June 4th & 5th.  This year’s clinic leader is Blaine Carter from Maine.    Blaine has been involved in NAVHDA for almost 50 years. He is a tremendous wealth of knowledge and presents it in his own unique way-complete with that Maine accent!   Take advantage of this unique opportunity.

TESTING:  6 of our 8 Test weekends are full with wait lists, but we do still have room for UPT & UT dogs in our Aug 27-28 test and NA dogs at our Sept 10-11 tests at Four Brooks.  Full Test Calendar and details are here.

TRAINING: We highly encourage our members to form their own small training groups, and we will help support that with access to birds and grounds.  If you need help getting into a weekly small training group, please fill out our Training Survey.  We anticipate bird deliveries and training will get ramped up the last week of April.    Our first large training clinic event will be April 30th.    There will be a MOCK NA test (already full) and in conjunction we will be debuting a couple new courses and an OPEN training day.    See the details of Versatile Dog 101 and Versatile Dog 201 here.  These are FREE to members and no registration is required.

HELP NEEDED-FOUR BROOKS TRAINING:  We are still looking for volunteers to organize training at Four Brooks.  Not looking for “trainers” so to speak, just individuals who can be a group leader and organize communication and bird wrangling for the group.  If you can help please email:  training@mnnavhda.org

GROUNDS PASSES:  Unless you are attending a Chapter sponsored Test or Clinic you must have a Pass to be on our two primary training grounds.

  • FOUR BROOKS (Milaca) -**NEW FOR 2022**    We will be selling Grounds Passes to Four Brooks online this year.   You can get your 2022 Pass here.  When you complete the payment process, you will get an email to print out, and that will be your pass.

KELLEY LAND & CATTLE CO (Hugo-Marine on St Croix).    As usual, passes will be sold by Kelley Land & Cattle Co.  We will hold a group night near the end of April for selling passes.  There may also be some availability of birds by then.  More details will be released as we get closer to that timeframe.

WOUNDED WARRIOR HUNT-The Washington County Chapter of Pheasants Forever is holding this hunt on April 2nd, and needs volunteers, including dog/handler teams.   Minnesota Chapter members have helped with this in the past.  Full info here.

Pete Aplikowski-President

2022 ANNUAL MEETING

All members are welcome to join the chapter annual meeting on Tuesday Feb 15th at 7:00pm.   There will be reports from each Director on the Board and a report from our delegate to the NAVHDA annual meeting.  This is a Virtual Meeting.    Meeting Details here.

VOLUNTEERING IN 2022

This chapter could not operate without the help of all of our member volunteers.   Please give back by volunteering at our Events.  You can find all the volunteer coordinator contact info for each event here:  2022 Test & Clinic Contacts .    We especially need help at our first spring events, like the Mock NA test at Kelely Farms in Hugo on April 30th, and the Natural Ability Test at Four Brooks near Milaca on May 14-15.

2022 TESTING

To expand testing opportunities this year, we are now doing 18 days of testing over eight weekends. This will by far lead the NAVHDA system in testing opportunities.  Our 2002 test dates opened for entries on Feb 1st.  Some tests are full with wait lists, others near being full.  If you plan on testing this year and have not secured  a test slot, do not delay.  2022 Testing Dates and Information.

2022 TRAINING

There are still openings for our 2 day  2022 NAVHDA AIMS & Rules Clinic on June 4th & 5th at Kelley Farms in Hugo. Led by SR Judge Blaine Carter from Maine.  The AIMS clinic is an in-depth look at the NAVHDA test and scoring system.  You will observe other dogs, but will not be working with your own dog.  YOU WILL LEARN A LOT!  These clinics always fill up and are limited to 20 people, so if interested, do not wait to register.  This is also a required clinic for anyone interested in entering the NAVHDA apprentice judge program.

TRAINING COORDINATORS-With a chapter of our size, we can always use more help forming more training groups.  You do not have to be an expert or seasoned handler or trainer, just someone who is willing to organize a group, birds and a group schedule.

FOUR BROOKS-We want to expand our training opportunities for members at Four Brooks WMA north of Milaca this year, but we will need people to step up and help coordinate.  We will also be selling Grounds Passes for Four Brooks to chapter members through our ONLINE payment system this year, starting in March.

If you are willing to help in any capacity with small group training, please email training@mnnavhda.org.

Any member that needs help with getting into a regular small training group this year is invited to fill out this survey.  2022 Training Survey

Scholarships

Applications are Open for the Joe Dolejsi Youth & New Handler Scholarship.  Applications accepted through March 5th, 2022.  Full details and application form here.

Interested in becoming a NAVHDA Judge?   The Bill Jensen Apprentice Judge Scholarship was created to assist chapter members in that journey.  More details here

 

Minnesota Chapter Annual Meeting

The Board of Directors decided to once again NOT hold our traditional Fable Fest Potluck and in person annual meeting due to continued concerns about CV-19, and the fact that our group size has outgrown the venue we had been using at Chomonix golf course.    We hope we can get back to an in person get-together in 2023.

Our Bylaws do require us to have an annual business meeting during January or February, and like we did in 2021, this meeting will be a virtual meeting on the Google Meet platform.  It will be held Tuesday February 15th at 7pm.   You can join by video or phone.  The agenda will include reports from each Director about the past year, what we have in store for 2022,  and a briefing about the NAVHDA annual meeting held on Jan 29th.

Click here for the Online virtual meeting link or phone call-in details

NAVHDA International Annual Meeting & Auction/Fundraiser

The 2022 NAVHDA International meeting is being held virtually again this year for chapter delegates only, but there is an online auction/fundraiser that is open to all NAVHDA members. Lots of dog and outdoor equipment is up for auction as well as some hunt trips to cool locations. The auction ends 1/29 and is open for bidding now.  Register, browse, and bid here

Scholarships

Applications are Open for the Joe Dolejsi Youth & New Handler Scholarship.  Applications accepted through March 5th, 2022.  Full details and application form here.

Interested in becoming a NAVHDA Judge?   The Bill Jensen Apprentice Judge Scholarship was created to assist chapter members in that journey.  More details here

NAVHDA Aims & Rules Clinic with Blaine Carter-June 4th & 5th

Minnesota NAVHDA will once again hold the popular AIMS & Rules Clinic this year on June 4th & 5th at Kelley Farms.  Clinic Leader will be Blaine Carter from the Yankee Chapter in Maine.  This is a 2 day in depth clinic about NAVHDA principles, the testing system and scorecards.  Limited to 20 people.   Any member interested in becoming a NAVHDA Judge must attend one of these clinics.  Full details & Registration here.

2022 Test Entries

Minnesota NAVHDA is expanding our tests to EIGHT weekends this year to try to meet the demand for test slots.  To also help our own members this year, we are initially restricting test entries to chapter members only.  Entries will open on Feb 1st.  Full testing details and calendar can be found here:  2022 Test Dates & Registrations.

Mock NA Tests are BACK!

After a 2 year hiatus due to the pandemic, we are offering two MOCK Natural Ability tests.  Limited to 12 handlers each day and reserved for chapter members who are signed up for Minnesota chapter NA tests.   April 30th & July 30th at Kelley Farms in Hugo.   Registrations will be by invitation as NA test entries are accepted.

NEW for 2022!

Versatile Dog 101-Search, Point, Track, Swim.  A One Hour introduction to NAVHDA principles.  Good information for new members and Natural Ability Handlers.  Will be run in conjunction with the MOCK NA tests and OPEN training days at Kelley Farms on April 30th & July 30th.

Versatile Dog 201-Heel, WHOA, Fetch. Learn principles about Obedience training  and transitioning from a dog’s natural ability & cooperation to what it takes to create a “finished” versatile hunting dog.   Demonstrations will then be given about each segment of the NAVHDA Utility Preparatory & Utility Test.  Will be run in conjunction with OPEN training days at Kelley Farms on April 30th & July 30th.

Small Group Training

Minnesota NAVHDA encourages all members to work together to form their own small training groups, and we will help support those groups with access to birds and grounds.  For new members who need help meeting people and getting in a group, you can fill out our Training Survey/Questionnaire.

Chapter Members,

We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Holiday Season and hope many of you are still out hunting with your dogs.

The Board of Directors met on 12/21/2021 and the decision was made to once again NOT hold the traditional “Fable Fest” potluck, silent auction and annual meeting in early 2022.  This decision was made due to a combination of factors revolving around the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of Omicron variant and that the venue we have been using at Chomonix golf course is no longer suitable for a group of our size and needs.    Our chapter Bylaws require us to hold an “annual meeting” for our members in January or February, and this will be done virtually in mid February, as we did last year. Meeting details will be sent out in January.

Some other reminders:

Chapter memberships are now due, and there is a discount for renewing by 12/31.  Click here to renew.

We will be opening our 2022 test entries on Feb 1st, and it will be for members only until March 1st.   Our tests fill quickly, so make sure if you are planning on running a dog that your dog is registered with NAVHDA and that all owner and handler membership status is up to date with NAVHDA and our chapter.

2022 Testing Dates & Locations

Chapter membership renewals are now open and you can get a discount by renewing before 12/31.  Click here for our online membership registration.

We really like to get people to renew by 12/31 to help our Secretary update the roster.  Chapter members get priority for all of our clinics, events & tests.

Some of what we have in store for 2022

Applications for the Joe Dolejsi Youth & New Handler Scholarship are also now OPEN.  If you know a youth or someone new to the versatile dog world that could use some mentoring, please encourage them to apply.

Our Tentative 2022 Test Dates & Locations:

Test entries will open February 1st for chapter members only.

  • May 14th-15th Natural Ability (NA)-Four Brooks WMA Milaca, MN
  • June 4th-5th NA-UPT-UT-Kelley Farms Hugo, MN
  • June 11th-12th Natural Ability (NA)-Pineridge Grouse Camp Remer, MN
  • July 23rd-24th Natural Ability (NA)-Four Brooks WMA Milaca, MN
  • August 13th-14th NA-UPT-UT-Pineridge Grouse Camp Remer, MN
  • August 20th-21st NA-UPT-UT-Iron Range Retriever Club Virginia, MN
  • August 27th-28th NA-UPT-UT-Four Brooks WMA Milaca, MN
  • September 10th-11th-Natural Ability (NA)-Four Brooks WMA Milaca, MN

If you have a new puppy or a dog that has not tested previously, make sure you verify your dog is registered with NAVHDA. 

 

While it is still hunting season, there is no rest for the weary, especially for the largest chapter in the NAVHDA system. Your Chapter Board of Directors is busy planning 2022 Testing Dates & Training Clinics and opportunities. We will be opening up chapter membership renewals very soon, and test entries will open after January 1st. We are planning EIGHTEEN days of testing over EIGHT weekends in 2022! To maintain Minnesota Chapter membership, you must be a current member of NAVHDA International. To enter a dog in a test, the Handler & Owner of the dog must be current members, and the dog must have a valid NAVHDA registration. It is a good time of year to check on these things! You can verify membership and dog registrations at: navhda.org

Hello chapter members, the Chapter Bylaws require the current Board of Directors to notify the membership by August 15th of each year of the status of the  board members and their terms.  Your current Board of Directors, their current boards position and their term expirations are as follows:

  • Pete Aplikowski-President (October 2021)
  • Brent Haefner-Treasurer (October 2021)
  • Mitch Carlson-Director of Training (October 2021)
  • Sam Snyder-Vice President (October 2022)
  • Peter Ness-Secretary (October 2022)
  • Sean Ewaldt-Director Testing (October 2022)

Nominations will be accepted by the Secretary from the Membership until August 31st.   Members may nominate themselves. Members who are not nominating themselves must  agree to accept the nomination which is to be verified by the Secretary.

If there are more nominations than open seats, there will be an election.  Please reference the Bylaws Article IV for more information.  Please also reference the Bylaws for a description of each Board Position and duties.

The three individuals with expiring terms (Pete Aplikowski, Brent Haefner and Mitch Carlson) have all been nominated for another 2 year term.

Send any nominations to:   secretary@mnnavhda.org