The Wonders of GPS Technology

Ever since I started running Gil in the open field I've been using the Garmin Astro dog tracking system to keep track of his whereabouts should he ever become lost, disoriented or injured while on hunt. The Astro is probably one of the best, if not the best, investment I ever made. They're not cheap but it sure does give me lots of peace of mind, plus I get all the cool features that come with it, like being able to review Gil's courses.

Below is an illustrated view of the last course Gil ran at this year's NOFCA Grand Course.


The image was created from information gathered from the collar and then superimposed onto Google Earth. The collar tracks all kinds of information including average speed, distance and location of the dog at any given point in time. I have highlighted the leg of the course where Gil was recorded to have reached his highest speed of 52 mph. In all honesty I doubt the accuracy of the collar but it does give you some idea of how fast these dogs can travel. The point at the far left is where I believe he lost the rabbit since the speeds from that point on become much slower and steadier. The whole course was about 2 miles, but if my guess is correct he only ran the rabbit for about half that distance. Nevertheless a mile long run at full speed is quite a feat.

The most important point to be taken from this is that it gives one a realistic view at how real rabbits run in their natural habitat. Lure coursing is held by many to be an adequate or even exemplary simulation of hare coursing when, in truth, most lure coursing plans do not even come close to simulating the natural course a hare would take while being pursued by a predator (be it dog, coyote or falcon). As a result, lure coursing can only give us a limited indication as to how well our dogs are fulfilling their original function. My hope is that we can start to use technology like this to create better lure coursing plans so that we may improve the ability of those who do not have access to open field coursing to test their hounds' skills in the field.

Split Weekend: LGRA and ASFA

Since there were two events being held on the same weekend we decided to split it 50-50 with LGRA racing on Saturday and ASFA lure coursing on Sunday.

Gator, Luna, Fecni and Belle were entered for the sprint races. Unfortunately Fecni pulled up lame in the last program (she's much better now) and Belle had to be scratched for interfering with her competitors. Looks like Belle is in for some re-training in the near future. Hopefully we can correct her naughty behavior and get her back in good racing form.

With two of the four scratched that left the two siblings to battle it out for the points. In the end Gator won the meet, taking home one more point for his GRC (just a few more to go!) with Luna taking best opposite for half a point towards her GRC.

On Sunday Gator, Luna and Belle headed out to Sloughhouse for SSIH's ASFA lure coursing trial. Gator and Luna ran together in the Open Limited Stake while Belle ran solo in the Singles Stake. The course plan was very challenging and quite a few dogs had trouble with it but the brother-sister duo managed quite well. In their prelim run Gator edged out his sister by one point, but by the end of finals Gator was the clear victor, taking home 8 points towards his Field Championship. Luna took the other 6 points. With these two staying neck and neck with each other it will be interesting to see who finished their ASFA title first.

Miss Belle had a difficult time maneuvering the course and did not place in singles but she had a jolly good time just the same.

Unfortunately there's no photos this time, but here's a video of Gator and Luna's finals run:

Old/New Pictures

These pictures aren't really new, but it's the first time I've seen them so they're "new" to me. These were taken by Dave Mills last season the day that Gil made his first kill. I was so proud, and so was he:

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More Grand Course Photos

Gil's win photo with judges Al Crume (left) and Steve Downs (right)

The Top Ten lineup:

L to R: Fanny, Pulsar, Harley, Muffet, EZ, Pagliacci, Ruby Too, Zoomi, Datura, and Oberon

Grand Course 2010

Since we missed the Grand Course last year I decided we should definitely go this year. For those who don't know, the Grand Course is NOFCA's season-end finale to the open field coursing season every February. It consists of two breed hunts judged by two different judges and one final mixed hunt consisting of the top half of all the breed winners from the breed hunts the days before. Since the event is so big the breeds are usually split up into different fields. This year the rarebreeds (that's us) got to hunt in the same field with the Greyhounds, Wolfhounds and Borzoi while the Salukis and Whippets went to a separate field.


The first day of breed hunts we headed out to a field that ended up being like a hidden swamp due to all the strong rain we've had this year. Several cars in our hunting party, including mine, got stuck in the mud which held us up for a couple of hours while we dug them up and helped tow everyone out. Despite the delay we managed to finish before sunset. Gil walked away with the highest score in our breed hunt that day with Fecni coming in a close second. The cover was heavy and the rabbits hid themselves well which proved to be a challenge for the dogs but they still pulled off some good runs.


The second day we made a point to avoid muddy roads and headed to another field with drier ground. The brush was thicker and the terrain was rougher so several dogs had a hard time staying sighted. To utilize the field as efficiently as possible we worked as a double-ended gallery with two sets of hunters on each side. Unfortunately this caused several mishaps throughout the day when both ends would slip their dogs on the same hare by accident. This happened in Gil's course so in addition to running with his own trio he was also accompanied by a couple of wolfhounds. Despite the mistake the dogs had a great run and Gil ended up with the high score of the day, making him the winner of the rare breed hunt for the weekend. Fecni came in a close second and both were advanced to the final round.

Unfortunately the other hunting party didn't finish their second round of breed hunts and so had to continue on into the third day. The fog and lack of rabbits further delayed the completion of the saluki hunt so we were not able to start the final mixed hunt until 3:00pm. With barely two hours of sunlight left to hunt there was no way we were going to finish the Grand Course in three days. Fecni drew the seventh course with a Greyhound named Muffet for the mixed final and Gil drew the high score whippet. We only managed to find three rabbits before sunset so Gil and Fecni had to wait until the next day to run their courses.


The next day the fog delayed us from going into the field until 11:00am. We all worried that we might not finish but we only needed five more rabbits. Fecni's and Gil's courses were on the line at the same time so when a hare popped up on Gil's side we slipped the dogs. Unfortunately Fecni's handler slipped her at the same time which effectively put her out of the competition. Although Gil ran well the Whippet ended up winning the course.


The final winner of the Grand Course was a Greyhound named "Fanny", Huntington's Fantasia. Her sister, Huntington's Ruby Too, was the winner of the Grand Course last year so it was nice to see that her sister got a chance to follow the family tradition. Overall the competition was tough, as was the terrain, but the Magyars put on a good show and left several people with a good first impression. This is the first time a Magyar Agar has ever attended the Grand Course but it won't be the last. It's very possible that a Magyar Agar could make the top 10, or even win the Grand Course, in the future so we'll keep on trying :-)

2009 - 2010 OFC Season

Compared to last year this NOFCA season has been relatively quiet on the MA front. Despite the low attendance on our part, the season was still an eventful one with Gil earning the last few points needed to complete his Courser of Merit (CM) title, and both he and Fecni qualifying for the Grand Course. Even though Gil only attended two hunts this season he still earned 70 points, which is more than enough to qualify. Good boy, Gil :-)

He also had a hand in bringing down this guy: