The most recent issue, Winter 2012, has a very nice write-up by Shawn Nies about the Harvest Moon Classic field trials (eight trials) held in Roscoe, Illinois over 10 days this past October. Shawn listed all the states exhibitors came from (15 plus Canada) and all the beagle men who helped us. She mentioned weather conditions (extremely dry), extra-curricular tracking practice and certifications managed by Lois Ballard (Viljo and Taya were both certified by Lois during the week), the earthdog test, and the numbers of entries - 724 total for the week when all was said and done! Honorable mentions include the "wild thing" dinner, the bonfire, and the raffle which earned $1000 to be given to the Northern Illinois Beagle Club for grounds maintenance. And the report noted a huge, well-deserved thank you to Cheri Faust and Larry Gohlke. Cheri and Larry organized the 1st annual Harvest Moon Classic and worked very hard to make it all a great success.
Shawn's article included some new Field Champions, of which Viljo was one:
Jeff Boehne, who is one of several new people to field trial at this event, finished his red standard wire GCH DC Hundeleben Zis Und Zat of Brownwood SW (Ziggy), on Friday at the DCGL field trail and then Ziggy got NBQ at the MADC FT during his first time to run with "the big dogs." Patt Nance finished her red, standard long, FC Cadium Aurinkosoturi (Viljo) on Friday at the DCGL FT and he took first place in the FCD class at the MADC FT on Saturday! Sherry Ruggieri finished her 7 month old wild boar standard wire bitch, FC Tusoksori-Ugraszto Husniya (Niya) and she came back to earn a third place in the field champion bitch class. Pamala Hopkins finished her wild boar miniature smooth boy, FC Hoppledachs's Keokut ME CGC (Keo) and he came back in the field champion dog class with a fourth place. There are definitely some very competitive new dogs in the Field Champion classes and I will look forward to seeing more of them.
Thank you for the excellent article and photos.