68 Saber Tails Summer 2017

Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America

The 2017 PB-

GVCA Region-

al/National 

Specialty Hunt 

Tests were held 

at the Tokeena 

Beagle Club 

in Seneca and 

Townville, SC 

on April 2, 3, & 

4, 2017. In order to accommodate the large entry we had 

to use two separate fields (approximately 8 miles apart) 

and split the entry between each field. Hounds, handlers, 

Judges, Secretaries, and Chief Marshals were assigned to 

each field for the first day’s hunt. On the second day ev-

eryone would switch fields so that they could experience 

the different field terrain and rabbit cover.  

Sunday April 2, 2017 was set-up and practice day for each 

field. Handlers could visit each field and get a feel for the 

hunting conditions they would encounter when they ran 

the next day. Tokeena Beagle Club only has carports for 

shelters at these fields, so the hunt committee had to 

“weather proof” the open ends with plastic tarps to pro-

vide some rain protection. Running water was available 

but no electrical power, so portable generators were re-

quired at each field. To complete the picture deluxe por-

table toilets were standard issue at both fields.

Monday morning roll call was at 7:30 AM, serious weath-

er conditions was discussed and emergency plans were 

agreed upon.  The drawing for running order was con-

ducted. Judges and field marshals were assigned to each 

run. Welcome bags which were donated by Tammy Hens-

ley and Tamara Taskey (Grand-Voile PBGVs) were distrib-

uted. The first run started at 8:00 AM.

In retrospect, it was good that we had we had a serious 

weather plan in place. The day started off with light rain 

and we were able to complete the first three runs with-

out problems. Runs 4 and 5 on both fields were halted 

due to lighting and very heavy rain and resumed after 

delays. Field C was struck by a major wind event after run 

5 was completed. The plastic tarp was torn loose from the 

carport and lunch paper products were blown off serv-

ing tables. Field C runs 6 & 7 were canceled due to server 

weather forecasted for the local area .These runs were 

completed early the next day. The other field (B) was able 

to complete all of their runs.

Monday evening dinner was Low Country Boil which had 

shrimp, sausage, and corn-on-the-cob, etc. followed by 

strawberry short cake. The traditional live auction and 

Tally Ho!

2017 Specialty Hunt

raffle was well received and a total of $1550 was raised to 

defer the hunt expenses. 

Tuesday morning dawned with clear skies as everyone 

switched fields for the 2

nd

 day of the hunt test. The field 

C runs that were cancelled on Monday were run first on 

field B with a 7:30 AM start. Then after the draw for run-

ning order the hunt was continued as normal. We were 

able to complete all of the runs without any problems.

We had 55 hounds entered in this hunt, 24 on field C the 

1

st

 day and 31 on field B the 1

st

 day. There were 10 HIT 

hounds entered the 1

st

 day on field B, 9 were tested and 8 

passed the HIT. The lone NQ HIT hound passed the HIT on 

the 2

nd

 day on field C. 

On the 1

st

 day we had 21 qualifiers out of 23 hounds that 

were tested on field C and 16 qualifiers out of 21 that 

were tested on field B. On the 2

nd

 day we had 19 quali-

fiers out of 23 tested on field B and 18 qualifiers out of 26 

tested on field C.

Overall it was a great hunt with challenging weather, 

heavy rain, lighting and high wind one day and, high 

temperatures the second day, but this was offset by nu-

merous rabbits on both of the hunt fields. 

Several of the 

new handlers enjoy the hunt so much that they are planning 

to go to the Indiana hunt in May.
Paul 

Urban
2017 

Regional/

National 

Hunt Test 

Chair-

man