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I’m a breeder, trainer, and a handler. That’s the order I put my focus on as well, running my kennel. It’s starts with the breeding. Without good breeding the next two on the list are a lot harder or impossible to accomplish successfully in a highly competitive game. I’m fortunate to have several stud dogs that do make a positive imprint on their pups no matter what female they are bred to. That being said, when they are bred to talented females, it really makes my stud dogs look great. So many people overlook the quality of the female. The most important part is the female!!

I never witnessed Hard Driving Bev perform but I read her impressive reports. I do know a line of dogs that all have one common denominator and that’s Hard Driving Bev. True Confidence and Tailor Made are the two that I currently have to beat on the All Age Circuit every week! They are spectacular bird finders with breathtaking style and composure on birds. That’s just two of the many that she has produced in one or more generations. Females like Bev who competed over her lifetime can never produce the numbers of winning offspring in one generation that males can. What’s more important is that her winning qualities are carried over several generations.

Being a producing female is one thing but to have also garnered the many Open Championships on a major wild bird circuit that she did is another thing. Those two combined are very hard and rare to come by and that’s why I endorse Hard Driving Bev for the Hall of Fame. Let’s not overlook the great females that are so important to our sport!

Jamie Daniels
Bronwood, GA

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Through her long career this female won major championships including four National titles beating the best of the best. Bred sparingly, she produced champions and generations of their offspring continue to win championships on the major circuits and produce more champions. Her hallmark traits of nose, intelligence, strength and class are definite in these winners. Hard Driving Bev not only set the high bar with her performances and production records, she set the bar for entry into the Field Trial Hall of Fame. I urge you to vote for Hard Driving Bev.

Robin Gates
Leesburg, GA

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I have had the good fortune to have watched many of the finest females competing in American Field Trials in the past 30 years. Many of those female memories now rightfully reside in the Hall of Fame. The finest all around performing and producing female I have been around in the past 20 years has been Hard Driving Bev.

Many never get the chance to actually see the dogs they vote for perform. A dog’s reputation can be based on assumptions, hearsay and in some cases legend created by buzz. None of that is necessary with Bev. How she won was simply out of the reach of most dogs. That’s no knock on most dogs, it’s just the way the real world of birddogs is…if you are true and honest with your evaluation.

Bev doesn’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame because she won championships. She doesn’t deserve to be in the Hall because she produced some winning dogs. There’s a bunch of dogs that do that a lot. Hard Driving Bev deserves to be in the Hall because the performance boundaries she set established a higher standard in the grouse woods and her positive genetic influence is proving to be powerful and generational. Those cherished and rare qualities elevate her into an elite handful of performing dogs over the past 20 years.

When a dog not only wins but extends the boundaries of performance, and consistently buries the field, the dog is exceptional. When the dog customarily does extraordinary things in competition repeatedly that no other dog does singularly, when the dog produces high end performers that produce high end performers that continue to produce high end performers that win on the most competitive and demanding circuits in the country…the dog has left an enduring mark. The Hall of Fame, first and foremost, is about honoring those that change the sport for the better in an enduring way.

Hard Driving Bev deserves to be inducted to the Hall of Fame because her accomplishments and contributions are worthy of that honor. I respectfully ask that you support her.

Frank LaNasa
Isanti, MN

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I witnessed Bev judging her in 2006 to her second win of the Grand National Grouse Championship held that year at Marienville in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania.

When judging grouse trials, I am looking for the same kind of dog that could win horseback stakes. Bev’s athleticism was impressive, running through the rocks and difficult hilly terrain of that area, she was fast but hit the ground lightly and effortlessly. She also showed the very hereditary trait of stopping and listening for her handler instead of searching to find the front. Bev never once got behind during her hour though she was rarely in sight as she ripped off huge casts into the cover. She always held the front completely on her own, without any whistling or yelling from Joe McCarl, her handler. Running to the front really breeds on in dogs and should be highly valued.

Ruffed grouse are especially wary in Marienville, as it is mostly open pole timber sprinkled with cuttings of young saplings where the birds feed. Bev’s uncanny ability to handle those grouse so precisely to present them in front of her is rare and speaks greatly of her nose and high intelligence, also breed-on traits.

Bev proved her ability to perform thrillingly and consistently by winning important championships, including four National titles throughout her long career. Even more important is that she has passed on the hereditary traits that allowed her to win so convincingly to multiple generations of dogs that are proving themselves on the major circuits all over the country.

I enthusiastically support Hard Driving Bev for the Hall of Fame.

Harold Ray
Waynesboro, GA

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Ch. Steel City Karen

Qualifications for Dogs to be voted into the Hall of Fame require that they have a proven record of Championships earned while competing in field trials. The other is the ability to pass on their outstanding qualities to their offspring. Hard Driving Bev has proven that she has fulfilled the necessary requirements to be elected into the Hall of Fame in both of these areas. I never saw Bev run in a field trial but have the honor of being part owner of one of her granddaughters, Ch. Steel City Karen. She is the best dog I have owned in my 40 years of competing in field trials. She runs big, handles well, and points her birds with outstanding style thanks in part to her grandmother. She is a very loving and happy dog and a joy to be around. Please join with Karen and me and vote Hard Driving Bev into the Field Trial Hall of Fame this year.

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I’m writing to endorse Hard Driving Bev for the Field Trial Hall of Fame. Many others have written about her accomplishments and production record, both Hall of Fame worthy, but I believe there are two additional points that made Bev stand out. First of all, not only was she at the top of her game, but she also changed her game. In terms of range and endurance, she consistently raised the bar and took her game to a new level. The second factor, and most important in my opinion, is that Bev did her winning on wild birds. Not only wild birds, but the most difficult wild bird for a dog to pin down, the elusive Ruffed Grouse. The greatness of a bird dog is truly proven on wild birds, and Bev more than proved herself. History has proven the difficulty of dogs competing outside the All-Age realm to gain entry into the Hall of Fame. Only the best in their game have been able to achieve success. Bev was the best at her craft and deserves enshrinement.

Todd Babbel
Dunbar, Nebraska

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Has the dog helped to improve the breed? This is the most important question that one can ask when they are reflecting on a dog’s qualifications to be in the Hall of Driving Fame. With this in mind, I ask that you consider Hard Driving Bev as a most worthwhile choice for this year’s induction.

Bev’s winning record was earned in the grouse woods, and it is most notable. The grouse woods are arguably the hardest to achieve success in considering the rough terrain; the quarry is always wild and is only pinned by the best. Further study shows that Bev, a female pointer, bred only 4 times, produced winners in every litter. Her progeny, successful in important all-age and shooting dog competitions includes great grandson, top all-age contender Champion True Confidence.

Bev was bred to Erin’s Tin Soldier, and the pairing produced Champion Erin’s Special Force who placed in the Pheasant Futurity and went on to successfully compete on the all-age circuit. Special Force produced Champion Erin’s War Creek. War Creek won the National Open Shooting Dog Championship and numerous other major circuit Open Shooting Dog Championships under the whistle of George Tracy.

This blood continues to create a legacy in the form of Tailor Made, winner of the 2015 Southwestern Derby, and now in the string of Luke Eisenhart. There is also True Choice who competes in the Open Shooting Dog trials under the whistle of Shawn Kinkelaar. There are many others.

Much more could be told about the push toward class, power, and true bird sense that a high quality competitor and matron like Bev has brought to the breed. You have here a successful wild bird dog that dominated the grouse woods in her day. She won the National Amateur Grouse Championship with 55 entries, the Grand National Grouse Championship with 85 entries in 2003, 74 entries in 2006 and she won the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship, the only dog to point grouse all three days. She had numerous other notable open championship wins, again, on wild birds, with high entry stakes and never had a single unproductive reported in a trial.

Performance and production is the standard. Grouse woods, horseback shooting dog, and all-age stakes, Bev’s blood continues to “better the breed.” Please mark your ballot for Hard Driving Bev to find her well-deserved place in the Hall of Fame.

Steve Standley
Greenville, GA
2017

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Chelsie Conroy and Tin Soldier’s Bev

I am writing this letter in support of Hard Driving Bev for the Field Trial Hall of Fame. As my family has bred, raised, trained and trialed many dogs over the years, I have been fortunate to be a witness of what it takes to make a great field trial dog. The number of titles Bev holds speaks for itself in that she was a great field trial performer. The high number of entries of the championships she won shows just how rare of an animal she was.

The attributes Bev possessed are among the most favorable in a field trial dog, and those every breeder strives to obtain in their dogs. Style, intelligence, endurance, nose, instinct, biddability, health, size and build are all attributes looked for in the making of great field trial dog; every breeder strives to achieve the development of a puppy that possesses all of these characteristics. To find a dog that has all of these qualities and is able to pass them on generation to generation is even more rare. Bev possessed and passed on these great qualities in her offspring proving that she is worthy of being recognized as a great producer.

As an owner of one of her daughters, Tin Soldier’s Bev, I have been able to see firsthand just how dominant Bev’s great genes are in her progeny. I have seen her progeny, both 1^st generation and 2^nd generation, win trials, be successful in the field, be loving members of families, and live long healthy lives. Her progeny all share similar characteristics in their intelligence, style, demeanor, endurance, biddability, nose, build, health and heart. Her offspring have proven that she has “bettered the breed”.

The fact that her progeny have been successful under various handlers, trainers and circuits is proof of how much Bev has contributed to the breed. Ch. Erin’s Special Force- L. Eisenhart, Ch. Erin’s War Creek-G. Tracy, Ch. Steel City Karen- J. Tracy, Ch. True Confidence- L. Eisenhart, and many more dog-handler combinations have had great accomplishments in the field of competition. Another note worth mentioning is that these Bev progeny are successful products of various crosses- Elhew lines, Erin’s lines, Rebel lines, Miller lines, Blackhawk, and so on. They have all crossed well with Bev and her progeny and each continued generation is still retaining the great characteristics the Bev, herself, possessed and passed on.

I encourage all of you to look at what Bev has given to the breed — what she’s passed on generation to generation — at the champions and winners she has produced. Look at the versatility; her progeny touch all spectrums of the field trial world, everything from All-Age to the demanding grouse woods. I sincerely hope that her impact on the field trial world is recognized by the voters and the HOF Committee as she continues to improve pointers in a most positive way.

 

Chelsie Conroy
Leesburg, GA
2017

 

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In the fall of 2015, a young pointer, Tailor Made, won the Southwestern Derby in Trail City, SD with a thrilling performance that earned him a spot on Luke Eisenhart’s string. This spring, while photographing the Southeastern Open Quail Championship, I had the opportunity to watch him compete. About 25 minutes along the second course, the dog wagon takes a different route then stops and waits some 15 minutes for the field trial party to cross a big field before following it again. A great place to take photographs, I stood quietly next to a pine tree at the edge of the field. Suddenly, a covey of quail flushed wild from 50 yards away, crossed over me and rocketed towards the far end of a row of long-leaf pines. Several minutes later, I spied the first of the dogs approaching from two hundred yards away. I recognized him as he came closer. Focused on hunting, with cracking tail “Ace” sped by me and disappeared on the course in the direction the birds flew. The faint singing of handlers could just be made out. Finally the bracemate, then handlers, judges and gallery were seen approaching as they crossed the field. Luke searched for Ace as he rode along the course. Then suddenly the call of “point” and the rush of judges and gallery to the find, followed by the ring of the gun. I looked at my watch; the dog had stood pointing for close to 10 minutes. Soon after, Ace was found standing again, to the left of the course in a stand of pines on the far side of another big field — a dug up covey. He finished strong with three impressive finds. Tailor Made is three crosses to Hard Driving Bev — two through his dam, Bev granddaughter Bar P Fizz. Two littermates to Ace are competing on the Open Shooting Dog circuit with Shawn Kinkeleer, yet another has already accumulated seven wins for his amateur handler.

In her second letter endorsing Bev two years ago, my friend and Strideaway cohort, Mazie Davis begged the question: What more could this stellar performing/producing female do to prove her worthiness for admission to the Field Trial Hall of Fame? She won big-time; raising the bar of performance in the grouse woods and was already a time-proven producer.

To date Bev grandson, Nat’l Ch. Erin’s War Creek, competing on the Open Shooting Dog circuit, boasts 12 championship wins and a growing and impressive production record. Great grandson, multiple All-Age Champion True Confidence, this winter put down a memorable three hours for his second bid of the National Championship, finishing strong with three well spaced finds in the first week of running when birds were scarcely found. He is the second Hard Driving Bev dog to qualify and compete in the National Championship, the first being her son, Ch. Erin’s Special Force. A Bev grandson, Jumpstart, just weeks ago, won open and amateur derby stakes in his first ever field trials. He spent part of the winter with trainer Judd Carlton in Thomasville, GA. Judd boasted to me of the young dog’s ability to always show to the front and of how impressive and advanced he was on his birds.

Hard Driving Bev is the fountainhead of countless dogs winning open and amateur all-age and shooting dog stakes on all game birds throughout the country, displaying her unmistakable natural talents of bird finding ability, bold and attractive character on game, strong forward race and above all, her intelligence. These define Class.

Hard Driving Bev twice won the popular FTHOF vote. She has the express endorsement of 10 Hall-of-Famers. In her long competitive career, she was no quitter. She won her last championship before retiring at ten years of age with just seconds left on the clock after pick-up time. I ask field trialers and supporters around the country to not quit her and I implore the Hall of Fame Committee to examine again her outstanding record, decisively winning, under knowledgeable judges, major, high entry championships, conducted on arguably the most difficult game bird, the ruffed grouse. The reports of her seven championship, one R-U title, including the three National grouse championships: the National Amateur, the Grand National twice and the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational are available on her website and are thrilling reads for anyone who loves field trial bird dogs.

Her most significant gift — the improvement of pointers — is now undeniable. She has earned her place in the Hall of Fame.

Chris Mathan
Pavo, Georgia

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Tin Soldier’s Bev

I would like to support Bev for the Hall of Fame. She was a great winning bitch and has become a great producer as well. I managed to buy a bitch from her by Erin’s Tin Soldier which I then gave to Chelsie Conroy. Karen wanted a bitch to start Chelsie in field trials with so I gave her Tin Soldier’s Bev. I told them that she was one of the prettiest dogs on point that I had ever seen. Chelsie started running her in walking stakes and won immediately. As Bev grew older, her range increased and so she was switched to horse back stakes where she continued to win. We bred her to The Lobbyist and I have two futurity puppies out of her that you will see in the fall. I have the male with George Tracy and I have high hopes for him. Hard Driving Bev’s blood is carrying on as others have said. And in all venues. She was a great bitch and I believe that she belongs in the Hall of Fame! Please support her!

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Most bird dog enthusiasts have never witnessed the performance of a grouse trial dog. To give some perspective, they are wide ranging, hard hunting, tenacious bird dogs with ground efforts like a horseback shooting dog. They hunt in thick, punishing cover without slick edges or manicured strips. The game they seek, ruffed grouse, is arguably the hardest bird for a dog to properly point. Handled from foot, these dogs are frequently out of sight and, at times, out of hearing. Often they find and point grouse on their own and await their handlers.

Possibly the best grouse trial dog ever was a white and liver pointer female, Hard Driving Bev. She won seven Championship titles, one Runner-up, all on ruffed grouse. Among those wins is every National Grouse Championship — National Amateur Grouse Championship, Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational and Grand National Grouse Championship. Bev was twice named champion of the Grand National Grouse Championship, a feat accomplished by only a handful of dogs since its inception in 1943.

Bev won in Michigan and Minnesota but garnered most of her titles in the Allegheny National Forest outside Marienville, Pennsylvania, the most demanding grouse trial grounds in the nation. The courses are vast for a woods trial. allowing a dog to be seen topping a ridge or hunting a bottom more than 400 yards away. It’s a place with objectives that are few and far between and that require a dog to reach. It’s a place where a dog must know how to find grouse but also a place that affords grouse many options to escape. It’s a place, too, that a dog must make the birds hold. Bev could do all of that with class, strength and intelligence. Most of all, she had that rare ability to consistently pin ruffed grouse.

During her competitive career, Bev whelped four litters. In them were 12 winners including multiple CH Erin’s Special Force, who competed in the National Championship at Grand Junction, Tennessee. Still showing her strong influence today are  All-Age winners such as CH True Confidence who competed in the National Championship twice.

Bev had a career that spanned nine years. She won the most prestigious grouse trials in existence on the toughest game bird of them all. She won against large fields of talented competitors. She was named champion by esteemed judges. And she passed on her exceptional qualities to her direct offspring and beyond.

I believe 7X Grouse Champion Hard Driving Bev epitomizes what the original Field Trial Hall of Fame Committee had in mind when they determined the selection criteria. Please vote for this most worthy nominee.

Thank you,

Jerry Kolter
Sandstone, Minnesota
Dixie, Georgia

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Kim Sampson judging the 2011 Armstrong-Umbel Endurance Classic for Grouse Dogs

I am writing to give my unreserved support for the induction of Hard Driving Bev to the Field Trial Hall of Fame. I won’t be commenting on her successes or production record, as others have covered those details thoroughly and well. Rather, as a “foreign” observer, I will be commenting on the attributes of the dogs, birds and venues where grouse trials take place.

I met Bev in 2011, a couple of years after her retirement and I will never forget the ease with which, as a 12-year old dog, she ran and the number of finds she racked up, while being handled by an 8 year-old girl in a youth stake!

Traveling from Utah to Marienville, PA to judge the Armstrong Umbel Endurance Classic, I knew I was in for some field trial culture shock. My background is horseback field trials and hunting wild birds in the wide-open spaces of the West, so this was new and different in almost every way. Two-hour heats gave ample time to watch, listen and learn about the dogs, birds, and terrain that make up field trialing in the grouse woods.

Two hours is a long time for a dog to run under judgment; in thick, gnarly terrain that challenges a dog’s mind and body, it’s an uncommon test. The dogs’ ability to stay to the front and with the handler, at distances where the bell was a faint tinkling that faded away and then, a while later, still to the front, was there again, was uncanny. (I can imagine the time and talent of both Bev and her handler, Joe McCarl, it took to develop that kind of rapport.) Not only was the distance from dog to handler vast but the inability for either to see the other made it even more challenging. The unsure footing, the changes in contour and elevation and the nasty cover was something completely new and gained my respect about the second time I dismounted my horse to follow a handler to a find. For a variety of reasons but in different ways, the venues these dogs run in are every bit as tough as where I chukar hunt at home in places too steep and rugged for a horse.

Late season chukar, huns, sharptails and sage grouse are very tough birds for most dogs to handle; I am used to wild wary birds and what it takes to get them pointed. But nothing could have prepared me for the judicial task of actually trying to detect a bird that explodes from dense cover and flies at mach speed out of sight. Wild birds, yes. Phantom birds, a bit harder! The dogs that got grouse pointed and held were remarkably athletic, shrewdly smart, and eerily patient.

Dogs with impressive field trial records are worthy of recognition, regardless of where they compete. In my opinion, dogs that win on wild birds have something special to contribute. And females with as remarkable a field trial record as Bev’s that win on wild birds are especially significant. Their chances to compete are often less than their male counterparts, and their reproductive contributions cannot be equaled in numbers. When a competitive female such as Bev proves her ability to impact and change the field trial world, the swath she cuts is wide and deep. The effect is already being felt by all venues, from the grouse woods to the prairies to the piney woods of the south, and everywhere in between.

In closing, it’s my hope that each member of the HOF committee carefully considers the rare and valuable contributions of Hard Driving Bev and elects to induct her into the Field Trial Hall of Fame.

Kim Sampson
Santaquin, Utah
2015 / 2017

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Friends of Hard Driving Bev are a small group of field trialers who knew and greatly admired this dog. We are friends and our philosophy about bird dogs is, for the most part, is very much the same.

All-Age Dog, Shooting Dog, Grouse Dog, Walking Shooting Dog…

All of these categories conjure up different ideas and definitions to field trialers across the country, despite any written standards that may exist and may or may not concur with today’s dogs. Definitions are based on people’s many different experiences with field trials and field trial dogs in different parts of the country, their knowledge of the history of field trials, and their personal biases.

Perhaps it’s time to get back to basics… and to talk about field trial bird dogs. What all should have in common and what separates them. And perhaps, we should talk more about performance than label dogs anything and assume that the label makes the dog and that we agree on their definitions. What dogs actually do and what qualities they pass to the next generation is all that really matters.

 

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Mazie Davis confers with fellow judge Roger Hoover at the 2009 2-hour Armstrong-Umbel Endurance Classic, Marienville, PA

Superb, Magnificent and Uncompromising Excellence are words used by scribes recording Hard Driving Bev’s victorious performances. Bev competed in the grouse woods and I can say, without hesitation, that is one tough place for a dog to show its mettle. In Marienville, Pennsylvania I first met Hard Driving Bev while judging the two-hour Armstrong Umbel Endurance Classic. There is no easy footing for a dog unless one chooses to run the path. The rocks, fallen trees, hilly terrain, and heavy cover opened my eyes to just how tough these grouse dogs have to be. All that said then there’s the elusive ruffed grouse which is not going to sit long; either running or taking explosive flight. I left Pennsylvania with a deep respect for these athletes…nothing easy about their venues! Now, these handlers are on foot, the dogs with bells on their collars are loosed. The sound of the distant bells will let you know where and how far out they are. I rode while judging giving me a much better viewpoint and ability to hear. The good ones were where they should be, out front and trust me they were not under foot. As most of you know my experience is in the all-age world scouting for my husband, Colvin Davis and reporting field trials for over three decades. I have been over this country and throughout Canada experiencing venues that are demanding for dogs but there aren’t many places I have seen that measure up to the grouse woods.

The challenging cover did not deter Hard Driving Bev and the trickery of the ruffed grouse was no match for this masterful female athlete. In the years Bev’s breeder, owner, and handler Joe McCarl campaigned her, she amassed 7 major, high-entry Championships all on wild birds. She won the National Amateur Grouse Championship, Grand National Grouse Championship twice along with Grand National Grouse & Woodcock Invitational Championship. Bev was bred four times with wins and champions coming from all these breedings — 12 winners in all (50% of her offspring) with a total of 48 wins to date. The growing impressive win record of subsequent generations is evidence of her mark as a producer. Their wins come on the amateur and open all-age, shooting dog, and grouse dog circuits throughout the country.

With all this being said about a winning, producing, giving athlete as Hard Driving Bev was, what else is there to be said? If the mark she made does not deserve induction into the hallowed Field Trial Hall of Fame, what does? What more could she have done? I believe that the people I admire in this wonderful sport certainly agree!

Thank you,

Mazie E. Davis
Minter, AL
2015

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I am supporting Hard Driving Bev’s nomination into the Field Trial Hall of Fame because of her ability to consistently perform beyond the boundaries previously accepted as the limits of great grouse dog performance. Her performance was more than a winning championship…she changed things.

Some dogs win because you can completely impose your will on them without leaving fingerprints. Then there are the special ones that win because you don’t impose your will on them. Bev was of the latter. To his credit, trainer/handler Joe McCarl recognized these talents in her youth, gave Bev her wings and hung on for the ride.

Bev added speed, range and course to the grouse circuit beyond what existed before her — no small feat on an already highly competitive and difficult venue. Completely on her own and with uncommon frequency Bev found and engaged birds fleeing for their lives and in her unique way willed them to set and stay before her. She did this consistently because she could. She did it all with such ease that she didn’t wear down or wear out. She competed and won to the age of 10. She was the complete animal. These are the qualities no mechanical device can create and no trainer’s will can impose. They are precious breed-on qualities for all field trial bird dogs.

Bev has set the current bar in the Grouse Woods and it may be more than a lifetime to see it moved again. The Hall of Fame is reserved for those animals that made a distinct contribution and Bev most certainly qualifies both in her extraordinary performance and her continued contributions thru her offspring.

I strongly encourage you to support Hard Driving Bev.

Frank LaNasa
Isanti, Minnesota
2015

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Russ Richardson and Marc Forman at the 2011 Armstrong Umbel Endurance Classic

As I think of my development as a trainer of bird dogs I can reflect on many people who have shaped my philosophy and methods in this endeavor. When I think of dogs that taught me the list is much shorter, and at the top of the list is Hard Driving Bev. I had the privilege to walk many miles behind Bev, perhaps more than any other person other than her owner Joe McCarl, and the experience was almost always didactic in some form. Bev showed me that a dog can hunt with extreme intelligence, not just busting brush in undisciplined and unproductive fashion. Bev showed me that an independent running dog can still demonstrate healthy respect for the wishes of her handler to show to the front. And perhaps most importantly Bev showed me that skittish wild game birds could be handled with extreme precision and confidence. I am not sure, in regards to this last issue, I would have such a high ideal of a dog handling game if I had not witnessed the mastery of Bev. There are, to be sure, other worthy dogs in consideration for the Hall of Fame, but I am compelled to support Hard Driving Bev; I owe her that much.

Russ Richardson
Guys Mills, Pennsylvania

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Most bird dog enthusiasts have never seen grouse trial dogs in action. To give some perspective, they are wide ranging, hard hunting, tenacious bird dogs with ground efforts like a horseback shooting dog. They pursue a wild bird that is rarely plentiful, more wary than a covey of quail and scattered across acres of country. Handled from foot, these dogs cover that ground, frequently out of sight and, at times, out of hearing range. Often they find and point grouse on their own and await their handlers.

One of best grouse trial dogs ever was a pointer female, Hard Driving Bev. She won seven championship titles, one Runner-up, all on ruffed grouse, and among those wins is every national grouse championship—National Amateur Grouse Championship, Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational and Grand National Grouse Championship. Bev was twice named champion of the Grand National, the most prestigious of them all.

Bev won in Michigan and Minnesota but garnered most of her titles in the Allegheny National Forest outside Marienville, Pennsylvania, the most demanding grouse trial grounds in the country. Courses are so vast that a dog can be seen topping a ridge or hunting a bottom at more than 400 yards. It’s a place with objectives that are few and far between and that require a dog to reach. It’s a place where a dog must know how to find grouse but also a place that affords grouse many options to escape. It’s a place, too, that a dog must make the birds hold. Bev could do all of that with class, strength and intelligence. Most of all, she had that rare ability to consistently pin ruffed grouse.

During her competitive career, Bev whelped four litters. Another rare quality, she passed on her talent and power. She produced 12 winners, among them multiple CH Erin’s Special Force, who competed in the National Championship at Grand Junction, Tennessee.

Bev had a career that spanned nine years. She won the most prestigious grouse trials in existence on the toughest game bird of them all. She won against large fields of talented competitors.  She was named champion by esteemed judges. And she passed on her exceptional qualities to her offspring.

I believe 7X Grouse Champion Hard Driving Bev epitomizes what the original Field Trial Hall of Fame Committee had in mind when they determined the selection criteria. Please vote for this most worthy nominee.

Thank you,

Jerry Kolter
Sandstone, Minnesota
Dixie, Georgia

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In my youth I  tried to find and shoot ruffed grouse in the Chattahoochee National Forest area where I grew up.

As an outdoor writer, reporter and judge, I was exposed to competition “in the woods and pole timber”, and also learned a lot from Dr. Tom Flanagan, Elwin Smith and Luther Smith.

Any dog that wins seven championships handling ruffed grouse — which can not be temporarily replenished or replaced by incubating or pen-raising — is worthy of Hall of Fame consideration by American Field readers and pointing breed enthusiasts.

Since my first exposure to Field Dog Stud Book pointing dog field trial competition nearly 70 years ago, I don’t know of many comparable achievements.

I offer two caveats as an afterthought, a kind of truth in packaging effort.

One of Hard Driving Bev’s supporters is one of the best friends I have ever had in my life. And her owner, Joe McCarl is a patient, hard-working achiever — a master in “the woods” and his charge was absolute “Queen of the Woods!”

Bill Allen, Alpharetta, Ga.

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Champion Hard Driving Bev: Her Story in Short.

Joe McCarl had a hunch. He leased a female he admired and bred her to an outstanding grouse champion. The result was just two pups — Joe kept the male and sold the female. His pup showed all the promise of developing into a superior grouse dog but lacked the style needed to win at a high level. By a stroke of luck, the man who bought the female two years prior called Joe. She was too much dog; he nearly lost her in Kansas and she broke her chain several times and ran off, once found tangled in the woods. Joe agreed to look at her. The rest is history.

The following autumn, she and Joe won the National Amateur Grouse Championship in the big pole timber country of Marienville, Pennsylvania. Over the next several years, Bev was competed only in high-entry grouse championships and classics from New Hampshire to Minnesota until the age of ten when her hearing began to fail and she was retired.

Bev was bred four times during her career — the last three times back to back — and was never taken out of competition. She won the Grand National Grouse Championship twice, the Grand National Grouse & Woodcock Invitational Championship, and the Minnesota Grouse Championship. She twice won the Ontario Grouse Championship and was R-U in the Lake States Grouse Championship, running on the fifth day of the 80-dog stake with five grouse finds. She won the prestigious hour Venango Classic in a blinding, driving rainstorm and still nailed grouse on two occasions. For those not familiar with ruffed grouse, this wary bird gives off plenty of scent but handling and pinning it with the precision Bev did, was pure genius.

Bad scenting conditions, poor bird numbers, heat, cold, rain, snow or wind, the field trial was not over until Bev ran. And ran she did, to the front and always at the edge of her big bell and beyond. She had a telepathic connection to her handler who she did not loose. There were times when she did not win — lost on point or just too much as was the case in the hour PA grouse dog classic she competed in after her three consecutive days on the ground winning the Invitational where she was the only dog to point grouse on all three days.

Bev won big; she wasn’t just the best the judges had. The thrilling field trial reports (available on her website) attest to this fact.

Her extraordinary natural talents, her strength and boldness on game live on in four generations of offspring to date. They compete and win on the all-age, shooting dog and grouse dog circuits around the country. Bev’s winning performances remain vivid in my memory. They are not an embellished fairy tale but an aspiration. Hard Driving Bev along with her handler, Joe McCarl, join others in the long history of our sport that have demonstrated what greatness the human/canine relationship can accomplish. We all know their names. Many of the dogs have taken their rightful place in the Field Trial Hall of Fame. I implore the field trial community to add the name of this most accomplished female performer and producer to the roster.

Chris Mathan
Gorham, Maine
2015

 

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I am very grateful to the many supporters of Bev, especially those who are taking the time to write letters about her, the number of high quality of championships she won and of the winning offspring she produced. These are certainly the important facts that distinguish her. But to me Bev’s greatness came from her head full of sense and her great heart. That is what made her so exciting. She had a love for the hunt, to engage and outsmart wild birds and she did it with me and for me.

Her exceptional ability to find, handle and accurately point wild birds, no matter where we were or what the conditions were, set Bev apart from other dogs. Whether in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas or North Dakota, she ran with speed and style but all the while she used her brain, making efficient moves, never wasting time or getting beat up in places she didn’t need to be. She was often extreme in range, especially on the Marienville grounds where birds are scarce and a dog needs to cover a lot of country to find them. But even well out of bell-range she always kept to the front and showed when and where she needed to. She was just that smart. When she didn’t show, I could pretty much bet she had a grouse pinned.

Bev did everything in a big and exciting way. She had the strength and bottom to do it. Her ability to perform at a high level never wavered over her long career even when she was in whelp or had recently weaned pups. I bred her four times to three different males — wild bird champions I thought would compliment her. I am proud of the dogs she produced from those breedings. Half her direct offspring have field trial placements winning on the all-age, horseback shooting dog and grouse dog circuits. They inherited a lot from her — strength and soundness, great nose, brains and her affectionate personality. I don’t know that there are many winning females that have had that kind of strong positive influence.

Hard Driving Bev was a once-in-a-lifetime dog and I am grateful for all she taught me. I respectfully ask the field trial community at large to consider not only her high number of championship wins on grouse but the outstanding performances with which she won and the contribution she is making to this sport by passing on her great traits to generations of her offspring.

Joe McCarl
Guys Mills, PA

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Bev with breeder, owner, and handler Joe McCarl wrote pages in the Field Trial history books!

Bev was campaigned in prestigious, high entry championships and here she tallied 7 crowns with 4 of these being National titles (2002 National Amateur Grouse Championship, 2003 and 2006 Grand National Grouse Championship and the 2006 Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship). “Superb”, “Miraculous”, “Uncompromising Excellence” are how scribes recorded her victorious performances. She was a bird dog of the first order; all Bev’s wins were on wild birds. The trickery of the ruffed grouse was no match for the masterful Bev. It is an amazing story and without delay her website www.harddrivingbev.wordpress.com should be visited to read about this accomplished individual.

Bev’s field trial record should certainly be enough for membership in the Field Trial Hall of Fame but as she did in making these records, she kicked her worth in honors up a notch. Bev was bred 4 times and has to date 12 winners with 47 wins in the 1^st generation including Champion Erin’s Special Force. Her indelible mark doesn’t stop here for in the 2^nd generation there is Champion Erin’s War Creek among many other winners. Then in the 3^rd generation, you will find Champion True Confidence along with others. Her lineage has scored in the grouse woods, horseback shooting dog and all-age circuits.

The term “Giving” to this great sport rests heavily on the human participants. This 7xChampion female not only set a standard of excellence in performance but has also given to date 3 generations of Champions along with many others winners. This production record will grow and expand to many more generations. Talk about giving!

All who hold dear this amazing sport have an obligation to keep the Field Trial Hall of Fame to the prestigious format on which it was founded and write Hard Driving Bev on their ballots.

Thank you,

Colvin and Mazie Davis
Minter, Alabama

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I am supporting Hard Driving Bev’s nomination into the Hall of Fame because of her ability to consistently perform beyond the boundaries previously accepted as the limits of great grouse dog performance.

To me, dogs whose performances were simply unreachable by her competitors, change the game and change perspective, and thereby change expectations. This is the single purpose of field trials to improve the breed. Improving the breed is in essence improving the performance. We all know how difficult that is. Heck in horse racing, we accept limits for decades and decades and then comes Secretariat. He runs the Belmont in a time not thought possible before. Now it is the standard by which all others reach for, our expectations have changed. Our standard has risen, never again to fall back to what we previously accepted as the limitation of performance. The breed has been improved. It doesn’t happen often, in fact it is extraordinarily rare, and this to me is why Bev deserves to be honored.

Bev did that in performance. She changed the definition of a great performance in the grouse woods. That to me is her enduring contribution…unequaled performance. Not 5, not 10 not 100 championships equal the impact on the game that a dog can have if it simply performs beyond the capabilities of those who came previous and moves expectation from that point forward. Bev has set the current bar and it may be more than a lifetime to see it moved again.

I encourage you to support Hard Driving Bev.

Frank LaNasa
Isanti, Minnesota

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It is with great honor that I write this letter of nomination for Champion Hard Driving Bev for the Field Trial Hall of Fame. She was simply the finest grouse trial dog of her era and her influence as a producer will long be felt through generations of her progeny.

To be in the top echelon, the characteristics that define a field trial champion need to be evidenced over a dog’s competitive lifetime. They need to be witnessed and acknowledged by those with their own lifetime of breeding and developing and campaigning field trial bird dogs of the highest caliber. In the case of a wild bird champion like Hard Driving Bev, those that judged her also required a thorough understanding of the bird by which she gained her fame — the king of game birds — the ruffed grouse. And that ruffed grouse is not the isolated bird found in way northern climes but the bird famous for its ability to outsmart and escape from all but the most intelligent dogs, the bird found on the challenging grounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and New England…the bird William Harnden Foster wrote of in his classic “Grouse Shooting in New England”.

Almost a fairy-tale, the story of Hard Driving Bev began when, by an extraordinary stroke of luck, she landed back in the hands of her breeder at almost two years of age, having had absolutely no training and little if any exposure to upland game birds. Joe McCarl quickly recognized her talent, and allowed her to develop into the masterful grouse trial dog she became.

Hard Driving Bev had the style — both running and pointing, the ground speed, and endurance every winning field trial dog must exhibit. Bev reached to the front, had almost a telepathic connection to her handler who — on most occasions — had little to do despite her often-extreme range. Over and over, she put on a show in which one intelligent and independent cast followed another. For the length of her hour, she probed the terrain for where grouse should be and most times she was rewarded. Her hallmark will always be her extraordinary ability to locate and handle running grouse, finally pinning them in front of her. Few dogs can do this and fewer still will exhibit the confident intensity she did and stand boldly through the flush of a close by grouse maintaining her style throughout. If you were lucky enough to witness it, you didn’t forget. She did it under the most difficult circumstances — driving rain, wind, snow, heat…horrible scenting conditions — it only added to the amazement. She seemed almost to enjoy the challenge.

Hard Driving Bev won all three national championships on grouse: the National Amateur Grouse Championship in 2002, the 85-dog-entry Grand National Grouse Championship in 2003, the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship in 2006 and the Grand National Grouse Championship for the second time in 2006. She won the Ontario Grouse Championship twice, in 2005 and 2009. She won the Minnesota Grouse Championship in 2006, the Venango Classic in 2005 and was runner-up in the 2008 80-dog-entry Lake States Grouse Championship. She competed against the best dogs, high entry stakes with respected and experienced judges presiding. Bev was never simply the best judges had to choose from. She excited, won big and etched her performances in your memory. She raised the bar; none that I know have exceeded it.

Strength, range, endurance, Bev exhibited these over her long career. She performed for three consecutive days winning the Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship run in the Allegheny National Forest near Marienville, PA — each day’s hour stronger. The following day she put down a powerful race in the hour Pennsylvania on the same rugged grounds. She competed in the two-hour Armstrong-Umbel Endurance Classic nearing ten years of age. She was run off horseback and 4-wheeler on the prairies and in Texas. Like all intelligent bird dogs, Bev learned to adapt her range to the terrain and cover.

Bev was bred four times — back to back after her first breeding — and was never taken out of competition. She produced 12 winners, dogs from each of her litters, with 47 wins to date. The dogs have competed and continue to compete on all circuits — All-Age, Shooting Dog, Grouse and Woodcock across the country from Maine to Montana and in the South. Her most famous son is 4x Ch. Erin’s Special Force from her breeding to Ch. Erin’s Tin Soldier. “Ben” competed in the National Championship in 2012 and is the sire of Ch. Erin’s War Creek. Bev’s influence and importance as a producing female is also being realized in subsequent generations of above par wild bird field trial dogs including Ch. True Confidence.

For its integrity to be maintained, electing dogs to the Field Trial Hall of Fame is an enormous responsibility. Dogs nominated must have shown class, strength of body and mind and to have been consummate bird dogs. Hard Driving Bev’s win records tell her story. Her many supporters ask that the field trial community and the Elections Committee kindly take time to read them on her website (harddrivingbev.wordpress.com) and please consider this most extraordinary canine athlete for the Field Trial Hall of Fame.

Chris Mathan
Gorham, Maine