markdrill1

Marking Drill
Written by Michelle Linnane

I saw Bob Starky set this up when I was training with him in North Carolina last winter. We only ran
the youngs dogs that day, but I thought it would be great for the older dogs. We had a Shoreline
training session a few months later and I set it up for all the dogs. I am not sure if this is exactly how
Bob Starky did it, but this is what we did that day and I think the dogs got a great deal out of it.
When doing singles have all gun stand with a bird in their hand.

We had 4 guns in the field which you can see as they are marked in red. This photo was taken right from
the line. The furthest gun was 242 yards. Here is the should look Gun 2and Gun 3 are even they are off set
of each other.
8 Gun 1 1

7 Gun 2 2

6 Gun 3 3

5 Gun 4 4

Line
What we did was 8 singles from these four guns. So as you faced the test from the line
Gun 1 threw from left to right or to the number 1. Then Gun 2 threw from left to right or to the number 2.
Then Gun 3threw from left to right or to the number 3. Then Gun 4 threw from left to right or to the number 4.

Then we reversed it and started this time with Gun 4 and threw from right to left or to the number 5. Then we
threw Gun 3 from left to right or to the number 6. Then we threw Gun 2 from left to right or to the number 7.
Then we threw Gun 4 from left to right or to the number 8.

As you can see we had some terrain changes they had to go down a hill but still check up on the
short birds. The dogs did a little of eveything on this test. Sometimes they went to a short gun that had not
been thrown. Don't be surprised if you see a little of everything. Very few dogs did the marks correct even as singles.
If someone had trouble we had the person move up to simplify. It will not be uncommon if when you run the
mark at Gun 1 and they go to Gun 2. We either handled them or just made sure the gun was prepared to help.
It is a must to have radios on this drill, so you can talk to the gunners in the field.