News & Updates

July 2009

       Welcome to the 2009 SSJ Farm update. We would like to sincerely thank our customers for another successful year. Each year our business has grown and we have continued to expand our grounds. With three courses available, we have been able to accommodate most all hunters. We hope to continue to be able to put all hunters and their dog in the field for a morning or afternoon hunt. The grounds on all three courses will be a little different as every year brings new habitat. Course A was not burned this year so it may be heavier with brush. Course B has been opened up and expanded. Course C was burned and heavily disked to try to remove some of the under story. It will have an entirely new number placement.

       Prices will remain the same and all other rules will continue to apply. After booking a hunt, confirm via e-mail or phone call within a 24-hour period prior to your scheduled hunt. Also, please try to arrive between 8:00AM to 9:00AM for the morning hunt and arrive between 1:00PM to 2:00PM for the afternoon hunt. If you arrive late, we can not extend your time in the field if there is a hunt scheduled after yours. We try to make it so everyone gets their full time in the field but sometimes it is necessary to hurry one up a bit.

        As we go into the 2009 hunting season, we hope to host a few United Bird Hunters (UBH) hunting dog field trials. For those of you that ran in our first field trial, please mark your calendar for Saturday December 5, 2009. If you were unable to participate in the first trial, we encourage you to come out in December. If we have enough participation and interest, we will host another trial in January 2010. SSJ Farm may also host the Regional UBH trials to be held in February 2010. We hope to generate excitement for these field trials and grow UBH to be a popular venue. It can only be successful if we, as hunters, support the sport. If you are interested in participating in hunting dog fields trials, please send an email with all of your contact information to swnhill@aol.com. Please label the subject line: SSJ Farm Field Trial. The amount of responses will determine whether or not we host two regular field trials prior to the Regional event. In order to participate in the hunting trials this year, you will need to be a member of UBH and your dog must be registered . You may visit www.theubh.com in order to join UBH and to read the rules and judging guidelines.

        SSJ Farm, in trying to help you become the best hunter you can be, would be interested in hosting a shotgun and dog training clinic. If you are interested in attending either one of those, please email us at the above email address. The shotgun clinic would address general topics about becoming a better shot and individually about gun fit. The dog training clinic would help with pup training and bad habits.

We hope to see you often. Stuart and Sharon

MARCH 7, 2009

1st ANNUAL SSJ FARM UBH FIELD TRIAL
SSJ Farm held its first ever hunting dog field trial on March 7, 2009. The day was warm, the skies clear, 21 dogs and their handlers were nervous. Most of the 21 had never experienced a field trial. After the day was done, most were ready to do it all over again.

SSJ Farm hopes to run two field trials each year, one in the fall and one in the spring. The interest for such an event just overwhelmed us.

It took most of the day to get thru the eleven braces, and when the dust had settled, SSJ Farm's Brittanys Jo and Jett handled by owner Stuart Williams, finished 1st and second with scores of 112 and 90. Tom Tankersley's setter Abby finished 3rd, followed by Dave Brumbaugh's Vizsla Haley 4th.
The trial was run under United Bird Hunter rules and SSJ Farm was assisted by UBH VP and Eastern director Ernie Ashby.

Ernie came a day early to certify judges and get everything set up for the trials. He brought two judges, Steve Elliott and Eric Schmidt from South Carolina. Steve's son Ashby did the bird handling duties. Ernie also ran two dogs in our trials.
The complete list of dogs and handlers are shown in the photo gallery section of our website, along with pictures from the trial.

We wish to thank every one that contributed to our successful season and this field trial.