Register for Upcoming Events

Annual Chapter Meeting

When: February 8, 2025 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Where: The Copper Queen, Helmville, MT
Cost: Free

We will be holding our 2025 Annual Chapter meeting this February 8th from 10am -12 located at the Copper Queen in Helmville. All members are encouraged to attend to receive updates from the board and upcoming 2025 chapter happenings. We'll also provide a virtual option for those who cannot attend in person. Lunch is provided by the chapter but donations are always appreciated. If you plan to attend in person please fill out this registration so we can plan lunch accordingly with the Copper Queen.

2025 Annual Chapter Meeting Registration

The chapter typically holds elections for board members at this annual meeting but we recognize that this often limits the ability for our entire membership to cast a vote. This year, we'll be holding our election virtually which will conclude the evening of February 7th so results can be presented at the meeting.

We have 3 of 6 board seats up for re-election. If you're interested in being on the board, please submit a brief (300 word max) bio and photo of yourself that we'll post on our website. These will be due to David by Friday, January 17th. We'll then provide the chapter with a link to start voting on January 24th.

If you have any questions about this process or about the annual meeting, please don't hesitate to ask.

Best,
Dave Nikonow
Big Sky Chapter Secretary
david.nikonow@gmail.com
(406) 531-0637

2024 Year End President’s Summary - Big Sky Chapter of NAVHDA

All – I hope the fruits of your labor from this past summer’s training are paying off now that hunting season is in full swing! I wanted to send out an email to thank everyone for participating this year and for all those that volunteered. NAVHDA is a pure volunteer driven organization and without everyone’s efforts, we could not do what we do so THANKS!

Following is a recap on some topics from the past NAVHDA Season that may be of interest. It was a BIG year so long email alert!

New Website
Thanks to the efforts of several members, we have modernized the website. Our first website was crucial to our growth and membership engagement and this new site will assist in continuing this effort. This included the development of a new logo.

Training
We kicked off the season with a couple of workdays followed by some limited training opportunities. We held 11 official training days throughout the NAVHDA Season (April – August). Additionally, we started to open up new opportunities for independent training and although there are still ways we can expand this, many people got to take advantage of access to land and connections for small training groups.

Test Summary
We hosted 3 testing weekends this year. Huge thanks to all those that volunteered to make these possible.

    
                Year
                Natural Ability
                Utility
                Invitational*
            
                2019
                46
                5
                ?
           
                2020
                37
                15
                ?
           
                2021
                57
                12
                2
           
                2022
                56
                19
                2
           
                2023
                52
                25
                2
           
                2024
                32
                23
                3

*Invitational data based on memory, so may not be exactly accurate and only included for past 4 years. Also, for those that don’t know, we do not host the Invitational tests, but these numbers represent our Membership’s participation.

As for results, see right for a summary of how handlers and dogs did in our tests. Notably, 8 Big Sky Members achieved Prize 1 in Utility Testing for a total of 9 dogs, where we had 5 in 2023. Two of the members ran in other tests but spent considerable time training with our chapter and on our training grounds. It is always important to remember that not every dog performs the way we know they can on test day, but these results are indicative of great grounds, volunteers, and preparation.

    
                Prize
                Natural Ability
                Utility
            
                1
                16
                7
           
                2
                7
                4
           
                3
                5
                6
           
                no prize
                4
                6

Special Events

Steadiness Clinic
We hosted a steadiness clinic with Kyle Hough which was very well attended. Big thanks to Lonnie and Logan Meyer for hosting our event at their property. If you would like access to some of the video, check out https://www.bigskynavhda.org/resources where you can also find other great resources.

Invitational Clinic
We hosted an Invitational Clinic where over half of the participants were Big Sky Members. The others were 2024 Invitational Qualified NAVHDA Members from the Northwest where we historically have not had great access to this sort of clinic.

Aims and Rules Clinic
We had started plans to host an Aims & Rules Clinic, however it became clear that the Sharptail planned clinic would meet the demand for all Montana NAVHDA Members and we held off for 2024. We will be considering hosting a Clinic in 2025.

We thank all those that helped in making these events possible.

Birds

In addition to great grounds, birds are needed to make great bird dogs. We probably do not share the logistics behind the scenes enough, but it can be challenging to meet the various needs our chapter faces. We truly appreciate all those helping, however possible, to ensure we have birds available for our member’s use. Generally speaking, the cost of all birds have risen significantly, increasing the financial risk of holding birds over between events.

We have purchased and relocated a homing pigeon coop to Helmville! We hope to have a flock and process to use them established by spring. This will be huge for those developing puppies.

Here are a couple of situations that I felt worth sharing.

Pigeons – Joe York with some help from Ross McNearney was able to locate some suppliers in Idaho. Joe was gracious enough to transport several loads of pigeons up for storage at Lonnie Meyers and the Nikonow’s pens in Missoula. Joe also brought up early season Chukar. Thanks to this effort and continued use of local Montana Suppliers, we usually had birds available ahead of time rather than a last-minute scramble as in prior years.

Chukar – Unfortunately, our Chukar supplier struggled with the health of his flock. We had to work hard at treating them to keep them in good shape. Luckily, the supplier did replace most of our die off, but it is definitely more work trying to store them for longer periods of time, especially when they are supplied in a compromised state.

Ducks - With Avian Flu still being a concern, duck supply reliability has continued to be a challenge. However, supply generally improved in 2024 although not as ideal as many of us would prefer. Storage can be challenging with ducks and we hope to add some facilities that make duck storage more feasible. They are messy and need lots of water!

Equipment
We invested around $2,450 in a set of 3 launchers and electronics, a second Winger Zinger, improved temporary bird pens, and other misc equipment.

Merchandise
Thanks to William Bastian for setting up a virtual store for merchandise. I know the first offering was appreciated and we anticipate reopening it sometime soon.

Looking forward…
We have started some bigger picture planning with the Strategic Plan. This has helped focus our efforts to what is most important to our chapter and members. I am hopeful that we will continue to develop our structure of leadership with committees and director positions to spread the responsibilities of running the chapter to many with clearer expectations. We will soon be opening our 2025 membership renewals and also sending out a survey to monitor the needs of Membership to shape our activities for 2025.

It has been a pleasure training, testing, and generally working with dogs with you all this year and I look forward to 2025!

Sincerely,
Jason Rice, 2024 Chapter President

Requesting a Special Event

If you would like to request the support or affiliation of the Big Sky NAVHDA Chapter for a 'Special Event or Seminar' please complete this form. Special Seminars & Events are defined as: Any event or activity associated with the Big Sky NAVHDA Chapter outside the normal scope of training days, tests, business meetings, or board meetings. The term 'Associated' would include, but be limited to: financial sponsorship, equipment usage, branding, landowner communications, email list, etc.

The Big Sky NAVHDA Chapter has adopted the policy that members will be notified directly and allowed a minimum of 2 weeks
to sign up as priority. Non-members will be allowed to register but may not be guaranteed a spot until the 2 week wait period
is completed.