MILO – The best of the best cocker spaniels in the United States and Canada and their handlers will participate in national field trials here in late October 2002.

Three Rivers Wingshooting will host the national event that is expected to draw hundreds from throughout the country and Canada to the three-to-four-day event.

The owners of the River Road business, Al and Patty Estes, hosted the Maine springer spaniel field trials last year, which were observed by members of the Maine cocker spaniel organization. The latter group not only agreed to move their Maine field trials from Frye Mountain to Milo next fall, but also convinced the national leadership to hold its field trials in this Piscataquis County town.

“We’re really excited about it,” Patty Estes said Sunday. She said the event not only will benefit the region’s struggling economy, but will be an opportunity for visitors to see what the region offers. “We’re just hoping it will help all the local businesses, which it will,” she said.

Preparations for the event are under way, Estes said. That includes raising 1,000 more pheasants for the dogs to flush from the fields during the competitions. Normally, the couple raises about 4,000 birds for their commercial shooting business, but this year about 5,000 will be raised. Other preparations include meal planning and lodging arrangements for the guests.

Estes credited Sylvia Black of Milo for working out the lodging details, and Dennis Lyford, executive director of the Southern Piscataquis County Chamber of Commerce, for his presentation to the national organization encouraging it to conduct the event in Milo. But it was Jim Keller of Knox who made the national trials in Milo a reality, she said. “This happened all because of him,” Estes said.

Keller said Sunday that it was a combination of circumstances that convinced the officials to bring the trials to Milo, including the excellent condition of the fields maintained by the Esteses. One big plus, he said, was the attitude of Milo residents, who had displayed banners in the community last year welcoming the field trial participants.

“The people [at last year’s field trials] were welcomed with open arms,” he said. It’s not often the organization gets that type of support from the locals, Keller noted. “The folks were so overwhelmingly receptive to us.”

Keller, who is a professional handler and trainer of bird dogs, said the national trial in Milo will be the third such trial of cocker spaniels since the 1960s. He said the Maine field trials to be conducted in the fall for both cocker spaniels and springer spaniels is to determine which animals qualify for the national trials. Carl Collough of England will judge the Maine cocker spaniel trials. Jerry Cacchio of New York will judge the springer spaniel event, he said. The judges for the national trials have not yet been selected, according to Keller.

For the national trial, the handlers of the state champion cocker spaniels from throughout the United States and Canada will demonstrate the ability of their dogs to flush pheasants from some of the 450 acres of fields owned by the Milo couple.

Keller said the trials are a spectator-oriented event. He said the spectators are allowed to go out in the field and watch. The dog handler said the event will be good for Maine and good for Piscataquis County.

“I’m excited for the region and I’m excited for Patty and Al,” Keller said.