Brentley of Bradford is a true underdog, a chocolate Lab, and the kind of rare show champion to make hunting dogs proud.

Two weeks ago, at age 9 and on the brink of retirement, Brentley won the overall title at the Labrador Retriever Club’s 2001 National Specialty Show in Valparaiso, Ind. It’s a contest where Labs are honored for possessing the breed’s finest qualities. The top Lab was chosen out of as many as 600 dogs.

But this title isn’t what makes Carl Brandow, a forester and hunter, most proud of the rare Lab that he and his wife, Nancy, raised at their Bradford kennel, Cedarwood.

Back in 1997, the dog achieved the master hunt title. Then in 1999, Brentley became a champion after accruing enough points at specialty shows around the country.

Being a champion, a master hunter, and now a national titleholder has put Brentley on Ducks Unlimited’s new T-shirt.

Carl Brandow said that while Brentley is a Lab, and a natural hunter, attaining the master hunt title was no easy feat.

In 1985, the American Kennel Club approved a hunt test that would allow dogs to be acknowledged as proficient hunters on three levels. Unlike field trials, the AKC’s hunt test uses live birds and drills the dogs in real hunting situations. The master-hunt test is the most difficult.

“The AKC recognized a tremendous need to get the average guy into working their dog,” said Carl Brandow. “This [title] is what makes Brentley special.”

Nancy Brandow said there have only been 20 Labs that were master hunters and had attained a champion title, and only four of those were chocolate Labs.

When Brentley attained enough points to achieve the championship title for specialty shows in 1999, he had to win at least three major competitions, and he did so, winning four.

“He is very much an example of what the breed standard is. And he is a combination of trainability and natural hunting instincts,” said Nancy Brandow, who has worked in hospital administration for 18 years, yet manages to show Brentley at many of his competitions around the country.

“That’s the wonderful thing about the breed. They’re such a versatile dog,” she said.

Carl Brandow said the belief chocolates are lesser dogs than black Labs is a myth, and Brentley is proof.

“People said to me, ‘You can’t train chocolates. They’re numb as a stick. They’re spooky. They’re this, they’re that,”‘ Brandow said. “The only difference is their color gene.”

Guides may not be Masters

Those sportsmen who are touted as “Master Maine Guides” may not be what they are revered to be. They may be qualified to guide in fishing, hunting, and recreation, but they may not necessarily be the best just because they have earned the “master” title.

“It doesn’t really mean anything,” said Skip Trask of the Maine Professional Guides Association.

The Warden Service was considering pulling the title altogether, but decided against it, as the idea prompted some debate and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wanted to revamp its new guide test before the new year.

Maine guides licenses are issued in several categories, including hunting, fishing, recreation, whitewater rafting, and sea kayaking. A Master Maine Guide license is issued for one who is licensed to guide in hunting, fishing, and recreation. But some say it has lost the sense of reverence once attached to it.

For this reason, DIF&W was considering dropping the specific classification. But Trask said at a DIF&W meeting in October that the title has a lot of history to it, and would need careful consideration before being dropped.

Historically, a Master Maine Guide was someone who had shown excellence and years of experience in hunting, fishing, and recreation. Today, it simply means someone who has passed the guide test in each of those activities.

“I can pass the test today and never have been in the woods,” said Col. Tim Peabody of the Maine Warden Service.

Trask pointed out that even the term “Registered Maine Guide” is outdated. At one time, guides only had to register. Today they do not. Now, they have to take a test to obtain a license.

Make room for southern hunters

The hunting tradition in Maine may be stronger north and east, but in southern Maine, people are more apt to run into hunters, due largely to the lack of area open to hunting.

In the central and southern hunting districts, there are from 10 to 18 hunters per square mile, according to DIF&W. In the north and east, there are only three to five hunters per square mile.

Baxter Tote Road will stay wild

This year Baxter State Park took over from the state the responsibility of maintaining the Park Tote Road, the 41-mile road that travels from the south entrance around the western and northern edge of the park to its northern entrance.

As a result, visitors to the park won’t see the road improved on from its current state, although park director Irvin “Buzz” Caverly said it won’t fall into disrepair.

The state highway department previously maintained the Park Tote Road.

Caverly said the change was made because the state used heavy machinery to care for the road, and, as a result, it has been widened. That broke the overriding principle of the park that it be kept wild, as mandated by the park’s benefactor, Gov. Percival Baxter.

“According to the trust, there is to be a narrow, winding, unimproved road. DOT has done a wonderful job, but by the nature of their responsibility, they use heavy equipment,” Caverly said. “The first road built in ’68 was then a single-lane tote road. Since Baxter’s death we have seen in many areas a doubling of the width of that road. It’s time to stop that.”

Deirdre Fleming’s Outdoor Notebook appears every Saturday. She can be reached at dfleming@bangordailynews.net or at 990-8250.