Officers/Contacts

President – Eric Bartlett - Click here to contact Eric.

Growing up on the Saco River I spent a lot of time on the water, discovering and learning what a waterway could provide. Hunting, fishing, and trapping were just a few of my interests. At a young age I started to develop a passion for water-fowling and found myself in a duck blind on many a fall day. As a boy, I always wanted a retriever and the size, shape and color weren’t important as long as it was a worthy hunting companion. Well….mom and dad bought a sheltie. I made the best of it. Ducks were out of the question, but that little dog could quarter for woodcock like a champ.

Later in life I wanted to do more so I decided to hang wood duck boxes in the area, became involved with Ducks Unlimited and I bought that retriever I always wanted. This was when I really began to enjoy my hunting. I raised my own pheasants to train with and we trained ALOT. That’s where I began to learn what a pleasure it is to hunt with a trained dog.

I met people through DU who began to help me shape my dog training ideas. In the past I bought a couple of videos but now I had people to train with and an organization called the Hunting Retriever Club to check out.

I purchased another retriever. This time, one who was bred for competition. I entered my dog in a test as a puppy and was very happy with his performance. I pushed myself to train my dog to the best of my ability so I could take him as far as possible. The people that I met were, and are, very instrumental in the steps I’ve taken to get my dog to where he currently is. I now have a wonderful retriever that I enjoy spending time with and a group of people that I enjoy being with.

As I look further down the road at what this all holds for me, I’m very excited to have been elected president of the Saco River Hunting Retriever Club, as well as being on the Avery Outdoors pro-staff. My goal is to work hard for our club and create an environment which people are proud to be a part of.

Vice President – Sue Jensen - Click here to contact Sue.

I suppose you could say I come by my love of hunting dogs naturally. My father’s job required him to travel extensively when I was young, but every waking moment of his spare time was spent pheasant hunting the fields of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire with our family dog. She was a pointing mix, nearest we can figure, which he picked up from a “free to good home” ad in the newspaper. She had absolutely NO training whatsoever, but he had a feeling about her. He brought along his hunting buddy (who had a Springer) to take a look at her. When Dad said he’d take her, his buddy thought it was finally time to have him committed. After living with the unruly and destructive dog for only one week, so did my mother! As it turned out, Dad’s feeling was right. With a little time and training, he and that dog turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to each other. Now that my father’s gone, I’d give the world to listen to his hunting stories....again. Dad was the epitome of the stereotypical sportsman. The stories grew more colorful every time he re-told them.

Twenty years later I found myself with 2 hunting Goldens that I purchased from my long time friend Jill (who, despite my foolishness, has remained my friend all these years) and a pointing dog/lab mix who was a visual clone of my father’s dog. I went to a field trial demo given by a local club and I was instantly hooked. Although Jill didn’t go with me to see the demo I managed to convince her that somewhere, somehow, we really needed to crawl into someone’s back pocket to learn about all these amazing things I had seen.

We hooked up with Donna & Richard Hammond and Jill and I threw bumpers for them on weekends as a trade-off for help with field work. Life got in the way and I wasn’t successful at following through with my plan to enter my dog in a test. Several years later I spent hours researching bloodlines and scouring the web.  I bought a pup from Canada with the intention of competing her, and re-connected with Richard, Donna & Jack Kenney. In 1999, they formed what was then known as the Saco River Valley Retriever Club (now known as Saco River HRC) and I joined and attended my first training day in April of 2000.

As the saying goes….”You do what you know to do…when you know better, you do better.”  I feel especially privileged to have met and befriended so many fantastic people through my connection with SRHRC. The dogs, the passion, the knowledge, and the willingness of others to share their time and commitment is what drives me to “pay it forward.”

Secretary – Jill Jordan-MacLean - Click here to contact Jill Jordan-MacLean.

I met my first Golden Retriever in 1977 and have been in love ever since.  I cannot imagine my life without at least one Golden in it, and more than one, whether mine or a friends, just adds that much more to the joy that a Golden brings to life.  For many years, my Goldens have been beloved companions and producers of awesome hunting and companion dogs.

As Sue’s bio mentioned, at some point she convinced me to look into all the cool stuff well-trained hunting dogs could do, and we briefly hooked up with Richard and Donna Hammond, the founders of Saco River HRC.  As all too often happens, life got in the way and that interest got set aside for other things.  But Goldens were still a major part of my life and, as all good things generally do, interest in the “hunt stuff” resurfaced when I started seeing what Sue was doing with her dog!

I joined Saco River HRC in the Spring of 2005 after getting a puppy that had the background to do this “hunt stuff” from Jill Moffett in the Fall of 2004 and I’m hopelessly hooked!  When I first got my pup, despite already knowing what bird dogs can do and being interested in training for retriever hunt tests, I never dreamed that not only would I be participating in retriever hunt tests but that my dog would have titles!

Without the willingness of others who share this passion to give of their time, knowledge and expertise this would not have been possible.  The support, camaraderie and life-long friendships of those who share this consuming passion, both human and canine, has enriched my life more than words can convey.

Treasurer – Jill Moffett - Click here to contact Jill Moffett.

Member at Large - Dave Flynn - Click here to contact Dave Flynn

Member at Large - Steve Brunelle - Click here to contact Steve Brunelle