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Apex Retrievers

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United States
Elm Creek, NE
Apex Retrievers

Apex Retrievers is a fully licensed and insured retriever training facility in central Nebraska.

09/09/2026

Hunting season has started for some of our past students! We love to see pictures of our pups doing what they were bred and trained to do!!

09/01/2026

We are home from running the last regular test of 2026 for the team. It was a big weekend as we ran 21 dogs each day for a total of 42 entries and 84 trips to the line! Lots of new HR titles! We are extremely proud of the young dogs!

Thank you to the entire Sunflower club, birds techs and our Judges Rusty Noahr, Kyle Krause, Kevin Redman, Beth Walizer and Ben Kuhn.

Picking up Finished passes for the team were:

9xGRHRCH Cash MNH4
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

GRHRCH Bones MH
Owned by Jeremiah and Sara Donaldson

4xGRHRCH Blue MNH
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HRCH Flash MH
HRCH Piper MH
Owned by Libby Milroy

HRCH Brix MH
Owned by Jason and LeeAnne Larson

HRCH Koa MH
Owned by Matt and Colby Larson

HRCH Bizzy MH
Owned by Joe and Whitney Shadden

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet Thompson

HRCH Flounder MH
HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

Picking up Seasoned passes were:

HR Ranger
Owner by Cory and Makennah Kienow
***NEW HR***

HR Scoop
Owned by Linda Alexander
***NEW HR***

HR Scout
Owned by Darin Ashcraft
***NEW HR***

SHR Cruze
Owned by Aric and Holly Hanson

HR Scarlett
Owned by Tim and Milinda Laeger
***NEW HR***

HR Hank
Owned by Ted and Kim Smith
***NEW HR***

HR Max
Owned by Kent Wright
***NEW HR***

HR Reaper
Owned by Derrick Tucker
***NEW HR***

SHR Murphy
Owned by Seth McCormick

HR Bo
Owned by Larry Muck
***NEW HR***

We will be training hard these next few weeks before we hit the road for the HRC Grand!! Thank you everyone!!

08/29/2026

Its a wee bit toasty in Kansas today for Sunflower HRC. Thankful for a club and judges that know how to run a quality as well as efficient test! Also grateful for our Ainley trailer and the A/C units on it. We have 24 dogs on board and those units are working hard to keep them all nice and cool! 🥵

08/24/2026

This weekend, the team ran Elkhorn Valley HRC. In the Pierce/Norfolk Nebraska area. We had a great time and ran a ton of dogs! One was extremely special as Al earned his 1000th HRC point putting him in the HRC Hall of Fame!!! I cant thank Travis and Jolene enough for their commitment to Al and I!

Dane took 12 finished dogs and Nate took 12 first time seasoned dogs making our total for the weekend 48 dogs ran!!

Thank you to the judges Deb Eckhardt, Jessica Dowler, Heidi Goeman, Doug Powell, Jeremy Lowry, Lyne Rabern and Cj Bolen! Also thank you to the club members of Elkhorn Valley for everything!

Lots of passes this weekend so here we go!!

Finished passes were:

9xGRHRCH AL HOF MNR
***NEW HALL OF FAME***
4xGRHRCH Blue MNH
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

9xGRHRCH Cash MNH4
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

HRCH Flash MH
HRCH Piper MH
Owned by Libby Milroy

HRCH Branch MH
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Eric Scott

HRCH Koa MH
Owned by Matt and Colby Larson

HRCH Brix MH
Owned by Jason and Leanne Larson

HR Twist MH
Owned by Theresa Bilava

HRCH Riley
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Clint Didier

HRCH Flounder MH
HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

Picking up Seasoned passes were:

Scout
Owned by Darin Ashcraft

Hank
Owned by Ted and Kim Smith

Scoop
Owned by Linda Alexander

Scarlett
Owned by Tim and Milinda Laeger

Bo
Owned by Larry Muck

Murphy
Owned by Seth McCormick

Cruze
Owned by Aric and Holly Hanson

Ice
Owned by Sam Porter

Reaper
Owned by Derrick Tucker

Louisee
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

Max
Owned by Kent Wright

Ranger
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

This weekend we finish up our regular tests for the year at Sunflower HRC! Thank you everyone!!

08/20/2026

We love this trailer, until it’s time to clean the heifer! It takes a team effort! Thats a whole lotta aluminum and stainless. But she sure does shine up nice!

07/21/2026

Another huge week for the Apex team!

Dane took 9 dogs West to Bayard NE for the Co Women’s Double Master. The dogs all ran great and we were able to qualify 6 more dogs for the Master National! Not to be outdone, the 3 non qualifiers(all three running their first Master tests) picked up their first 2 Master passes!

The three rookies were:

HRCH Jack
Owned by Kent Wright

HRCH Zyn
Owned by Sami Strutz

HRCH Arrow
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

The 6 Master National Qualifier’s were:

HRCH Koa MH
Owned by Matt and Colby Larson

HRCH Bizzy MH
Owned by Joe Shadden

HRCH Faith MH
Owned by Darin Dunn

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet Thompson

HRCH Teeter MH
&
HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

Nate on the other hand took 12 dogs to South Dakota to run HRC. Nate knew the pressure was on as he was running 6 brand new rookies in started and he had 2 dogs running for their final points to be officially GRHRCH. It was a warm weekend but the team ran strong. Thank you Dakota HRC and Volunteers!

Picking up started passes were..

Scout
Owned by Darin Ashcraft

Scoop
Owned by Linda Alexander

Frankie
Owned by Louis and Steph Olberding

Beau
&
Hank
Owned by Ted and Kim Smith

Scarlett
Owned by Tim and Milinda Laeger

Picking up Finished passes were:

GRHRCH Rye MH
***officially GRHRCH***
Owned by Matt and Steph Stricklin

GRHRCH Fancy MH
***officially GRHRCH***
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Twist MH
Owned by Theresa Bilava

HRCH Gunny
Owned by Libby Milroy

HR Branch MH
Owned by Eric Scott

HRCH May MH
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Brett Hovis

Thank you to all our supporters, followers, clients, family and friends! We will have a few weeks at home before we hit it hard in late August!!

07/12/2026

This weekend was a BIG one for the team!! The team split not only venues but states as well!

Nate took a group of finished dogs up to the balmy North to run with our friends at Prairie Lakes HRC. Cant say enough good things about this club. They are one of the best!! Thank you to Kim, Jo and team for all you do!! Thank you to the judges and volunteers as well!!

Picking up Finished Passes:

GRHRCH Fancy MH
4xGRHRCH Blue MNH
both owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Rye MH
Owned by Matt and Steph Stricklin

HRCH Tex
Owned by Ethan Kerk

HR May MH
Owned by Brett Hovis

HRCH Gunny
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Libby Milroy

HRCH Hook
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Mike Martin

HR Twist MH
Owned by Theresa Bilava

HR Riley
Owned by Clint Didier

HRCH Chief
Owned by Eric Talley

HRCH Brix MH
Owned by Jason and LeAnne Larson

Dane and Ashlyn stayed home to run Master in North Platte Nebraska at West NE Retriever Club. Thank you West NE members and judges Larry Kimble and Jason Baker!

Picking up passes were:

9xGRHRCH AL MNR
***Qualified for Master National***
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Bean MH
***Qualified for Master National***
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

HRCH Koa MH
Owned by Matt and Colby Larson

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

HRCH Koda
Owned and handled by Ashlyn Christner

HRCH Rudy MH
***NEW MASTER HUNTER***
***Qualified for Master National***
Owned by Jack Lindstrom

HRCH Flounder MH
***Qualified for Master National***
HRCH Cinch MH
HRCH Teeter MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

•Also need to give a shout out to Brock Thorburg and Tanner Benash for titling their Apex dogs Ace and Drake in Senior! We did the basics on these two boys but Brock and Tanner took them and are passing these two in both AKC and UKC tests!!! Congrats fellas!!

Next week Dane will be running a double Master in Western NE working to get a few more dogs passes to qualify for Master National as well as running some brand new faces in Master.

Nate will be taking a trip next weekend to South Dakota to run at Dakota HRC!!

Thank you everyone!!

📸 Pictures were taken Saturday and Sunday morning’s just North of the Kennel before we hit the road for North Platte.

07/09/2026

Talk about a size difference!

Both are newly HRCH titled last month in June. Both come from nice field bloodlines, and both hunt in the fall and test in the off season and both these boys are preparing to run their first Master tests next week. To be honest thats where the similarities end outside of both being black lab males. 😂

HRCH Zyn(the Corvette) on the left and HRCH Jack(the 3+3 squarebody big block) on the right.

06/30/2026

Test season update!

The team has been grinding hard the past few weeks! We need to make some announcements for the past few hunt tests!

First off Nate made the trip to Cheyenne WY to run HRC with a group of dogs. Want to thank the judges and Hidden Pines club members and volunteers for their hard work on this test!!

Picking up Finished passes for the team were:
9xGRHRCH AL MNR owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Chief
Owned by Eric and Elizabeth Talley

HRCH Jack
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Kent Wright

HR Tex
Owned by Ethan Kerk

HR Zyn
Owned by Sami Strutz

HR Arrow
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Hook
Owned by Mike Martin

Picking up Seasoned passes were:
SHR Gypsy
Owned by Joe and Whitney Shadden

SHR Sammy
Owned by Mike Jansen

SHR Dani
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

Our next event was the CO Womens mid week Master held at Flatlander Kennels. Thanks to Chris, Eileen and staff for hosting the event! Thanks you to tall Larry and Short Larry for the test!!

Picking up passes were:
GRHRCH Bean MH
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

HRCH Rudy
Owned by Jack Lindstrom

HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

HRCH Flounder MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

The last test we ran in June was Salt Valley HRC held outside of Unadilla NE. This test is one of my favorites that we run and even though I wasn’t able to go, I am glad Nate had a successful fun weekend with one of my favorite clubs! Thank you to all of the members, judges, and volunteers for all of their hard work in putting on one of the best tests in the region!

Picking up Finished passes were:
Twist MH
Owner by Theresa Bilava

HRCH Chief
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Eric and Elizabeth Talley

HRCH Zyn
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Sami Strutz

HR Gunny
Owned by Libby Milroy

HR May MH
Owned by Brett Hovis

HRCH Arrow
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Fancy MH
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Rye MH
Owned by Matt and Steph Stricklin

HRCH Tex
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Ethan Kerk

Picking up Seasoned passes were:
HR Gypsy
***NEW HR***
Owned by Joe and Whitney Shadden

HR Sammy
***NEW HR***
Owned by Mike Jansen

HR Dani
***NEW HR***
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

These past two tests Nate and our young dogs have titled 5 new HRCH’s and 3 new HR’s! Great work!!

We will take this weekend off to celebrate Americas 250th birthday and will be back on the road the following weekend with Nate running HRC in Morris, Minnesota and Dane running AKC in North Platte, Nebraska.

Thank you everyone for the love and support!!

Address

7804 Custer Road
Elm Creek, NE
68836

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://Www.ApexRetrievers.com/

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