End of the Season

Another season ending
The quail pairing off
Dogs and horses road weary
Handlers and scouts wore out

They’ve been on the road
Since August
Starting up north
Hauling dogs and horses
To new grounds week by week

From the North Dakota Prairies
To Kansas hog-back pastures
To Ohio reclaimed mines
To Oklahoma ranches
To North Carolina sand-hills
To Alabama Black Belt
To northwest Chukar ridges
To Georgia-Florida piney woods

They’ve been drawn
Two by two
Gone head to head
By the luck of the draw

Sometimes drawn lucky
More times not
Good luck on the draw
Sometimes done honest
Too often done not

Yes they’ve gone head to head
On good courses and bad
Some salted with game birds
Wild birds rare
South of the prairies
Fall released second best

How was the season?
Scary
Entries way down
Truck prices inflated
Gas and diesel sky high
Twenty-three in the National
The Invitational dug deep to draw twelve

Two weeks left
At Albany for Southeastern and Masters
On Chickasaw and Abigail
Blue Springs and Nonami and Senah
All-age and shooting dog
Four great trials on great grounds
A party between
At the Potter Community Center
Shrine of field trials and quail plantation culture

Meanwhile on Livingston Place
The National Amateur Quail Championship runs
The best of the amateur handlers and their dogs
Seek that best of wins
Good luck to all and be safe

Thank you land owners
Thank you club sponsors
Thank you breeders and starters
Pro handlers and scouts and dog owners
Thank you judges and photographers and reporters

Thanks to all for the memories
The thing that lasts longest
Then dies with us
But lives on for future generations as images
Preserved digital in the cloud or on DVD
Or on paper in attics in molding copies of the Field
Or bound volumes of the Field Dog Stud Book

And thank you UKC
For rescuing the American Field
And the Field Dog Stud Book
May you preserve its precious records
And the unwritten rules and traditions
That have given us pointing dog trials as we know them
Since 1874

And thank you National Bird Dog Foundation
And your National Bird Dog Museum
A treasure for trialers and hunters and sporting dog owners