Fred Barnes was a watcher. Little got by him. For the last two years he had been watching John Payne, a professional pointing dog handler, and his scout, Willie Blevins.
Fred judged field trial’s a lot. Why? Because he had horses and a truck-trailer rig to haul them, and if he committed, he showed, and he appeared to be without favorites among handlers or owners, pointers or setters. He was pleasant enough, stayed sober in daylight hours. Accepted only gas money to judge. He watched constantly the dogs under judgment. Did not chat or gather wool while judging. Rode every brace at the same pace.
Fred became convinced John and Willie were cheating, using GPS trackers to keep up with dogs they were handling and scouting. Fred studied on how to catch them. How came to him in the middle of the night. It should be quite simple, he reflected. He called his son Buddy.
“Can you get away a few days and come down here, bring your little video camera? That and your cell phone and GPS hiking device is all you will need.”
“Sure Pops, if you need me.”
Fred met Buddy at the Montgomery airport next evening and as they drove west toward the trial’s grounds, stopped to eat in Selma. There Fred explained his plan to catch John and Willie.
Buddy slept in Fred’s room at the motel that night and made sure no one saw him next morning as he drove to Sedgefields (West) in a rented car, leaving after everyone else had departed for the grounds. Fred left a horse saddled for him at the barn and he followed the singing of the handlers in the first morning brace. Out of sight behind the gallery, he carried his cell phone on vibrate mode as his father had directed. He wore wireless devices in his ears so he could listen to his cell phone and speak on it without anyone else hearing, if he spoke in a whisper.
One of the handlers in the first brace was John Payne, with Willie Blevins scouting.
Buddy felt his phone vibrate and answered it in a whisper. Fred responded in a whisper, giving Buddy the coordinates of John’s dog. Buddy looked at the coordinates on his personal GPS device and adjusted his course toward the dog, which was not far away from him. Then he caught sight of Willie, riding hell for leather in pursuit of the dog. Willie, intent on getting to the dog, did not see Buddy.
Willie reached the dog and, bending in the saddle, grabbed its collar and lifted it to ride before him on his pommel. Buddy could not help but admire Willie’s skill and strength as he filmed the scene on his tiny video camera. He included landmarks to document that Willie was riding far in front of the judges. The camera recorded time on its image as well as a picture.
When John had earlier handed Fred his tracker-receiver at the start of the brace, Fred rode into the woods, ostensibly to relieve himself. He turned the receiver on and re-hooked it to a ring on his saddle. It would thus track John’s dog and Fred could look down at the receiver’s screen as he rode and know constantly Fred’s dog’s whereabouts. Thus Fred had directed Buddy by cell phone to catch Willie.
After the day’s running Fred invited John and Willie to have supper with him and Buddy at Fred’s favorite restaurant in Selma. Fred had arranged with the restaurant’s owner for use of a private room after the meal. When supper was over (it had been accompanied by many tales told by Fred, John and Willie of trials over the last twenty years, some where all three were present, some not). Fred called for the check, then said, “Let’s step in this room a minute. Buddy has something interesting to show you.”
The room held a big screen TV, and Buddy had arranged to be able to show on the screen what he had captured with his video camera. John and Willie watched in amazement. Then Fred said, “I know one or both of you had a tracker-receiver out there to find your dog.”
Willie blurted, “No Sir!”
Then Fred realized Willie was telling the truth. Willie had just been doing what great scouts had always done, out of sight. He recalled a saying he had first heard thirty years ago, “What the judges didn’t see, didn’t happen.”
Fred apologized to Willie and John.