I just learned that Hunter Gates had last year joined the staff at Chinquapin Farm as head dog trainer, successor to Ray Warren who has retired. Hunter last week described it to me in an email as “the best decision of my life, I love it there.” He emailed from summer training camp in South Dakota.
This news brought to me many happy memories of watching Hunter scout for his father Robin as the team handled together some of the great all-age dogs of my times as a reporter and Hunter’s as a scout. Most memorable, of course, was Silverwood’s epic race at Chinquapin winning the 2002 Florida Championship.
But the first race that came to my mind when I heard the news of Hunter’s move to Chinquapin was one when Hunter was handler, not scout: the setter Shake’s Tag’s Runner-Up Champion win at Chinquapin in 2011 with Slade Sikes scouting. Now Slade, manager of Chinquapin for the Baker family, and Hunter are teammates, managing the quail hunting program at storied Chinquapin.
The 2011 Florida Championship was a strange stake, won with a one-find race by Lester’s Tom Cruise, handled by Andy Daugherty for long-time loyal owner and backer of the all-age game, Brad Calkins of Colorado. Few other entries had multiple finds, and many had none, due to difficult scenting conditions throughout the running.
Tag had been in Robin’s string several years. He was not, to put it mildly, a wide runner, though he was a strong bird finder. More than once at Chinquapin, he had scored two close-together finds and turned to bird hunting, soon to be picked up by Robin. For some reason, Robin decided to delegate to Hunter Tag’s handling. Hunter lined up Slade to scout.
What followed was a classic lesson in handling and scouting to make a trial dog’s race appear as wide as possible, resulting in a surprise ending — Tag being named Runner-Up Champion! No one was more surprised than Robin.
Hunter knew his dog and Slade knew Chinquapin and its KCLs. Together they were a potent team. And Tag’s good nose did the rest. I’ll bet Hunter and Slade often laugh together when they pilot a pair of Chinquapin hunting dogs on the course Tag hunted that day, scoring multiple finds when others could not.
Here’s wishing Hunter a long happy career at Chinquapin with the Bakers and Slade.