I look back
Across decades
Of a grand life
With joy and gratitude
And for no part more
Than my bird dog field trial life
Which began modest but became grand Read more
My Good Luck
Blog
The Dog To Do It…continued
And you ride to his call
And there stands your dog high and tight
Will it stay when you flush
After three usually no
Your scout knows that well
Was why he called point
But nothing to do
But flush Read more
The Dog To Do It
Where the dog goes
Only where it should
Deep forward and using the wind
To find game at the end of a half-mile cast at the top of a hill Read more
Chain Saw Burglars
Timber theft was not rare in the forest lands across the rural south. In fact, it was an art form, especially where absentee land ownership was common. It’s practitioners included, among others, unscrupulous timber cruisers, surveyors, loggers and log truckers, saw millers, land dealers and managers, and occasionally lawyers and county officials.
Ben Reach had observed them in action, often in concert, over a long career. He had acted to thwart them when he came upon them in time. Read more
Memories
With no Florida Championship to report this year, I have turned to re-reading memoirs of great field trial handlers, namely Jack Harper, Ed Mack Farrior and Leon Covington (via his biographer, John Chriswell). Their careers spanned 6 decades (1919 through 1960s). I knew only Mr. Ed Mack, and what a privilege! Read more
Andy
It is not hard to find joy and sorrow joined close together in our game. In fact, they are a recurring theme in the human-canine dramas that tie together men and women and great field trial bird dogs.
As I reflect on the dramas surrounding the Florida Open All-Age Championship over the twenty-seven years I reported it, none is so poignant as that of Chinquapin Andy, Florida Champion in 2009 and 2010, his trainer-handler, Joe Hicks, and his owners, Ted Baker and T. Jack Robinson. Read more
A Derby
In the hearts of true all-age pointing dog devotees, nothing is so important as a talented derby. A derby is a two-year-old.
What defined a talented derby: potential for greatness as an all-age, or adult, competitor. And greatness in pointing dogs involved many talents. But the one always recognized: excitement, the ability to produce it. Read more
Pete and Big Jack
I wish
I could see once more
Pete Hicks turn loose Big Jack
At Chinquapin where he won in ‘87 Read more
Silverwood at Chinquapin
“What was the best race
You ever saw?”
“Silverwood’s at Chinquapin 2002” Read more
Hunting Grouse
Hunting grouse is a spiritual thing
As every grouse hunter knows
And when you loose your dog
And strike out on foot behind it
The third with you is always God Read more