Blog

My Life as a Field Trial Reporter

August 30, 2022 | Other Things, Remembrances | Comments
My life as a field trial reporter began in 1995 when I was 57. Before that I had been a farmer (1950-1960) and a lawyer (1961-present). Reporter was by far my most satisfying profession. Why? Because it was fantasy. It allowed me to ride horseback and watch world-class bird dogs perform and compete across beautiful hunting grounds, handled and scouted by professionals seeking perfection, then write accounts of what I had seen. What could be more fun than that? For me, nothing. Read more

The Key

August 25, 2022 | Short Stories | Comments
The Sunday following Thanksgiving, Paducah, Kentucky. The six handlers of the twelve entries gathered at seven am at the clubhouse of the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area. Rain poured down relentlessly, as it had through the night. There would be no morning running, likely no afternoon. Breakfast was being served by a local church group. The handlers filled their plates, quickly emptied them, then gathered around the roaring fireplace, glad of a day’s rest for their entries and themselves. Read more

The Bad Summer

August 16, 2022 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
For 130 summers they had trekked north in July to the northern prairies with their young bird dogs. They sought relief from the brutal southern heat, and the game birds that thrived on the vast open lands. For two months they worked their pupils early mornings and long late afternoons. The effect could be magic on a talented pupil, transforming a gangly pup into an accomplished all-age derby performer, that performer every trainer-handler sought but seldom found. Read more

The Saddest Tale

August 9, 2022 | National Free-For-All Championship, Poetry | Comments
You can talk about your endurance tests And yes, Ames is one with its three hours in West Tennessee And the Livingston Place for its hour fifty in briars and Florida heat (But you must not call it Dixie Plantation for both them words ain’t woke) And four hours down at Paducah in three days is a worthy test I guess But the toughest of all Was at Sedgefields West ( Mr. Jimmy’s Sedgefields ) In the National Free-For-All Read more

Diss and Ace

August 2, 2022 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
“What does diss mean?” Ben asked Joanne. “Disrespect, or a put down. Kids say it a lot.” “That clears things up,” Ben said. He had just got off the phone with Fred Carter, a bird dog trainer-handler worried about getting sued. He’d said an owner had dissed his scout, and that was maybe the cause of the incident that could get him sued by the owner. Later that day, Ben drove to Fred’s little farm to get more facts. He was greeted by ten kennel runs of barking bird dogs. Fred and his scout, Benny Blevins, were cleaning runs and preparing the evening’s feed for the dogs. Read more

Three Men and a Dog

July 11, 2022 | Short Stories | Comments
Billy Bowles arrived at the Ames Plantation Saturday at noon and took his lone entry to the Trapp Memorial Kennels where he had reserved a run and two stalls nearby for his mounts. He heeled the pointer Rip from his truck to the run after hanging his own water bucket inside the door and putting fresh hay in the plastic barrel. (Rip as always had traveled from Georgia in the truck’s front seat beside Billy). Read more

Blowout

July 8, 2022 | Short Stories | Comments
He heard the blast and felt the lurch simultaneously, and knew in an instant what had happened. Trailer tire blown, no spare. He fought the wheel, not daring to brake, then grappled for control, avoid a jackknife, the ditch…he was stopped, ten feet off the left edge of the interstate pavement. He got out, confirmed the four horses were all standing. Using a flashlight, confirmed none of the four were bleeding. Read more