Blog

My Thanks to Field Trials

October 18, 2021 | Commentary, Remembrances | Comments
With age we worry we have not expressed thanks to all those we owe thanks. So here I say thanks to all involved with pointing dog field trials for their countless gifts to my joy. Yes, joy, pure and simple, for field trials have meant pure fun for me. I claim no special knowledge or skill about field trials beyond appreciation of their entertainment value. I simply enjoy them, watching Read more

The Conflict

October 4, 2021 | Bird Dogs, Short Stories | Comments
A lawyer fears a conflict of interest like a foot-plowing share cropper fears a kicking mule. And so fear grew in me after on impulse I recommended Sweetie to John Bassett as a grouse dog after his beloved Jill went to her reward. That recommendation put me in jeopardy of losing both my two best friends and best client and principal source of referrals, and my regular quail-hunting partner and key to quail hunting territory. Read more

Sweet Revenge

September 27, 2021 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ben and Sam were savoring Friday afternoon drams of The Macallan in Ben’s library-conference room when the subject of back-hunters came up, and they recalled an incident. The curmudgeons agreed that the most dastardly of outdoorsmen were back-hunters, those unprincipled souls who, having hunted as a guest a host’s favorite covert, would alone or with others (but not the host) sneak back to hunt the honey hole. Read more

My Last Conversation With Big

September 23, 2021 | Remembrances | Comments
It was at Nonami Plantation, Albany, Georgia. I had flown to Atlanta alone and driven in a rental car south to Albany to see a bit of the Masters Championships, a Bucket List trip. The grave of Sam Ellis had drawn me like a magnet to the spot. Read more

Before DNA

September 10, 2021 | The American Field | Comments
Among the best things the American Field Publishing Company did for field trailers was to institute the DNA testing requirement. Why? Before DNA testing many ways to cheat on representing the parentage of bird dogs existed and were frequently used by the unscrupulous. Here is one example. Read more

Reflections on The American Field

September 6, 2021 | Remembrances, The American Field | Comments
I was an avid reader (or scanner) of the Field for all its print-format years from about 1965 onward. I published a piece in its Holiday (Christmas) issue every year from 1973 onward. After I started reporting trials in 1995 I published several reports each year, including of the Florida Championship every year, the Invitational at Paducah ten years, the Continental and Free-For-All several years, and the Lee County (a personal favorite) many years, all filled with fun for me. Read more

The American Field (1874-2021)

September 5, 2021 | Other Things, The American Field | Comments
The American Field Publishing Company is no more, as an independent entity. On September 1 it and its Field Dog Stud Book were acquired by the United Kennel Club, an international for-profit registry for Coon Hounds, Beagles and other working (or sporting) breeds, including curs and feists. It could have been worse. Its website announcement says it intends to continue and honor the Field’s pointing dog trial traditions. Let us hope it can and will do so. Read more

Advice on a Dog Sale Deal

August 30, 2021 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ben Reach religiously followed a policy, preached to him by his father, not to get involved in law suits involving dogs. But ironically, he was asked for advice on bird dog matters constantly. This was because Ben had many friends in the bird dog world and was trusted. He had judged trials over many years and never shown favoritism. Nor did he ever decline to try to help a bird dog professional trainer-handler in distress, and there was never a shortage of them. The profession was by its nature highly risky. Read more

My Father, the Farm, our Draft Mares and the Tractor

August 22, 2021 | Non-fiction, Remembrances | Comments
My father died of car crash injuries when I was fifteen in 1954. Now I am eighty-three. Despite our few shared years, he remains the person most influential in my life. I think of him often, and with gratitude, and wonder at how he inspired me. My father, born in 1897, lived through repeating hard times. Born and reared the son of a livestock dealer-farmer who conducted business largely on horseback through my father’s youth when he apprenticed, my father was drafted for Army service in World War One and completed Officer Candidate School at Camp Zackary Taylor in Kentucky just in time for the Armistice. Read more