Blog

Last Call

February 3, 2026 | National Championship, Poetry | Comments
’Twas at the National Championship in 20?? After all the entries ran and failed to make a case Not a single covey had been stood, bumped or chased The three distinguished judges were disgusted with the place At lunch they called a huddle to decide what now to do One had a flask of whiskey, one a flask of gin The third a batwing of brandy if you can believe that sin The senior judge said call ‘em back till we get one worth the win Read more

The Third Judge

January 27, 2026 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ben Reach no longer judged field trials, too old. But he had judged many, across the continent. His favorite was often punishing, due to its weather: The Quail Championship Invitational, run at Paducah, Kentucky, starting every Saturday after Thanksgiving. The trial ran just three days, and for only twelve dogs, the top twelve who accepted the challenge based on their all-age Purina Points. The dogs ran an hour Saturday, then another hour Sunday with a different brace-mate and at the opposite time of day. Then for Monday the judges called back as many as they wanted to see in a two-hour heat, usually four or two dogs. Read more

David Johnson Remembered

January 19, 2026 | David Johnson, Remembrances | Comments
I met David Johnson at the Florida Championship in 1995 and saw him there many years and at other trials, including the Free-For-All at Sedgefields (west) and the Continental. I also saw him at Foggy Bottom, T. Jack Robinson’s Mississippi training and hunting property near Corinth, Mississippi. He was first a gentleman and a consummate professional as a scout and trainer. Always quiet. Always looking for ways to help other Read more

A Fair Deal

January 17, 2026 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Albany, Georgia, lawyer Ben Reach met with Randy Culp on a Monday morning. Randy was a quail hunt manager and general hand on Sunny Slope Plantation near Thomasville. “What can I do for you, Randy?” Ben asked.  “It’s about Mom, Mr. Ben. She has cancer, not expected to live long. She asked me to see you about a will for her.” Read more

My Farming Years

January 9, 2026 | Farming, Remembrances | Comments
Nineteen fifty to 1960 were my farming years, the first three years and two months as my father’s partner. (He also practiced law). On June 29, 1950 I turned twelve, and on that day my father bought for $1200 a John Deere MT tractor for me to operate, retired our draft mare team Maud and Bird, and fired our resident farm tenant. The tractor dealer, Nelson Wimmer, to whom my grandfather had given in 1934 a seed and fertilizer retail business he founded in 1919 that never made money, converted it to a John Deere dealership that prospered many decades. Read more

A Christmas Story

December 24, 2025 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Pete-Bob Dix called Ben Reach and Joanne answered. “Miss Joanne, I need to see Mr. Ben and Doc Nixon urgent. I got a problem only they can fix, maybe, I hope.” It was a week before Christmas, coming next Thursday. “What’s it about, Mr. Dix?” Read more

Two Scouts

December 13, 2025 | Short Stories | Comments
This year there were only two in attendance at the Championship, held in North Florida the second week of January. Five decades earlier, when the trial was first held in 1969, each of the handlers attending had one, a year-around full-time employee. I speak of black scouts. The handlers were all white, then and now. Read more

Arnie, Bo and Superboy

November 30, 2025 | Short Stories | Comments
Arnie Eanes and Bo Brown were a handler-scout team of the 1930s, home based in Georgia. Arnie was white, Bo black. They lived at a time and place when almost no one had wealth, and the few who did were from up north and loved to bird hunt and admired good pointing dogs. Arnie and Bo made their meager income training and handling those dogs, for competitions called field trials. This was a sport invented sixty-odd years before in England and imported to the United States in 1874 and since become popular among a few sportsmen, wealthy and not, across the nation. Read more