Blog

25 Years of The Florida Championship, Part 1

(Starts Sunday, January 13, 2019) This January marks My twenty-fifth year Reporting the Florida Championship What fun it has been To carouse with like-minded men Their dogs and their horses And the Chinquapin quail Read more

Ambitions

January 9, 2019 | Other Things, Prose | Comments

At 80 I often reflect on my ambitions Many unrealized but not for lack of trying Many secret until now So here is my confession My first ambition was to be a farmer But recurring droughts and collapse of cattle prices Taught me in the 1950s That I could not make a living from the soil Read more

The Hole

January 4, 2019 | Fiction, Short Stories | Comments

Ike Brown had a derby to sell. The derby, Fast ‘N Furious, had made a reputation by scoring three firsts in prairie trials. It was January first now, and Ike decided it was the time to sell F&F. The ideal buyer was a person intent on winning the Continental Derby Championship, set to begin the third Monday of the month. F&F appeared to be an ideal candidate. And he was, almost. But he had one hole, and a big one. So far, only Ike and his scout, Booty Blevins, knew of the hole. Read more

2018 Montana Hunt with Jim Heckert

December 31, 2018 | Jim Heckert, Remembrances | Comments

These photos were taken while upland bird hunting near Choteau, Montana, east face of Rockies. In two days of hunting sharptails and Huns, we encountered five Grizzly Bears at uncomfortable range, a mother with three year-old cubs and a solo adult of unknown sex that eyed us from woods edge at a range of about 150 yards! Read more

The Ring

December 26, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

The two daughters of one of Ben’s favorite clients had called for an appointment to see him together as soon as possible. Joanne had set it for two days later because she knew Ben and Sam had a bream fishing outing scheduled tomorrow. Ben was grateful for that for two reasons: first, because it had been hard to get an open time on the pond, and second because the daughters were oil and vinegar, and when they wanted to see him it was usually about a disagreement over the care of their mother, one of Ben’s dearest friends and oldest clients, or about the management of the family’s assets, for which Ben had Trust Protector status. Ben was hopeful the two days had been enough time for the sisters to think their disagreement through and settle it themselves. That proved to be wishful thinking. Read more

A Quiet Withdrawal

December 23, 2018 | Ben Reach, Fiction, Short Stories | Comments

Ben Reach went to the National Championship only when someone close to him—a handler or dog owner—had an entry in contention. Still, with all Ben’s connections to the sport, he found himself riding at the Ames Plantation for a half-day every few years. This was one of those years, and Ben was enjoying it. The friend and client with a dog qualified and ranked high in the Gossip Rankings (the only rankings save Purina Points) was a client from Thomasville with a private jet who invited him along. Ben loved to fly thus, and hated to fly commercial. Read more

Contrary Advice

December 11, 2018 | Ben Reach | Comments

Ben Reach had faced this unhappy moment many times in his long years practicing law. Yet no time seemed so sad as this one. The client was one of his favorites, Fred Eanes, owner of Cedar Hill Plantation and former CEO of Clench Industries, a defense contractor he had sold for a billion dollars so he could enjoy Cedar Hill, a Thomasville quail plantation and a gift from earlier generations of his illustrious Yankee business-wise clan. Read more

Working Dog Owners Have Lost a Dear Friend

November 18, 2018 | Other Things, Remembrances | Comments

All working, herding, sporting, rescue and other dog devotees have lost a dear friend and fierce advocate. And I have lost a friend of a lifetime. That friend is Donald McCaig, author of Nob’s Trials, Rhett Butler’s People, and other great books about working dogs and Civil War history of impeccable literary quality and revealing of the author’s deep knowledge of things essential to a worthwhile life. Read more

The Switch

October 28, 2018 | Short Stories | Comments

Al Hart was a sport, by every definition. And he could afford to be. He owned vast Texas oil and gas interests, plus vaster Texas surface lands, more important in his mind, for they nurtured what he loved best, quail, bobwhites and blues. Owned vast acreages in South Texas, West Texas including the Panhandle, and Central Texas, all the quail regions. Owned them the Old Fashioned Way, by inheritance. To manage his quail hunting, Al employed Buck Branch, a Texas Bird Dog Man in the Jack Harper-Tony Terrell-Dean Lord-Gary Pinalto tradition. Read more

Fred Dileo

October 21, 2018 | Fred Dileo | Comments

Since his tragic death At 46 in 2007 I have been working To tell his story I have bare facts From the written records Memories too of what I witnessed Many stories others told me Now I hope to gain your help Those who knew him watched him work To climb the ladder to the top Dog by dog trial by trial Please share your memories As I post the Read more