Blog

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

A Reinstatement

October 17, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

“Gilbert Blevins called and asked if he might come see you,” Joanne said to Ben Reach on his return to the office from lunch at Millie’s Diner. “When will he be here?” Ben asked. “At three, today is his day off.” “Good.” Read more

What Do I Do With Gnarly Pine?

October 10, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Sequel To Per Stirpes or Per Capita Bob Blain had to decide what to do on his death with all his wealth except Gnarly Pine Plantation, the five thousand acre quail plantation outside Thomasville his family had owned and stewarded since 1895. He could leave it to whomever he chose without estate tax concerns because it was held in a trust for him that was not transfer taxable when he died. His family was gone except for his six grandchildren, ages fourteen to thirty. None of them could afford to own it alone, but as partners—all or some of them—might be able to swing it. Big problem for Bob, he did not know them well enough to judge whether some or all would be suitable stewards for this special place. Read more

Per Stirpes or Per Capita

October 2, 2018 | Ben Reach | Comments

Ben Reach got the call on the morning of November 1. The caller was Bob Blain, formerly of Boston, now a resident of Thomasville where his family had owned a quail plantation since 1895. Until now Bob had resided on the plantation only Thanksgiving to March 1 each year, plus a week for Spring gobbler season and some bream fishing and some weekends in dove season. Bob was Ben’s age. “Ben, I want to review my estate plan with you now that I am a Georgia resident, “ Bob said after opening pleasantries. They agreed on a meeting time a week later. Read more

The Set Up

September 23, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Ben got the call on his cell phone on Saturday morning, the first week in March, as he and Sam fly cast for bream from a Jon boat on a pond at Mossy Swamp Plantation. “Mr. Sam, we been set up.” The caller was Andy Ames, a young pointing dog handler just turned pro. Ben could detect the fear and anguish in his voice. “Who is ‘we’ Andy?” Ben said from instinct. “Me and Mr. Harold,” Andy replied. Read more

2002 Florida Open All-Age Championship

September 18, 2018 | Field Trial Championships, Field Trial Reports | Comments

Silverwood Captures Crown, Double Rebel Pearl Named Runner-Up In a race that will be retold as long as any who saw it can faintly remember, ten-year-old pointer multichampion Silverwood scorched the second course at Chinquapin Farms, scored four perfect finds and unleashed a spectacular finishing drive that carried him a mile beyond the usual finish to capture the Florida Open All-Age Crown for handler Robin Gates and owner Dr. Everett Crouch. Read more

The Last Dream

September 13, 2018 | Short Stories | Comments

It was a dream he had started hundreds of times but never completed. Before now, the dream had always ended with his waking to reality. He was a pointing dog trainer-handler, one of hundreds that had since the 1870s eked out a living taking young dogs and molding them into useful workers for their owners, bird hunters or field trialers who as amateurs ran them in trials for amateurs. But what he aspired to was to find and mold a dog that he could handle as a pro to win major open field trials, including the ultimate, the National Bird Dog Championship, held each February at the Ames Plantation at Grand Junction, Tennessee. Read more