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A Poacher Forgiven

December 12, 2023 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Albert Cole felt jubilant this opening day of quail hunting season in Thomas County. He had recently concluded successful negotiations to purchase a tract of 300 acres adjoining his Cedar Creek Plantation, rounding out the acreage of his quail shooting estate at 5,000 acres, its original size when assembled for $6 an acre by his great grandfather, a Robber Baron of the Gilded Age, from desperate turpentiners and cotton farmers in two stages, the first beginning in 1893 with a financial panic that led to a Depression lasting until 1897, the second with a Boll Weevil attack on cotton in 1915.  Read more

I Miss the Mountains

December 3, 2023 | Poetry | Comments
I miss the mountains whence I came The Blue Ridge of Southwest Virginia The Parkway ribbons along their top From Afton to Fancy Gap non-stop In April they turn from brown to green Redbuds and dogwoods declare spring In October they blaze yellow, orange, red, Under myriad sunsets, moons full and new Night skies lit by stars or gray with rain Read more

Run-off at the Invitational

November 26, 2023 | Quail Championship Invitational | Comments
Judge Sam Scales knew them all and knew them well. That’s why he tried to talk his two fellow judges out of the run-off between Jersey Mike and Alabama Al. He agreed they were the top two dogs among the four that had gone down for two hours today, Monday. And he could have lived with giving the title to either of them and runner-up to the other. But one wanted to name Mike Champion and the other Al. Both were insisting on a run-off Tuesday morning.  Read more

First Time at Grand Junction

November 23, 2023 | National Championship, Short Stories | Comments
Billy Berg was going to Grand Junction, the Ames Plantation, for the National Bird Dog Championship! He could not believe it. He had been running dogs on the all-age circuit only three years. Before that he had apprenticed under his father, John, who ran shooting dogs for the public on the horseback shooting dog circuit out of New Jersey. Billy had endured lean times but had some success. His owners were mostly one-dog sponsors who had been patrons of his father and placed a dog with him out of affection for his father. But now he had “made his bones,” qualified a dog for the National. This required that the dog win two firsts in open all-age stakes of an hour. Not easy to do, for hour stakes attracted large entries from all-age handlers pursuing the same goals as him, most with deeper strings. Read more

Joe

November 15, 2023 | Poetry, Remembrances | Comments
He was the best I ever owned But in truth he owned me A setter pup from Flash and Pat From their first litter of a dozen more  Joe Prince gave me Joe A weanling gift for Christmas I’d got Flash for him from Bill Anderson And Pat for him from Arthur Bean She a daughter of Alamance Pride Runner-Up to Hilmar for Arthur in the Eastern Open ‘76 Flash Read more

The Hole

November 1, 2023 | Short Stories | Comments
Bud Cole and Andy Grimes were rivals, to put it mildly. Each was a pointing dog trainer-handler for the public in the shooting dog category. They were based in Southside Virginia, a land where tobacco and pine trees for pulpwood and saw timber dominated the rural landscape. The year was 1963. Read more