Category: Other Things

Crime and Punishment in the Bird Dog World

March 25, 2026 | News From Tom, Other Things, The American Field | Comments
In the summer of 2003 there appeared in the venerable American Field Magazine, founded in 1874, an announcement that would shake the rafters of bird dog kennels across our continent. Henceforth, the FDSB would require DNA proof of FDSB registered parentage to recognize a dog’s wins in FDSB sanctioned trials. The evidence required would be in the form of a cheek saliva swab, to be analyzed by a company in the business of such analysis. Read more

Farming and Unintended Consequences

March 10, 2026 | Non-fiction, Other Things | Comments
Farming teaches one about unintended consequences, but not painlessly. For example, the unintended consequences of importing hay from far away in a drought year. In the early 1950s we had some bad drought summers in Appalachian Virginia. They left us short of home-grown hay. So we bought hay from Ohio , shipped in by train and tractor-trailer truck. Read more

Last Brace – A Memorial Day Tribute

May 25, 2025 | Henry Caruso Jr., Jim Heckert, Remembrances | Comments
Once Upon A Time, at the storied field trial grounds at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, daylight was running out. There were two more braces to run, but only time for one. No one wanted to stay another day. What to do? The four handlers with dogs in the last two braces: Dave Grubb, George Tracy, Henry Caruso, Jim Heckert. By agreement, all four dogs were run together in a last brace. Laughter flowed throughout from handlers, judges, gallery.  Read more

A Suggestion for Field Trial Clubs

April 20, 2025 | Announcement, Other Things | Comments
The field trial sport (please do not call it a “pastime”) is under stress like never before. First run in the US in 1874, trials have survived recessions, depressions, world wars, pandemics. But in these prosperous times they show the undeniable signs of stress and decline: shrinking entries, especially in the All-Age category, and retirement of pro trainer-handlers.   Read more

A New Grouse Hunter

December 9, 2024 | Grouse Hunting, Short Stories | Comments
Sam Scales had just sold his AI Startup to a consortium of Private Equity firms for $1 Billion (his share) and embraced a new-to-him sport: Ruffed Grouse Hunting. He brought to it the same intensity he had to the Startup. He was a math genius with a photographic memory and a control freak, traits that did not equip him for easy companionship. But one trip into Maine abandoned-farm country, where he saw one grouse rise and fall to the shot of his host, hooked him.  Read more