Category: Other Things

A Derby

March 10, 2023 | Bird Dogs, Short Stories | Comments
In the hearts of true all-age pointing dog devotees, nothing is so important as a talented derby. A derby is a two-year-old.  What defined a talented derby: potential for greatness as an all-age, or adult, competitor. And greatness in pointing dogs involved many talents. But the one always recognized: excitement, the ability to produce it.  Read more

Hunting Grouse

November 8, 2022 | Grouse Hunting, Remembrances | Comments
Hunting grouse when I was young was my escape. No matter my troubles, and they sometimes seemed many, I could make them go away for a day. I would rise at four and jump into my boots, orange shirt, khakis and briar chaps and load my dogs in the trunk of my Dodge Demon and drive west to Augusta, Highland or Bath County, turn out a setter dog at the head of a holler and walk up it. Read more

For Want of a Nail

October 19, 2022 | Other Things, Remembrances | Comments
My career reporting field trials is over with the discontinuance of the Florida Open All-Age Championship following Ted Baker’s death. I was honored to report it from 1995 through 2022. Over those years I reported many others, including the Continental Derby and All-Age Championships, the National Open Free-For-All and National Derby Championships, the National Amateur Free-For-All Championship, the Lee County trial, and, most memorably, the Quail Championship Invitational at Paducah from 1996 through 2006. Read more

What Kind of Man

September 22, 2022 | Other Things, Ted Baker | Comments
Many folks have asked me, What sort of man was Ted Baker? An incident during the 2015 Florida Championship answers the question eloquently. At the end of the running, judges Cecil Rester and Gary Lester named Utah’s Red Rock Express Champion based on a big six-find finals race. Read more

My Life as a Field Trial Reporter

August 30, 2022 | Other Things, Remembrances | Comments
My life as a field trial reporter began in 1995 when I was 57. Before that I had been a farmer (1950-1960) and a lawyer (1961-present). Reporter was by far my most satisfying profession. Why? Because it was fantasy. It allowed me to ride horseback and watch world-class bird dogs perform and compete across beautiful hunting grounds, handled and scouted by professionals seeking perfection, then write accounts of what I had seen. What could be more fun than that? For me, nothing. Read more