Remembrances

A Day Remembered From Summer 1952

June 25, 2022 | Remembrances | Comments

I had just turned fourteen. It was about four in the afternoon on a sunny Saturday. I had finished my farm chores, showered and dressed in clean Lee blue jeans, a white T shirt and black Converse high-top sneakers for a four-mile trip to down-town Christiansburg. Read more

Remembering Ted

May 31, 2022 | Poetry, Remembrances, Ted Baker | Comments

He was unforgettable Indefatigable Irrepressible Unconquerable Read more

Memories Of Scotland or A Virginia Farm Boy in Prince Albert’s Butts

May 24, 2022 | Other Things, Remembrances | Comments

These are memories of a magic shooting week in Scotland, September 6-12, 1987. To prevent “hunting back”, the names of the places and the players will not appear. Read more

Ted Baker

May 5, 2022 | Other Things, Ted Baker | Comments

On behalf of the family, thanks to all of you for being here. Today’s display of love and respect means the world to those of us who Ted left behind. I’m sure he is looking down with a big smile on his face and a tear in his eye. TED BAKER WAS NO ORDINARY MAN. Read more

When You Sell the Farm

March 27, 2022 | Poetry, Remembrances | Comments

When you sell the farm you grew up on A part of your heart goes with the deed And you mourn the loss and in bed you toss For months after the sad closing day Read more

Two Heros

March 1, 2022 | Henry Caruso Jr., Remembrances | Comments

They are two heroes, both Pennsylvanians, both Vietnam combat veterans. Both are pointing dog professionals. One is a Marine, one is Army. They both saw much combat, and that has had its inevitable consequences, physical and mental. Read more

T. Jack and Ted and the Florida Championship

January 14, 2022 | Florida Open All-Age Championship, T. Jack Robinson, Ted Baker | Comments

Many a friendship has been inspired by a mutual love of bird dogs. My favorite story of such a friendship is that of T. Jack Robinson and Edward L. “Ted” Baker. That friendship spawned many others, and led to the breeding and development of legendary All-Age and Shooting Dog Champions over six decades and a premier wild bird field-trial Championship celebrating its 50th Anniversary. Read more

A Magic Day

December 24, 2021 | Jim Heckert, Remembrances | Comments

December 22, 2021 was a magic day for me. Why merits telling you a story. I am now eighty-three years young, and no longer shoot, for reasons of safety (mine and my companions). Until recent years quail and grouse hunting were my fall and winter therapy for the cares of life. Bird dogs and watching them do their thing still are. Read more

Remembering the Quail Championship Invitational (1996 through 2006)

November 25, 2021 | Quail Championship Invitational, Remembrances | Comments

Reading John Russell’s splendid new book, The Invitational Champions, has brought back precious memories of the eleven years it was my privilege to report the trial at Paducah. My invitation to report came from John after my first report of the Florida Championship in 1995. I had attended the trial at Paducah as a spectator briefly in 1993 when Silver Bullett won his second crown, no Runner-Up. Read more

The Cadillac Farm

November 2, 2021 | Bird Dogs, Other Things, Remembrances | Comments

I met Joe Prince November 14, 1973, introduced by his brother David, a life insurance salesman seeking prospect referrals from me, a 35-year-old lawyer doing estate planning in Richmond, Virginia. Joe was a grain farmer in Sussex County, forty miles south of Richmond at the village of Stony Creek. But Joe’s claim to fame was as a quail hunter of a special kind, the kind every city-bound quail hunter longs to have as a friend. Read more