Hunting Articles

Article

Looking for a Pointer?

Few breeds have earned the reputation of the Pointer. Known for their speed, style, and natural bird-finding ability, Pointers have been a favorite among upland hunters for generations. Whether you are chasing quail across southern plantati.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: June 21, 2026

Article

A Broken Plate

After a long hiatus I have returned to a sport I loved for many years. As I turn my pups loose now and watch them sail across the south pasture, I reflect on the many turns in the road that placed me here.
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By: gundogcentral
Posted: October 12, 2025

Article

The Smith Setter Celebration

It’s tough to beat the warm days and cool nights of Georgia in the Spring. The high heat and humidity, the kind that drives field trailers in droves to the Dakotas, the Rockies, or Canada, hasn’t yet hit. The sounds of songbirds float o.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: July 6, 2025

Article

Tall Timbers: Burning Down the House

I’ve heard of folks figuring out the price tag on costs to raise wild quail, but I don’t know of anyone who has kept track of the amount of time that goes into the breeding, training and developing of a championship gun dog. Both are si.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: April 15, 2025

Article

The 2015 Florida Open All-Age Championship

All trialers know how sometimes and rarely things come together at a field trial to produce a magic event. So it was at Chinquapin Farm in January 2015.
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By: gundogcentral
Posted: February 3, 2025

Article

Losing It

Harry Bain had been an all-age for-the-public pointing dog trainer-handler for thirty years. In that role he had lived in south Alabama, trained trial and hunting dog's mid-July through mid-September in North Dakota and traveled the major .. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: October 5, 2024

Article

A Dread Problem and a Solution

Sam Teel and Booty Blevins had been partners ten years, never had a fight. They argued some about how to fix a problem, but each knew that was healthy. They didn't make much money, but loved what they did for a living, training and handling.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: August 26, 2024

Article

Holes and Rules

"Every dog has got a hole, and his handler has to hide it," was a truism in the world of bird dog field trials.
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By: gundogcentral
Posted: August 4, 2024

Article

The Handoff

The year was 1955. Buck Reed had returned home to South Georgia from the war in Europe ten years before and embarked on his career as an all-age handler of pointing dogs as successor to his father, Sam, who had then retired from the same tr.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: July 9, 2024

Article

The Hunt Goes On

In the early 70s bird hunting was at its peak in Eastern North Carolina. I was a youngster still and loved to tag along on hunts with family and longed to have my own dogs. It was about this time that I attended my first bird dog field tria.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: April 21, 2024

Article

Should We?

Hurricane Hattie had requalified with a third place in the last qualifier of the season. Should they enter her was the question occupying her owner, Sam Slade, and handler, Mack Bain. Both were ambivalent and unsure of their judgment on the.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: April 20, 2024

Article

The Master

One of my earliest memories is the smell of the Hoppes gun oil my dad would use on his Sweet 16 Browning after a bird hunt. He and my uncles would tell stories of 30 coveys a day, of the “ditch bank birds”, those bobs that would provid.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: April 18, 2024

Article

My Life As A Field Trial Reporter

From 1995 until 2022 I had two professions, lawyer and pointing dog field trial reporter. The first to earn money to pay creditors and afford to indulge in the second, pursued for the pleasure it brought me.
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By: gundogcentral
Posted: April 15, 2024

Article

When January Comes

When January comes
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By: gundogcentral
Posted: December 29, 2023

Article

Tails We Could Wag

“It's not much of a tail but I’m attached to it,” said Eeyore, the donkey made famous by Winnie the Pooh. When it comes to tails, some hunters require them on their dogs while others do not. But regardless of your breed of choice, did.. more ..

By: gundogcentral
Posted: November 19, 2023