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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.
The Long Journey Home
Belle’s favorite pastime time lately, was to become perfectly still, and at the most opportune time snap and catch one of the deer flies that tormented her. That’s what her life had become. She hadn’t known freedom for a year now and her spirit was weak, waning, nearly broken. She had plenty to eat, that wasn’t a problem. Brown Man brought meat scraps to her, and he kept her water clean too. But her whole world lay within the radius of the chain she was shackled to. She had grown to accept the chain, but not willingly. After a while she learned it best to not dream of home and Randall. She rested solely in the fact that Pup was growing strong, and that Brown Man was not a cruel man.
The Basics of Clicker Training for Puppies
To become successful hunting companions, sporting breed puppies have a lot of skills to master. Clicker training is a great training method for any of the sporting breeds. The method is simple and it marks and then rewards good behavior. Every time a puppy completes a task correctly, he is conditioned with a click. The click is a unique sound that comes from a mechanical noisemaker and marks the precise moment he is doing the right thing. The mark is followed by a training treat to reinforce the correct behavior. Here’s how to use clicker training to teach three basic commands.
More Than Just Retrievers
As an avid duck hunter growing up in central Arkansas, it is a given that most of the outings in the duck waters would be accompanied by a retriever, most often a lab. Labs and ducks go hand in hand. In Arkansas, practically all duck hunters have labs, plus they fill the role of family dogs in an endless number of non-hunting homes. Labs are loyal, loving, and obedient; something that makes for a great duck dog as well as a family dog.
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 you ever wonder why some tails are bobbed while others are not?
An End and a Beginning
The economics of the business had always been fragile. For-the-public trainer-handlers
Upland Glossary
Upland hunting is a great way to enjoy the outdoors; for people new to hunting and especially upland hunting, learning some standard terms and slang words can be helpful when talking with other hunters. This list is not a definitive list of upland bird hunting terms. This list is intended to get the novice hunter quickly up to speed so you can spend more time hunting and less time wondering what your fellow hunters are discussing.
What Billy Morton Taught me
By the early 70's wild birds were getting harder and harder to come by. Subdivisions and trailer parks grew up right where our old covey haunts were. Ever the optimists, we started a little walking shooting dog club. 'Shoot to kill', it was called back then. We knocked along for a few years, and our dogs were getting better, or worse, according to who you asked, different for sure. We subscribed to the American Field and read, religiously, accounts from all over the states and Canada. A whole new world opened to us. We read about Miller's White Cloud, Red Water Rex, The setter, Johnny Crocket, all the old legends, and their handlers.
Comparing Performance Metrics of Bird Dogs by Gender
If you ask any bird-dog enthusiast what they look for when choosing a future upland dog and hunting companion, you are bound to get a wide array of advice. Many bird-dog enthusiasts favor specific breeds and bloodlines that align with the species of upland game they pursue or the hunting methods they use (i.e., walk hunting vs. horseback, etc.). When selecting puppies, they may favor certain mannerisms, such as boldness vs. timidness, or with a preferred conformation or coloration. Most enthusiasts also prefer a specific gender—male vs. female.
A Lost Dog
It was July 15, 2003 and Billy Culp was fixin’ to turn loose for a workout his first green derby of the season. He was training this year on a new place just east of Lignite and south of Route 5. There were twenty pointing dog trainers working within a forty-mile radius of Billy , two hundred or more in the state, some serious pros, some serious amateurs, some just guys with a dog or two and a pickup truck.
War
Wars between son-in-law and mother-in-law are endemic in our culture, perhaps pandemic in wealthy families and especially when son is Dixie-born and bred and mother-in-law a Yankee. So it was between Eloise Crump of Boston and Doug Hall of Thomasville, husband of Eloise’s daughter Charlotte.
Quail…Are They Still Around?
You betcha! Well, at least in Kansas. Talk of the good ol’ days are annoying, because they’re here!
