FIELD TRIAL Re8ie9 - Mid-South Horse Review...Mark Hayes, who scouted in 2017 and 2018 for Jo[s wins, joined Gary, David, and XThe CompanyY on the porch of the Ames manor house for

ReviewReviewFIELD TRIALFIELD TRIAL120120thth National Championship National Championship Ames PlantationAmes Plantation

February 11, 2019 February 11, 2019

Covering the National Championship since 1986

2018 National Champion Lester’s

Sunny Hill Jo with his trophies

(photo by Nancy Brannon)

2. 2019 Field Trial Review

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Field Trial Review About The Field Trial Review

Started by the late Don Dowdle, the Field Trial Review has been published annually

since 1986. We have continued Don’s legacy of covering the National Championship,

paying tribute to the dogs, owners, handlers, and the Ames Plantation at this prestigious

event. We hope you are pleased with this year’s issue!

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gize. We express our sincere appreciation to all who contributed articles, photos, and

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Contents © 2019

Remembering Jim Crouse

Jim Crouse at the 2012 National Championship. (Chris Mathan photo)“Uncle Jim”

(photo from Mary Schalk)

On August 9, 2018 the field trial com-

munity lost a tremendous ambassador. A

lifelong resident of Dixon, Kentucky, Jim

Crouse, 72, passed away after a tragic, sin-

gle utility vehicle accident that occurred

on his property.

Jim’s niece (daughter of brother Mike)

Mary Schalk was still teary-eyed when she

shared her thoughts about “Uncle Jim.”

“My last conversation with him was on the

morning of his death. He had taken our

dear friends Mazie and Colvin Davis to the

North 90 to show off his beautiful prop-

erty. Remarking to me about my dress and

heels at ten til eight, he asked me where I

was going. I replied that I am trying to get

to work. He said, ‘Well, don’t let me stop

you.’ And I was moved to hug his neck

and kiss his cheek.”

Schalk had many life stories to tell

about her Uncle Jim – “the man who res-

cued me from falling off horses more than

once, enhanced my vocabulary in a color-

ful way,…and cultivated a deep passion,

respect, and love for the sport of horseback

field trialing. He and my dad sparked and

kindled my desire to serve our home com-

munity of Webster County, Kentucky as an

educator.” Mary Schalk is Assistant Prin-

cipal at Dixon Elementary.

Jim was born July 18, 1946 to James

Parker Crouse and Mary Edith Asher

Crouse, and from the beginning of his life,

bird dogs were a part of it. His dad’s fa-

vorite bird dog Joe greeted Jim’s arrival by

rearing up on the stroller to see and smell

him.

Jim’s father, J.P. Crouse, was an avid

outdoorsman and sports enthusiast – a

skilled fisherman and hunter. But his

greatest love was quail hunting and he

took his sons Jim and brother Mike afield.

The two sons hunted quail from the time

they could walk. Father Crouse empha-

sized to his sons routinely that dog and

man were a team, working together.

Jim’s lifelong interest in sports and his

accomplishments fostered a competitive

spirit, which was tempered by reminders

from both parents to practice the “Golden

Rule” – to give his best while being gov-

erned by this guiding principal. Paramount

in his parents’ teachings were: commit-

ment, effort, honesty, hard work, manners,

respect, and thanksgiving to God and all

earthly beings for all they did to aid him.

Jim’s mother was a devout Christian who

took her boys to church every Sunday and

instilled in them the values that people ad-

mired in Jim. His mother taught him that

character was gauged by what humans did

for their fellow man without regard for

what might be done in return. Jim was cer-

tainly a person of character.

Jim had a distinguished carrier as an ed-

ucator. He received his undergraduate de-

gree from the University of Kentucky

(UK) and received his Master’s degree and

Rank 1 certification from Murray State

University. Some would call his carrier

providential. Upon graduating in 1973

from UK, he expected to be drafted into

the Army. But walking down the street one

day, he was greeted by George Wooten,

Superintendent of the Providence School

System. Wooten, having known Jim since

he was 14 years old and in 4-H, asked Jim

what he planned to do and suggested that

he take up teaching. Jim told him that he

had graduated, but without the required

teaching certificate. Wooten wrote some

letters to the Kentucky State Board of Ed-

ucation and got Jim into a program that al-

lowed him to teach in Webster County,

nine miles south of Jim’s hometown of

Dixon, provided that he met the certificate

requirement within a certain period of

time. Jim went on to work as a teacher in

the Providence Independent School Sys-

tem and from there, progressed to a career

in school administration in Providence, as

well as other districts.

Jim took great joy in sporting events,

but his greatest sporting love was horse-

back field trials where he participated with

his brother for a number of years. Begin-

ning in 1974 brothers Mike and Jim

Crouse began competing in horseback

field trials, eventually logging over 700

wins in a 42 year period. The family owns

Crouse Kennel, where over the more than

30 years the family has trained bird dogs

on the prairie of Dixon, Kentucky. Jim was

very knowledgeable about dog pedigrees

and would study scenarios of what would

occur during a quail hunt. This he would

apply to judging field trials.

The Crouse brothers became close

friends with field trailer and past National

Championship Judge Freddie Epp, who

also passed away in 2018. They made

every attempt to attend the National

Championships when the other was judg-

ing, as a show of support.

As his years of involvement in bird dog

field trials progressed, he became a highly

respected judge of field trials, the highest

honor being a judge for the National

Championship at Ames Plantation. He was

an active member of the Amateur Field

Trial Clubs of America Board of Trustees,

Board of Directors for the National Bird

Dog Foundation, President of both the

Ohio Valley Field Trial Club and the Coal-

field Bird Dog Club.

Judge Jim Crouse at the 2018 draw-

ing dinner (photo by Nancy Brannon)

2019 Field Trial Review 3.

www.sunshinemills.com

© FTR

Family owned and operated for more than

50 years. Quality dog food for every need

and life stage - to keep them healthy.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE DOG OWNERS & HANDLERS




Encore

Performance:

Lester’s

Sunny Hill JoBy Tommy Brannon.

For the second year in a row Gary

Lester stood on the green steps of the

Ames Manor House to accept the National

Championship award for his Champion

pointer Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo. This is one

of his favorite places to stand this time of

year, he commented in 2017.

Gary Lester, the dog’s handler and co-

owner with David Thompson, was beside

himself with praise for his dog and all of

the people he calls “The Company,” who

help him compete successfully in the sport

of field trailing. Lester gives first credit to

God, thanking the Almighty for all of the

blessings bestowed on him. He is truly

grateful for the opportunities he has re-

ceived. Mark Hayes, who scouted in 2017

and 2018 for Jo’s wins, joined Gary,

David, and “The Company” on the porch

of the Ames manor house for the presen-

tation by Dr. Rick Carlisle, Director of

Ames Plantation and one of the 2018 field

trial judges. Gary said that he loves to “get

up on that horse and then get up on this

porch.”

Gary described Jo as a “happy dog who

is happy to do his job.” Jo definitely looks

cut, fit, lean, and muscled. The five-year-

old pointer male seems to always have his

nose up checking for scent in the air. He

was sired by Ransom, out of Miller’s

White Wall, and was bred by Chris

George. Gary had high praise for Derrick

Bonner who whelped Jo’s litter and trains

Gary’s dogs through puppyhood.

Gary’s strategy in field trails is to keep

the dog looking for birds; and to do so, he

needs to find birds. Gary spends a lot of

time on the road and in the saddle to have

his dogs at the top of their game. For the

2018 National, he was competing two

dogs, Jo and Miller’s Dialing In (Spec),

who was the 2015 National Champion.

Jo was originally slated to run in the

12th brace on Saturday afternoon, Febru-

ary 17th. But rain delays moved his run to

Monday afternoon of the second week –

February 19, 2018, Presidents Day. The

weather brought partly sunny skies and a

high of 71° F. Gary’s other dog, Spec, was

in the 14th brace the following afternoon,

again with partly sunny skies and a high

of 73° F. Having both dogs run in the sec-

ond week of competition gave Gary the

opportunity to work his dogs in South

Georgia and Florida, where there are

plenty of wild birds, before competing in

the National Championship. Jo had 42

finds in those outings before heading back

for Tennessee. Gary analogized his work,

“There is a reason that baseball managers

have their players pitching and in the bat-

ters cage while the game is going on.”

The warm winter holiday, shirtsleeve

weather, brought many people out to ride

on horseback in the gallery. Scent was ap-

parently in the air because Jo had a find

just 20 seconds after the breakaway. He

had eight more finds during the competi-

tion, plus a sidetrack on a rabbit, finishing

the three hours.

Gary said that Jo is trained on wild

birds and, thus, he will go on point further

away from the birds than many dogs. “He

has learned that if he gets too close to wild

birds they will fly, unlike these released

birds. I try to take him to where I think the

birds will be. I want him deep. If he would

go right, I would tell [scout] Mark [Hayes]

to watch the right and I would go left. He

will not leave; he is never lost. If I call

him, he will show up. He has such a super

nose!”

One of the finds was flushed by scout

Mark Hayes, who knows the dog so well

and has Gary’s complete confidence.

When one of the judges had dismounted

to answer nature’s call, Gary held back.

But Mark was up front in the right place at

the right time. Gary commented, “Mark

flushes these dogs all the time.” By the

time Gary arrived the flush was done.

Gary summarized, “God has blessed us

so much. I am a farmer and I love the land.

We have had a tremendous amount of fun

with this dog!”

2018 National Champion

Gary Lester, handler & co-owner

Champion Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo poses for the photographers on the grounds

of the Ames Manor House. (all photos by Nancy Brannon)

All of the “support staff” for CH Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo at the awards ceremony.

Happy owners of CH Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo, Mr. and Mrs. David Thompson


By Nancy Brannon

The 119th running of the National

Championship started February 12th and

finished on February 24, 2018 at Ames

Plantation in Grand Junction, Tenn. For

the second year in a row Gary Lester ac-

cepted the National Championship award.

This year was Lester’s fifth time winning

a National Championship and the second

in a row for his dog CH Lester’s Sunny

Hill Jo.

The 2018 edition of the National Cham-

pionship might be called the “year of the

water dog,” a year in which rain gear and

water-proofing were absolute necessities,

with rain coming nearly every day, creat-

ing lots of mud. Even the drawing began

on a rainy night Saturday, February 10.

The first day of the field trail was very

cold, at 28°F, and windy, but the rest of the

competition took place in above freezing

temperatures. The Wednesday afternoon

and Saturday morning braces of the first

week had been cancelled because of rain,

and rainy weather all week had made a

very soggy course. Temperatures ranged

from 40 degrees and rain to several spring-

like days with temperatures in the 60s and

70s. But rain and flooding continued to

dominate the weather pattern, and three

braces had to be postponed because of

pouring rain. As Jamie Evans put it, “It has

been a challenging [first] week for the

competitors with only five of the twenty

dogs running thus far completing the three

hours.”

The first dog to finish the three hours

was Mega Blackhawk’s Progeny, who

drew the first brace for the second year in

a row. He had four finds, with a fifth point

where the flight of birds was not seen

under judgment.

Erin’s Redrum, in the second brace on

the afternoon course, had two finds, a di-

vided find, two backs, and an unproduc-

tive.

Dominator’s Rebel Heir had three finds

and two unproductives in the third brace

on the morning course.

By the end of the first week, Coldwater

Thunder seemed to have put in the best

performance so far. The pointer female

had run in the sixth brace, finished the

three hours and had five finds with a sixth

where the flight of birds was not seen

under judgment. Videographer Brad Har-

ter was wondering if this might be the first

year in 20 years when a female would win

the National.

Whippoorwill Justified, the 2016 Na-

tional Champion, ran in the eighth brace

on the morning course, scoring four finds

plus a divided find.

Monday afternoon of the second week

turned out to be a lovely spring day, with

a high of 71°F, and conditions seemed to

be right for Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo to get

on a roll finding birds. In his first 20 sec-

onds he had a find in a feed patch at the

breakaway. Then: “A Find at :31 in the

Horseshoe on the west side. A Find at :44

on the east side of the Chute. A Find at :56

on the northeast corner of Tyler's Test. A

Back at 1:14 at the entrance to the

Lawrence Smith Barn Field. A Find at

1:44 on the south side of Tyler's Test east

of the shed. An Unprodcutive at 1:56 in

the cut over on the north side of the Jack

Harris Cabin Field. A rabbit at 2:04 in the

Jack Harris Cabin field. A Find at 2:16 on

the east side of Cox's Ridge in bicolor. A

Find at 2:18 on the west side of Cox's

Ridge at the apex of hill. A Find at 2:22 on

Cox's Ridge northeast of Carlisle Corner.

A Find at 2:33 on Cox's Ridge before de-

scending into Fason bottom. Finished the

three hours.” It was quite a productive af-

ternoon!

On Tuesday afternoon, Oakspring Big

Time Warrior was on a bird-finding roll,

too, with his first find “at :12 on the east

end of Jim Miller at the entrance to Buster

Graves. Find at :40 on the east side of

Chute. Find at :49 north of Tyler's Test in

bicolor patch. Find at :58 in the Water

Truck Field on the west edge at the road

to the cut over. Find at 1:12 in the

Lawrence Smith Barn Field on woods

edge. Find at 1:36 north of Tyler's Test

south of the Strawberry Patch. Find at 1:43

north of Wolf Crossing at the agronomy

edge. Find at 1:50 in the west end of Mar-

shall Jack Harris north of Wolf Crossing.

Find at 2:28 at the apex of Fason Ridge in

sage grass. He finished the three hours.”

With an astounding nine finds, he had

given Jo some tough competition.

Then the rains were back on Wednes-

day of the second week, bringing a can-

cellation to the Wednesday morning brace.

On Thursday, temperatures were down

into the 40s with rain – typical winter

weather for west Tennessee. Friday saw

warmer temperatures, but rain still domi-

nated the weather and there was wide-

spread flooding across west Tennessee.

None of the dogs running in the last days

of week two had much luck finding birds.

The last two braces were run on Satur-

day morning, one starting at 8:00 a.m.,

with both dogs having no bird work and

being brought in after only 23 minutes out.

Saturday’s “afternoon” brace started at

9:35 a.m., again with minimal bird work

and out for only about an hour.

With the 2018 competition wrapped up

on February 24th, it was time to go to the

Ames Manor House for the judges’ final

decision.

2018 National Championship judges trudge through the mud.

(photo by Vera Courtney)

Gary Lester and David Thompson stride toward the Ames Manor House to ac-

cept the 2018 National Championship. (photo by Nancy Brannon)

119th National Championship

This year (2019) marks the 120th run-

ning of the National Championship for

Bird Dogs, with 104 of those years being

run on the Ames Plantation, Grand Junc-

tion, Tennessee.

“The first field trial ever run in this

country occurred on the old Greenlaw

Plantation, now in the eastern suburbs of

Memphis” in 1874. (Tarrant 1981)

“The first national bird dog champi-

onship trail ever held in America was on

February 10-11, 1896 at West Point, Mis-

sissippi. The winner: an English setter

named Count Gladstone IV, a white, black,

and tan Llewellin owned by F.R. Hitch-

cock…” (Tarrant 1981)

Later, the competition was conducted

on field trial grounds south of Grand Junc-

tion, Tennessee; near Rogers Springs, Ten-

nessee; and finally, on the Ames

Plantation. There were three years in

which the National Championship was

cancelled. “In 1897, it was too cold – at 17

degrees – to run the championship trial. In

1898, an exceptionally poor crop of birds

cancelled the trial. And in 1899, a small-

pox epidemic dictated that the trial be

scrapped.” (Patterson 2016).

In 1902 Mr. Hobart Ames invited the

National Championship to the Ames Plan-

tation. And since 1915, the National

Championship has had a permanent home

on the Ames Plantation, running on the

“hallowed” field trial grounds set in place

by Mr. Ames.

Read more about the history of the Na-

tional Championship at the sources listed

below.

Sources:

Ames Plantation website: www.ames-

plantation.org/fiel-trials/

Patterson, Steve. (2016) “In Praise of

Bird Dogs, Field Trials, & Gentlemen.”

http://nanewsweb.com/in-praise-of-bird-

dogs-field-trials-gentlemen/

Tarrant, Bill. (1981) “Grand Junction:

Crossroads of Gun Dog History.” Field &

Stream. July.

120th National Championship


Dominators Rebel Heir (Chris Mathan photo)

Erin’s LongmireDunn's Tried 'N True (Chris Mathan photo)

Dogs Running In The 120th National Championship

Cole TrainColdwater Thunder

2019 National

Championship

Contestant

Profilesby Stephen “Steeple” Bell and Amy Spencer

Coldwater Thunder

This white, liver, and ticked pointer bitch has re-qual-

ified for this year with a runner-up at the Unites States

Open Quail Championship, a third place at the Hobart

Ames Memorial OAA, and was the winner of the recent

Alabama Championship. Lulu will turn five years old at

the first of the trial. This will be the third year for Lulu to

run here and on her past two runs she performed ad-

mirably, completing the three hours each time. Her sire is

Coldwater Warrior, and her dam, Thunder Bess, is a sis-

ter of Thunder Snowy who was a previous contestant here

for Lulu's co-owner Doug Arthur (with Rachel Blackwell

as the other co-owner). She was bred by Gary McKibben.

Lulu will be handled again this year by Steve Hurdle.

Coldwater Thunder's sire, Coldwater Warrior competed

here six times. His sire Whippoorwill War Dance com-

peted here three times, and War Dance's sire National

Champion Whippoorwill Wild Agin competed five times,

winning in his third year. Lulu's dam, Thunder Bess was

by National Champion Lester's Snowatch.

Cole Train

Cole will be just shy of seven years old for his fourth

visit to the Ames Plantation's renewal. He is still yet to

finish a three hour run here, but he has never gone with-

out finding birds. Cole has re-qualified with a second

place at the Kentucky Lake OAA, and he has three pre-

vious championship wins on his record: the Missouri, the

Kentucky, and the International Pheasant championships.

This white, black, and ticked son of Lance's Last Knight

was bred by Ray Hamilton out of his Quinton's Pretty

Baby. Cole is owned by Dr. Fred Corder and his handler

this year will be Randy Downs.

Cole's sire, Lance's Last Knight, is a son of Erin's Bad

River and there are numerous other relatives from this line

competing this year. His half-brother, Touch's White

Knight, will join him with three nephews (all sons of

House's Ring of Fire) Touch's Gallatin Fire, Touch's

Spaceman, and Touch's Mega Mike. Cole's dam, Quintin's

Pretty Baby was the product of a half-brother/sister mat-

ing, both sharing the same dam, Quintin's Rambling Kate,

who was a mother-daughter descendant of Nell's Ram-

bling On.

Dominator's Rebel Heir

This will be the fourth year for Reb to qualify, but only

the third year for him to run since the first year he quali-

fied as a derby and was held back. In his two previous

runs, he has finished the three hours with three or more

finds. He has four placements this year that will re-qual-

ify him: seconds at the Blackbelt (Ala) Classic, the Lynn

Taylor (Carroll County) Classic, and the Kentucky Quail

Classic, and a third at the Dixie Classic. Jim Hamilton's

Dominator's Rebel Heir is a white, liver, and ticked five

year old pointer. He was bred by his handler, Jamie

Daniels, and is by Riverton's Funseekin Scooter out of

Pearl Again. Reb has an impressive five championships

on his past scorecard: the Continental, the Florida, the

Missouri, and the Masters Quail Championship twice.

Reb's dam, Pearl Again was a daughter of Elhew Sin-

bad out of Cuirve River Daisy. Daisy was a daughter of

Double Rebel Sonny and Swingabout, she goes back to

John Criswell's Swingalong bitch and back further up this

line is John S Gate's Sugarplum. Reb's sire, Riverton's

Funseekin Scooter was a contestant here for four years

(2011 to 2014) and was a son of the 2007 National Cham-

pion Funseeker's Rebel.

Dunn's Tried N True

Jack returns this year with re-qualifying wins at two

championships, the Southwestern and the National Free

For All Championships (his ninth and tenth championship

wins), a runner-up at the International Pheasant Champi-

onship, three first placements at the Kentucky Quail Clas-

sic, the Bill Andrews OAA (Central Carolina), and the

Sunshine FTC (Florida) OAA, and a second place at the

Dixie Classic. It may seem that he's been busy, but this is

the norm for Jack, one of the most consistent winners on

the circuit. This will be his fifth year to run for the Na-

tional Championship and he has finished the three hours

twice before. Jack is a six year old, white, orange, and

ticked pointer male who was bred by Chris George. He is

by the 2015 National Champion Miller's Dialing In out

of White Royal Pain. Jack is owned by Will and Rita

Dunn and is handled by Luke Eisenhart.

For several past years, Jack has been the youngest of a

three generation trio to compete here, but he will run solo

this year to carry the banner of these Miller's... blue

bloods. His grandfather Miller's Happy Jack has now re-

tired, and his father Miller's Dialing In will not compete

again this year. Miller's Dialing In's dam, Phillips Silver

Star (and her sister L G White Lily) is by White Powder

Pete out of Hawk's Silver Sue. Jack's dam, White Royal

Pain was by South's Late Night (a son of Miller's White

Powder) out of Henley's Becky Lynn (a daughter of the

2004 National Champion Miller's On Line). Both Miller's

On Line and Miller's Happy Jack were contestants here

for a near record nine years.

Erin’s Full Throttle



Game Bo

Erin's Full Throttle

Erin's Full Throttle has re-qualified for this year with

two championship wins, the Kentucky Open and the

North Carolina Quail Championships, and a runner-up at

the Tarheel Open Championship. Dan will turn eight

years old during the competition. This is his third year to

run here and returns after an absence of two years. He was

picked up early on his previous, juvenile runs. Dan was

bred by Sean Derrig and is by Erin's Stoney River out of

Erin's Pretty Penny. Lefty Henry will be the handler for

owners John and Susan Ivester.

Erin's Full Throttle is one of five grandsons of Erin's

Bad River that are contestants this year, and there are

three further great-grandsons competing, too. Hall of

Fame member Erin's Bad River was the product of a

brother/sister mating, by Erin's Southern Pride out of

Erin's Rockin Robin, and their sire was the Hall of Fame

member Erin's Southern Justice. Dan's dam, Erin's Pretty

Penny has a pedigree full of grand, and great-grand chil-

dren of Erin's Southern Justice, too.

Erin's Longmire

Chip returns this year with a second place at the

Broomhill OAA (Iron Nation) trial to re-qualify. This will

be his second year to run. Last year he was picked up

early after a little more than an hour's run with not enough

birds. Chip is a six year old, white, orange, and ticked

pointer male who was bred by Sean Derrig. He is by

Erin's Whiskey River out of Erin's Wild Rose. Chip is

owned by Brad Calkins and will be handled by Robin

Gates. He has one championship win, the Manitoba

Championship, and one runner-up, the Dominion Chicken

Championship to his credits.

Chip's dam, Erin's Wild Rose was a daughter of Elhew

Sinbad out of Wiggin's River Deuce. Erin's Wild Rose has

achieved the rare status as the dam of three national cham-

pionship contestants. Chip's littermate, Erin's Redrum has

been a contestant in the previous two years, and though he

was re-qualified, he was not nominated this year. Her

third contestant, Erin's Braveheart, was produced when

she was bred to Erin's Bad River, and Braveheart is the

sire of another contestant this year, Westfall's True Grit.

Chip's sire, Erin's Whiskey River was a notable veteran

contestant of recent years past. He ran here eight times.

Erin's Whiskey River was a son of Erin's Bad River, so

refer to the profile for Erin's Full Throttle for information

about him.

Erin's Wild Justice

Dan has re-qualified with three championship wins this

season: the United States Open Quail Championship, the

Tarheel Open Championship, and the Quail Champi-

onship Invitational. And if you have been counting, that

makes his tally of nine championships so far. He will be

running for the elusive National Championship for the

fourth year after a year's absence and has yet to finish

three hours in any of his previous years. Erin's Wild Jus-

tice is a seven year old, white, liver, and ticked pointer

dog. He was bred by MIke Moses and is by Whippoorwill

Wild Agin out of Sparrowhawk. Dan is owned by Allen

Linder and will be handled again by Luke Eisenhart.

Erin's Wild Justice has several close cousins in this

year's competition, but those cousins don't have Erin's...

names. So in addition to all the relatives on his father's

(Whippoorwill Wild Agin's) side, Dan's dam, Spar-

rowhawk is from the famous knick of Rockacre Black-

hawk and Elhew Katie Lee that produced so many

shooting dog champions (including Westfall's Black Ice

who is the sire of three of this years contestants yet to be

discussed: Westfall's Black Ace, Westfall's Black Thun-

der, and Westfall's River Ice).

Game Bo

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes,Game Bo is one

of the survivor dogs from the tragic fire at Randy Downs

kennels. Bo was just a pup then but he still has the scars

if you look closely. This liver and white pointer male is

owned and was bred by Dr. Fred Corder. He will be run-

ning for his second year having recently re-qualified with

a third place at the Prairie OAA. Last year he was picked

up at 1:45 with only one find. This seven year old was

sired by Rockacre Rambo out of Regret C. Bo wil be han-

dled by Weldon Bennett.

Bo's sire, Rockacre Rambo, was one of Dr. Corder's

dogs who died in the tragic fire that also took Dr. Corder's

Hall of Fame dog Game Maker. Rockacre Rambo was by

Rockacre Playmaker out of Miss Elhew Chillpill (by

Rockacre Blackhawk out of Elhew Katie Lee). Bo's dam,

Regret C was also bred by Dr. Corder. She was by

Amarige (another of Dr. Corder's past contestants who

ran for three years here) out of Silver Susie.

Game Wardon

Dr. Fred Corder's newest home-bred contestant quali-

fied as a derby winning the All-American and Continen-

tal Derby Championships. This white, liver, and ticked

pointer dog is just shy of three years old. He is by

Caladen's Rail Hawk out of Game Creek. Bill will be han-

dled by Luke Eisenhart.

Caladen's Rail Hawk is a son of Rockacre Blackhawk

and was a four time contestant here for Dr. Corder. Game

Creek is by Decision Maker out of String and Lace (a

daughter of Touch's Hardtack). Decision Maker is a son of

Dr. Corder's other notable past contestant, Game Maker,

who ran here seven years.

Hendrix's Signature

Born and bred, raised and handled by amateur Burke

Hendrix, Bud will be making his rookie year appearance.

First appearing on the major circuit radar back in 2015

with a runner-up at the National Pheasant Championship

as a derby, he got his first qualifying win at the South-

western Championship in 2016. Bud's second qualifying

Erin’s Wild Justice (Chris Mathan photo) Game Wardon

Hendrix’s Signature Lester’s Georgia Time (Chris Mathan photo) Lester’s Jazz Man



Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo (Jamie Evans photo) Quickmarksman's Tom Tekoa

win was a first place at this past fall's Tootsie Hurdle

OAA. He is now five years old. This white, liver, and

ticked pointer dog was sired by Game Strut out of Hen-

drix's Outlier.

Both of Bud's parents have been previous contestants

of the National Championship. Game Strut was by Strut

out of Pineknoll's Pepper, he ran here two years. Hendrix's

Outlier ran just one year here, she was by Whippoorwill

War Dance out of Hendrix's Sassy Tide. Bud is the fifth

dog that the Hendrix's have qualified to run at the Na-

tional Championship.

Lester's Georgia Time

Joe will be making his rookie year appearance.This

four year old pointer male is the most recently qualified

contestant for veteran handler Robin Gates. He has qual-

ified by winning last year's Florida Championship and

this past summer's Manitoba Championship. Joe is white,

orange, and ticked, and is by Ransom out of Ronnie

Beane's Beane's Line Dancer. Joe is owned by Baker

Hubbard and Jim Clark.

Joe's sire Ransom, was from the first litter of the Whip-

poorwill Wild Agin-Sparkles knick. Beane's Line Dancer

is a daughter of House's Line Up out of Burrow's Sinbad

lady (by Elhew Sinbad out of Waubeek Rose). Joe is a

half-brother of two time National Champion Lester's

Sunny Hill Jo, and a nephew to National Champion

Whippoorwill Justified.

Lester's Jazzman

Returning for his fifth year, Lester's Jazzman has a

credible record at the Ames Plantation. He has completed

the three hours twice, has run more than two hours the

other years, and has never gone birdless. Perhaps his best

past performance was in 2017 with eight finds. Sam has

re-qualified this year with a runner-up at the All-America

Quail Championship. This seven year old, white, orange,

and ticked pointer male is owned by Dan Hensley. He was

bred by W M Harkins and is by National Champion

Lester's Snowatch out of High Point Jesse. Sam will be

handled by Randy Anderson.

Sam's sire, Lester's Snowatch was the 2009 National

Champion. There are eight contestants this year who are

sons of former National Champions. There are four by the

2008 National Champion Whippoorwill Wild Agin (in-

cluding National Champion Whippoorwill Justified), one

by the 2009 National Champion Lester's Snowatch, one

by the 2011 National Champion Touch's Whiteout (who

was by Lester's Snowatch), and two by the 2015 National

Champion Miller's Dialing In. Sam's dam, High Point

Jesse is by Miller's White Powder out of Native Missy,

who was a daughter of Miller's Silver Bullet.

Lester's Sunny Hill Jo

Jo's past performances here should be familiar, he has

run twice and won twice. He has also won the Southeast-

ern, Alabama, and National Free For All championships.

Jo is a six year old, white, orange, and ticked pointer

male. He is by Ransom out of Miller's White Wall and

was bred by Chris George. Gary Lester will handle Jo,

and he co-owns him with David Thompson.

No other three-time winner of the National Champi-

onship has won in three consecutive years, so we will all

hold our collective breath for such a new record this year.

Jo's sire Ransom was the sire of another contestant this

year, Lester's Georgia Time and so far is the most notable

stud to come from the Whippoorwill Wild Agin-Sparkles

knick. Jo's dam, Miller's White Wall is by National Cham-

pion Lester's Snowatch out of L G White Lily (a sister of

Phillips Silver Star, the dam of another National Cham-

pion, Miller's Dialing In).

Miller's Speed Dial

Gary Lester's rookie contestant is also called Joe, but

this time spelled with an "e". Miller's Speed Dial is a three

year old, white and orange pointer dog who was bred by

Wallace Sessions. He is by Miller's Dialing In out of Old

Road Lou. Joe has qualified by winning the American

Derby Invitational and the Kentucky Lake OAA. He will

be handled by his owner.

Miller's Dialing In's breeding was discussed under the

profile for Dunn's Tried N True. Old Road Lou is by Old

Road Cody (a son of Easy Button) out of Joe Shadow's

Dixie (by Joe Shadow out of Clardy's Suzanne). This

mother-daughter line is a branch of the same line which

produced Lester's Leeza, the dam of National Champion

Lester's Snowatch.

Quickmarksman's Tom Tekoa

Tom will return for his second run this year. Last year

he was lost at the breakaway taking the right edge of the

morning course which is always a tricky proposition. He

has re-qualified for this year with a second place at the

North Carolina OAA. He was campaigned sparingly, only

running in about a half a dozen trials this season. Tom was

bred by his owner, Larry Earls, and is by Quickmarks-

man's Tekoa out of Quickmarksman's Sue. Tom is a stout,

little, white, orange, and ticked setter dog who is seven

years old. He will be handled by Mike Hester who was

instrumental in his training and field trial career.

Tom Tekoa was a home-bred dog, as were his parents.

Larry told an interesting story about the beginning of his

kennel which bears repeating again this year. The dog that

started it all for him was a son of Tekoa Mountain Sunrise

who didn't have a tail. A vet had mistaken the litter of pup-

pies for a litter of brittanys and had docked their tails.

Larry was offered one of these pups for a hunting dog

back then, and now Tom is his hunting dog several gen-

erations later.

Shadow's Next Exit

Shadow's Next Exit has re-qualified with two runner-

ups at the Masters Open Quail and the Saskatchewan

Open Chicken Championships. All of Pat's qualifying

Miller’s Speed Dial

Shadow's Next Exit (Chris Mathan photo) Sleepless in Sacramento Stardust Chaz



T’s Nickleback

placements have been at championships and he is now a

three time champion, three time runner-up. Pat gets his

"Shadow's" name from his home, owner Butch Houston's

Shadow Oak Plantation. This five year old, white, orange,

and ticked pointer dog will be making his third appear-

ance at the National Championship. Pat is by Exit Lane

out of Weber's Little Snowball, and was bred by Jason

Loper - Osceola Kennels. Robin Gates will handle Pat.

Pat's sire, Exit Lane is by Exit Wound (a son of the

2005 National Champion Cypress Gunpowder) out of

Time Line Lane who was by Miller's Dateline out of True

Freedom Lane (a daughter of Miller's White Powder).

Pat's dam, Weber's Little Snowball is by Weber's Little

Bullet out of Bentley's Snowy Bess who was a daughter

of National Champion Lester's Snowatch.

Sleepless In Sacramento

Meg has re-qualified this year winning three champi-

onships, the California Pheasant, the California Chukar,

and the California Bird Dog Championships. This will be

her fourth year to qualify, but only her third year to run

(she qualified as a derby and deferred that year). She is

only five years old and now has six championship wins.

This white and orange pointer bitch is owned by her

breeders Jim and Cami Wolthius. She is by I B Ironhorse

out of Super Express Nash Begone. Meg will be handled

by Sheldon Twer.

Meg is one of the two contestants who have won three

championships in this past season, the other is Erin's Wild

Justice. Meg’s sire, I B Ironhorse is by Wells Fargo First

Dude (by Kelly’s Laser Eye ex Cache Creek Julia) out of

Wells Fargo Mollie (by Pinehill Doc’s Trouble ex I B Ab-

bigale). Kelly’s Laser Eye is by Yastremski out of I B

Bean, and this sireline traces back to Paladin’s Royal

Flush. Pinehill Doc’s Trouble traces back to Tiny Wahoo.

Meg’s dam, Super Express Nash Begone is by Super Ex-

press William out of Amazon Express Bullett. Super Ex-

press William was a former contestant here, and his line-

age comes down from Elhew Mr McGoo. Amazon Ex-

press Bullett was by Miller’s Silver Bullet out of Super

Express Samantha, who was a great-grand daughter of

Gwinn’s Little Gal. This mother-daughter line tracks back

to the immortal Brenda Breeze.

Stardust Chaz

Stardust Chaz re-qualified this year with a first place at

the Sunflower OAA Classic. He is the most senior setter

contestant and is returning for his fifth year. He has com-

pleted a three hour run here in the past but was lost last

year. Chaz is a white, orange, and ticked setter dog who

is now nine years old. He was bred by one of his owners,

Scott Kermicle, and is by Wildwing Warrior out of Star-

dust Coco. His other owners are John Sayre and Bob and

Sarina Craig. Steve Hurdle will be handling Chaz.

When looking at the pedigrees of Chaz and Quick-

marksman's Tom Tekoa there is a remarkable similarity

to be found even though they have no shared parents or

grand-parents. Both ultimately go back to Tekoa Moun-

tain Sunrise, but they do so from his lesser known de-

scendants who were essentially bred to be hunting dogs.

Chaz's sire, Wildwing Warrior is by Coveyrise King (by

Panovski's Billy Boy, a 2xgreat-grandson of Tekoa Moun-

tain Sunrise ex Stardust Baby, a daughter of Havelock

Blacksmith) out of Nicky Stardust (by Long Ridge Dusty

ex Wendy Stardust, both sired by Stardust Nick who was

a grandson of Tekoa Mountain Sunrise). Chaz's dam, Star-

dust Coco is by Angie's Dogwood Doc (by Diamond's

Tricky Dick, a great-grandson of Tekoa Mountain Sun-

rise ex Tricky Dick Beauty) out of Grouse Point Sport (by

Mountain Sundrop, a grandson of Tekoa Mountain Sun-

rise ex Grouse Star Patches).

Strut Nation

Jake is the only dog to have qualified for both the all-

age National Championship and the National Open

Shooting Dog Championship, and he will run in both if

the drawing's schedule permits. Jake has re-qualified by

winning the recent Georgia Quail Championship and this

will be his third year to run at Ames Plantation. He is a

white and orange pointer dog who is just a few days shy

of five years old. He is by Game Strut out of High Value

Special, and was bred by Tommy Davis. Jake will be han-

dled by his amateur owner Scott Jordan.

Strut Nation's records show him as a versatile com-

petitor. He has won on the prairies at the United States

Chicken - Northern States Championship and has won the

sister Northern States Amateur Chicken Championship

twice. He has won both the Georgia Derby Championship

and the Georgia Quail Championship.

Touch's Adams County

Bo is this year's most veteran contestant. He returns for

the seventh time having re-qualified with a runner-up at

the Manitoba Championship. Bo has completed the three

hours twice before. This white, lemon, and ticked pointer

dog will be a few days short of ten years old when he runs

this year. Bo was sired by House's Line Up and is out of

Line Of Beck. He was bred by T Mason Ashburn, is

owned by Ric Peterson, and will be handled by Randy

Anderson.

Bo's sire, House's Line up is a son of Miller's Dateline,

a grandson of Miller's White Powder, and a great-grand-

son of Miller's Silver Bullet, which is the anointed lineage

of the Miller's... blue bloods. Bo's dam, Line of Beck is a

daughter of Cherokee Gunfire out of a grand-daughter of

Cherokee Gunfire. Bo's record now stands at five cham-

pionship wins with four runner-ups.

Touch's Blackout

Touch's Blackout had six placements in the qualifying

trials this season including a win at the Mid-America

Championship. This will be his first year to run for this

title. Duke is a six year old, white, orange, and ticked

Touch’s Blackout

Strut Nation (Chris Mathan photo) Touch’s Adams County

Touch’s Gallatin Fire Touch’s Mega Mike



Touch’s Spaceman Touch’s White Knight True Confidence (Chris Mathan photo)

pointer dog. He was sired by the 2011 National Cham-

pion Touch's Whiteout out of B C Angelina, and was bred

by Gary Baird. Duke is owned by Ric Peterson and will

be handled by Randy Anderson.

Duke's sire National Champion Touch's Whiteout (a

son of National Champion Lester's Snowatch) died young

and produced very few litters. Touch's Blackout is the first

of his offspring to run here, and may perhaps be the only

one to do so. Duke's dam, B C Angelina was also a daugh-

ter of Lester's Snowatch out of Beaucoup's Daisy. Duke is

closely related to two other contestants, the littermates

Touch's Spaceman and Touch's Gallatin Fire whose dam

was a daughter of Touch's Whiteout.

Touch's Gallatin Fire

Bob qualified as a derby winning the Georgia Derby

Championship and the American Derby Invitational with

Ike Todd handling him. In this season, his first as an all

age dog, he took a first place at the North Dakota OAA

Classic and recently was runner-up at the Georgia Quail

Championship. He is a three year old, white, orange, and

ticked pointer dog who was bred by Keith Wright. He is

by House's Ring Of Fire out of Touch's Sandy. Duke is

owned by Alex Rickert and is handled by Mark McLean.

Since Touch's Gallatin Fire and Touch's Spaceman are

littermates, their breeding details will be given under

Touch's Spaceman's profile. A sideline here would be to

point out the remarkable success that Ike Todd has had in

his puppy/derby program. This year he has qualified two

for the National Championship, Game Wardon and

Touch's Gallatin Fire, and last year's Purina Top All Age

Award winner, Touch's Mega Mike was qualified by Ike

as a derby, too.

Touch's Mega Mike

Mike returns for his second year by winning the Black-

belt (Ala) OAA Classic and the Masters Open Quail

Championship. His first year here was disappointing as

he had to run in abysmal weather and was picked up early.

Mike is a four year old, white, orange, and ticked pointer

dog owned by Eddie Sholar and Ted Dennard. He was

bred by Keith Wright. Mike is by House's Ring Of Fire

out of Touch's Blaylock Bess. He will be handled by Mark

McLean.

Touch's Mega Mike was last year's winner of the Joe

Hurdle Award and the Purina Top All Age Award. He is

one of the few dogs to have ever won that Purina award

without having won any of the bonus points trials. Mike's

sire, House's Ring Of Fire ran two years at the national

championship prior to an injury which retired him to

Keith Wright's kitchen floor. House's Ring Of Fire's sire,

Lance's Last Knight has so far been the most successful

sire of any of the sons of Erin's Bad River as he has sired

five contestants here (including Cole Train and Touch's

White Knight who are contestants this year). Mike's dam,

Touch's Blaylock Bess is a daughter of Whippoorwill War

Dance out of Whippoorwill GMA, who was a daughter

of Game Maker. This mother-daughter line goes back to

Bar Lane Dot.

Touch's Spaceman

Touch's Spaceman qualified to run by winning the first

two trials which he ran in as a first year all age dog this

past summer, the Broomhill (Iron Nation) OAA and the

Border International Chicken Championship. He recently

added a runner-up at the Alabama Championship. Patch is

a three year old, white, orange, and ticked pointer dog

who is owned by Matt Griffith and will be handled by

Randy Anderson. Patch is by House's Ring Of Fire out of

Touch's Sandy and was bred by Keith Wright.

House's Ring Of Fire, the sire of the littermates,

Touch's Spaceman and Touch's Gallatin Fire, was dis-

cussed above in the profile of their half-brother Touch's

Mega Mike. Perhaps Mike is a little more than a half-

brother. Touch's Sandy is by Touch's Whiteout out of

Touch's Whippoorwill Road and she is a sister of Touch's

Blaylock Bess the dam of Touch's Mega Mike. Touch's

Spaceman was named for a song by the Dave Matthews

Band, a favorite of Keith Wright and Ike Todd who were

responsible for his upbringing.

Touch's White Knight

Bo is a white, orange, and ticked seven year old pointer

dog who has re-qualified for his fourth year's run with a

first place at last spring's Dixie OAA Classic. His 2017

performance here was a memorable heartbreak when they

asked for the tracker at 2:58 after he had six finds. Bo is

by Lance's Last Knight out of Prairieland Lucy and was

bred by Dwight Grace. He is owned by Eddie and Carole

Sholar and will be handled by Mark McLean. Bo is a four

time champion and three time runner-up champion.

Bo is a half-brother to Cole Train sharing the same sire,

Lance's Last Knight, and more about him can be found

under the profiles for Touch's Mega Mike and Cole Train.

Bo's dam, Prairieland Lucy was a daughter of the 2001

National Champion Law's High Noon out of Shelly Rae

who was a daughter of Black Crude.

True Confidence

True Confidence has re-qualified to run for his fourth

year and he has finished a three hour run once before. Bob

was the winner of the US Chicken - Northern States

Championship this past summer and has since garnered

two runner-ups, at the Southwestern Championship and

the Quail Championship Invitational. Bob is a nine year

old, white and orange pointer dog who was bred by

Robert J Saari. He is by Two Acre Bulldog out of Bar P

Annex. He will be handled by Luke Eisenhart for his

owners Frank and Jean LaNasa.

Bob's sire, Two Acre Bulldog, was by the 2007 Na-

tional Champion Funseeker's Rebel out of Rester's Tiny

Dancer. Bob's dam Bar P Annex was by Bar P Shadow (a

son of Shadow's Mark) out of Bar P Xena (a daughter of

Westfall's River IceWestfall's Black Ace Westfall’s Black Thunder



Front N Center). Bob is now a three time champion and

six time runner-up.

T's Nickleback

Nick has qualified for his rookie year here by twice

winning the Northwest Chukar Championship under his

previous owner Talmage Smedley. He now resides in

Texas with new owners Bruce Sooter and Steve Burns.

Nick is a six year old, white, orange, and ticked setter dog

who was bred by Richard Robertson. He is by Rapidan

out of T's Skyline Angel. He will be handled by Allen Vin-

cent.

Nick's sire, Rapidan ran as a contestant here back in

2015. Rapidan is by Stone Tavern Matrix out of Made In

America. Nick's dam, T's Skyline Angel is by Tekoa

Mountain Outrage out of T's Tango who was a daughter

of T's Gunrunner. T's Gunrunner was another former con-

testant and a son of Tekoa Mountain Sunrise.

Westfall's Black Ace

Westfall's Black Ace had four placements in the qual-

ifying trials this past season. His second qualifying win

came at the Heartland OAA, a trial which he had also won

the year before. Ace is an eight year old, white, black, and

ticked pointer dog who was bred by his owner Bill West-

fall. Ace is by Westfall's Black Ice out of Black Bama. He

will be handled by Andy Daugherty.

It is interesting that Ace's sire, Westfall's Black Ice, and

his grand-sire, Rockacre Blackhawk were both champi-

ons in the shooting dog circuit. Ace will be joined in this

year's competition by two of his half siblings, Westfall's

Black Thunder and Westfall's River Ice. Ace's dam, Black

Bama is by Easy Button out of Super Skirt.

Westfall's Black Thunder

Hawk is a rookie contestant who has qualified with two

championship wins this season, at the Saskatchewan

Open Chicken Championship and the Southland Open

Championship. He had his first qualifying win back in

2016 at the Kansas Prairie OAA. Westfall's Black Thun-

der is from the first breeding of Westfall's Black Ice and

Westfall's Quick Gold made by his owner Bill Westfall.

Andy Daugherty will be handling this six year old, white,

black, and ticked pointer dog.

Westfall's Black Ice was from the Rockacre Blackhawk

- Elhew Katie Lee knick that produced so many shooting

dog champions, and so far he has proven to be the best

stud of that lot. Westfall's Quick Gold is from a combi-

nation of Elhew and Fiddler ancestors. She is by Mount

Nebo's Lefty (by Rock N Roller out of Absolute Charm)

and out of I B Fancy (by Highview Buddy out of I B Lon-

estar). A little further look at this pedigree shows that

Rock N Roller was a son of Elhew Damascus, Highview

Buddy was a son of Fiddling Rocky Boy, and I B Lones-

tar was by I B Fiddler out of My Judy's Damascus (a

daughter of Elhew Damascus). This makes her breeding

somewhat close to the Fiddler ancestors of Rockacre

Blackhawk.

Westfall's River Ice

Bud has re-qualified for his second year's run with a

first place at the Alberta Classic (Stoughton, Sask.) and

second places at the Stillwater OAA and the Inola OAA.

He was picked up early in his first run here last year. Bud

is from the repeat breeding of Westfall's Black Ice and

Westfall's Quick Gold which was made by his owner Bill

Westfall. This four year old, white, black, and ticked

pointer dog will be handled by Andy Daugherty.

It is interesting that the younger of these brothers

(Westfall's River Ice) was the first to qualify for the Na-

tional Championship. Though the older sibling (Westfall's

Black Thunder) has a better scorecard, showing showing

two championships and three runner-ups. Westfall's River

Ice's record shows just one championship, the Southland

Open Championship last year.

Westfall's True Grit

Jack was last year's youngest contestant and he was

picked up early in his rookie year run. This year he has re-

qualified by winning, back to back, the Missouri Open

Championship and the Missouri Open All-Age last spring,

and he also took a runner-up at this past summer's Border

International Chicken Championship. Jack is by Erin's

Braveheart out of Westfall's Irish Bell, and was bred by

his owner Ryan Westfall. Andy Daugherty will be han-

dling this three time champion, three year old, white liver,

and ticked pointer dog.

You may be excused if you don't remember that Jack's

sire, Erin's Braveheart, was mentioned in the profile for

Erin's Longmire, that was after all twenty-five or so pro-

files ago. Westfall's Irish Bell is by Wiggins C C (by Wig-

gins River Crossing out of Wiggins Miss Maggie) out of

River Ranch Bell (by Caladen's Rail Hawk out of

Caladen's White Powder Rail). How she got an "Irish"

name is a mystery.

Whippoorwill Justified

Patch is the 2016 National Champion who will be re-

turning for his fourth run. He won in his first year's run

and finished the three hours last year with five finds.

Patch has six placements this past season; four are first

places in the Lynn Taylor (Carroll County) OAA Classic,

the Buck Tuck OAA, the Benton County (Miss) OAA,

and the Hobart Ames Memorial OAA; two were runner-

ups at the Missouri and Mississippi Championships. Patch

is a six year old, white, liver, and ticked pointer dog from

the Whippoorwill Wild Agin-Sparkles knick bred by Bob

Walthall. He is owned by Ronnie Spears and will be han-

dled by Larry Huffman.

The knick between Sparkles and Whippoorwill Wild

Aginis one for the record books, but there are many

records involved here. Let’s start with this knick has pro-

duced eight all-age champions, and no other dam has

come close to that. They are: Whippoorwill Blue Blood,

Whippoorwill Red Rage, Texas Wild Agin, and Ransom

from the first litter; Skyfall and Dazzling from the sec-

ond litter; Whippoorwill Justified from the third litter; and

Whippoorwill Mayhem from the fourth litter.

Six of them have been contestants here and that breaks

the top dam's record set by Wiggins Miss Sammie. And

there may yet be more from the youngest litter of the re-

peat breedings, as Matt Cochran's Whippoorwill Forever

Wild won his first qualifying first place this year.

Whippoorwill Wild Agin and Whippoorwill Justified

are the most recent father-son national champions. It was-

n’t that long ago that Lester’s Snowatch and Touch’s

Whiteout had shared that distinction, but now neither are

living.

And all that is just for the first generation, in the sec-

ond generation we find a second National Champion,

Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo, who is a son of Ransom.

For the record, Whippoorwill Wild Agin is by Whip-

poorwill Wild Jack (by National Champion Whippoorwill

Wild Card ex Bitter Delight) out of Whippoorwill Girl

(by Bly Spy Master ex Silver Belle H); and Sparkles is

by Rockacre Blackhawk (by Rockacre Buckwheat ex

Santo) out of Southern Sunflower (by Erin’s Southern

Justice ex Elhew Sunflower). Elhew Sunflower was one

of the three Hall Of Fame shooting dog daughters of the

famous blue hen Hanna’s Elhew Lou.

Whippoorwill Mayhem

Mike has recently qualified with a first place at the So-

La-Tex Cajun Classic. His previous first place was back

in 2016 winning the American Derby Invitational. Mike

is a five year old, white, orange, and ticked pointer dog

who is owned by Ric Peterson. He is another who is by

Whippoorwill Wild Agin out of Sparkles, and bred by

Bob Walthall. Larry Huffamn handles Whippoorwill

Mayhem.

(continued on page 18)

Westfall’s True Grit Whippoorwill Justified Whippoorwill Mayhem

Whippoorwill Wild Assault


Wishes all contenders the best of luck in the 2019 National Championshipfrom Larry, Piper, Ty, Morgan, Wyatt, Lindsey, & Emerson

Whippoorwill Farm

CH Whippoorwill MayhemOwner: Ric Peterson

CH Whippoorwill Wild AssaultOwners: Jim & Stephanie Bickers

NATIONAL CHWhippoorwill Justified

Owner: Ronnie SpearsStud fee: $1,000

Handler: Larry Huffman

Whippoorwill Farm | MICHIGAN CITY, MISS.ank you to all our owners for their dedication and support

© FTR 2019

Good Luck to 3x CH “PAT” in the 120th National Championship

N. G. (Butch) Houston, III ownerRobin Gates, handler

WWW.ShadowOakPLANTATION.COM

Shadow’s Next Exit

© FTR 2019

Chris Mathan photo


2x National Champion Lester’s Sunny Hill JoJo’s back - for another run at the National Championship!

“The Company” wishes all competitors the best of luck!

CH Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo

Owned by David Thompson | Handled by Gary Lester

photo by JaMie evans

Top Dogs For Salecontact: Gary Lester

270-348-5950

fb: The Company - White Dogs

Lester’s Top RecruitFor Sale: Young Derby

Whelped 6/6/2017

Sire: 2x National Champion

Dam: Sister to Funseeking Scooter

Lester’s Storm SurgeRU Champion

For sale; stays in my string

“This one can win the National Championship”

– Gary Lester

I just love seeing those White Dogs pointing!

-- Gary Lester

LESTER’S ToP RECRuiT

LESTER’S SToRm SuRgE

© FTR 2019

CH Lester’s Speed Dial

Wishing him the best in his first National Championship

owned & handled by Gary Lester


Robert Milner’s

DUCKHILL KENNELSBritish Labradors of Excellence

British Labrador Puppies for Sale

BRED FOR:• hunting & game finding initiative • calm, pleasant demeanor • intelligence and ease of training• natural delivery to hand

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started dogs, 5 Behaviors at 50+ Yards

For information:

Mauri: (901) 846-6119

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www.duckhillkennels.com

© FTR


Good Luck to All Participants in the 120th National Championship

2x CH Hendrix’s Signature

“BUD”

CH Game Strut x CH Hendrix’s Outlier

HCP

Hendrix Company Partners

Farming | Land | Commodities

© FTR

Owners:

Guy and Burke Hendrix

250 Hwy 51 N

Hernando, MS 38632

Good Luck to Team Hendrix

fromGerald, Angela, Trey,

John Walt, Elise, Gracie,and Lilly Kate


Where The

Heart isBy Britain Lenz

“Home is not just a place, but also

the people within it.”

In biology we learn the stages of life,

mainly by studying amphibians such as

frogs. Their life cycle takes them from

eggs to tadpoles with tails; then as they

lose their tails, legs emerge, lungs de-

velop; and they grow into full grown frogs

– to air breathers from water breathers.

Butterflies also go through an amazing

transformation. A butterfly starts life as a

very small round egg laid on the leaves of

a plant. When the caterpillar has its full

length and weight, it forms itself into a

pupa (chrysalis). Within the chrysalis the

body parts of the caterpillar undergo a re-

markable transformation, called metamor-

phosis, to become the beautiful parts of

the butterfly that will emerge. It becomes

a whole new creature! This last year, I wit-

nessed the entire cycle of a butterfly, and

was awed by its miraculous metamorpho-

sis!

This got me to seriously thinking about

the stages of human lives: how we change,

experience miracles and devastations, and

learn new things. Our emotions are in-

voked by what happens around us – both

the beauty and its erosion.

I grew up in Williston, Tennessee, and

I think of that small plot of land, the things

I witnessed there, and the childhood I ex-

perienced. As we move through the world

in leaps and bounds, our worldview ex-

pands. My limited Williston view ex-

panded to Moscow, Somerville,

LaGrange, Macon, Yum Yum Road, and

Memphis, Tennessee; then to Jackson

Hole, Wyoming; Requegua, Chile; and

Saint Louis, Missouri.

All through these moves, I have main-

tained a strong connection to Fayette

County, Tennessee. This is the place where

people know each other, and we’re kin-

dred simply because we grew up here. I do

not live in Fayette County any more, but

I’m known and remembered, and I always

feel connected. I love so many things

about this little county in the great state of

Tennessee. But what I love most is the

people I know. Those people who are

readers, teachers, friends, and family have

left their impressions in my heart and

head.

I like to think that I was/am a country

girl – used to baling hay, cooking, canning

peas and tomatoes, making biscuits and

gravy, and driving down to the bottoms

where the big trees line the creeks. Visit-

ing with friends at the Hut, swimming in

the Wolf River, learning how to ride a

horse at Pinecrest in LaGrange are all part

of my country girl experience. Now, I am

a city girl, living three feet away from my

neighbor in a brick house in the city.

Before this, I lived in the mountains,

exploring the Alpine and sampling pow-

der snow on a backcountry downhill slope

called Lone Tree at Togwotee Mountain

Resort in Wyoming. Thus, I was a moun-

tain girl. And then, in Requegua, Chile, I

was immersed in learning a new culture,

speaking a language far removed from the

twang of the south, and listening in order

to learn about other people. Finally, I

moved to St. Louis, Missouri, the place

where turmoil and the greatest emotional

and spiritual growth of my life took place.

Reading over my notes, it sounds like

I’m an old lady, but I’m only 34, although

an “old soul,” I admit. For someone so

young, how do I reconcile the experience

of hardship and disappointment, fear and

fun, and the atrocious and beautiful things

that happen to us on this journey called

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Contestant Profiles (cont. from p. 13)

Mike will be running against his brother

Patchand more about this remarkable

breeding was given under Patch’s (Whip-

poorwill Justified’s) profile.

Whippoorwill Wild Assault

Salt has qualified for his fourth year

with two second places, at the Heartland

OAA and the Tootsie Hurdle OAA, and a

runner-up at the Southern Field Trial

Championship. He has yet to complete a

three hour run here. Whippoorwill Wild

Assault is by National Champion Whip-

poorwill Wild Agin out of Boxwood Bang.

Jim and Stephanie Bickers are the owners

of this white, orange, and ticked, eight

year old pointer dog. Larry Huffman is

Salt's handler.

Salt's dam, Boxwood Bang is a daugh-

ter of Miller's White Powder out of Holly

Hunter who was by The Texas Air (aka

Whippoorwill Pleasure) out of Good As

Gold. A final word about Salt's sire, Whip-

poorwill Wild Agin, with this year's field

of contestants Whippoorwill Wild Agin

moves up on the list of sires of the most

national championship contestants. Whip-

poorwill Wild Agin is now on record as the

sire of twelve contestants which places

him in a tie for fifth place with Riggins

White Knight.

Forty-four dogs qualified this year, but

only these thirty-four were nominated.

The entire roster of forty-four was pub-

lished in the February 9th issue of the

American Field, and portions of this arti-

cle appeared therein.


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life? I have come up with a simple, but

powerful answer. I believe that the people

who come into our lives, with their own

stories, are given by God’s grace and prov-

idence and are here to help us through our

stages of life. We’re never alone in expe-

rience or in life. The more I experience,

the more I see that we all have so much

more in common than not.

A few days ago I was thinking about a

particular memory when I was very

young, probably two years old. This was

my first Christmas memory. We lived on

Ebenezer Loop on a farm with a large

number of acres. It was a Christmas when

we had snow. (I think it around was 1986,

but snow at Christmas doesn’t happen

very often anymore.) Our family had a

Beta Max, and “Tarzan” was our one and

only feature film. My pops took me into

the woods to cut a Christmas tree. I re-

cently read Truman Capote’s A Christmas

Memory, and in his short story, his mem-

ory becomes as clear as any that you or I

have experienced. The memory becomes

a part of you because it’s so familiar. It’s

the image of family and friends, baking,

and sledding and snow. And that’s what

home does for me. It reconciles what was

and what is.

Revisiting the idea that we are trans-

formed and renewed, we go through so

many things in life. How are we trans-

formed? The gospel tells us. We are all

image-bearers of the One Creator. It is

phenomenal that each of us is made in the

eyes of the Lord. God is near to the bro-

kenhearted, my strength and my refuge.

He is my strong fortress, and my friend.

But, it’s also you. You bear His image as

well, and you have been used as the hands

of His work. Above all – God is love, and

we are all vessels of that love.

The last few years, I’ve shared many of

my memories of the National Field Trial

Championship. They come in a quick flash

of my family and how they helped shape

some integral part of my character. I have

been cared for and loved so well over my

entire life by many of you who have be-

come like my home: a safety net of those

who love well and remember me and help

by words or action. My home is those of

you who know my family – mom and dad,

grandmother and grandfather – and those

who just know me. The miracles that I’ve

been blessed to witness and the struggles

which I’ve been able to take into account

have bound us. It’s in this context of life

that I see how big and small the field trial

is. When we see each other, it’s a reminder

of our eternal family, the one that we will

become when reconciled with the Lord. I

call you all my family because you have

loved me well. This meeting place of the

field trial is a reminder of those who came

before and shared their lives and struggles

on the course. We can share in winning

and losing. And in each stage of life, we

can be good to each other. I’m blessed to

know some of you. I’m even more blessed

to know that we’re family.

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Rope

Breaking

Your Field

Trial HorseBy: Brad Harter

A world renowned horse clinician once

said: “If you find yourself on the ground,

maybe you didn’t do enough ground

work!” This holds true regardless of how

long you have had your horse or how

much ground work you have already done.

It also isn’t important how much you

might think your horse trusts you or that

you believe your horse would never do

anything to hurt you!

If you ever plan to use this horse to road

dogs, and this is especially important if

you will ever be introducing young dogs

to roading, then taking the short time to

“rope break” your horse’s tail may save

you a trip to the hospital. This training

may be the most important 15 to 30 min-

utes you can spend with your horse! This

is important even if you have already suc-

cessfully roaded dogs off the horse, but

somehow always managed to avoid get-

ting the rope wrapped around the back of

your horse’s rear end – or worse: have that

rope pulled up under the tail!

Even if roading dogs isn’t part of your

program, you might someday be riding

alongside someone who is roading a dog,

and suddenly you and your horse end up

entangled and that rope he is using comes

under your horse’s tail. In another situa-

tion, you might someday be asked to lead

or pony someone’s else’s horse while rid-

ing yours.This same scenario can happen

in a heartbeat when that lead rope sud-

denly ends up under your horse’s tail. I

have seen this first hand with people lead-

ing pack horses. It often ends up in a big

wreck!

Anytime you get a rope under a horse’s

tail, the result can be disastrous. Plenty of

dog trainers and field trialers have wit-

nessed what can easily go wrong in this

situation.

While you may think you are handy

enough with your horse to prevent this

from ever happening, is it worth the risk

not to take the time to prevent this? The

training will probably take you much less

than 30 minutes.

No matter how long you have had this

horse or how much you think he would

never intentionally hurt you, there are a

couple things you need to understand.

First, that area right around the tail is one

of the true blind spots in the horse’s field

of vision. Second, anytime something

quickly encounters the underside of the

tail, that is a red flag alert to the horse that

this could be a predator attacking! Until a

horse has been desensitized to this experi-

ence, you can expect several things to hap-

pen and none of them are good, especially

if you are on the horse’s back.

I always encourage everyone to start

out the same way and don’t take shortcuts.

I know people will say they will just put

their horse in crossties or tie him to a

sturdy post, but that could result in the

horse flipping over or breaking loose.

For this and many other reasons, my ad-

vice is to start with your horse in the round

pen. The next step involves pulling up one

leg using the simple figure eight strap to

make the horse three legged, as seen in fig-

ure 1. Once the horse accepts the fact that

he cannot flee and he turns his head to-

wards you, drops his head and licks and or

chews, he is asking for your help. Go to

him, reassure him, and take the strap off,

lowering his leg. Next, and very impor-

tant, is to rub the lower leg even if only for

a few seconds. The reason for this is pretty

basic. Horses tend to remember how any-

thing ends and rubbing that leg will allow

you to put the figure 8 strap back on again.

This time, when you walk away with your

back to the horse and turn around, you will

notice the horse is most likely looking for

you to come help him with the mess that

he has found himself in once again. Nor-

mally, you will not have to do this more

than two or three times. Once you see the

horse focused on you to aid him, then you

have created that first and most important

mindset that will be the foundation to this

simple lesson.

Depending on the horse, I might leave

this strap on during the next steps, or at a

minimum, place the horse in two legged

hobbles, shown in the figure 2. In any

case, I also attach a long lead rope to the

horse, so, if necessary, I can control his

head.

This is also the best time to take the

longer rope and start to put it behind your

horse’s butt, gently pulling it back and

forth much like what the horse would ex-

perience if a dog were attached to the rope

and running around behind the horse, as

seen in figure 3.

The next few steps are relatively sim-

ple. Start out just lifting the tail with your

hand or using the rope about 6 inches

away from the base of the tail, as seen in

figures 4 and 5. Hold the tail up until the

horse relaxes his tail muscles. You might

not believe there are muscles on the un-

derside of the tail, but I promise you, the

horse can lock down on that rope like a

vice and you will not be strong enough to

pull it away.

After a few times lifting the tail with

your hand or using the rope and seeing the

horse relax, you are ready to move the

rope a little closer to the base of the tail,

as seen in figures 6, 7 and 8. You can use

a short rope, or the end of the longer lead

rope that you have attached to your horse.

How quickly the horse relaxes will tell you

how much he is ready to accept a little

more pressure. The time that this takes will

vary with each horse but usually, you will

find your horse relaxing and getting very

comfortable within 10 to 15 minutes or

less.

If all goes well the first day, you should

repeat this for a few days after the initial

desensitizing. No need to go to the steps

of taking the leg away. You just need to re-

inforce this whole process with a rope

around the butt and under the tail.

Will this lesson stick with the horse? In

almost every case where I have done this,

I find the horse retains the lesson easily. If

you happen to have a horse that does not

take to this easily, you might want to spend

a few more sessions with him in the round

pen, but this is rarely the case. With a few

breeds like Arabs or high-strung Thor-

oughbreds or with horses who have al-

ready blown up in a roading wreck, I have

had to repeat this whole process a few

times. But for the majority of field trial

horses, this simple 15 to 30 minute lesson

may be the best time you have ever spent

avoiding the emergency room!

Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Figure 7 Figure 8



By Brad Harter

I have thought about writing this piece

for years. Maybe the time has come to

share a few of the many wonderful per-

formances which I have had the great for-

tune to witness in the last 31 years of

covering and videotaping the National

Championship.

First and most important, the reader

needs to understand that I have witnessed

more than a thousand individual dogs

compete for this coveted title. It would be

impossible and would require more pages

that this publication contains if I were to

recount all of those more memorable per-

formances. In this piece I will only cover

a few of those great performances that fell

short of winning the title, which I wit-

nessed in my first 5 years of videotaping

this event.

It is also important for readers to un-

derstand a few other things that could be

easily misunderstood. First, sharing some

of these performances is in no way ques-

tioning the decisions made by the highly

qualified men who have judged this cham-

pionship. Second, what any spectator sees

and what the judges might see in any per-

formance can be two very different things.

Third, what impresses any one person in a

dog’s performance can vary greatly.That

is just one reason that judges must often

compromise with each other when it

comes to selecting a winner.

With those things said, my goal with

this piece is to share just a few of those

performances that have left me in total ad-

miration of just how talented and how spe-

cial these bird dogs really are that come to

compete for this most coveted title.

While there have been many dogs who

exhibited great performances that fell

short of finishing the three hours, I will

focus only on a few of those performances

that completed the three hours, but fell

short of being named the National Cham-

pion.

Bisco Big Jack

The first of these memorable perform-

ances came in my very first year of filming

during the second week in 1988. The dog

was named Bisco Big Jack, who was being

handled by Pete Hicks. Jack was owned by

Barry Carpenter, but Pete had been Jack’s

trainer from the very beginning. Jack,

Barry and Pete had their host of followers

and admirers. In 1988 wild birds were

plentiful on the Ames Plantation. That year

and in the first week, especially on the

opening first day, many dogs had multiple

contacts on game. If memory serves me

correctly, more than 50 wild coveys were

contacted by the dogs or ridden upon by

the gallery on that first day.

But it was in the second week, on the

afternoon course, that Bisco Big Jack and

Pete put on a show, the likes of which had

not been witnessed in years on the Ames

Plantation. The actual count of bird con-

tacts for Jack varied depending on where

you were and what you might have wit-

nessed. Many observers placed that count

around 16 or 17. There was a certain level

of confusion surrounding some of these

contacts as to whether birds were officially

seen or not. Calling the flight of birds and

firing the gun by the handler does not al-

ways transfer to a reported find in the

judges’ books. For someone trying des-

perately to capture this entire event on

videotape for the first time, witnessing this

kind of three-hour, bird finding exhibition

was a real thrill indeed!

Some people will describe a field trial

performance as a show. Some people will

view this show as more of the dog show;

others see it as a handler’s show. Still oth-

ers view it as a combined performance by

both the dog and the handler. There is lit-

tle question that on this day, for those in

attendance, this was indeed a performance

by both Jack and Pete! To say that both

performers enjoyed every minute of this

show would be an understatement! This

could also be said for much of the large

gallery that followed this performance. I

can’t ever remember witnessing a field

trial where clapping, cheering, and shout-

ing were so evident during any brace as

the one I witnessed with Pete and Jack.

When the dust had settled and the initial

three-hour braces all came to an end, to the

shock of many in attendance, no winner

was named. Instead, a second series of

braces was announced between Jack and

another dog, Navajo Dude, who had ren-

dered a 7-find performance during the first

week of the trial.

H. O. Price was the reporter of the trial

that year. Mr. Price’s view of what tran-

spired, which resulted in this second series

decision, might be well served at this

point. Quoted in a piece that Mr. Price

wrote was this explanation: “That Jack had

found a lot of birds was indisputable, but

how or why he had found them was not as

clearly settled in the minds of the judici-

ary who suspected that handler Hicks had

played too important a role in the quest.

Pete was known to be free spirited with a

genius for bird dog training and a flair for

showmanship. On this occasion Pete was

performing flamboyantly, showing his su-

perbly trained pointer to his best ability.

The cries of admiration from the gallery

were in contrast to the more staid tradi-

tions of the greatest field trial in the world,

an event in which protocol and proper

decorum are practiced with all the solem-

nity of a day in court.”

What we had was two very different

kinds of performances, by two very dif-

ferent dogs, being handled by very differ-

ent handlers on two different days. The old

way, and a very accepted way, to resolve

this type of conflict is to call for a second

series. This results in the two contenders

being placed on the ground under identi-

cal conditions to, in effect, “battle it out.”

What was rather unusual about this

“second series” was that the handlers were

approached by the panel of three judges

before the dogs were turned loose, and

were given very detailed and clear in-

structions as to just exactly how their dogs

were to be handled and what would not be

tolerated. If you knew anything at all about

Pete Hicks, as I would learn over the next

25 years of my association with Pete,

those types of instructions were “a line in

the sand” to which Pete was not accus-

tomed.

Handlers were instructed to ride the

course at a comfortable pace, staying di-

rectly in front of the judges. These two

dogs were turned loose on the afternoon

course. Big Jack made a very bold move to

the far front of the course. Pete, knowing

Jack like a book, knew exactly where his

big, leggy pointer was headed. Only days

before, Jack had pointed his first covey

during his first three-hour brace in a small

patch of woods just before crossing Ames

Road. Pete suspected Jack remembered

that contact. In complete defiance to the

judge’s instructions, Pete put his horse in

high gear, riding completely out of sight

in the direction his dog had taken. The

judges rode at their customary pace and

when they eventually arrived near that

patch of woods, there was Pete, his hat

high in the air signaling point for Big Jack!

Pete and Jack were on the score board, but

every order, every instruction from the

judges had been completely ignored. Prob-

ably not the best way to have started a sec-

ond series.

Mark Roper and Navajo Dude had re-

mained directly in front of the judges, fol-

lowing the judge’s instructions to the

letter. Dude would score on two coveys

and Jack would also add to his bird score.

But the second series would end an hour

and eighteen minutes after it had started

when Pete, once more, vanished from

view in what appeared to be an attempt to

direct his dog to a known covey location.

Appearing to be a flagrant violation of the

judges’ instructions, this may have been

the last straw, prompting the three judges

to call an end to the second series. Later

that day, on the big steps of the Ames

Manor House, Navajo Dude was pro-

claimed the new 1988 National Champion.

Tekoa Mountain Sunrise – Jack

The next more memorable performance

was one that setter fans had been waiting

for since Johnny Crocket won the title

back in 1970. Tekoa Mountain Sunrise

came to Grand Junction in 1989 to com-

pete in his first National Championship. I

was fortunate enough that year to film him

in a workout/hunt with his owner Dr.

Asher and his handler Rich Robertson be-

fore the trial began. Even as a young dog,

you could see that Sunrise had all the right

qualities to make an impressive showing

at this championship.

Sunrise, or Jack as he was called,

gained a host of admirers that first year

when he finished the three hours with ease

and scored 6 perfectly handled pieces of

bird work. While not enough to win and

unseat the 14-find performance of Whip-

poorwill Rebel, Jack and Rich had shown

everyone that they had the all-important

connection to work together to win on the

time-tested grounds of the Ames Planta-

tion.

Jack was back in 1990, having re-qual-

ified to run in his second National Cham-

pionship. While the title was won that year

with the championship performance by

Dunn’s Fearless Bud, Jack proved once

again that he had all the qualities to be a

true National Championship contender.

Braced with Hamilton’s Big O, Jack

and his brace mate racked up the record

bird finding brace for the 1990 event. Jack

ran an impressive three hours scoring on 8

perfectly handled finds, while adding a

beautiful back of his brace mate. Big O

scored 7 times during that same three

hours. Had either dog had the benefit of

performing without a brace mate, who

knows what their individual covey count

might have been?

Setter fans finally had the contender

they had been waiting for. Over the next

several years Jack returned to perform

over these time-honored grounds. Al-

memorable Performances

at the National Championship

Bisco Big Jack Bisco Buck


though Jack never managed to capture the

crown, never once did he disappoint his le-

gion of fans!

Chinquapin Bisco Buck

Pete Hicks was back in 1992 with Chin-

quapin Bisco Buck to, once again, treat

spectators to a memorable performance

that would put Pete and Buck into a sec-

ond series with Randy Downs and The

Hitch Hiker. This time, it appeared that

Pete may have learned a lesson that his

handling style might have cost him the

title in the 1988 second series.

Running in the second brace of the first

series, Randy Downs and the Hitch Hiker

racked up the highest number of bird con-

tacts for a single dog in the entire stake. In

that initial three hours, Ike, as he is called,

had contact with 9 coveys of birds. On six

of these coveys, birds lifted early as Randy

was riding to his dog. But in every case,

these birds were either seen by the judges

or by Rick Carlisle, who was serving as

the head marshal. Ike also scored three

non-productive stands where it could be

assumed that birds may have lifted unde-

tected, because this was a day when birds

seemed especially jumpy. The biggest dis-

traction to Ike’s performance may not have

been the fact the birds were not holding

well, but more related to the fact that

Randy was often seen riding hard to the

front and often out of sight of the judges in

order to stay in contact with his dog. That

type of handling has always been frowned

upon in the National Championship. It was

that type of handling that had put Pete in a

second series in 1988 and may have cost

him the championship that year.

While Pete and Bisco Buck had only

contacted game four times in the three

hours, two things were memorable about

that performance. First, and most impor-

tant, was the fact that Buck handled so eas-

ily. Pete was able to ride at a comfortable

pace staying right in front of the judges for

the entire three hours. The second, and

even more memorable to me, was Buck’s

ability to adjust his efforts to locate the

elusive quail. These were the days of all

wild quail on the Ames Plantation. The

pre-releasing program had not yet started.

Birds had been out feeding the

previous afternoon when The

Hitch Hiker had run, and it ap-

peared that on the next morning

when Buck ran, these birds had re-

treated to heavy cover and were

not moving. Buck started out rim-

ming and working the edges, but

when this was not paying divi-

dends, Buck’s tactics changed.

Buck was also braced with an-

other very good dog known for his

bird finding ability but, on this

day, that dog could not make the

necessary adjustments and failed

to find even a single covey.

Buck’s four finds were all the

“dug-up” kind, with birds in thick

cover where many dogs will not

venture. In all four cases, Buck

had his birds perfectly located and

displayed excellent manners and

arresting style. While not a performance

of quantity, it was definitely one of qual-

ity! Buck’s four finds came scattered

throughout his three hours, with the last

piece of bird work coming with only one

minute remaining in the brace.This was

further proof that Buck’s desire and ability

to find game had never wavered during the

three-hour, marathon grind.

When two fine performances on two

different days by to very different dogs

occur, the judges often decide the best way

to sort this out is to call for a second se-

ries. This puts both dogs on the same

course at the same time to “slug it out”

with the best performance being named

the winner. But there are risks to a second

series. Both dogs can become lost or both

can mess up handling their game; but in

this case the judges felt the risks were

worth taking.

Very much like 1988, the judges con-

ferred with both handlers before the dogs

were turned loose on the afternoon course.

The handlers were given clear instructions

as to what was expected in their handling

techniques. They would be expected to

ride at a moderate pace and stay directly

in front of the judges. If needed, scouts

were to be used to find the dogs pointed.

Turned loose on the afternoon course

shortly after 1:00 p.m. and with the tem-

perature at 70 degrees, both handlers com-

plied with the judge’s instructions, riding

directly in front of the judges at a moder-

ate pace. Pete’s dog Buck seemed to re-

member what had worked for him during

his three-hour brace. When rimming the

first two big fields was not paying divi-

dends, Buck changed his tactics, digging

deeper into cover in search of his birds.

At the 23-minute mark, Charlie Ward,

scouting for Buck, called point. When the

judge arrived, Charlie offered that the

birds had departed. Pete tried flushing,

hoping a sleeper remained, but without

success. An effort to point were the singles

had set down also came up empty.

Just past the one-hour mark, The Hitch

Hiker pointed directly out front. Three

birds lifted, Randy fired his gun and Ike

was on board with (continued on p. 27)

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By: Brad Harter

The two things I regret most about shar-

ing this true story is that four of the six

people who were there to witness this

event have passed away. The second un-

fortunate thing is that I did not have a cam-

era with me that day to take a picture, to

prove that this really did happen!

This event took place in the early nine-

teen-seventies in southeast Ohio near the

Ohio River, sometime in early February.

Four good friends from Kentucky had

come to Athens, Ohio to hunt grouse with

my hunting partner Tom Perry and me.

Three of them had their own bird dogs, but

and hunting grouse with more than two

dogs at a time and with six shooters has

never proved very productive. For that

reason, we decided to split into two groups

and hunt two different areas a few miles

apart, and then to meet up at noon at a

local restaurant for lunch.

Tom and I took the one Kentuckian who

did not have a bird dog with us, and the

other three we put in a favorite spot that

always produced a good number of birds.

It was a cold winter day with a few inches

of snow on the ground that had been there

for a few weeks. The area Tom suggested

we try first was an old farm that had pretty

much been taken over by Honeysuckle.

The land owner was still running a few

cattle, figuring that rather than starve, the

cattle might graze on some of the Honey-

suckle that was taking over his land.

The temperature stood just a few de-

grees above zero that morning and the

ground was frozen rock solid. After about

thirty minutes, my young male setter was

spotted on point near a thick mass of this

Honeysuckle. Tom and our Kentucky

friend positioned themselves to get a good

shot, while I went in front of my dog to

flush out the grouse. When nothing hap-

pened, I tapped my dog on the head to get

him to relocate. He took a few tentative

steps, freezing again in a solid point. I

kicked at the Honeysuckle more vigor-

ously and still nothing happened.

Tom suggested I get down on my hands

and knees in a position to see what my dog

might be seeing. When I did this, looking

under a thick mass of Honeysuckle, I saw

a grouse sitting calmly about 15 feet away.

The grouse appeared to be sitting on a cow

patty. I told the gunners to get ready; the

grouse would soon be boiling out of there!

I threw a little snow towards the grouse

only to see him try to lift off the ground,

but unable to do so because his feathers

were frozen to the cow patty!

Tom and I had a friend at that time who

was trying to raise grouse in captivity. He

had a male and female and had been able

to get them to lay eggs, but using Bantam

hens to sit those eggs had not worked very

well. His female had died, and he was hop-

ing to get another female to continue with

his experiment. Not knowing the sex of

this grouse, I thought if I could catch it, it

was worth a try! I crawled in close and

was successful at grabbing this grouse

with my bare hands while the bird re-

mained frozen to the cow patty.

With help, the bird and the cow patty

were placed in the back of my hunting

vest, where the grouse rode quietly for the

next couple hours as we were hunting.

When we got to my truck, I carefully re-

moved my vest and rolled up the bird in it,

placing the vest, grouse, and cow patty in

the back of my truck next to the dog box.

We knew our buddies would never be-

lieve our story without evidence and that

evidence would be the live grouse stuck to

the frozen cow patty. We were to meet at

noon in the town of Gallipolis for lunch.

It was about a 30-minute drive in warm-

ing temperatures.

When we arrived at the restaurant our

buddies were already there waiting. Be-

fore going in we shared the story of cap-

turing the ruffed grouse frozen to the cow

patty! You can imagine their reaction and

it was just what we had expected. I knew

proof would be needed and so I went to

my truck to retrieve my vest, the grouse,

and the cow patty.

When I lifted the vest from alongside

the dog box, it did seem a little lighter, but

still, I carried it over to our friends and

carefully started to unroll the vest to dis-

play the grouse. To my surprise, the grouse

was gone! The cow patty, now partially

thawed, remained in the vest and there

were still some grouse feathers stuck to the

patty.

The Ruffed grouse and the

Cow Patty

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Thanks to thenational Championship Association

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Memorable (continued from p. 25)

his first find in the second series. Buck had

vanished and many believed he may have

been pointed and ridden past. Charlie, who

was scouting Buck, scoured the country,

but was unable to find Buck. When Buck

failed to return and Randy and Ike reached

the big bottoms past the old dairy unit, the

judges made the announcement that the

second series had come to an end. Within

the next two hours on the big steps in front

of the Manor House, The Hitch Hiker was

named the 1992 National Champion.

Tekoa Mountain Sunrise

Grouse (continued from p. 26)

You can imagine the response from our

friends! Immediately one of those guys,

Louie Vaughan, walked over to his truck

to retrieve an antler taken from one side of

a nice 8-point buck. Carrying the antler to

us, Louie shared his own story. He related

that while hunting, his dog had pointed

this buck bedded down in a thicket. When

the startled buck came charging out, he ran

right past Louie, who reached out grab-

bing the antler and swinging up on the

deer’s back! With one hand holding on the

antler Louie reached for his belt knife with

the intent to cut the deer’s throat. In the at-

tempt to bring this deer down, the antler

broke loose and Louie hit the ground.

Since this was near the time that many

bucks start shedding their antlers, it was

Louie’s belief that this explained why his

plan had failed.

All he had as proof of his morning’s ad-

venture with the buck was half an antler

rack. Louie’s only comment was that his

proof was just as good as my partially

thawed cow patty. But at least he was car-

rying around something he could display

on his mantle, instead of the pile of poop I

had thawing in my hunting vest!

Ruffed Grouse (photo courtesy

Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

By Nancy Brannon

Quail Release

In preparation for the 120th running of

the National Championship, the first quail

of the season were released on September

6, 2018. A total of 3,000 quail were set free

on the courses, 1,500 each on the morning

and afternoon venues. Groups of 20 quail

were placed in 150 locations within pre-

pared feed patches. Two hundred sixty-

two patches totaling 217 acres were

seeded last spring with a mix of grain

sorghum, teosinte maize and millex to pro-

vide excellent cover and food for the quail.

Between September 2018 and February

2019 their natural food source was sup-

plemented as needed by spreading grain

sorghum within the feed patches and other

areas which provide vegetative cover.

The second release of 3,000 quail took

place on September 17, 2018, bringing the

total number of birds released on the Field

Trial Course last fall to 6,000. These birds

would have five months to acclimate to

their new surroundings and hone their sur-

vival skills. Ames personnel helped them

along by providing supplemental feed

each 10 to 14 days beginning in Novem-

ber. The 12 week-old birds were obtained

from Quail Valley in Albany, Georgia.

Dr. Carlisle says Ames has had “the

best survival of birds this year than in the

last several years.” He attributes this to the

unplanned delay in mowing the field trial

course. Ames has two tractors that are spe-

cially equipped and dedicated for use on

the field trial course. Due to unfortunate

accidents with both tractors this year [both

tractors will have to be replaced] mowing

of the course didn’t get finished until Jan-

uary 12, although it is usually completed

by Thanksgiving. Carlisle says that be-

cause of the delay in mowing the birds had

more cover for a longer period of time

and, thus had protection from the avian

raptors as well as the small mammalian

predators on them. Carlisle said they’re

seeing more birds in the feed patches,

which include 262 patches planted last

spring totaling about 217 acres. In the fall

when the harvest the crops, they leave feed

strips of soybeans, grain sorghum, and

corn. This fall they left 187 feed strips, or

about 33 acres. Carlisle realizes that this

mowing schedule produces a dilemna:

mowing later allows the birds greater pro-

tection and food, therefore greater surviv-

ability and more game available for the

field trials. Carlisle said, “We’ve found

birds in places that we haven’t seen them

since the 1980s.” But mowing later makes

it more difficult for the handlers to see

their dogs at work, and they must consider

the field trials that happen at Ames in De-

cember and January, prior to the National

Championship

Field Trials

The AFTCA National Amateur All-Age

Invitational was held at Ames Plantation,

starting December 3, 2018 with Keith

Wright’s Touch’s Firedancer taking the

Championship and Runner-Up was Jim

Pendergest’s Dialed In.

The Ames Amateur was held starting

January 1, 2019 with Misty Morn Masked

Man, owned by Joey McAlexander, win-

ning the Ames Amateur Stake. Second was

Rebel Dreamer, owned by David

Williams; and Nosam’s Full Ride, owned

by Mason Ashburn, was third.

The 66th annual Hobart Ames Memo-

rial Field Trial started on January 14 with

30 All-Age dogs in the competition. Dr.

Carlisle reported that 15 out of the 30 dogs

got lost and the handler had to ask for the

tracker. There were 15 dogs that com-

pleted the hour’s course. Champion was

Whippoorwill Justified, handled by Larry

Huffman and owned by Ronnie Spears,

“who had two finds and ran a really good

ground race,” Carlisle said. “He was by far

better than any other dog out there. He did

a great job!” Runner up was Valient, han-

dled by Randy Anderson and owned by

Jay McKennzie, who came to Ames to see

his dog run.

The Derby began on Wednesday after-

noon, January 16, with Caladen’s Yukon

Cornelius, handled by Ike Todd and

owned by Carl Owens, taking the win.

Second was Ransom’s Jack Flash, handled

by Steve Hurdle and owned by Billy

Blackwell. Third went to Touch’s Grey

Street, handled by Ike Todd for owner

Keith Wright.

Carlisle said that “all the Derby dogs

had two finds and put in a good race. The

Derbies outshined the All-Age dogs this

time.”

No Heritage Festival

For the first time in 20 years there was

no Ames Heritage Festival on the second

Saturday of October 2018. Missing were

the folk artists, demonstrators, musicians

and the crowds of people who have

flocked to Ames for the past two decades

to enjoy and celebrate the area’s agricul-

tural and folk heritage. In fact, there will

be no more Heritage Festivals at the Ames

Plantation in the future. The decision was

made with great reluctance because Ames

outgrew the ability to maintain the high

quality experience that people expect.

Horse Management Field Day

On September 27, 2018, Ames Planta-

tion was one of three venues across Ten-

nessee to host a University of Tennessee

Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) Horse

Management Field Day. Dr. Jennie Ivey

and Dr. Amy Weatherly held an informa-

tive, hands-on session about equine teeth,

Body Condition Scoring (BCS), the

equine digestive system, and equine para-

sites and the Fecal Egg Count test. Several

of the Ames Plantation field trial horses

served as “demonstration” horses for folks

to learn about teeth and BCS. Full cover-

age of this field day was reported in the

October 2018 issue of the Mid-South

Horse Review. The Horse Management

Field Day returns to Ames on September

19, 2019.

Historic Research

Dr. Andrew Mickelson and students

from the University of Memphis held their

annual Archaeology Field School at the

Plantation in mid-May. This is the 12th

year for the Field School, said Jamie

Evans, and the professors and their stu-

dents are still working at two sites on

Ames: one historic and one prehistoric.

The University of Memphis research

focuses on the Native American mounds

and the village adjacent to the mounds.

For the last four years they have expanded

their research sites to outlying areas asso-

ciated with the mounds, looking for social,

civic, and religious connections.

On May 11, graduate students con-

ducted remote sensing on slave quarters

associated with the 1820s - 1860s Cedar

Grove Plantation. Cedar Grove was started

by John Walker Jones in 1826 and became

one of the largest cotton plantations in the

region by 1860. Today’s Ames Manor

House is the original home of the Jones

family. Records indicate that in 1850 as

many as 250 African-Americans were en-

slaved at Cedar Grove. Oral tradition, sup-

ported by a map drawn by the Union Army

in 1864, places one of Cedar Grove’s slave

quarters in what is now the barn lot located

behind the Mule Barn, near the Ames

Plantation headquarters. Based in part on

Dr. Mickelson’s findings, the area will be

the subject of further investigation this

spring by archaeologists from Rhodes

College under the direction of Dr. Kim-

berly Kasper.

The remote sending continues around

Ames, finding artifacts in the fields. They

take the strongest signatures to determine

where to dig. They are focusing on house

styles, with square houses found at the

mounds and oval houses found in the

fields. Dr. Mickelson’s work has found

two new ceramic scatters in the last two

months. There are at least 30 places on

Ames where they have found ceramic

scatters.

For the fifth year historic research at the

Fannie Dickens plantation continued, but

demarcation of the house boundaries con-

tinues to evade description. The houses ap-

pear to have been built directly on the

ground, leaving no piers and no marks on

the ground – other than darkened areas in-

dicating organics in the soil.

Interesting artifact finds this year were

a 170-year-old curry comb, a leg bone

from a hog, a number of lead bullets

(balls) and buckshot, and a piece of silver

jewelry – a locket.

In the 2019 Field School, students will

tie up the loose ends at the Dickins Plan-

tation and start work at the new site: the

slave quarters of Cedar Grove Plantation

that lie behind what is now the Mule Barn.


Happening at Ames Plantation

New quail arrival at Ames.

(photo by Jamie Evans)

A University of Memphis graduate

student conducts a remote sensing sur-

vey on the Cedar Grove Plantation slave

quarters site. (Jamie Evans photos)

(below) Silver locket and blue bead

found at the Fannie Dickins Plantation.


By Nancy Brannon, Ph.D.

The 18th annual meeting of the Ames

Historical Society on Saturday January 26,

2019,organized by Jamie Evans, featured

Associate Professor of Anthropology and

Southern Studies at the University of Mis-

sissippi – Dr. Jodi Skipper.Dr. Skipper was

welcomed by one of the largest crowds to

attend a historical society meeting: 115

people, which included fifty who were

new members of the historical society or

guests of members.

Dr. Skipper is an applied anthropologist

who explores the representation of African

American lives through material cultural.

Her research dovetails perfectly with the

field school research at Ames that exam-

ines the slave housing structures at the lo-

cations of prior plantations on what is now

the Ames property. Dr. Skipper investi-

gates how African American historic sites

and heritage interact with modern-day

tourism. She has collaborated on two proj-

ects: the Behind the Big House program

in Marshall County, Mississippi and the

Promiseland Historic Preservation project

in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana. Through

her ongoing research on African diaspora

anthropology, historic sites management,

historical archaeology, museum and her-

itage studies, Dr. Skipper explores how

African American history is represented in

the present.With her collaboration, Behind

the Big House, managed by Preserve Mar-

shall County and Holly Springs, Inc., re-

ceived an Award of Merit from the

Mississippi Humanities Council. It has

also been touted by the National Humani-

ties Alliance Foundation as a model for

collaborative, and publicly-engaged work.

Skipper was awarded one of eight Whit-

ing Foundation Public Humanities fellow-

ships for the 2017-18 year, to help expand

the program model to other parts of the

state of Mississippi.

Evans said: “There are many parallels

between Dr. Skipper’s interest in bringing

the story of slavery in North Mississippi

to the forefront in today’s society and our

own here at Ames, as we seek to under-

stand and share the life stories of the thou-

sands of African Americans who were

enslaved here.”

In his introductory remarks, Evans de-

scribed the ongoing historical research at

Ames and last summer’s newest discover-

ies. For at least 80 years, European-de-

scendant settlers lived on the land before

Ames was established in 1901. Evans

showed a map of the various plantation lo-

cations that once existed in this area. And

even further back in history by thousands

of years, Native American settlements

dominated the landscape. Each year pro-

fessors and students from Rhodes College

and the University of Memphis in the

Field School work to “unpack” as much

history of the area as they can within the

limited time period of their research at

Ames.

The Stencil House is once again in the

news. It is the recipient of a $50,000 grant

from the State of Tennessee for restoration

and preservation of the invaluable stencil-

ing in the house. This particular project

will focus on the breezeway, where the

best preserved examples of the stenciling

currently exist. Thomas Moore Studios of

Baltimore, which has been restoring his-

toric interiors since 1988, will do the

work. Their combined team of fine artists,

scholars, preservation experts, and archi-

tectural historians make it one of the pre-

mier sources for a project of this scale.

Evans showed photos of the dilapidated

state the house was in originally, and the

meticulous, time-consuming process of

moving the house to Ames from Clifton,

Tennessee. Once getting it to Ames, the

circa 1830s house had to be stabilized and

repaired.

Its preservation is of enormous impor-

tance – so important that the Smithsonian

Institution tried to obtain it in 1974. The

house contains the most complete exam-

ple in the southernU.S. of the folk style of

stenciling by Moses Eaton, Jr. Moses

Eaton and his son Moses Eaton, Jr.

weretwo of the best documented stencil-

ers of New England. At a time when af-

fluent families were able to afford

fashionable imported wallpaper, for those

who could not, wall stenciling of the

Moses Eaton type was in evidence as early

as 1778. New England wall stenciling be-

came an art form in its own right. The

stencils brought color and artistry to rural

people eager for their plain walls to be

transformed.

Following the Ames historical research

update, Evans related their work to Dr.

Skipper’s work. Evans characterized

African American slavery as the “unmen-

tioned part of our history.” He shared data

about the great expansion of cotton pro-

duction from 1840-1860, which required

a parallel increase in slave populations.

Evans reported that in 1860, 68% of the

population of Fayette County was slaves.

Plantations ruled the landscape and there

were over 1,250 slaves in 1850 on land

that is today Ames Plantation. At Ames,

researchers have studied 23 farms, which

included 674 slaves, and they have looked

at variables such as age, gender, and race.

Interestingly, they have found that 49% of

the slaves were female and 51% were

male. At least seven of the slave cemeter-

ies at Ames have been discovered, but

there are probably more. The next focus of

research will be the slave quarters of

Cedar Grove Plantation, which is now the

area behind the Mule Barn.

At the 12th annual Field School, May

2018, the students and their professors

have continued to find beads, tobacco

pipes (that were used for smoking wild

plants), and ceramics. Nothing that post

dates 1860 has been found so far. This

year they found pieces of window glass,

and a 170-year-old curry comb. They have

found lead shot bullets: some flattened, in-

dicating they were shot, and some still

round, indicating they were never fired.

They found the intact leg bone of a hog,

and an important find this year was a sil-

ver pendant.

Then it was time for Dr. Skipper. Her

presentation on Slavery and Memory in

Mississippi detailed the establishment of

the Behind the Big House project. She re-

iterated the vast increase in cotton pro-

duction in Marshall County and its

concomitant increase in slaves in the mid-

1800s, which also brought an enormous

amount of wealth to the cotton plantation

owners. She drew the connection between

the plantations and town homes in places

such as Holly Springs and Natchez,Mis-

sissippi. This rapidly accumulating wealth

of the plantation owners allowed them to

construct elaborate homes in these towns

and, thus, “frontier society developed

quickly,” she explained. Using the exam-

ple of Burton House, a site on the pro-

gram, she noted the increase from 8 to 87

slaves in a very short time span.

She explained how “pilgrimage tours”

such as the one in Holly Springs started in

1938, mostly focused on the town man-

sions and not the stories of enslaved peo-

ple. But in 1860, 70% of the population

were black slaves, some of whom lived in

dwellings adjacent to these mansions.

To correct such omissions, Joseph

McGill Jr. started The Slave Dwelling

Project in South Carolina in 2010, with the

help of Prinny Anderson, a descendant of

Thomas Jefferson, and others. McGill, a

descendant of slaves, had as his quest to

visit every former slave dwelling in the

U.S. and to ensure preservation of these

historic sites.

By 2012, the first Behind the Big

House tour began in Holly Springs, in

conjunction with tours of the mansions on

the Spring Pilgrimage. Property owners

Chelius Carter and his wife Jenifer Eggle-

ston started the program, interpreting a

slave dwelling on their property, the Hugh

Craft House. Said Eggleston, “It was clear

that a significant part of the historic nar-

rative was missing. While a number of the

silent witnesses –the structures directly re-

lated to the slaves’ accommodations were

extant – the stories of the people who lived

and used these buildings were largely

being forgotten.” McGill consulted Carter

and Eggleston on program planning and

has served as an interpreter since 2012.

David Person also offered the slave

dwelling on his Burton Place for the tour.

Other homes and slave dwellings on the

tour include The Magnolias and McCar-

roll Place.

Another important “ingredient” on

telling this part of southern history is the

work of afro-culinary historian Michael

Twitty. Twitty recently published The

Cooking Gene: A Journey through Afti-

can-American Culinary History in the Old

South. He traces his ancestry, both black

and white, through food from Africa to

America and slavery to freedom. He traces

the larger story of African American food-

ways through his ancestors and their per-

sonal stories, visiting plantations,

gravesites, cotton gins, tobacco barns,

churches, and more. He uses food as the

medium of communication and discourse

in his interviews, looking at the develop-

ment of African American foodways from

Africa to America, from the antebellum to

postbellum South. He documents the food

producing efforts of Black farmers and

fishermen; seeks out heirloom seeds and

medicinal lore – all with honor and rever-

ence to the ancestors of each historic site.

He has worked with Behind the Big House

since 2015.

Also part of bringing slave history to

life are Dale Deberry and Wayne Jones,

who demonstrate the brickmaking skills of

the slaves that were integral to house

building.

The next Behind the Big House tour

will take place April 4-6, 2019. These

slave quarters, “hidden in plain sight,”

Skipper describes, coupled with archaeo-

logical research and partnership with the

University of Mississippi, will influence

“how we think about the past. This place

matters; people matter.”

Find more information about Dr. Skip-

per at: socanth.olemiss.edu and at south-

ernstudies.olemiss.edu Find more about

the Behind the Big House tour at: be-

hindthebighouse.org and preservemar-

shallcounty.org.

Jamie Evans and Dr. Jodi Skipper (photo by Nancy Brannon)

Ames Historical Society


Chronic

Wasting

DiseaseBy Dr. Allan Houston

When Chronic Wasting Disease was

discovered in north Mississippi in late

2018, a murmur of unease swept through

west Tennessee, as hunters hoped that

would be it: just isolated cases and the

deadly condition had not spread. It came

as a shock, and best described as a "gut

punch," when TWRA reported 13 deer

tested positive in late December and an-

other 11 were announced on January 7,

2019. Since that time, the news has gotten

worse. More animals have tested positive

and the range has spread across several

counties.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a

neurological disease caused by a mis-

shaped protein.

Proteins are essential to bodily function.

Each of us has millions of proteins inside

each of our millions of cells, and each pro-

tein is strung just right with amino acids

and shaped just right to do its job. Any

protein folded into a shape that makes it

infectious is referred to as a “prion.”

Once CWD prions are inside the deer’s

body, they migrate into the lymph systems,

into neurological systems, and finally to

the brain. The resulting condition is tech-

nically referred to as spongiform en-

cephalopathy, or to simplify that term:

sponge-brain. These misfolded proteins

hijack normal processes, replicate them-

selves, aggregate in the brain, and eventu-

ally create little voids, or sponge-brain.

Once the prion is established in the body,

the condition is inevitable, irreversible,

and 100% fatal.

Infected deer can live, typically, about

12 to 18 months after exposure, and during

much of that time, appear to be just fine,

i.e., asymptomatic, although it can be pre-

disposed to other diseases or mishap. In

the final stages, about the last 6-to-8

weeks, the animal begins to cease feeding,

eventually becomes gaunt, unaware,

drooling, and has a braced up stance like a

sawhorse. As dreadful as that is, the real

tragedy lays with the prion itself.

It is nearly indestructible, at least

through any normally, practicable means

available that we or nature can impose.

This particular prion is specifically infec-

tious to the cervid, or deer family, with elk,

mule deer and moose included alongside

our whitetail.

Deer are exposed primarily through in-

gestion or trading of bodily fluids, such as

nose touching or grooming. They can pick

it up in any number of other ways. For ex-

ample, deer are sloppy eaters with little

giblets of acorns or corn, e.g., corn found

around bait piles, exposed to saliva and

falling out the edges of their mouths.

Other deer take the pieces up, or can sim-

ply be exposed when taking up tiny

amounts of soil as they eat, and where the

prion lays waiting.

Prions are not alive. They are just

deadly little pieces of protein and perhaps

might best be envisioned as acting like a

species-specific poison. They can lay in

the environment for many years and be

just as infectious as they were when first

deposited.

Once a deer is infected, it “sheds” the

prion everywhere it goes via urine and

feces; and as every hunter knows, where

this generation of deer is apt to be, the next

generation is likely to show up as well. As

a result, deer cannot escape the prion. In

their world, the prion is increasingly

“everywhere” and they cannot get away

from it.

Once a deer is infected, the prion is also

in the meat. Even though there has not yet

been a recorded case of human illness

from this prion, the CDC has recom-

mended against eating the meat of infected

animals.

Unfortunately, simply cooking the meat

“well done,” unless the chef decides to in-

cinerate at 1,800 degrees, does nothing to

a prion. Conventional means of heat and

cleaning are ineffectual. It is very difficult

to dismantle (denature) this little folded up

piece of protein.

One reason for caution is there are prion

diseases that do affect humans, one being

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease caused by an-

other prion, but having the same general

impact on humans as it does on deer, es-

sentially manifested as a very rapidly de-

veloping Alzheimer condition.

Mad cow disease is another prion-

caused disease.

How did it get here? So far, we do not

know exactly. However, most likely it

came in just as TWRA warned us it might

and had regulations in place to prevent. It

likely came in at 70 mph down the inter-

states as infected animals or body parts,

such as bone, spine and head (i.e. whole

animals or meat with bones) where trans-

ported from parts of the country where

CWD is established.

TWRA has a CWD plan that snapped

into place and was immediately imple-

mented once the cases were identified in

north Mississippi. As a result, the disease

was detected and containment procedures

were put in place. TWRA’s work and ded-

ication have been completely impressive,

as personnel from all over the state have

come here to get a handle on this thing.

Ames began collecting samples from

the beginning, before mandatory collec-

tions were imposed. During that time I

pulled a sample from a woefully under-

sized buck that later proved positive.

Ames is now serving as an official collec-

tion station. Our hunters responded to an

“all hands on deck” call for them to par-

ticipate in a hunt where our QDM regula-

tions were suspended to allow the harvest

of older-aged bucks. They brought in

eleven bucks and, as expected with more

mature animals, i.e., those having been

“out there” and having longer exposure,

several of these were positive.

Due to our intense QDM program, the

Ames deer herd is at a much lower density

than the local herd, probably about half as

many deer per square mile. That should

help, somewhat, but where near indestruc-

tible contagions and free agents are in-

volved, there is little to be done in the long

run that can prevent a “new normal.”

CWD will almost certainly, eventually re-

sult in a lowered herd density and a

younger herd. It will be increasingly hard

for a deer to escape an unseen, deadly

agent that is capable of living unavoidably

in the soils.

There is no cure. There is no vaccine.

However, west Tennessee’s productivity

and habitat quality are innately high. In-

side this new paradigm of disease, deer,

and the adjustments a new breed of hunter

will need to adopt, there is much to be

seen. As the prion becomes “environmen-

tal,” it will be difficult to watch a deer and

not wonder whether it is infected and

doomed. As the herd changes, it will be

more likely to be able to see it.

This deer is showing the early signs of the CWD; note the drooling.

phoNe: 901-294-3400

342 hwy. 70 | Mason, TN 38049

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©FTR


By Dr. Allan Houston

In the dark, with deer gun in hand, I

suddenly lost perspective with the good

earth, as the ground was sucked from

under me. One leg disappeared and the

other was running around in panic-stricken

circles. As I continued to sink, my free leg

became even more frantic, apparently try-

ing to run away.

If this continued I realized there was a

distinct possibility of my stepping on my

own head.

My chin hit the edge of the hole about

the time my missing leg found bottom.

However, weighed down with a vest that

had accumulated enough stuff to begin a

thrift store, I wondered if I would be able

to heave and ho enough to rise and walk.

Once back among the terrestrial living, I

wondered why there might be a single rea-

son armadillos should inhabit our planet.

Then, I remembered something.

An armadillo armada had been me-

thodically and nocturnally turning my yard

into a greasy mud puddle. I sat up guard-

ing the grass. They did not come. I slept

and they came. I left the dogs out and they

did not come. I let the dogs in and they

came.

If I got up during the night with a bath-

room necessity, I stopped to peer through

the windows with my flashlight, like some

long lost soul hoping to see land through a

port hole. And then one night, sure

enough, the enemy was afoot! I hollered

forTimber, my big Golden Retriever, and

100 pounds of enthusiasm arrived all

roused up by the mix of excitement and

desperation in my voice.

As we burst through the door and I

yelled, “Get’m!” Now, the word “get’m”

is a holy word among retrievers and Tim-

ber went electric.

The armadillo, recognizing a day of

reckoning if ever there was one, took off

for the fence. They arrived simultaneously

and the armadillo leaped about three feet

straight up and into Timber’s snout,

knocking him off balance and sideways

into the mud. It was right there, in that mi-

crosecond, my big dog took up hating ar-

madillos as a way of life.

I skated into the fray like a string-pup-

pet mud wrestler with a small stick, but

mainly contributing maniacal shouts of en-

couragement and Gregorian chants curs-

ing all armadillos. As the battle reached a

fever pitch, Timber’s snapping jaws, snap-

ping in the dark and apparently with no re-

gard, combined with the fact that I had left

the house very scantily clad, in fact nearly

unclad, and with light-colored armadillos

built much alike on both ends, there was a

unanimous anatomical agreement to leave

the field of battle, although with no par-

ticular accord on which way. I turned, and

with the grace of moonshined ballet

dancer, did a face plant. As the war surged

over me, I heard a sudden, massive

crunching sound. Something told me that

I did not know everything there was to

know about my gentle ole dog.

As I entered the house, I caught a

glimpse of my reflection in the door: half

mud, half white, like the old movies where

the actor’s face is split in light and dark to

illustrate good and evil. Yep. No doubt

about it. The grinning side had enjoyed

this! The other side said there had to be

another way.

And, there was. First, armadillos are

drawn to moist ground, easy digging, and

good eats, especially when things have

been hot and dry. I believe they locate it

by smell. So, in dry weather, watering a

spot – and it does not have to be a big spot

– 50-to-100 square feet can provide “bait.”

New mulch is a good bet, too. Second, ar-

madillos like to travel along vertical struc-

tures, e.g., along foundation walls. Third,

they do not attend Harvard.

Where I live, the garage is separated

from the house by about 25 feet. Access to

open ground between the two is open both

ways. I watered the ground between

garage and house and placed a plank

“wall,” made of 2x8’s stood on edge, be-

tween the two. I completed the wall on ei-

ther side with a live trap, one against the

garage facing north, the other against the

house facing south. The entrance to each

trap was flush with my wall. Armadillos

could travel one way and the other along

my little wall until they found an “open-

ing” (the trap) and voilà, I caught five on

five consecutive nights. Then I caught two

more over the next ten days.

The wall’s geometry can be as clever as

the situation is unique, but providing the

midnight excavation crew with no alterna-

tive but to travel along your wall and

through your “opening” can work. Some-

times. But don’t touch them. They can

carry human leprosy.

Or, you can just chase them with your

dog.

The Armadillo Armada


Luke Eisenhart

Randy Anderson Weldon Bennett

Robin Gates (Chris Mathan photo)

handlers Competing In The 2019 National Championship

Andy Daugherty

Burke Hendrix

Robert Henry

Jamie Daniels (Chris Mathan photo)

Scott Jordan

Larry Huffman Steve Hurdle (Tommy Brannon photo)Mike Hester

Mark McLean Sheldon Twer (Tommy Brannon photo)

Please note: some of the owners are also handlers, so their photos may not appear in both sections.

Randy Downs

Allen Vincent

Good Luck To All Competitors in the 120th National Championship

The City of Grand Junction

Welcomes Field Trialers

©FTR


By Nancy Brannon

Amy Spencer is one of those talented

field trial competitors who can handle a

dog or scout a dog. She alternates with her

husband Bubba – sometimes he handles

and she scouts and vice versa. And both

have worked security at Ames during the

National Championship. She and Bubba

live on a 56-acre farm in the Hickory Val-

ley/Bolivar, Tenn. area, which they call

Cocklebur Farms, where they raise bird

dogs, horses – and a very special son

named Colton.

Amy knows dogs very well: she grew

up in a family that hunted dogs. Amy

talked about how she got into field trials:

“I got started when my sister Denise was

running Chesapeake Bay Retrievers in

AKC hunt tests. I was probably in middle

school and she would take me to help her

work the dogs.” In college Amy ran labs

on the AKC circuit.

After college she was a canine officer

with Tennessee Wildlife Resources

Agency (TWRA) for 15 years, and her

main job was training the working dogs

for TWRA. In fact, both Bubba and Amy

have worked as game wardens for the

TWRA.

Around 2009-2010 Sean Derrick gave

them a pointer, and that got them started

in bird dog field trials. In 2013 their

pointer, Cocklebur Treasure Quest,

“Ellie,” was the Purina Region 6 All-Age

dog. And the 5-year-old white-and-orange

female pointer also won the title of 2013-

2014 Purina Amateur Top Field Trial Bird

Dog. This first bird dog for owners Bubba

and Amy Spencer earned an impressive

1,274 points to win the seventh annual Pu-

rina Award.

Amy handled Ellie during the 2012-

2013 season and then Bubba handled the

dog during the 2013-2014 season while

Amy was pregnant.

Last fall (2018) Amy was selected to

serve as the Information and Education

Coordinator in TWRA Region I. Amy

moved to the position after having served

as a TWRA wildlife officer in Madison

County since 2000. She was one of the

original K-9 handlers for the program,

which began in 2005. In her new role,

Amy leads information and outreach ef-

forts for the West Tennessee region, which

covers 25 counties. Needless to say, this

new job is taking a lot of Amy’s time these

days. So Amy says she’s done more scout-

ing this year with her new job and Bubba

has done more handling.

Amy primarily participates in Amateur

field trials, although she does go to a few

Open trials. She usually goes to all the Re-

gion 6 trials, and may go to a champi-

onship trial in Missouri. However, she

knows these dogs very well! Every year

she and Stephen “Steeple” Bell compile

the profiles of all the dogs who have been

nominated to run in the National Champi-

onship. It’s a service that the Field Trial

Review greatly appreciates! Readers prob-

ably don’t know how much time such an

endeavor takes; it’s a year-long process.

Both Amy and Bubba are amateur dog

trainers, and they use military standards in

their training program. Amy likes to do a

lot of yard work and puppy training. Her

bird dogs are all born in the house and

Amy assists with whelping the pups. The

young pups get a lot of handling and care

from the day they are born. As soon as

they can walk, Amy starts them on walk-

ing tours, getting them used to going with

her, responding to her calls, and them in-

troducing them to birds. She even has her

4-year-old son Colton walking pups now

[Colton turns 5 in March]. She says,

“Early contact is so important. You want

them to come to you, turn with you, and

go with you.” Once she gets the pups

going well on foot, then she does some

work with them from horseback.

Usually the family travels to North

Dakota in the summer for dog training.

They used to go in September, but with

Colton getting older and preparing for

school, they will start training July 15 this

year.

Colton “is obsessed with animals,”

Amy says. He goes with his parents wher-

ever they go and he really enjoys the dogs.

He is also riding, but only goes in the

gallery when his mom is riding; he rides

with her on her horse. Perhaps next year

he can ride his own horse and his mom can

“pony” him in the gallery. But Amy is very

protective and makes sure Colton is safe

at the field trials. Amy has a gaited mule

that she rides whom she describes as “a

dog working machine. He’s got the best

short lope I’ve ever ridden!”

Currently, the Spencers have ten horses

and one on the way. They have fifteen

dogs, which includes a Labrador, a retired

work dog, a Chesapeake Bay retriever,

Belgian Malonois, and 12 pointers and a

litter on the way. As one might expect,

March and May are very busy months for

Amy, with pups to whelp and foals to be

born.

Successful Field Trial

Woman: Amy Spencer

Amy and Bubba Spencer - a true field trialing team.

Amy’s gaited mule

Colton walks out the puppies

Amy takes Colton for a ride across the plains


owners of Dogs Running In The 120th National Championship

Steve Burns

Will & Rita Dunn

Dan Hensley

Ted DennardBob & Sarina Craig Larry Earls

Dr. Fred CorderDoug Arthur & Rachel Blackwell

Burke Hendrix (owner& handler)

Scott Jordan (Chris Mathan photo)

Matt Griffith

Jim Bickers

Jim Hamilton Guy Hendrix

Butch Houston (Chris Mathan photo) (left) Baker Hubbard & Jim Clark

Scott Kermicle Frank LaNasa (right)

John Ivester (Vera Courtney photo)

Gary Lester (owner& handler)


Brad Calkins

owners of Dogs Running In The 120th National Championship

Bob Walthall

Bruce Sooter

Allen Linder

M/M David Thompson with Jo

Ronnie Spears (Vera Courtney photo)

Richard Peterson

Eddie & Carole Sholar

Thorpe McKenzie

Ryan Westfall

Jim Wolthuis

Photos of You and Your DogWe want to make sure that we have photos of all the owners and dogs for each issue. Please send us your photo - and your dog’s photo - for the 2020 Field Trial Review.

If you do not like the photo we have published, please send us another that you prefer. Deadline for the 2020 Field Trial Review is February 5, 2020.

Alex Rickert

Bill Westfall

John Sayre

A large gallery with owners and spectators turned out to watch the dogs peform.

(Nancy Brannon photo)

Farewell to

the Cap’nBy Mike Crouse

I was working dogs at home the morn-

ing of November the second when I got a

call from my friend B.J. Wright. When I

answered he simply said, “The Cap’n is

dead.” Born in 1927, Freddie Leroy Epp

departed this earth on Friday November 2,

2018, at the age of 90, weeks before his

91st birthday.

After pausing to reflect on so many

thoughts, I continued to work dogs, en-

joying the derbies whose lineage con-

tained a full measure of Epp/Crouse or

Crouse/Epp bird dogs. One of the fine

things about my family’s relationship with

the Epp family was that we never kept

score of who did what for whom. We were

friends, extended family, closer than many

“blood kin,” and we enjoyed one another

in many ways.

(Continued on next page)


Freddie Epp at his induction to the Field Trial Hall of Fame at the Bird Dog

Museum

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A lovely young lady caught Freddie’s

eye and he began to court her. Her name

was Mary Woods and she became Mary

Woods Epp. She is lovingly referred to as

“Woody” by many of us, and she and

Cap’n were married for 66 years.

Freddie and Mary had three children,

Ruthann, Ed and Roy. In the early years of

the children, Freddie was drawn toward a

livelihood with bird dogs. When I asked

how he came to be a dog trainer he replied,

“I loved to hunt and seemed to especially

like to quail hunt. It seemed the dogs and

I understood one another and I tried to

teach them what I wanted them to do. We

were a team.”

Soon neighbors began to ask him to

train their dogs and in the mid-twentieth

century, quail were fairly plentiful in rural

Alabama. Freddie soon trained on a plan-

tation and his reputation grew. In the late

1960s and early 1970s he cast an eye to-

ward horseback field trials, and so he con-

tacted John Gates and asked to go to the

prairies to help. He went, took his young

son Ed, and spent the summer with John

S. Gates, John Rex Gates (just a kid),

Robin Gates (younger still), Colvin Davis,

Peck Kelly and many others who were,

and would become, horseback field trial

notables. While at that camp, he saw a

powerhouse of a dog named Flush’s Coun-

try Squire. When he came home he told

his friends Billy Lang and Bubba Pierce of

that dog. Billy would breed a bitch, Quail-

wood Sally to Squire multiple times. She

produced Ch. Chickaboom, Ch. Just a Nip,

and Hall of Famer Blackbelt from this

niche.

Jim and I sent dogs north with Freddie

and his boys for decades. We worked dogs

together, hunted, visited frequently by

phone and in person. I am proud to have

been the breeder of the last open champion

crowned under Freddie’s whistle. We bred

a “blue hen” we got from Marshall Berry

named Berryhill Happy Hannah to Merry-

way Blackbelt. From that mating came a

black and white bitch who became Nu-

gent’s Daisy Duke, owned by our friend

Mike Nugent. Daisy went north with Fred-

die and won as a derby at the

Saskatchewan under John Criswell. Mike

brought her home and was very success-

ful with her as an amateur. In the follow-

ing years, Freddie and Roy won the All

American Quail Championship with her,

having four finds in the hour and a half

stake. Soon afterward Freddie retired from

the open circuit and finished his working

years as a private trainer for the Rollins

family in south Florida.

Freddie Epp joined his champion

Blackbelt in the Field Trail Hall Of Fame.

He judged the National several years,

served on its board of directors, was on the

Purina awards committee, spoke at many

bird dog events, and gave a truck to a

young friend who was down on his luck.

He was a man for all seasons. Farewell

Cap’n; rest well after a wonderful and full

life. You are well remembered by family

and friends.

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© FTR 2019


By Meredith Mays

In 2008 I received a phone call that

would take my equine career to a totally

different level. When my phone rang, I did

not recognize the number, but I answered

it anyway. It was Gary Sheets, who had

been referred to me to find him a horse.

Gary was looking for a field trial horse,

specifically a Tennessee walking horse. He

said that they are hard to find and he was

given my number and told I might be able

to find a prospect. At the time I was train-

ing American Saddlebreds and Arabians,

and I had never had the opportunity to

work with a Tennessee walker. In addition,

I had never heard of field trialing – but he

was willing to introduce me to the sport.

Gary explained how field trial horses

need to be smooth in their gaits, be able to

neck rein, canter, be unscathed by gunfire,

ground tie (stay still once the rider dis-

mounts and not leave the spot where it is

left), and stake-out (be tethered to a stake

driven into the ground).

That seemed to be a tall order! Scratch-

ing my head, trying to wrap my brain

around the type of horse he was looking

for, I told him I would call him if I found

one. Still skeptical of finding such a horse,

I questioned the characteristics he re-

quired. Unscathed by gunfire – seriously?

Follow a dog? At that time, I was quite un-

sure I would find the perfect match for

him. But time changes everything.

I made some calls and found a black,

stocky built, 15.1 hands, 10 year-old geld-

ing who trail rode, had pulled a cart, and

was kind. So I hooked up my horse trailer,

went and bought him.

Louie was a real sweetie! He showed

me what made the Tennessee Walking

Horse so special. I came to realize that this

is probably to most forgiving breed in the

horse world. The fact that they are so for-

giving may be the reason why more peo-

ple aren’t hurt while field trialing.

Louie’s new job was a success and my

new equine endeavor took off. I went from

30 head of Saddlebreds standing in tailsets

to 80 head of gaited horses, including 5

stallions, 20 brood mares, and a crop of

foals in two years. I went from 80 lessons

a week to wrangling and giving clinics on

riding instead.

At the same time, my education about

bird dog field trials began, with Gary start-

ing with the basics. A field trial is a com-

petition for bird dogs. And in bird dog

field trials, horses are the primary mode of

transportation. Many field trials are held

at state wildlife management areas where

motorized vehicles aren’t permitted.

In the competition, called a stake, the

dogs run in a timed event in pairs, called

braces. For each dog there is a handler, a

judge, and often a scout. There may also

be other people riding along watching the

action, who are referred to as the “gallery,”

and riders in the gallery must always stay

behind the judges.

The handler is the person who is in con-

trol of the dog. He or she may use whis-

tles or voice commands to guide the dogs

through the set course that everyone in that

stake has to follow. The handler’s horse

must be a confident, easy to ride individ-

ual, since the handler needs to focus on the

dog and not be worrying about the horse.

The handler’s horse should obediently

ground tie. When the dog scents a bird

(quail, chukar, or pheasant), the dog stops

and points (freezes in place, tail up, some-

times a foot up) to alert the handler that

there is a bird or a covey of birds nearby.

The handler dismounts and proceeds to

walk in the direction the dog is pointing.

His horse should stay in place, as if tied to

the ground.

A judge’s horse should also be smooth

gaited, with the horse’s footfalls placed

such that the rider isn’t bounced at all.

This is why gaited horses, rather than trot-

ting horses, are preferred. Since a judge

will be on the same horse for a few hours,

the judge should be somewhat comfort-

able to be able to concentrate on judging

the dogs. It is also important that the

judge’s horse stand still while the handler

is flushing the birds. A “squirrelly” horse

makes it difficult to see the birds.

The scout is a person chosen by the

handler to help find the dog. This is my fa-

vorite job at a field trial! Sometimes a dog

may have turned left instead of right, so

the scout’s job is to get the dog’s attention

and bring it to the front. A scout’s horse

should be fast and sure-footed, and a very

confident animal. A whinnying horse, call-

ing out to the other horses, is not preferred

because it is important that the scout not

interfere with the dog’s work.

Over the past ten years I have not only

learned a lot about how to train a field trial

horse, but also how to find the right tem-

perament of horse. Choosing a proper field

trial mount is not an easy task. I look for

a kind, sure-footed, smooth horse, who

can adapt to the starting, stopping, and

standing that field trialing demands. It is

not an easy job for a horse.

When asked the type of horse makes a

good field trial horse, I first ask for which

aspect of the game the individual wants

the horse. A handler’s horse must be a

brave, forward horse with a bit more “go

than whoa.” A judge’s horse needs to be

smooth with quite a bit of stamina. A

gallery horse should have a lot more

“whoa than go” and should be kid-safe, as

should the bird-planter’s horse. A scout’s

horse needs to be ready to go at all times,

be swift, and sure-footed.

When people come to me in hopes of

finding their new mount, I try to match

them with the most appropriate horse for

them. All too often, I find that what people

think they want, and what I know they

need, are two different types of horses.

This is why a forgiving horse is priceless.

Providing new horse owners with depend-

able and suitable mounts is my top prior-

ity and I pride myself on my ability to

determine their needs. I ride each prospect

quite a bit at a field trial before I allow

anyone else to ride them. That allows me

to know what they will or won’t do.

It can be difficult to find a horse that

can adapt to all these roles. Since I have

become a provider of field trial horses and

a wrangler in the northeast, I prefer to pro-

vide horses that are easy to ride. In the

past ten years, I have learned that it is not

just the Tennessee Walking Horses that

can be useful at field trials. Other breeds

including, but not limited to, Rocky

Mountain, Kentucky Mountain, Spotted

Saddle Horse, Standardbreds, Missouri

Foxtrotters and even the little horse that

goes really fast nowhere – the Paso Fino –

will paint the landscape of a field trial.

From 17 hands to 13.3 hands, you’ll see a

variety of gaited horses, mares and geld-

ings alike.

Every horse is an individual. So even

though a horse is primarily a conveyance

for a field trailer, take a moment to marvel

at how well those that you sit on perform,

rather than taking them for granted. You

may come to appreciate them in a different

light. Here’s to the field trial horse!

About the author: Meredith Mays is the

owner and trainer at Double M Gaited

Horses in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The Field Trial Horse

Sportdog Rep and trainer Josh

Miller from Wisconsin with Big Man, a

4 yo horse he bought from Meredith



Living

Legends

LuncheonThe Bird Dog Museum hosted the sec-

ond annual Living Legends Luncheon on

June 2, 2018. These living legends of the

field trial world are celebrated for their

achievements, talents, and admiration for

each other, along with the respect others

have for them. Their stories of field trial

experiences live on for years among bird

dog enthusiasts. Over the years many of

these legends have com-

peted against each other

and have had the occa-

sional disagreement, but

they all have shared expe-

riences and a passion for

bird hunting and field trial-

ing. Hearing these legends’

colorful stories showed the

special camaraderie and

lifelong friendships that

they share, often support-

ing one another through

life’s highs and lows.

Among those legends

sharing stories were Collier

Smith, Garland Priddy,

Alex Kerr (representing

Springer Spaniels) and Mary Jo Trimble,

Harold Ray, Marshall Loftin, Delmar

Smith, Gary Lockee, Ray Trimble (repre-

senting the Brittany breed), Diane Chris-

tensen, Buddy Smith, Bill Hunt, Linda

Hunt, Bud Walters, and John Rex Gates.

Many of these legends are still going

strong. Ray Trimble is still competing in

field trials at 92 years old. Collier Smith is

still working on Coushatta Plantation in

Alabama. Delmar Smith, Harold Ray, and

Buddy Smith are still training dogs.

Catherine Bowling Dean and her staff

of Me and My Tea Room catered the

event, with Ken Blackman filming the sto-

ries and Vera Courtney taking the still

shots.

Visitors to

the Bird Dog

museumD i r e c t o r

Tonya Broth-

erton writes,

“We here at

the museum

have started

out the year

with a bang!”

Early in Janu-

ary 2019 a

“living leg-

end” stopped

by the mu-

seum: Mr.

Rich Robert-

son and wife

Penny. And Steeple Bell from Texas

stopped by. “Love it when old friends like

Rich and Penny stop by for a surprise. We

always look forward to Steeple’s visits.”

But people aren’t the only visitors to the

BDM. Dogs are welcome; people toler-

ated! In late December 2018, a couple of

bird dogs came to the museum: Top &

Harley with their owner Steve Rankin.

Then there were Gracie and her owner

Scott Henslee; Jaxx from Texas; and Wil-

low headed to Texas. There were also

Steel & Copper with their owners Mr. &

Mrs. Chris Mikolaj from Pennsylvania;

Bee, the National Field Champion Cocker

Spaniel in 2017 with her owner Tawney

Crawford; and Pen and Doll, also owned

by Bob & Tawney Crawford.

Bee, 2017 National Field Champion

Cocker Spaniel with Tawney Crawford

Rich Robertson and Steeplebell

253 HWY 57 | Grand Junction, TN | 731-732-4232OPEN Tuesday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

facebook.com/SecondChancesLlcJust down the road from the Bird Dog Museum

Field Trial Finds &

Bird Dog Specials

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©FTR©FTR

PoiNT to our ad in the Field Trial Review and get 10% off your purchase

Bird Dog

museum

Projects As 2018 came to a close, Tonya Broth-

erton looked back at all the projects and

improvements that were made to the Bird

Dog Museum (BDM) – all made possible

by contributions from BDM friends and

supporters.

In 2018 new carpet was installed in the

Hall of Fame and the William F. Brown

Memorial Library. The old carpet in the

Banquet Hall was replaced with a new tile

floor. New lighting was added to the Hall

of Fame, and 129 more memorial bricks

were laid in the “Paving Memory Lane”

walkway. Brotherton wrote: “All of this

was a lot of work, but the improvements

to the museum are well worth it! We are

excited to share these enhancements with

our visitors!”

In Memoriam

The National Bird Dog Museum family

suffered many losses in 2018. We have

lost two of our board members, Jim

Crouse and Don Driggers. We also lost a

former board member, Charlie Hays, who

was very supportive of both the museum

and the field trial sport. All three will be

missed greatly.

Annual Youth Art Contest

The Bird Dog Foundation hosts an an-

nual Youth Art Contest for grades K-12.

The program is available for students of

schools or home schools that are within a

75 mile radius of the National Bird Dog

Museum in Grand Junction, Tennessee.

The deadline for submissions is January

15th of each year. The Annual Art Contest

Award Ceremony is announced after win-

ners are chosen each year.

Delmar Smith (right) shared his stories at the Living

Legends Luncheon

Gracie and Scott Henslee

Jaxx


John Ivester, Jr. is surrounded by his family after being inducted into the Pointer

Hall of Fame.

Bernie Matthys with Linda Crouse, widow of Jim Crouse, is presented with a

plaque honoring her late husband. Painting of Freddie Epp is in the background.

2019 Field Trial Hall of FameThe Bird Dog Foundation congratulates the following new inductees into the Field

Trial Hall of Fame. The Induction Ceremony was held at the National Bird Dog Mu-

seum, Grand Junction, Tennessee on February 9, 2019:

Pointer and Setter Hall of Fame:

PEOPLE: John Ivester, Jr. and Dean Lord

DOGS:

Arrival (Owners Mickey Cundari, George Wold, and Louise Searle)

Covey Rise’s Offlee Amazin

(Owners Gary Hertz, Dr. Thomas Morgan, and Dr. Robin Morgan)

Brittany Hall of Fame:

PEOPLE: Margaret Horstmeyer, Lyle Johnson, and Tom White

DOG: Ru-Jem's A Touch of Bourbon (Owner Jerry McGee)

Retriever Hall of Fame:

PEOPLE: Joe Boatright, Lynne DuBose, and Dave Rorem

DOGS:

FC-AFC Great Bunns of Fire (Owners Mac and Lynne DuBose)

NFC-AFC Seaside's Pelican Pete (Owner Robert Zylla)

Springer Spaniel Hall of Fame:

PEOPLE: Donald and Patricia Bramwell, Russell Smith

DOGS:

NFC-FC-CFC-CAFC Salmy's Masterpiece "Cliff" (Owner Frank Wiseman)

NAFC-FC-CFC Orion's Arch Rival "Archie" (Owner Gene Falkowski)

German Shorthaired Pointer Hall of Fame:

PEOPLE: Tom Davis and Don Kidd

DOGS:

Outbak's Josey (Owners Rich Barber and Elizabeth Moore)

Wildfire's Angel (Owner Joe Vicari)

Cocker Spaniel Hall of Fame:

PEOPLE: Peter Garvan and Vicky Thomas

DOG: NFC-FC Greatford Meadowcourt Pin

Red Setter Hall of Fame:

PEOPLE: Dr. Roger Boser and Dale Bruns

DOG: Restless Wind (Owners Bob and Katherine Gove)

Dean Lord with his wife Cora after his induction into the Field Trial HoF.

John Ivester, Jr. with (left) Bermie Matthys, American Field editor, at the Field

Trial Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

The National Bird Dog Museum is located in Grand Junction, Tennessee – the Bird

Dog Capital of the World! For over 25 years the museum has been preserving sporting

dog and field trial heritage. The Museum contains an extensive library for those wanting

to explore the wealth of information on bird dog and field trial history.

Growing from a small collection to a modern 30,000 square foot facility, the museum

showcases the history of pointing dog breeds, flushing dogs, and retrievers. The Sport-

ing Dog Wing showcases the stories of the Brittany, English Cocker Spaniel, German

Shorthair Pointer, English Springer Spaniel, Weimaraner, Red Setter, and Vizsla breeds.

The Wildlife Heritage Center contains a vast array of wildlife exhibits, appealing to

adults and children of all ages.

The Gift Shop has a great selection of unique bird-dog themed items and gifts for the

dog and outdoor enthusiast.

Find more information and latest news about the National Bird Dog Museum at:

www.birddogfoundation.com. Be invested in the museum’s work by becoming a mem-

ber and helping preserve this heritage for future generations.

Paving Memory Lane is another opportunity to immortalize your dog or an impor-

tant person with an engraved brick on the memorial walk.

Visit us online at: www.birddogfoundation.com

The National Bird Dog Museum and Hall of Fame505 W. HWY. 57, GRAND JUNCTION, TN.

Hours: Tuesday - Friday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. | Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Sunday 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. | Closed Mondays

Phone: (731) 764-2058 | Tonya Brotherton--Executive Director

©FTR


As most “veterans” of the National

Championship know, Brad Harter has

been on horseback for the last 31 years

filming every brace of every National

Championship. But not too long ago,

Brad’s hip was crushed when a huge limb

from a dead tree fell on him, and he now

has a “bionic hip and leg.” He is in the

process of making a complete recovery,

but his doctors will not release him to ride

on horseback this month. As a result, his

accident makes it impossible for him to

carry a camera on horseback this year. But

being determined and organized, Brad has

come up with a plan for filming the 120th

National Championship – from horseback.

Brad wrote, “As you are aware, I had

only one job to do and that was to focus

100% of my energy on capturing as much

action footage as possible from horseback.

Most important was to always make cer-

tain that capturing footage in no way in-

terfered with the handlers, the dogs, or the

judges. For this reason, I was worried that

putting someone new out there empow-

ered with a camera could easily create

problems.”

Still not discouraged, Brad has put to-

gether a plan to continue filming the Na-

tional from horseback. “Three plantation

employees, who have also other responsi-

bilities and duties, have agreed to each

carry a camera on horseback. This is done

with the understanding that, while none of

them would be able to be present for all

the finds, in most cases, at least one of

those three would be present for the ma-

jority of the bird work.” The three people

equipped with cameras on horseback will

be Dr. Rick Carlisle, Chris Weatherly, and

Ryan Braddock.

Ken Blackman and Brad will man a

fourth camera to capture from roadside

much of the action from a distance, and

road crossings, of course. “We are also

planning more interviews with handlers

and owners to weave into the production,”

Brad said. “The end result is that for the

first time in 32 years, there will actually

be four cameras available to, hopefully,

capture most of the action.

“For me, this will involve more work in

taking the footage from four cameras

every evening and, somehow, keeping it

organized to know how to piece it all to-

gether later,” Brad added.

“How well will this work?” Brad was

asked. “I have no idea, but right now it is

the only way I have come up with to cap-

ture as much of the action as possible.”

Who knows? We might just have a

movie in the making!

HorseHorse ReviewReview

We cover horseback field trials, too!Check out our February 2019 issue and see our march 2019 issue

for results and photos from the 120th national Championship -- Print issues available free at over 300 locations in the mid-south --

Subscriptions also available

read current & back issues online: www.midsouthhorsereview.com

(901) 867-1755Email: editor@

midsouthhorsereview.comor

[email protected]

Tennessee Walking Horses

make the best Field Trial horses

Read about a very special Tennessee Walking Horse in

Cindy McCauley’s bookOrder at Amazon.com

A portion of the sales of this book will be

donated to: Animal Response Foundation

Filming the National

Championship

ReflectionsThe long-

awaited re-

publication of

Ed Mack Far-

rior’s book,

chronicling

his life-time

involvement

as a profes-

sional trainer/

handler on

the major All-

Age circuit,

is now avail-

able.

Chris Mathan wrote: “Ed Mack, a

trainer from Alabama, wrote and self-pub-

lished his memoirs in 1998. Ed Mack is in

the Hall of Fame, as is his father Edward

Farrior. Ed Mack judged the National

Championship in 1974. The book soon

sold out and was out of circulation. Mazie

and I felt it was an important book chron-

icling a significant era in field trials. We

were given permission by Ed Mack’s

daughter to republish it. This new hard

cover edition contains many more photo-

graphs than the original.”

Hardcover, 194 pages, richly illustrated

with many additional photographs than in

the original edition. Available in the

Strideaway online store and in the Bird

Dog Museum Gift Shop.


Field Trial Review BULLETIN BOARDBULLETIN BOARD

National Championship

EVENTSEVENTS

The 116Th NaTioNal ChampioNship paRTiCipaNTs

We suppoRT The Field TRials

916 West market st. • Bolivar, TN 38008

731-658-7888

WelComes

©FTr

OLD HATCHIEVETERINARYCLINIC, PLLC

1017 N. Main St.

Bolivar, TN 38008

Office & Emergency No.

731-658-3555

Business Hours

Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m

saturday 8 a.m. - noon

J.V. Wilhite, DVM

F.L. Wilhite, DVM

K.D. Pulse, DVM

FEB. 9: Grand Junction, TN. Bird Dog Museum. Field

Trial Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. 9 am

FEB. 9: Grand Junction, TN. Ames Plantation. Bryan Hall.

2017 National Championship Drawing. 7 pm

FEB. 10: Grand Junction, TN. Bird Dog Museum. Kick-

Off Party for National Championship. 6 pm

FEB. 14: Grand Junction, TN. Bird Dog Museum. Luke

Meatte Fish Fry for Field Trial participants. 5:30 pm

FEB. 18: Grand Junction, TN. Ames Plantation. Bryan

Hall. Brunswick Stew. 4:30-6:30 pm. Everyone Invited!

Contribution Form

2019 National ChampionshipMy gift as designated below signals my support to the field trial, wildlife research,

education, and public service programs at Ames Plantation which benefit sportsmenand citizens throughout the United States.

My desired participation level is as follows:

( ) $1,000 ( ) $100( ) $500 ( ) $50( ) $250 ( ) $25

( ) Other __________

I desire that my contribution be allocated as indicated (make check to appropriate organization):

( ) Hobart Ames Foundation - Funds to be used to enhance physical facilities, field trial venue, and quail habitat.

( ) The University of Tennessee for Ames Plantation Development Fund -Monies to be used to support wildlife research on Ames Plantation with special emphasis on quail management.

Name:___________________________________________________________________

Address:___________________________________________________________________

City: _________________________________________ State: _______

Zip:_______________

RETURN ALL DONATIONS TO:

Ames PlantationP. O. Box 389

Grand Junction, Tennessee 38039-0389

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EITHER OF THE ABOVE ORGANIZATIONS QUALIFYAS CHARITABLE DEDUCTIONS UNDER CURRENT FEDERAL INCOME

TAX LAWS.

February 9, 2019

Field Trialers

2019 National Championship

Dear Friends:

Mrs. Julia Colony Ames established the framework for our giving program by creating the

Hobart Ames Foundation in 1950. Many years ago we offered persons and organizations

interested in field trialing and other parts of our operation an opportunity to be a part of this

charitable giving program.

We are striving for charitable donations to strengthen our goals of providing superior

conditions for the conduct of all-age field trial competition, while increasing basic understand-

ings of wildlife, especially bobwhite quail and related predator species. We have enlisted the

support of several commercial sponsors for the National Championship, but still need your

help to continue this important work. Not only will your contributions help support much-

needed research, but they will also help support the maintenance of the field trial courses for

this historic trial.

Funding received to date has resulted in several intensive scientific investigations by

research scientists and graduate students from The University of Tennessee, Mississippi State

University, Tall Timbers Research Station, the Albany Area Quail Management Project, the

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and

Parks, Rhodes College, and the University of Memphis. Results of these studies are being

prepared for scientific publications and also in a bulletin for field trialers.

We urge you to complete and return the contribution form with your donation, and/or call

me at the above phone number to discuss the research underway on Ames Plantation.

Sincerely,

R. J. Carlisle

National Championship CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONSCHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

New Hope Saddles & Tack

750 New Hope Road

Ripley, TN 38063

Cell: 731-697-3356

Email: [email protected]: [email protected]

Saddles & Tack <> Saddle RepairCustom Leather Work

FOR SALE: Registered TWH mare9 years old, black with blaze & 4 stockings + some streaks.

No bad habits: has never bitten, kicked, or bucked. Good walking gait.Has 2 WGCs in pedigree: Carbon Copy and Rogers' Perfection.

Gentile but spirited. Asking $1000. Serious inquiries call 662-512-8606


First Week of Running • February 11-16, 2019

Brace Dog Owner(s) Handler

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2/12/19

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2/12/19

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2/13/19

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2/13/19

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2/14/19

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B S

Me & My Tearoom Catering provided a delicious feast at

the Ames Manor House before the drawing, February 9, 2019.

Artist Jack Dawson’s 2019 painting of Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo

graces the Bank of Fayette County 2019 calendar.

Brad Harter may not be filming from

horseback this year, but you can bet

he’ll get the job done from new places.

Sally and Gary Lockee check out the

program and dogs entered in the N.C.

Top Honors

Mark McLean, from Doerun, Georgia,

has won two of the highest awards given

by Purina for the 2017-2018 field trial sea-

son. He the winner of the Purina award for

Top All-Age Handler, which was awarded

last June in St. Louis at the 2018 Purina

Awards.

In addition, the dog he has handled,

Touch’s Mega Mike, an English pointer

owned by Eddie Sholar of Leesburg, Ga.,

and Ted Dennard of Haddock, Ga., won

the Purina 2017-2018 All-Age Dog of the

Year. Mark will handle Touch’s Mega

Mike in the 2019 National Championship.

Game Bo P MDr. Fred Corder &

W. O. “Bill” FitchWeldon Bennett

Dominators Rebel Heir P M Jim Hamilton Jamie Daniels

Touch's Mega Mike P M Eddie Sholar & Ted Dennard Mark McLean

Hendrix's Signature P M Guy & Burke Hendrix Burke Hendrix

Westfall's Black Ace P M Bill Westfall Andy Daugherty

Erin's Longmire P M Brad Calkins Robin Gates

Touch's Gallatin Fire P M Alex Rickert Mark McLean

Touch's Adams County P M Richard Peterson Randy Anderson

T's Nickleback S M Bruce Sooter & Steve Burns Allen Vincent

Miller's Speed Dial P M Gary Lester Gary Lester

Westfall's Black Thunder P M Bill Westfall Andy Daugherty

Touch's Blackout P M Richard Peterson Randy Anderson

Erin's Wild Justice P M Allen R. Linder Luke Eisenhart

Lester's Jazz Man P M Dan Hensley Randy Anderson

Touch's Spaceman P M Matt Griffith Randy Anderson

Whippoorwill Wild Assault P M Jim & Stephanie Bickers Larry Huffman

Whippoorwill Mayhem P M Ric Peterson Larry Huffman

Game Wardon P M Dr. Fred Corder Luke Eisenhart

Sleepless in Sacramento P F Jim & Cami Wolthuis Sheldon Twer

Coldwater Thunder P F Doug Arthur & Rachel Blackwell Steve Hurdle

Quick Marksman's Tom Tekoa S M L. S. Earls Mike Hester

Touch's White Knight P M Eddie Sholar Mark McLean

Westfall's River Ice P M Brad Calkins Andy Daugherty

Lester's Georgia Time P M Baker Hubbard & Jim Clark Robin Gates


note: S indicates Setter. P indicates Pointer. For more information and updates, visit www.amesplantation.org.

Second Week of Running • February 18-22, 2019

Brace Dog Owner(s) Handler

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2/19/19

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Rules to remember while you are at the Ames Plantation:1. Park off the road in areas designated for parking for those not officially involved

with the competition. Do not unload on the shoulder of the road. Do not blockpublic roads!

2. All horses must be accompanied by acceptable proof of their current negativeCoggins test.

3. Ames Plantation assumes no responsibility for injury or loss of property. Ride atyour own risk.

4. Ride on blacktop roads only when absolutely necessary. It is easy for a shodhorse to slip on these surfaces, thus increasing the likelihood of injury to animaland rider.

5. During the competition you must not interfere with the judges. It is essential thatyou stay with the main body of the gallery. Those lagging back will be escortedoff the property.

6. Running horses by members of the gallery is not permitted. Boisterous behaviorbetween riders increases the chance of injury and is not acceptable.

7. Alcoholic beverages, regardless of container, are not permitted on the grounds orin the parking areas. Failure to observe this rule will result in your being askedto leave Plantation property.

8. Take your trash with you. Do not litter the grounds.9. No cooking of any type is permitted on the Plantation.10. Children under 12 years of age will not be permitted to ride in the gallery unless

accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, and no more than one rider to ahorse will be allowed.

11. No stallions allowed in the gallery.12. SPECIAL NOTE: Road traffic will be regulated along Turner Road and National

Championship Drive from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and along Ames Road-Plantation Road from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

13. Sheriff’s Deputies are present to enforce these and other appropriate restrictionsto maintain a safe environment and to enhance the conditions for the main objective, field trial competition. If you do not understand these rules, contact a deputy for a more detailed explanation.

WELCOME TO AMES PLANTATION

2019 officials

Judging this year’s National Champi-

onship are Jadie Rayfield of Mount

Pleasant, South Carolina, Dr. Stan Wint of

Gardner, Kansas, and Charlie Frank Bryan

of Moscow, Tennessee. William Smith of

Moscow, Tennessee is this year's reporter.

The DrawingThe drawing for the order of go for the

National Championship was held on Sat-

urday February 9, 2019 at Bryan Hall, pre-

ceded by dinner at the Ames Manor House

for owners and special guests, which was

catered by Me and My Tearoom Catering.

Dr. Carlisle gave his traditional intro-

ductions and thanks to all the sponsors and

contributors to the National Champi-

onship. But before the drawing began, he

took a few moments to remember Jim

Crouse, with a slide show of memorable

photos - nearly all with Jim in the middle!

He was certainly surrounded by friends!

Carlisle also took a few moments to re-

member Freddie Epp, who was mentor to

Jim Crouse. Epp’s daughter Ruthann Epp

was chosen assist with drawing the dogs

for the 120th running of the National

Championship.

The Joe Hurdle Top Dog award was

earned by Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo, who ac-

cumulated 1800 points. Owner David

Thompson accepted the handcrafted lapel

pin, created by David Kelly Jewelers.

Jamie Evans photo

Jamie Evans photo

Stardust Chaz S MBob & Sarina Craig,

Scott Kermicle & John SayreSteve Hurdle

Dunn's Tried N True P M Will & Rita Dunn Luke Eisenhart

Westfall's True Grit P M Ryan Westfall Andy Daugherty

Strut Nation P M Scott & Julie Jordan Scott Jordan

Erin's Full Throttle P M John & Susan Ivester Robert Henry

True Confidence P M Frank & Jean LaNasa Luke Eisenhart

Shadow's Next Exit P M Butch Houston Robin Gates

Cole Train P M Dr. Fred Corder Randy Downs

Whippoorwill Justified P M Ronnie Spears Larry Huffman

Lester's Sunny Hill Jo P M David Thompson Gary Lester

Ruthann Epp assists at the drawing David Thompson (right) accepts the Joe

Hurdle award from Bobby McAlexander

Jeff Haggis (right), maker of the

Haggis Trooper saddle, and his son

Matt attended the drawing. This saddle

will be presented to the winning handler

of the 2019 National Championship.


Documents

FIELD TRIAL Re8ie9 - Mid-South Horse Review...Mark Hayes, who scouted in 2017 and 2018 for Jo[s wins, joined Gary, David, and XThe CompanyY on the porch of the Ames manor house for