Bird dog days are here

[TribalRats]

Bird dog days are here

By PETE WICKHAM


WALNUT, Miss. - There was a decided snap of February in the Friday afternoon sun, and a ridge of clouds bearing down from the north with the promise of freezing rain and even colder temperatures. Larry Huffman was in the saddle keeping tabs on a 4-year-old English Pointer named Wild Again, as he scoured the high grass of his family's Whippoorwill Farms in search of bobwhite quail, who were scurrying to feed before the coming storm.

That translates to just about perfect.


"That kind of day is rare. It's what you want. Cool, some clouds coming ahead of a front that'll get the birds moving, and the dog is in tune," said Huffman, who watched the dog flush out five coveys in a little more than an hour. "If we can get that next week ..."
The culmination of years of work starts at 8 a.m. for Huffman and the top handlers and owners in this insular, fanatical corner of the dog world. They'll be at Ames Plantation in Grand Junction for the 108th National Field Trial Championship.

"This is the field trial that when you win it, people call to congratulate you," he said. "Other wins, they wait until they see you again."

Huffman, 46, won the title in 1999 with Whippoorwill Wild Card (the farm's bird dogs all carry the farm's name before the registered name). It was the fifth dog in 16 years to win a national title out of the breeding operation his father, Dr. John D. Huffman, established.

They'll be back with three of 41 entries in this year's event. Wednesday morning, Larry is scheduled (weather permitting) to take Wild Again on a three-hour run where the dog could cover up to 25 miles.

On Friday afternoon, he'll be back with Wild Again's sister, Firebox. Both are grandchildren of Wild Card. Next Monday afternoon, Huffman will see what one of Wild Card's sons, 7-year-old Wizard, can do. If weather doesn't force delays.

A local entry is tentatively set for the afternoon run on Feb. 21. Cherokee Gunfire is owned by Gary and Sandy Lockee of La Grange, and trained by Mike Matney of Big Sandy.

They'll come to the sport's mother church, looking for immortality, and a $16,000 first prize. But first, they'll just be looking for a day like last Friday.

Working like a dog
The past three years, Larry Huffman has taken a dozen dogs onto the 11.5-mile Ames Plantation courses. None has made it past two hours in the scheduled three-hour run.

"That's just the way this sport goes. Cold and wet, it's tough to sniff out birds. Too warm, and birds don't feed and dogs tire quickly. It's all the draw, and how well you and the dog are in tune on one particular day for three hours. It's all chance," said Huffman, who was 9 when his field trial-loving father moved here in 1969, to be close to the sport's epicenter. Larry's life has been the saddle, the kennel and the field, most of it spent with his dad.

Dr. John Huffman is by profession a physiatrist, but he'll tell you "that's just an avocation."

He looks at his world and says "This was always the plan, the goal. I love watching animals perform, especially bird dogs and horses."

But he gives the credit to Whippoorwill Farms' growth to his son, saying "He's the one who's really made it go."

If you think the most maddening sport to come out of the British Isles is golf or tennis, think again. This matches wits of no less than four of God's creatures - human, hunting dog, horse and quail - trying to find harmony in whatever fall and winter misery the Almighty might serve up.

"It's probably why we're still doing this after 108 years," said Rick Carlisle, director of Ames Plantation. "Man still hasn't figured out how it all works, and why."

That doesn't stop the Huffmans from stacking up on chances for this lottery.

As Larry Huffman rode his horse Totsie out to the training run with Wild Again, they passed one kennel filled with females about to deliver litters. In another area, there were a half-dozen 4- to 5-month-old puppies yelping for attention, and radiating pure energy.

Huffman was watching to see how interested they would get by the sparrows that flew by.

"You want to see the form, the energy, but most of all the instinct for hunting," he said.

As he returned his two sons, 14-year-old Wyatt and 11-year-old Ty, were returning from school and their chores, which revolve around the dogs.

"They and their cousins will walk the pups forever. They've got the energy that I don't," Huffman said with a laugh.

There are plenty of style points to be had for proper form, and showing equal energy at the end of a run. But Wyatt said, "You look for the nose. Do they have the nose for birds?"

Pawing up to the top
Once the pups get larger, they are introduced to pigeons as the "classifying system" begins. Some of the pups will be sold to those who run amateur trials, others to those seeking pure hunting dogs.

"You get 1 in 50 pups that can compete at this level, you're doing pretty good," he said.

Those who make the first cut make the annual mid-summer trek with Huffman, assistants and sons to the North Dakota-Canada border. A month of "training camp," and the dogs and handlers hit the field trial circuit that starts on the prairie, and works its way south through March.

"Larry was born in August, but since he was 12 he hasn't spent a birthday at home," said his mother, Eileen, with a laugh.

That's when he started going up to Canada with Tommy Davis, who handled John Huffman's first three national championship dogs, including two-time champion Whippoorwill's Rebel. Nearly all the trainers in Grand Junction this week work the same circuit.

"You go after pheasant and grouse up there, but it's where you do the serious work," Larry said. "You train the dog to go out, and then come back looking for you instead of just running wild."

He'll tell you his favorite moments come up north, "when you're on the horse early in the morning, and it's just the quiet of the land, you and your dog. ... But the rain, snow and cold are part of what we do, so you don't mind that, either."

While teaching his dogs how to develop their inborn instincts to hunt and point, Huffman learns the personality of each of his championship hopefuls, showing the patience that has earned him his reputation. Wild Again is a prime example.

"At first, he was not responding well, really rebelling and I was running him hard, trying to whip him into shape," Huffman said. "Then I let back a bit on his training, and Wild Again responded. Each dog is different."

Eileen Huffman said "that's what makes Larry good at what he does. John loves to figure out combinations to try with breeding. Larry has the patience to draw the best out of the dog."

Carlisle said the champion dog "doesn't go for the money, or the birds. He's tuned in on that praise from his handler."

Once field trial season ends, the Huffmans return home and work on their land, grooming areas for riding, and for quail cover. It's a full-time job, like raising a crop.

"Fortunately, I like being on a tractor. A little break from horses," he said.

Eileen Huffman marvels at the world that has sprung up around her family since they moved from Ohio and eventually bought the spread once owned by Hugh Buckingham, brother of outdoors writing legend Nash Buckingham.

"We came here with one dog, one horse, three kids, a baby bed, a couch and a Dodge Charger," she said. "I think the times I enjoy the most are during the nationals when the ladies come here for a Friday lunch. Or the weekends where we have children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and we're all on the ground rolling with the puppies."

This week, Larry Huffman hopes to give his father one more memory.

"Wild Card, the farm's last champion, was owned by his good friend Terry Terlep," a Fort Myers, Fla., veterinarian who co-owns Wild Again with John Huffman, Larry Huffman said. "Dad's given me so much of what I've been able to do with my life. I'd love to give him another championship."