Back before I got into Llewellin setters I had English setters, setters from grouse stock and grouse trial blood. Many of them were pretty hot for the grouse woods with being close up to shooting dogs like Bobby Joe and Tomoka. I was befriended by famed trainer, grouse trialer, inventor of the first remote bird launcher Jack Stuart and Terry DePuis, trainer/trialer of Deadwood Kennels and inventor in his own right (Sonic Collar).

 I had gotten a female from Jack Stuart’s breeding . Jack had let Terry DePuis have a dog named Meg, and he raised several litters from her sired by Terry's Rocky River Crocket.  Jack had let a friend of the shooting dog circuit breed his old Macjackie(daughter of Macjak before this sire was sent to Japan) to a young dog he was high on, Silky Sullivan. Silky Meg was the female. I bred her after obtaining her from Terry. I bred her to Bob, a really good Kentucky mountain grouse dog owned by my friend Steve. The result was some superb grouse dogs with bottom, grit and an innate sense on birds. Yes they were hard going but no harder hunting than the men who followed them. 

 Herb Stapleton was another friend, one of those fellows you can always count on, and he treated me like family. He was the best man in my wedding. We hunted together often as often as we could , ran dogs, trained - just how best friends do.*

 In all this grouse hunting, learning of grouse and grouse dogs I was constantly poring over the pages of the American Field, talking with pro trainers via phone and or through handwritten correspondence (Yes, those were the days before email, texting, and social media! I believe the old style communication made the Seeker work for knowledge and weeded out the lazy!)  As I was still learning from Jack and Terry, reading about their bloodlines I had decided I wanted breeding as close to "The Rock" as I could get and mix with the fabled lines of Macjak/Jetrain as well as local blood of "The campaigner" Bobby Joe".

The Bobby Joe dogs I hunted with were from breeding of a Tomoka daughter put to Bobby Joe. So you see these were all high caliber dogs, big going dogs, not anything slow and easy…and we didn't own e-collars back then either. We shaped our dogs’ range through establishing rapport and fine tuning handling in the grouse woods by teaching dogs to quarter.

Sometime around 1986, I saw an advertisement for pups listed by Ron Watson, owner of Pat's Blazer Banjo.  Ron had bred a litter by Banjo out of a Stokley's Diablo Jake daughter. It was royalty of cover dog breeding. I bought a pup from the breeding and my friend Herb drove me to the airport to get "Bob" as I called him.

I trained Bob and started hunting him come the grouse season. Bob could run. He didn't quarter much, but I was young and could run too. I taught Bob to quarter as Roy Strickland advised, then got him into lots of wild birds. He pointed grouse and wild quail.

Come spring, 1987, the first running of the Grouse Invitational was being held in Pa. Bob was nominated being from the breeding he was, so Herb suggested we take him to Pa for a week. I ran Bob in the puppy stakes, and we walked every brace of the first running of what is now Grouse and Woodcock Invitational.  

We watched dogs like Skyline Patty, Sorels Delight, Pioneer Train Jake and Kingway to name a few. We met the pros and were befriended by many. They all were so nice to us. We got to help Lou Valley catch his Alverda's BB I think it was. She was a spirited young girl and had taken off on a toot. Good memories.

Bob ran his brace in the puppy. I had worked him on so many wild birds before we went that I was hopeful, but being new to the sport I really didn't know what to expect. Bob ran and "hunted" well…but, trouble was, cover dog judges want the puppies to show range, independence and drive. They aren't wanting bird work at this point. One of the judges was staying in our motel and was attending his string of setters. I walked over and asked Judge Nero what I needed to do for Bob. He said something like this: “Young man I really like your young dog, but you have hunted him too much. We expect our puppies to hunt fast ,hard and wide.”

He was so nice, and I enjoyed talking with him. The whole experience was grand.

I had many good setters. Something was always lacking; the consistency was simply not there. I kept hearing about Llewellins, reading about them and had hunted with some. I decided they were more suited for me and in January 1990 I made a deal with my close friend Steve to buy Awbonnies Bull. Steve had too many dogs and one needed to go.

I am so thankful to Steve. Bull changed my life and though he has been dead all these years, he still is a part of our family. My wife loved him. My sons, who were born too late to know him and hunt with him, respect and admire that great dog, and we speak often of him. His portrait done by my sister hangs as a reminder. Bull was my friend and taught me more about grouse and grouse hunting than everything else in my life combined. Thank you, Bull! 

 *It’s interesting to note that Herb Stapleton’s son Chris has made his own mark as a superstar country music songwriter and performer.