Evening star., 1960-12-20
BY CHARLES COvELL
star outdoor Editor

SCCAAbuety IlApIAdAALu1y UuI dC-
tually in geometrical patterns
You may give one foot an icy
bath as you cross q creek, climb
q dozen barbed wire fences and
find Yourself inching painfully
through thuck brush and briars
A deer hunter more often
than not will find himself a
comfortable perch on a log and
sit there most Of the day wait
ing for o deer to amble past.
: Trained bird dogs are not
easy to come by. In fact. 1t
takes sinsle-minded devotion
and plenty Of spare time to
train o setter or pointer prop
erly. Some have professionals
do it for them but many en-
thusiaSts make it their No.
sport and principal avocation,
Naturally. the best trained
bird dogs usually are found in
the kennels of field trial en-
thusiasts. So the other day
when we were asked to find a
couple Of good dogs to hunt a
certain farm in Maryland we
thought Of John Bowen, secre-
tary Of the National Capitol
Field Trial Club.
DR.. John .(he has a doctorate
in sociology. is editor for the
National Council of Catholic
Men and a field trial enthusiast
tor six years. 1t all started with
his acquisition Of Chip Alert,
now q $1,000 performer who
has scored IS wins himself and
sired eight other winners.
Hunt Big Farm
Bowen brought along Chip
Alert but couldn't run him be-
cause he Is used to working for
hunters on horseback and this
was to be a hunt afoot. In
stead, our dogs were two OF
Chips progeny. Chips China
Doll (Chico, for short), a 3la-
year old female. and Chips
Rusty, her hibernate, owned
by DR.. Richard Gilbert of Chevy
Chase.
The hunt was over the stub
BILE and through the weeds and
woods Of q big farm near Bran
dywine. Some said it encom-
passed more than 1000 acres
and before nightfall I don't
think We missed many.
Also along were Jim Bugg
Of Bethesda, Maurice H. Stans,
Director. Of the Budget, and
several local hunters who split
up, some joining Bugg and
STAINS and one Of their number
going with Bowen and this
writer. He was Lewis Ellis Of
Cheltenham. Md, who brought
along his. 3-year-old pointer
Elston Queen
While STAINS, Bugg and the
others went in one direction,
we started through tall broom
sage at the edge Of a big field.
Queenie1 took an instant dis
like to Chico and Rusty ana
growled whenever they came
near, but all three dogs worked
well and soon were busily
combing the field and the edge
Of q nearby woods.
Ellis also went along the
edge Of the woods and STUN
bled on the first covey, which
suddenly exploded at his feet
and scattered into the woods.
He had time to bring one down,
though, and then we inched
into the woods, climbing over
fallen tfees and jumping a
brook, in search of singles.
Rusty pointed out one and
Chico another and then we
scrambled back to the field and
started over again. Near an
other patch Of woods the dogs
found a aSsecond covey but one
dog, in It's eagerness, moved an
inch too close and the birds
flushed without our getting a
shot.
They went into the woods
as usual and Rusty found and
pointed out another single.
Birds Close to Farmhouse
The third and last covey was
in a field close to an empty
farmhouse. The birds were hid
ing In , tail grass and while
Chico took a rigid point with
Rusty backing her up, this
writer inched in with camera to
get a closeup.
That was too much for the
covey and off they went, not
before each Of the hunters had
bagged a bird, however.
We went after the singles but
it was getting late and we were
not enthusiastic. Three coveys
In one afternoon under such
poor conditions as lack OF
breeze to stir the scent and
general dryness wasn't bad
quail hunting.
AS a matter Of fact, hunters
in both Maryland and Vir-
ginia report plenty Of quail this