Snipes, while not a dog trainer, has owned pointers all his life and has hunted birds across the world. He has to be the finest wing-shot at anything in feathers it has been my privilege to witness, and he always has a number of big, rangy and highly capable English pointers calling his kennels home.

Finally, I should note that I have enjoyed hunting with all three of these individuals. I've watched Hickox-trained dogs work their canine wizardry on grouse in Canada's Maritime Provinces and quail in Georgia. I met Huffman, a native of North Carolina (as I am), in the distant setting of Montana. We enjoyed a great day of hunting Hungarian partridge together, and it was a delight to see Buddy perform.

As for Snipes, we've followed pointers across the landscape from Lowcountry, South Carolina, to Texas, and there have been some glorious moments, such as a perfect point on a graveyard covey and a limit on wild quail (something I never thought to experience again) to spice our acquaintance.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRDS
All these experts agree that when it comes to getting the most out of any pointing dog, there is no substitute for the real thing: exposure to birds. Hickox puts it in simple, straightforward fashion: "No birds, no bird dog."

Huffman echoes his thoughts and notes that he tries to get plenty of bird exposure while the dogs he trains are young. "You need to build that fire and then temper it as training progresses."

Snipes, for his part, shakes his head in disbelief at the shortsightedness of many folks who try to take economic shortcuts when it comes to the first footsteps in training a pointer.

"You find folks spend lots of money in getting a dog with good blood lines, invest in all the latest and greatest in electronic gear, and then decide to save some money on birds. Go figure!"

Both Huffman and Hickox introduce pups to birds well in advance of any gun work. Hickox says he likes to use a gun only after a dog "is after birds hard. I want the dog to be like a drunken sailor on shore leave when it comes to birds."

Only then does he shoot.

Huffman, for his part, also puts emphasis on building up excitement connected with birds, but he takes a bit of a different approach to gun noise and avoidance of the dreaded term, "gun-shy."

He wants dogs to hear loud sounds from birth, so he claps his hands in the whelping area and fires blanks from a pistol when dogs first get that heady aroma of birds. A young dog who is introduced to loud noises in a familiar setting, then associates those noises with a reward, is on its way to becoming comfortable around guns. From that early introduction to hand claps, Huffman builds up to the louder noise of a shotgun.

Snipes often turns over rudimentary training of pups to professionals, but he also makes absolutely certain that all his dogs get plenty of contact with birds. When he lived near my home, Rick would periodically call me and say something to the effect of "I've bought a few birds and have a young puppy that needs some work. Do you want to spend the afternoon with us?" On such instances, there would invariably be one of those moments that occasioned Havilah Babcock's memorable words: "No man can follow a rollicking, bungling and over-joyous bird dog puppy all day without laughing a lot and crying a little."