Land’s Best Friend: The Vizla

Versatile and handsome, the Vizla is a hard-working retriever that is a favorite of hunters and their families. — Henry Chappell

Many centuries have passed since the Magyars lorded over Central Europe. These fearsome warriors were also accomplished hunters, and they recognized that game birds were most easily netted when they were located before flushing. Given the value of a hunting dog that hesitates before pouncing, the Magyars developed a powerful, bobtailed pointing dog with a short, dense, reddish coat — the rootstock for the modern Vizsla.

Vizslas are close to medium-range workers and excellent retrievers. American hunters have long favored the breed for hunting grouse and woodcock as well as bobwhites in tight cover. Like other versatile breeds, Vizslas will drop their noses and trail ground scent — a trait that endears them to hunters of pheasants, desert quail, and other birds that run more often than hold. Vizslas are strong, enthusiastic swimmers, always happy to fetch waterfowl from creeks, ponds, and other modest waters.

Vizslas form tight bonds and thrive on affection. Locked away and ignored, they’re apt to be noisy and destructive. Your Vizsla will bust brush all day, then lay her head in your lap and snooze on the drive home.

Do:

• Treat your Vizsla pup like a member of the family.
• Choose pups only from proven working stock.
• Take your pup for field romps as soon as she’s completed a course of inoculations.

Don’t:

• Resort to harsh training methods. Vizslas tend to be sensitive.
• Expect your Vizsla to retrieve from rough, icy water best left to a Labrador retriever.
• Introduce gunfire until your pup is searching boldly.

Download your digital version of the Spring 2013 edition of The Land Report.

Land’s Best Friend: The Gentleman’s Bird Dog

This Brit is a natural in all respects.

More than one pointer aficionado has told me, “I’m a pointer man forever, but the best all-around shooting dog I ever saw was an English setter.”

This breed most likely developed from various land spaniels common in Europe in the late 14th century. Some historians credit the crossbreeding of the Spanish pointer, the water spaniel, and the springer spaniel as the source. Regardless, setters came by their name honestly, crouching on their bellies or “setting” as soon as they located game. Gradually, as firearms replaced the net as the bird hunter’s tool of choice, selective breeding raised the setter’s crouch to the rigid stance we now call a point.

In 1825, an Englishmen named Edward Laverack established a line-breeding program that produced a tall, big-boned, heavy-headed, well-feathered setter type favored in the show ring. Half a century later, R.L. Purcell Llewellin bred a pair of Laverack dogs to smaller setters from northern England.

It was these dogs – the lighter, more athletic decedents of Llewellin’s – that form the foundation of the modern field setter. The modern English setter has all the class of the best pointers, and its beauty is unsurpassed. Although the setter is most associated with bobwhite quail, those bred from close-working lines are also popular with woodcock and grouse hunters. True to their spaniel heritage, most well-bred setter pups are natural retrievers.

Do:

• Start your pup play-fetching by 8-10 weeks of age.
• Make your setter a member of the family.

Don’t:

• Rush or pressure your pup. Setters mature more slowly than pointers.
• Use harsh training methods. Setters tend to be sensitive.

Download the digital version of The Land Report’s Winter 2012 magazine.

The Land Report Winter 2012

Ring in the holidays with the latest edition of the Land Report!

Travel to Sonoma County and enjoy a rare and revealing portrait of John Jordan and his family’s renowned vineyard and winery. Learn the latest about the white hot market for Midwest farmland. Or follow the twists and turns of the Yellowstone River as it winds its way onto your iPad courtesy of the new documentary Where the Yellowstone Goes, sponsored by Trout Headwaters.

All these and many more stories So be our guest and enjoy our latest issue HERE.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Land’s Best Friend: German Wirehaired Pointer

If the German shorthaired pointer is the sports car of the dock-tail pointing breeds, then consider the German wirehaired pointer a muddy ranch pickup. This breed makes up with personality and practicality what it lacks in beauty and pointing style. Wirehair owners take pride in their scruffy, workaday dogs. Some owners, with more than a trace of affection, call them butt-ugly.

Known has the drahthaar in the Fatherland, the German wirehair was developed about 120 years ago by crossing pudelpointers with griffons, stichelhaars, Polish water dogs, early German shorthairs, and other versatile breeds.

The modern German wirehair’s dense undercoat and wiry, weather-resistant outer coat provide excellent protection against the elements and probably give it an edge over the German shorthair in cold water.

Most wirehairs hunt at a more modest range and pace than the best shorthairs, making them ideal in tough terrain or heavy cover. Well-bred pups are natural retrievers. Anyone who hunts ducks along sloughs and creeks, woodcock in thickets, and occasionally ventures further afield for doves and quail should take a look at the wirehair.

Do:

• Train your German wirehair with a firm, even hand. Wirehairs can be strong-willed and respond best to straightforward training.
• Take your pup afield as soon as she has completed a course of inoculations.
• Make your wirehair a member of the family.

Don’t:

•  Expect your German wirehair to retrieve under harsh, icy conditions best left to a Chesapeake Bay retriever.
• Introduce gunfire before your pup has developed a strong interest in game birds.

Click here to download the digital version of The Land Report’s Fall 2012 edition today.

Land’s Best Friend: Boykin Spaniel

Handsome, talented, and a splendid companion — the Boykin lives up to its rich heritage.

He’ll flush your upland game, fetch your ducks and doves, and look great lying on your sofa. No matter where you live, if you’re an all-around hunter, you can’t go wrong with the Boykin spaniel, the true native gun dog of the Deep South.

Early in the 1900s, a young, medium-sized male spaniel appeared at a Methodist church in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Alexander White, a church member, adopted the dog and immediately noticed its hunting ability. He sent the dog to his hunting partner, Whit Boykin, for training. The sturdy spaniel, most likely some combination of Springer, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and American Water Spaniel, became the foundation of the modern Boykin spaniel, the official dog of South Carolina.

True to its lineage, the typical Boykin is an excellent water dog, probably the best waterfowl fetcher of the land spaniels. Originally bred to flush turkeys and retrieve doves, the Boykin also takes readily to quail, woodcock, pheasants, and small game. Thanks to its Carolina heritage, your Boykin will have little problem enduring heat and humidity. Yet the dark, dense coat protects against it all but the coldest water.

Do:
• Purchase pups from proven working lines. The Boykin’s surging popularity could lead to irresponsible breeding for the pet market.
• Take your pup for field romps as soon as he has received his inoculations.
• Make your Boykin a member of the family.

Don’t:
• Don’t force your pup into water. Boykin pups will go there naturally.
• Introduce gunfire until your pup is searching boldly.

The Land Report Summer 2012

Did you know that the Supreme Court just issued a landmark ruling? I’m not talking about health care. I’m talking about land. That’s right, the high court came down 9-0 for landowners in a suit that was brought against the EPA by Idaho’s Sackett family.

We’ve been following Sackett v. EPA for over a year. It’s one of the many eye-opening stories you’ll enjoy in the Summer 2012 issue of The Land Report, now on newsstands from coast to coast.

You can access the digital edition free of charge HERE.

Our summer issue also features the story of an innovative gift to the University of Wyoming, one that kicks in when Wyoming’s River Bend Ranch sells. It’s a great example of stewardship, one that Greg Fay brought to us and that we are proud to share. Learn five great ways to add value and beauty to your land by improving your waters. And be sure to have a look at our third annual roundup of the nation’s leading auction houses. No surprise here … farmland prices continue to best record highs.

So be our guest and enjoy our latest issue HERE.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

Land’s Best Friend: Blue Grit

In the heart of cattle country, the Blue Lacy shines.

In 2005, the State of Texas designated the Blue Lacy Texas’s official dog breed. This selection took place almost 150 years after Kentucky’s Lacy brothers – Frank, George, Ewing, and Harry – arrived in the Lone Star State and began developing working dogs that could bay the biggest, meanest hogs and the wildest cattle. The brothers also deemed treeing raccoons, squirrels, bobcats, and cougars as well as tracking wounded game essential.

According to legend, the Lacy line began with greyhound-scent hound-coyote crosses. Each generation’s breeding stock was then chosen for natural herding and hunting ability. The result was a sleek, medium-sized cur that was beautifully adapted to stock herding and hunting in the Texas Hill Country.

The Lacy’s tight, sleek coat requires minimal grooming. In addition to the gun-metal or slate gray color that earned the breed the name Blue Lacy, Lacys can be yellow, red, or tricolored. Hence, the more general name: Lacy Dog.

Although they’ve long been favored by stockmen and hog hunters, Lacy Dogs are gaining a reputation as superb trackers of wounded deer. Good Lacy Dogs tree readily, and, like other curs, they’re typically silent or semi-open on the track, with a hard, chopping treeing bark.

Do:
• Join the Lacy Game Dog Association: www.lacydog.com.
• Select pups from only working lines listed with the Lacy Dog Game Registry: www.bluelacydogs.org.
• Make your Lacy Dog a member of the family.

Don’t:
• Resort to harsh discipline. Despite their grittiness toward stock and game, Lacy Dogs have surprisingly soft temperaments.

Click here to download a copy of the Spring 2012 issue of The Land Report.

The Land Report Spring 2012

Enjoy the Spring issue of The Land Report!

Learn the stories of America’s Best Brokerages in our second annual survey. More than 70 are profiled from coast to coast. Read how Bernie Uechtritz pulled off 2011′s Deal of the Year by selling Camp Cooley Ranch in just 45 days. Find out why George Clooney has such strong ties to the land in the Academy Award-winning movie The Descendants.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook and Twitter. Better yet, Land Report is now on Pinterest.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

Land Report March 2012 Newsletter

The Spring issue of The Land Report has arrived!

Right now it’s en route to bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and subscribers’ offices around the world, but thanks to the miracles of modern technology you can read right now right HERE.

Learn the stories of America’s Best Brokerages in our second annual survey. More than 70 are profiled from coast to coast. Read how Bernie Uechtritz pulled off 2011′s Deal of the Year by selling Camp Cooley Ranch in just 45 days. Find out why George Clooney has such strong ties to the land in the Academy Award-winning movie The Descendants.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook and Twitter. Better yet, Land Report is now on Pinterest.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

Our Holiday Gift to You: The Story of Taylor’s Trees

Most everyone who knew Taylor Emmons marveled at his athletic abilities, sense of sportsmanship, love of the outdoors, and his empathetic nature. His untimely passing was felt by thousands, as evidenced by the capacity crowd at his celebration of life service. Thanks to his purpose-driven father, a ton of collective effort, and some foresight from Taylor himself, the passions that marked this great kid’s life will be perpetuated through the Taylor Emmons Scholarship Fund and Taylor’s Trees. At the heart of these dual philanthropic tributes is a rich parcel of Maine timberland.

This whole process started before Taylor died, and it just kind of dovetailed into his legacy,” says his father, Mike Emmons. Some seven years ago, the family moved from Maine to Sarasota so that Taylor’s older brother, Mikey, could develop his baseball skills at the world renowned IMG Academy. Taylor was enrolled at The Out-of-Door Academy (ODA), and he flourished at the college prep school. The National Honor Society member was captain of the golf team, co-captain of the baseball team, and named Homecoming King by his schoolmates. “He loved The Out-of-Door Academy,” says his dad. “He did well academically, did very well in sports, and was just a very popular kid.”

Taylor graduated from ODA and was a University of Miami sophomore when he was fatally struck by an SUV near the Coral Gables campus in December 2010. He was 19.

“The thing about Taylor — and it’s easy for me to say because I was his dad — but you talk to anybody and they’ll tell you that even though he was a really good looking kid and a good athlete, he treated everybody the same. He liked everybody, and everybody liked him. I don’t know what the final number was, but when he died, the funeral home had never seen a crowd that big.”

Emmons, a 30-year veteran of the land game, got his start with Harry Patten in 1980 (see Land Report Summer 2009). He also pursued investments on his own. A few years ago, he came across the parcel of timberland from which Taylor’s Trees would evolve.

“I had an acquisitions guy who was out looking for property,” Emmons recalls. “I had moved to Florida and went up to Maine for a week to Sugarloaf to go skiing, and he said, ‘Mike, I think you ought to come take a look at this piece of property. It seems like a pretty good deal.’

“So I skipped a day of skiing and went and looked at this piece of property in Maine. It was a great deal, and I bought it. It was 9,000 acres. It didn’t really have any timber value. About 2,000 acres had been put into a conservation easement to protect the two streams. I took the other 7,000 acres and subdivided it into some 500-acre tracts and just never got around to selling it. The more time I spent up there, the more I fell in love with the place. The idea of owning 7,000 acres and growing timber on it and passing it on to my kids started appealing to me. So I decided not to sell it,” he says.

During his junior year, Taylor had participated in an Out-of-Door Academy program in which the school’s students stuffed backpacks with basic school necessities for kids without the means to buy them themselves. The experience was an eye-opener, and the teen expressed concern about the thousands of homeless kids in otherwise affluent Sarasota.

“Taylor said, ‘there seems to me there’s something we ought to be able to do,’” recalls his dad. “It really bothered him.” The thought stuck with Mike as well:

“I got to thinking about it from time to time, and then one day I got a call from Josh Rhodes, who hunts bear on our property in Maine. Josh says, ‘do you mind if my wife goes tipping on your property?’ I said, ‘Under one condition. You’ve got to send me a wreath.’ So two weeks later, I get this absolutely beautiful wreath from the clippings off my property, and it smells just like Maine. I got to thinking that maybe we could grow some Christmas trees and ship them down here and the kids from the academy, in conjunction with the underprivileged kids, could sell them [as a fundraiser].” After factoring in the logistics of clearing the land, planting 1,000 trees per acre, and shipping the harvested ones from Maine to Florida, Emmons realized it could be more than a moneymaker. As Taylor had hoped, it could be a great way to help others.

While the first crop of trees grew in, wreath sales would provide a little cash flow. At the same time they would help develop a customer base.

“Originally my thought was to raise money for the school as well as the disadvantaged kids,” he says.

Emmons and David Mahler, headmaster at ODA, held a series of meetings to discuss the project. Mahler was intrigued with the idea and encouraged Emmons to pursue it. “We talked about it before Taylor’s passing, the idea of using some of the proceeds from the tree farm to help these kids,” says Mahler. Today, Emmons’s long-term goal is to create a place in Maine where students from ODA and underprivileged kids from Sarasota can experience the great outdoors while hunting, fishing, pulling lobster traps, and, of course, planting trees.

“It takes about six years for a planted pine to become marketable,” Emmons says. “My daughter, Samantha, was moving from the Lower School to the Upper School, and I said, ‘wouldn’t that be cool if the kids who were in sixth grade actually participated in planting the trees, then six years later, when they’re harvested, they’re actually selling the trees that they helped plant six years before?’”

As summer 2010 got underway, Emmons’s crew cleared the land and planted the first 4,000 trees. Six months later, Taylor’s life was tragically cut short. In lieu of flowers or other tokens of sympathy, the family established the Taylor William Emmons Scholarship Fund and asked for donations in Taylor’s name.

“We’ve received over $136,000 in donations from family, friends, and people we didn’t even know,” Emmons says. “The outpouring was just incredible. To this day the money still pours in.”

In keeping with the legacy, the memorial foundation has partnered with All Faiths Food Bank to sell handmade wreaths from Taylor’s Trees in Maine. All proceeds from the sale of the 22-inch double-sided wreaths will go to the Taylor William Emmons Scholarship Fund and the corresponding backpack program, which feeds hungry children through the food bank.

This past June, the ODA’s baseball field was dedicated in Taylor’s honor. Topping off the ceremony was the announcement of Desmond Lindsay as the first recipient of a Taylor William Emmons Scholarship.

“Desmond possesses a lot of Taylor’s qualities. We have no doubt … he is going to carry on his name perfectly,” says Taylor’s mom, Katie.

“What I want is that every year a kid gets to go to the academy because of Taylor,” Mike Emmons says. “I want to have four kids in the school on scholarship in Taylor’s name. One in every class.” To that end, Emmons has set a goal to generate $1 million so that the scholarship fund can be self-sustaining.

Says David Mahler, “Taylor was a great kid: a strong student, an exceptional athlete, fun-loving, friendly, and outgoing. The Taylor Emmons Scholarship Fund is an incredible way to maintain Taylor’s legacy. It’s really a testament to Mike and Katie and the strength of the Emmons family that in a time of such sorrow and sadness, they’ve decided to changes lives for the better. This scholarship will change innumerable lives going forward.”

The Emmons family also has a living, breathing memento of Taylor’s big-heartedness. Through a Facebook connection, Taylor rescued a dog while in college. When he brought Bella home for Thanksgiving, Mike insisted that Taylor take her to the local shelter in Bradenton. His message was a simple one: college is no place to raise a pet.

The day after Taylor’s tragic accident, his older brother, Mikey, rallied the family to call the shelter and get Bella back. Though she had already been adopted, the shelter understood the family’s circumstances, and made the necessary arrangements for Bella to come home. Another timeless reminder of this wonderful life. — Nancy Myers

To place a wreath order, log on to www.temmons.org. To learn more about the Taylor Emmons Scholarship Fund, call Executive Director Sandy Albano at (941) 915-9249 or send her an email at salbano@temmons.org.

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