Dark comes early on the east side of the McDowell Mountains outside of Scottsdale, Arizona, but it was barely light enough for this picture of Beachnut’s Rooster Cogburn, my first Brittany Spaniel, and the first Gamble quail he pointed and I downed. Rooster is all smiles as he poses!

In October of 1972, Rooster wasn’t yet a year old and Jake Schroder and I had taken him and his littermate, Jake’s Ned Pepper out for some training and a go at some Gambles. Back then there were a lot of birds around there, the southeast end of the McDowells, but now the area is Fountain Hills, population over 30,000 and not many quail now. Back then Jake and I knew a fountain was being built, but when it was finished, it surprised us, because hourly, it sent a stream of water up over 500 feet! Some fountain!

We never took a picture of the fountain, but Wikipedia has a nice one that I “borrowed”!

We enjoyed a good Saturday afternoon hunt, the young dogs pointed fairly well, they kinda’ retrieved the birds we shot bringing them about halfway back, they broke 2 or 3 points chasing the fast running Gambles, but overall it was a successful outing.

Rooster became a very, protective part of our family and hunted with my boys and I for the next 8 years. He overcame a broken hip at 2, suffered, while defending our Georgia home, when he tangled with a collie and both of them rolled down a steep hill. We always said, Rooster was the fastest three legged, dog around!