A young Jim Harrison in the doorway of his cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The Search for the Genuine is a newly published collection of essays and magazine columns by Jim Harrison. Subtitled Nonfiction, 1970 – 2015, these pieces are reprinted from various sporting magazines—Field & Stream, Sports Illustrated, Outside—and prestigious publications such as Esquire and The New York Times.
Jim Harrison (1937 – 2016) was a best-selling New York Times author of 39 books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and one children’s book. He is perhaps best known as a poet and for his Legends of the Fall and Dalva novels.
Harrison’s big draw for me is simply his writing. I can read anything he wrote. Beginning with his first paragraph and then his lyrical, eloquent, clear style, I became enthralled. Subject matter included dogs, hunting and fishing but also his big view of life and his big appetites. Along with his cool friends Jimmy Buffett, Tom McGuane and Guy de la Valdene, he shared a zest for life, food (much of which they had shot or caught) and drink.
A few favorite passages.
“Our greatest politician, Thomas Jefferson, said that ‘good wine is a necessity of life for me.’ I agree but he should have said, ‘Good wine and good dogs are necessities of life for me.’”
“Utterly docile and sweet in the cabin or house these are big-running setters suitable for the Southwest and Montana though they shorten up in the denser cover of northern Michigan. When cynics say that our dogs are ‘too far out’ we’ve learned to give a pat answer: ‘That must be where the birds are.’”
“One August morning in the Upper Peninsula Rose had twenty-nine woodcock points in less than two hours. I was slow to admit that I enjoyed this training run as much as hunting.”
This is a long passage with long sentences but, yikes, can he write. “I’ve begun to believe that some of us are not as evolved as we may think. Up in the country, in my prolonged childhood, I liked best to walk, fish, and hunt where there were few, if any, people. After a ten-year hiatus for college and trying to be Rimbaud, Dostoyevsky, and James Joyce, not to speak of William Faulkner, in New York, Boston, and San Francisco, I found myself back in northern Michigan walking, fishing, and hunting. There are a lot more people now, but there are still plenty of places where they aren’t. Tennis, golf, and drugs didn’t work for me, so for the past thirty years my abiding passions are still centered on upland game birds, fish, and idling around fields, mountains, and the woods on foot, studying habitat but mostly wandering and looking things over.”
“The death of hunting will come not from the largely imagined forces of anti-hunting but from the death of habitat, the continuing disregard for the land in the manner of a psychopath burning down a house and then wondering why he can’t still live there. The illusion of separateness is maddening. We are nature, too, surely as a chimp or trout.”
“Strangely, as you grow older, if you can’t hunt with any of two or three friends, you’d rather hunt alone. Newcomers make the grievous error of talking to your dogs—which are confused by such breaches in taste—or they whine about the weather.”
“I’m very poor at dates and numbers and what happened at what time in our life. But if my wife mentions the name of a dog we’ve owned and loved, I can re-create the dog’s life with us, and consequently my own.”
CH Erin’s Three Leaf Shamrock (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2015), on right, was handled by Tracy Swearington for owner Tucker Johnson in the Masters Open Shooting Dog Championship.
At Northwoods Bird Dogs, Betsy and I strive to breed dogs that possess the talent and ability to win field trials. But winning field trials isn’t the goal—it’s a consequence. It’s a consequence of breeding our own and knowing outside exceptional dogs, of passion, of uncompromising high standards. It’s a consequence of decades of selecting dogs that are intelligent, physically capable and easy to train. It’s a consequence of hunting every generation on wild birds and it’s a consequence of devoted clients who give our dogs the opportunity to reach their genetic potential.
As a consequence, several of our dogs placed in prestigious field trial competition around the country over the past several months.
Greg Johnson, on left, with his runner-up champion setter male Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017).
Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017), owned and handled by Greg Johnson, won Runner-Up Champion in the 52-dog Wisconsin Cover Dog Championship. This win, combined with other placements earned during 2022, qualified Atlas to compete in the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship. In that event, the previous year’s two winners and 12 top point-earners in 2022 cover dog trials compete for three days to determine a winner. The trial was held in early April near Phillipsburg, Pa.
Cody’s Sadie Belle (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013), on right, with her owner Ryan Bjerke.
Cody’s Sadie Belle (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013) won Runner-Up Champion in the National Amateur Grouse Championship held last October near Moose Junction, Wis. Owner/handler Ryan Bjerke has done a marvelous job with Sadie—his first bird dog.
CH Erin’s Three Leaf Shamrock (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2015), handled by Tracy Swearington for owner Tucker Johnson, is having a stellar year. In November, at Burnt Branch Plantation near Ochlocknee Ga., Three Leaf won the 40-dog Blackbelt Open All Age. This setter was also named Runner-Up Champion in the recently completed Masters Open Shooting Dog Championship.
CH Erin’s Three Leaf Shamrock photo by Chris Mathan.
The Masters, held on three prestigious wild-quail plantations near Albany Ga., drew a whopping 69 dogs vying for the title. Only six of those competitors were English setters and three of them were either sons, grandsons or great-grandsons of Northwoods Chardonnay (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2009). Four of the six were grandsons of CH Ridge Creek Cody (CH Can’t Go Wrong x CH Houston’s Belle, 2008).
Northwoods Sir Gordon (Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016) placed second in the Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship last October. Owner Ben McKean handled Gordy to his two-grouse-find performance.
Nick Allen, on right, with Northwoods Cosmic Ray (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2019).
Northwoods Cosmic Ray (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2019), owned and handled by Nick Allen, placed second in the Big Sky Field Trial Club Amateur Shooting Dog stake, a U.S. Complete Association Trial held near Barber, Mont. This placement was especially gratifying as it was Nick’s and Ray’s first field trial.
Dave Moore, on left, and his derby-winning pointer, True Ending (CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2021).
True Ending (CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2021), pointer male, owned by Dave and Rochel Moore and handled by Dave, won first place in the Region 19 Open Shooting Dog Derby and third place in the Open All Age Derby. The Region 19 trial was held last October at the Namekagon Barrens near Danbury, Wis. All the dogs were handled from horseback.
Another consequence? Our genetics pass on to the next generation. Here are winners produced by sires and dams we bred.
In Canada Runner-Up Champion in the North American Woodcock Championship in McAdams, New Brunswick, last fall was Wynot Pete, a pointer male handled and owned by Steve Forrest. Pete’s dam is Northwoods Maddie (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015).
On the East Coast Runner-Up Champion in the Northeastern Open Championship held in East Windsor, Conn., was setter male Erin’s Big Casino, owned by Paul Berdiner and handled by Mike Tracy. Casino has several of our dogs in his pedigree; he is sired by CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock whose sire, CH Ridge Creek Cody (CH Can’t Go Wrong x CH Houston’s Belle, 2008), was whelped and started at our kennel. In addition, Casino’s dam, Three Stripe’s Livewire, was sired by RU-CH Northwoods Nirvana (CH Houston’s Blackjack x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2011).
In the Heartland Last fall, two pointers owned and handled by Rod Lein of Chippewa Falls, Wis., and sired by JTH Cooper (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015) placed in derby stakes. Over The Hill Morgan placed first in the 24-dog Wisconsin Cover Dog Championship Open Derby while littermate Over The Hill Try placed second. Try also placed second in the 18-dog Open Derby held in conjunction with the North Country Championship trial.
Out West Near the town of Payette, Idaho, on the Oregon/Idaho border, setter male, Charlie’s Zip Tie, owned and handled by Bill Owen and sired by CH Northwoods Charles (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013), won the Northwest Chukar Open Shooting Dog Championship. In the Larry Brech Memorial Open Derby held during the Chukar Championships, third place winner, Mauck’s Wyest Molly, setter female owned and handled by Alex Mauck, is out of High Prairie Gypsy (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2016).
Congratulations and continued success to all these owners, handlers and trainers!
