Bird Dog Man, the Story of W. W. Titus, Father of the National Bird Dog Championship Field Trials, chronicles the history of the early days of field trials in North America. Told through Titus’s own memoirs supplemented by the writing and research of award-winning author James T. McCafferty, Bird Dog Man begins with the first U. S. field trial held in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1874 and follows the development of the sport through the late 19th and early 20th centuries from New York to Mississippi to Manitoba. Titus (1857-1932) wrote with the skill of a professional, the keen eye of a trained observer, and the wit of a humorist. His descriptions of his travels and of the human – and canine – characters he met as he followed the field trial circuit offer rare glimpses of rural life and outdoor sports in the South and Midwest of the late 1800s. Besides his many firsthand anecdotes from field trial competitions, Titus regales the reader with accounts of his travels and his hunts for quail, waterfowl, prairie chickens and other game in the glory days of American sport shooting. As a bonus McCafferty adds facts not included in Titus’s narratives such as episodes from Billy’s childhood and accounts of events from Titus’s later years, as well as extensive endnotes and a thorough bibliography. Dog lovers, hunters, and history buffs alike will want to read Bird Dog Man.
