John's Journal...

Buster Brown Was a Dog for All Seasons – Deer, Ducks and Divorce

Meeting Buster Brown

Click to enlargeClick to enlargeEditor’s Note: If you're about to drown, Buster Brown, an 11-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, can save your life. If your wife finally throws you out, Buster Brown can get you a new wife. If you shoot the biggest buck of your life and the deer runs off, Buster Brown can find the deer for you. If you down a beautiful mallard drake that falls into some high cattails 1/4-mile from your blind, not only can Buster Brown locate your duck, he'll bring it back to you. If while sitting at home watching TV, you feel the need for a cold drink, Buster Brown will go get you a cool one from the refrigertor.

I first met Buster Brown and his master, Jeff Terry, a deer-hunting guide from Vicksburg, Mississippi, a few years ago when I bowhunted at Tara Wildlife and Willow Point hunting preserves near the Mississippi/Louisiana border. After Terry picked me up in a truck on an old logging road deep in the woods, we went to get the next hunter. "I've got a nice buck down, but I waited on you before I went to bloodtrail it," this excited bowhunter said. "I don't think the deer went too far." But Terry told the bowhunter not to worry about the deer. "We'll go back to camp, eat and then bring Buster Brown to find your deer."

Click to enlargeClick to enlargeWhen the bowhunter lookedsomewhat confused and protested that he didn't thinkthe deer had runvery far, Terry smiled and said, "Then Buster Brown won't need much time to find him.  We'll feel more like dragging a big buck out after eating than we do now." As Tammy Wynette sang in her down-home country style "Stand By Your Man" on the radio, I asked Terry who Buster Brown was. "He's my dog," Terry said, very matter-of-factly. But as I've learned over the years, 80-pound Buster Brown is not just a dog but has a master's degree in problem-solving and decision-making. Jeff Terry doesn't consider Buster Brown only a working dog but rather his right arm, an extension of Terry's personality and his very-best friend throughout all seasons, whether hunting for deer, ducks or a bride.
                    
Tomorrow: Buster Brown on Deer


Check back each day this week for more about "Buster Brown Was a Dog for All Seasons - Deer, Ducks and Divorce"

Day 1: Meeting Buster Brown
Day 2: Buster Brown on Deer
Day 3: Buster Brown on Ducks and Life Saving
Day 4: Buster Brown on Women and Finding a Wife
Day 5: Dogs for the Handicapped

 

Entry 431, Day 1