Champion Bird Dogs

No way around it, everything centers around the gun dogs

We are proud of our English Setters, Pointers, GSPs, Labrador Retrievers and English Cocker Spaniels. They are at the heart of Shadow Oak Plantation’s quail hunting.

Many of our bird dogs are selectively bred at our kennel and bear the Shadow Oak Bo prefix. As a critical part of the team, our dogs are exceptionally well cared for in our spacious kennels. Dogs are expertly trained and conditioned in the late spring and early fall so they are ready, polished and eager to do their jobs finding, pointing, flushing and retrieving game come quail season.

Shadow Oak Plantation owner Butch Houston was a renowned bird dog man and upland bird hunting enthusiast.

For 40 years he campaigned pointers and English setters on the major field trial circuits with top professional handlers, primarily dogs competing on the Open All-Age circuit with trainer/handler Robin Gates. No name in the field trial world earns more respect than the name “Gates” as Robin’s father John S. Gates and brother John Rex Gates are both honored members of the Field Trial Hall of Fame.

Photo: Robb Aaron Gordon for Garden & Gun Magazine

OUR MOST FAMOUS, SHADOW OAK BO

Butch’s English Setter Shadow Oak Bo rocked the field trial world with his back-to-back wins of the National Bird Dog Championship.

No setter had won the grueling three-hour endurance stake held on the Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, TN in 43 years. And no Setter had won back-to-back since the great female Llewellin Sioux won in 1901 and 1902. Bo’s list of field trial championship wins also includes the 2011 Continental Open All-Age Championship run on the prestigious Dixie Plantation, Greenville, Florida. Retired in 2016, Bo now lives a life of luxury at Shadow Oak Plantation.

No where else but at Shadow Oak can you shoot over the progeny of such an illustrious champion as Shadow Oak Bo. His accomplishment was so noteworthy, he had a featured story in Garden & Gun and Field & Stream as “Top Dog”.

a winning legacy

  • English Setter Shadow Oak Bo Makes History, Wins 114th Running

    It’s been 43 years. But it was bound to happen, and it did when Shadow Oak Bo, setter phenom owned by B.G. “Butch” Houston of Nashville, Ga., and Dr. John Dorminy of Fitzgerald, Ga., and handled by Robin Gates, was named winner of the 114th running of the National Championship February 22 when Dr. Rick Carlisle announced the judge’s decision from the front porch of the Ames manor house in Grand Junction, Tenn.

    Bo appeared in the fifth brace of the stake on an overcast Wednesday morning, scoring seven perfect finds in his three-hour bid, backing his bracemate three times, and finishing the three-hour marathon heat in commendable form, concluding his performance with his seventh find.

    Not since Johnny Crockett claimed the Grand Junction crown in 1970 has a setter prevailed in this stake, but Bo did it in “spades”. His steady, forward ground application for the three hours was impressive, and he punctuated that with commendable bird work, while also adding the finishing touch — backing his bracemate three times.

    From the 2014 Report of the National Championship that appeared in the American Field, March 8 issue.

  • English Setter Shadow Oak Bo Makes More Field Trial History; Wins Grand Junction Title for the Second Consecutive Time

    When Shadow Oak Bo won the National Championship in 2013 history was made — the first setter in 43 years to take the title at Ames Plantation. When his name was read by Dr. Carlisle as the winner of the 2014 renewal, history was again made. Not since Sioux back in 1901 and 1902 has a setter accomplished this feat, and the last pointer to do so was Paladin, in 1951 and 1952.

    To win the National Championship is considered to be the epitome of field trial success for an owner, the dog and handler. To win the National Championship twice by the same dog is a feat that owners and handlers can only dream of.

    Adjectives aplenty will fly regarding the white and orange setter’s phenomenal achievement — remarkable, outstanding, unbelievable — will all be used to describe what Shadow Oak Bo has accomplished in his career as an all-age competitor, and the same words will be used to describe the gamut of emotions for owners and handler of the new two-time National Champion.

    Bo appeared on Monday of the second week of competition, February 17, on the morning course, the same arrangement he had drawn in 2013. Conditions were similar in some respects — overcast skies and cool temperatures.

    His performance included seven stellar pieces of bird work, three in the first hour, two early in the second hour and two in the final hour to annex the Grand Junction title. Bo’s effort came closest to the Amesian Standard, the “yardstick,” so to speak, that is used when evaluating a dog’s performance as worthy of the title National Champion.