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HOW IT ALL BEGAN.....
Having spent my childhood pursuing deer and small game throughout the southern piedmont region of NC, I was introduced to the sport of waterfowling during the late 70's while at college at North Carolina State University. My first "serious" waterfowling experience was a goose hunt on Maryland's famed Eastern Shore where I shot my first Canada Goose and, needless to say became forever hooked on the sport!. After I returned home, it wasn't long before I began to canvass the ponds, swamps, and rivers of North Carolina in search of ducks and geese. It didn't take to long to realize that if I was going to pursue these birds, I was going to need a dog. Through a friend of mine I got my first dog (a mix between a Chesapeake and a lab) who I named Smokey, and I trained her to be a working retriever. It was working and hunting with Smokey, which sparked my interest in retriever training that eventually laid the foundation for the dogs and kennel I have today.
THE DOGS......
Back Creek Kennel (BCK) was established at its present location here in Mount Ulla, North Carolina in 1990. However, the foundation dog for many of the retrievers that currently reside at BCK actually arrived in 1982 in the form of a black female puppy bred from two Labradors owned by goose hunting guides on Maryland's Eastern Shore. This dog named "Pepper" (WR Parker's Dash O'Pepper), quickly established herself as an outstanding retriever both in the field and in NAHRA Hunt Tests. Pepper's natural hunting ability was evident at a very early age as she made retrieves on a variety of fowl beginning as early as 5 months old! Prior to the advent of organized retriever hunt tests, Pepper competed in and won several local retriever field trials. When licensed NAHRA Hunt Tests began, Pepper quickly acquired enough points to achieve NAHRA's Working Retriever Title. Already outstanding on doves, ducks and geese, Pepper began accompanying me on my annual pheasant hunting jaunts to Nebraska and Kansas. I quickly found out that she was right at home flushing ring necks during the day, and sharing my bed in the motel at night. Tragically, Pepper's life was cut short as she was the victim of a terrible condition called "bloat", which causes a dogs stomach to twist, cutting of the organ's blood supply. Pepper was put to rest and eventually buried on an island on Lake Norman near where her hunting career began.
Fortunately, Pepper had passed on her desire and ability in the form of a black female named Lacey (WR Pandora's Black Lace) who was born in 1986. Lacey came in a slightly larger package, but no less of desire or ability. She excelled on all types of feathered fowl as well as NAHRA Hunt Tests where she earned her Working Retriever Title with the minimum number of attempts! Lacey also traveled around the country with me pursuing waterfowl as well as upland game. Although her desire in the pheasant field was intense, it soon became apparent that waterfowl was her first love. Many a morning while Lacey and I sat in the blind watching ducks circle, I could feel the blind shake from her trembling waiting for the eventual shots and her release. I am thankful that Lacey had a long and fruitful hunting career because she became diabetic in her 8th year. Even with the disease, Lacey continued to hunt through the fall and winter of 1994-95, albeit somewhat slower than in past years. Lacey lived until June 6, 1995 when she passed away due to diabetic complications. Lacey was also buried near Lake Norman at a location she and I had hunted many times.
While Lacey was alive, she produced two litters the first of which contained one of my current dogs; Abbey (Back Creek's Abbegale) who was born in 1990. Abbey was a product of Lacey and GMHR-WR Poore Boy's Mick, a yellow male. Slightly shorter and blockier in stature, Abbey (and one other puppy in this litter) was the first sign that this line of labs I had established carried the fox-red color gene of the yellow labrador. It soon became apparent that Abbey was far different from Pepper and Lacey in terms of temperament. Much more methodical and laid back in her hunting style, Abbey did not have the much desired stylish water entry nor did she have the speed that her mother and grandmother had when making retrieves. Her special trait was that she never wanted to give up on a retrieve, even when it seemed the bird had escaped. Many times I would allow her to hunt when other dogs had given up on the cold trail and Abbey would stick with it, often times returning with game thought lost! Quite the opposite of Lacey, Abbey's forte' was the pheasant field where in her prime, she held her own with the best. Her slow, methodical style was perfect to find those wily ring necks that had thought they had been overlooked by other, faster dogs and hunters only to have Abbey roust them out from their hiding place. Once her tell-tail motion began, you knew she had made birds and you had better get ready for a flush! An added bonus was her ability to point just as staunch as any bird dog! Abbey made one last trip to Kansas in 1999 where she showed us that she still knew how to find those elusive roosters. Abbey died in May 2003.
Lacey's second litter, a breeding with Boz (GMHR-WR Gwen's Man Bozworth, MH), produced another current BCK dog: Pepper (B.J.'s Black Hot Pepper) born in 1993. Pepper was originally sold as a puppy to a good friend of mine Bruce Teague. I eventually bought Pepper back from Bruce after he had accumulated too many dogs, and he offered to sell her back to me. Pepper had the desire and style that I looked for in a dog, with Lacey having passed on, I wanted a female that was related to the line of dogs I had been breeding. Pepper more than fit the bill. With size, speed, and intense drive, her overall athleticism really made her stand out. Pepper has excelled both in the pheasant field (she is also a natural pointer!) as well as the duck blind (I even qualified Pepper in two AKC Senior Hunt Tests). Many of Pepper's puppies are now in hunting/field trial homes and doing great. One of her pups, Reese (Back Creek's Rebel Mania), remains here at BCK, and has become one in a long line of reliable Back Creek retrievers.
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