By Chad Love

A good, sharp knife is perhaps the most basic item in any kit I carry to the field, regardless of whether I'm training or hunting. And since knives are one of those items that tend to last forever (if you take care of them) and someday get passed down to your children, I firmly believe it's better to spend more money buying a single quality knife than to buy a bunch of the cheap crap. So, when it came time for me to invest in a new small game knife to carry while bird and duck hunting, I decided to go with a custom maker. 
 

Charles May is a Mississippi-based custom knife maker who makes blades of superlative beauty, toughness and function. I first discovered Charles May several years ago while looking for a new big-game knife. I kept hearing praises about his knives from hunters across the country. When I got my first knife, I knew exactly why; they are masterpieces of elegant simplicity. I've been carrying one of Charles’ big-game knives for three years now, and decided to complement it with one of Charlie's exquisitely made bird and trout knives. The new knife has been on my belt since early September and it is every bit as good as I thought it would be.


By Chad Love

I am, as I'm sure many of you are, a big college football fan. As I was watching a game last weekend the announcers were talking about a player who had been lightly recruited out of high school, but had blossomed into a big-time college player.

In recruiting parlance, he had been a lowly three-star recruit, lacking the hype, expectations and fistfuls of scholarship offers of the more desirable, highly-touted four and five-star recruits he was currently kicking all over the field.

And it occurred to me that there are some remarkable parallels between the expectations we place on college athletes based on their recruiting rankings and the expectations we place on our dogs based on pedigrees and price. Just like four or five-star football recruits, dogs that come from titled parents have expectations of greatness. And just like those recruiting rankings, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes, just like those overlooked, under-recruited superstars-in-waiting, dogs from "undistinguished" lines can turn out to be prodigal talents.