By Chad Love

In most of the country, bird and waterfowl seasons are either over or are starting to wind down, which means it's time to take a quick breather, then start thinking about goals for the off-season. I still have a little over two weeks of quail season in my home state, and I have one more late season out-of-state bird hunting trip (Texas quail) planned for next month, but other than that, I've put a fork in my 2012-13 hunting season. What one word summed it up? What theme permeated the entire season? I'd have to say... Finally! Yep, Finally!

By Chad Love

If there's one thing that both mystifies and terrifies dog owners, it's the little-understood, often fatal condition known as bloat. This is when a dog's stomach fills up with an abnormal amount of air, fluids, and/or foam, causing it to swell and twist on itself. This can lead to low blood pressure, shock and damage to internal organs. Unless it is noticed and treated quickly with surgery, it's almost always fatal—often within hours. Any dog can develop bloat, but it is common in large-breed and deep-chested dogs like retrievers.

I lost Lewey (pictured here)—my beloved dog-of-a-lifetime, a four-year-old male chess—to bloat. There isn't a worse, more horrible feeling in the world than finding a perfectly healthy dog dead in his kennel, knowing he died in that manner. So I was thrilled when the AKC Canine Health Foundation announced The Bloat Initiative, an effort to research and battle bloat, in a press release.

By Chad Love

To the alleged duck hunter(s) who visited the east side of Fort Supply Reservoir in Woodward County, Oklahoma on or around the weekend of December 29-30th: I'm sure you don't give a damn, but I picked up all the empty shell boxes, used wet wipes, plastic bags, candy wrappers, pop cans and other assorted garbage you left strewn across the parking area this past weekend. You're welcome. That was right classy of you.