Ch. Long Gone Buckwheat is out of our setter award winner and 2x champion, Ch. Long Gone Daisey. Daisey is the only dog in history to win all three wild bird futurities, on wild birds! Buck's sire is our young winner and producer, 2x Futurity and classic winner, Long Gone Murphy, he by our two time Grouse Champion, Long Gone George. Royal lineage indeed, especially if you value dogs that excel on wild birds! Buck was the litter pick by my good friend, and Bucks co- owner, Attorney Todd Kalter of Rutland, VT. Todd played with the pup and showed him pigeons at an early age and started taking him to the woods in the  early summer of 2008. By midsummer Buck was here at Long Gone Kennels working on released quail and chuckers, and by early fall was pointing and holding woodcock long enough to get a shot! Todd took the precocious setter to northern Ontario to see and hunt literally hundreds of grouse and by mid season was back in Northern NH , being hunted daily on flight woodcock and grouse. We shot "A Lot" of birds over Bucks points! Buck was hunted here until the snow got to deep in late November, and Todd took him to southern VT where he was hunted daily on grouse all through December, he was becoming very proficient at finding and pointing them! In the winter of  2009 the youngster was placed with legendary grouse dog trainer ( and my best friend) Dave Hughes. Dave took him to the woods of PA and training trips to southern Ohio, to continue his development on birds, by shooting chuckers and quail over his points. The dog was not allowed to run, as he always had a real desire to run anyway, and it was not time yet! In the spring of 2009 he was entered in his first puppy stake, The Grand National Grouse Puppy Classic, the most time honored and prestigious juvenile stake in the woods. Dave handled the big black and white setter to first place, with a powerful, forward race (his mama placed second in the Puppy Classic in 2001). Buck placed in a few derby stakes also here in Northern NH and his development was steady. In the summer of 2009 the young setter was worked 4 to 5 days a week here in the thick cover of northern New England. Buck learned from literally hundreds of finds on grouse broods and woodcock. He showed alot of talent, if he did not, he would stay in our program! Bucks' first derby stake was the Bill Kearns Open Derby Classic ( which his mama won in 2001, and his daddy got runner up in in 2006 ), which he won with a forward, driving race and a broke woodcock find at 25. We entered him in The New England Open Grouse Championship not hoping to win but to see how he would run the Kilkenny Grounds. Buck scored on a brood of grouse at 14 minutes on the left of the course and had a scouted find deep to the right of the course at 21, where we looked for almost 10 minutes before finding him pointing another grouse. Buck backed his brace mate at 31 and finished with series on big, forward, out of hearing casts to the front, and was named champion!