Bucky’s Story
The Bucky Harless Story
What was originally planned as an interview with John “Bucky” Harless, has evolved into an authentic glimpse into the past, present, and future of gamefowl in the US. Through Bucky’s eyes, a story of gamefowl history unfolds and an infectious passion for these birds, for freedom, and for preservation is shared. Bucky was the President of the Assoc. for the Preservation of Gamefowl (APG) in CA for many years, he was the President of the national United Gamefowl Breeders Assoc. (UGBA) for 6 years and was the one that put together the Show Standards and became the head judge and candidate tester for the UGBA.
He has been certified as a UGBA judge for more than 10 years and usually judges 10-12 shows a season at a rate of about 1,000 birds a year. Bucky has certified several judges in CA and is trying to lessen his workload and get the younger ones to take over the reins. *Hint hint* to anyone looking to go deeper with their involvement with exhibition gamefowl.
Bucky is currently the Secretary for the UGBA and the Sec/Treasurer for the APG, and this is his story, we hope you enjoy it.
As long as I can remember I have been fascinated with chickens.
I can remember as a toddler having my mom come and “rescue” me
as I approached a rooster wanting to hold him.
My dad was a Baptist preacher and as such it was common for our
family to be invited over to a member’s house for Sunday lunch.
If that family had chickens, that is where I would spend my time
while there. If they didn’t chickens but had an old chicken yard
or house, I would spend time in that abandoned space.
My grandmother would keep a few chickens when she had the space
for them and I would spend a good deal of my time with the
chickens when we would visit her.
When I was 12 years old she moved next door to us and I promptly
set about building a chicken pen and scouring the neighborhood
looking for a few chickens to buy and place in my the newly
constructed pen.
As a pre-teen and early teen I would go to the public library
and check out the Standard of Perfection, a book published by
the American Poultry Assoc.(APA). I checked that book out many
times and spent many hours pouring over the different breeds and
fantasize about having this breed or the other.
My first chickens were a variety of bantam type chickens which
included a little banty rooster. One the neighbors also had a
banty rooster and the neighbor boy and I soon discovered that if
we put the two rooster together that they would fight each
other. Other course, being a non-game breed, they would fight
only until they got tired or got a little hurt. We would
separate them and in a few weeks, after the roosters had
forgotten their prior battles, we would set them down again and
watch the battle until the ultimate short lived fight would be
over.
Of course the word of our little “cockfighting club” spread
around the neighborhood and soon other neighborhood kids wanted
to get in on the action bringing their assorted warriors to test
them out. There were no video games back then so I guess these
fights were our version of “gaming”. This competition created
the “need” to search out a better fighting “machine” and soon we
discovered some half game, half bantams that not only looked
better but put on a better fight and would go a lot longer
before deciding that they had enough. Of course this led to the
natural progression to obtaining a real gamecock. The whole game
changed as most couldn’t afford to buy a real gamecock and the
contest were no longer a few minutes of entertainment but became
a serious life or death battle. Most of our group wasn’t up for
that and we were also getting older and girls and cars became
our main interest.
I got my first gamecock (Ghan Aseel) in 1963. I ordered him
from a breeder in NJ and he had won 1 st place at a poultry show
back there. I was really proud of him and of course spread the
word around the neighborhood of my prized purchase. That was a
mistake. The rooster was stolen a few weeks later!
I was in high school at the time and one of my friends in FFA
had a few gamefowl on his farm as his dad had been a cocker in
the late 40’s and early 50’s. He said that they had a young
rooster running loose on the farm that his dad wanted to get rid
of. I quickly accepted the offer and I went to his farm to catch
the rooster. This is also where I saw my first Aseel. He had
maintained his Aseel stock from the 50’s but wouldn’t let a
single feather out.
After his dad realized my zeal for gamefowl he let me have a
cock and hen (Mugs) that he had been hanging onto for no special
reason. After a few months, these too were stolen. I was off to
a bad start! That ended my gamefowl “operation” for a few years.
It was pointless to try and have any under the circumstances in
that neighborhood.
In FFA I was on the poultry judging team and at our first
outing our team took 1st place at UC Davis and I was the top
scoring judge……….a proud day for me.
After high school and I got out on my own I, again, started to
collect some gamefowl and became active in the sport of cocking.
I was always very small scale as to get into it heavily requires
a good deal of money, work and dedication. I worked a lot of
hours on my job and didn’t have a lot of time or money to
“waste” on a pastime.
At that time there were no official gamefowl organizations as
most of the general public thought of cocking as very fringe
activity and they had more to worry about than a couple of
roosters bumping heads. This was also a time when a 17 year old
boy could go down to the Western Auto Store and walk out with a
12 gauge shotgun and a box of shells (I did) without any
“official” paper work. I also bought a .38 special the next year
with the same conditions; walk in, walk out…….no problem! Sounds
crazy now a days doesn’t it?
In the late 1970’s the animal right activist (ARA) started
getting a foothold in the minds of people and our legislators.
More and more draconian cocking laws were passed and in 1976 the
Animal Welfare Act became federal law. This woke up the cocking
community and a nationwide effort was started to organize
cockers. The community, in most states, had been willing to
endure being secretive and paying small fees on the rare
occasions that they were caught and prosecuted. Now the stakes
had changed as the ARAs were trying to make felons out of
cockers over a chicken!
The original organization, the United Gamefowl Breeders Assoc.
(UGBA), was formed as an affiliation of states to combat the
Animal Welfare Act.
Now we all know that there is nothing in the US Constitution, or
any state Constitution, that gives the government the authority
to represent, defend or protect animals, but, none the less, the
money and influence of the ARAs was more than enough to get law
makers to step over the Constitutional boundaries.
Having lost that battle the UGBA transitioned into an
organization to educate its’ members on their Constitutional
Rights and how to better protect themselves from being targeted
and getting caught in the dragnet of “Guilty until Proven
Innocent”.
As things got progressively worse for cockers it became
apparent that they needed an outlet for the use of their birds.
Few wanted to risk going to prison over a chicken but they
didn’t want to give up their birds and their heritage. It was at
this time that the UGBA developed show standards for gamefowl
and a method to certify gamefowl judges using the UGBA
Standards.
The first edition was a hastily cobbled edition that got the
ball rolling but it wasn’t believed to be definitive and
comprehensive enough be seen or used in a professional and
consistent manner. With this in mind I was tasked by the UGBA
Board of Directors to develop a worthy Standards book and a
testing method for certifying judges.
With input from APA and AGFS (American Game Fowl Society)
judges and references from American Game Standards, American
Game Fowl Standards and the APA Standard of Perfection I put
together our working Standards and judging methods and
certifications. Over time additions and improvements have been
added and we are now using our 5th edition and we have certified
41 judges nationwide.
The president of the UGBA, at that time, certified (anointed)
me as the first UGBA judge and with that I became the head judge
and I am in charge of certifying new judges.
In California, the APG puts on 10-12 shows per year all across
the state. In the past 12 years I have judged over 12,000 birds.
I have also judged shows in Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and
Kentucky.
I became involved in the Assoc. for the Preservation of
Gamefowl (APG) in the mid 1980s. The APG was in its’ infancy
then and the organization was trying to build a base and
establish itself as an organization with a voting block so that
we might have some influence in local and state governments.
I had no intentions of being anything other than a dues paying
member to support our efforts to protect our Constitutional
Rights. I made the mistake of trying to being a part of the
solution and was quickly made a director. I had no further
organizational aspirations. It wasn’t long before I was appointed
the APG representative to the UGBA……..OK, fine! It wasn’t long
after that I was elected VP for the APG and following year I was
elected President of the APG which I served for 10 years. I
declined the Presidency for the 11 th year but took on the
secretary and treasurer position, which I currently serve as.
In 2014 I was elected the President of the UGBA which I served
for six years and declined the 7th year. I am currently the
Secretary for the UGBA.
I am on the Board of Directors for the Rural Lifestyles
Alliance LLC (RLA) since its’ inception as Americans Watching
Washington (AWW) in 2013. The RLA is a lobbying organization in
Washington DC whose goal is to affect legislation that has to do
with animal use be it working, sporting, entertainment,
agricultural or domestic pets.
It is very important to understand that there are powerful,
well financed, politically connected organizations that are
intent on stopping ALL animal use, including your dog Spot. They
start off attacking what they consider “low hanging fruit” and
are working their way up the “ladder” until animals have
“basically” human Rights. It is important that ALL that have a
“dog in that hunt” band together to stop these radical anti-
American groups. It really burns me that Big Agriculture tries
to make nice and compromise or capitulate to these extremist
rather than crushing them. They have the power and money. I
can’t figure it out.
It really came to light some years back when the ARA got a
ballot initiative on the California ballot to dictate layer hen
cage sizes………and it passed! Rather than fight it the Egg
industry tried working out compromises. Can you imagine a
country where John Q Citizen can tell a business how to run
their business??? They weren’t satisfied with trying to destroy
just the California egg industry, they wanted a prohibition on
bringing in eggs from out of state that didn’t comply with the
California mandate!
We must ALL get involved, not just in our own special interest,
but in any encroachment on our liberties and Rights. I was once
minimally involved in helping coon hunters when they were in
Sacramento fighting legislation that would be harmful to coon
hunters. I later talked to a pheasant hunter and asked him if
the bird hunters were helping. He said no because he doesn’t
hunt raccoons, he hunts birds! I couldn’t believe his lack of
understanding…….astonishing! We all know the old saying, “All it
takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.” An
ARA attack on any of us is an attack on all of us.
The question you asked about Oriental show standards is a tough one. There
are so many varieties and blends that it really comes down to
the judge and his understanding of which variety that an
individual appears to be. I have had a love affair with Oriental
since the first one I saw in 1962 and have had a variety of
Aseels over the years. I have C.A. Finsterbusch’s book,
“Cockfighting All Over The World” which has an extensive section
on Orientals which is excellent. Also, H.W. Schmudde’s book,
“Oriental Gamefowl” is excellent. Reading these books and just
plain old experience in seeing and judging the birds has been my
guide when judging Orientals. Because I appreciate a true
Oriental I’m a pretty hard judge on them. There are so many out
they posing as Orientals, that are in fact grades, that my eyes
really light up when I see the real deal.
I had one our members call me about the most recent show in
Fresno. There was over 100 birds shown in the Oriental class and
the winner was a high tailed, straight comb!.....THAT WAS WRONG!
Poor judging can ruin a show. I’m not sure of the solution other
than references and trial and error. I once talked to a
prominent APA judge and he told me that he doesn’t handle the
birds! I was flabbergasted! How in the hell do you judge a bird
without inspecting it?
If you are new to raising fowl here is some advice:
1) Be sure that you are zoned to keep birds.
2) Build your pens BEFORE you get the birds. Use 1” wire to keep
out wild birds that eat your feed, carry lice, mites and
disease. Be sure they are covered to keep out the rain and have
side protection from wind and sun. Use ½”–¾” PVC for roosts as
it lessens the risk of blue bugs. For true Orientals use a 2”x2”
roost. Bankiva type chickens will roost with their breast
resting on the top of their feet. A wide breasted Oriental has
trouble doing that and may have to have their breast resting on
the roost which could cause an indentation over time. Have your
roost low enough so that the birds don’t hit the top of the pen
when they pop their wings. Also, the roost should be far enough
away from a wall so that their tail doesn’t touch the wall. Have
a smooth surface at the ends of the roosts so that wing feathers
aren’t damaged if they pop their wings next to the wall. Place
your waters off the ground and inside of the pen to keep them
cleaner and to avoid them sticking their head out through the
wire to drink and possibly causing the damage to the hackle
feathers.
3) Start off small; maybe a trio of one breed. Get good at what
you do on a small scale before getting into the deep end of the
pool.
4) Don’t go cheap on the feed. Feed a good balanced diet. Know
that Orientals require more meat protein than bankiva type fowl
do. They love meat scrapes. Tractor Supply, Retriever Hi Pro dog
food is 27% meat based protein that should be mixed in with your
grains. Bankiva types can go with 15%-16% protein. Oriental,
18%-20%. In the summer cut back on the corn. Add more corn in
winter. Always use whole grains. Milo is a filler; avoid if you
can. Chickens love soaked (sour) oats and it is really good for
them. Soak the oats for 3-5 days. It will stink. I had a rack
placed over a farmer’s sink which I would place burlap over and
dump the bucket of soaked oats onto, spread them out and let
drip for a few minutes. Mix this in with your daily feed (about
10%). The chickens will love it! NOTE: Use rubber gloves when
mixing the sour oats. The stink will stay on your hands all day
if you don’t.
5) Cull hard. It isn’t pleasant but it must be done to improve
your flock and save money on feed.
6) Judge your birds at home BEFORE you take them to the show.
Know the standards for your breed. Bring winners!
If you are specifically interested in gamefowl I would recommend
that you attend the APG shows and get a flavor of what is out
there and what catches your eye. You can talk to the breeders
and ask questions about them and make some contacts so that when
you have made your mind up you can contact the breeder of your
choice. You may even get some for free for you to cut your teeth
on.
Understand that gamefowl are a heritage breed that the ARAs are
trying to drive into extinction so if you are interested in
saving a threatened species, gamefowl can be your “cause”.
Be forewarned that gamefowl are different than ordinary
ornamentals of domestic fowl. Some can be higher strung and
require some patience. The roosters will get their courage at 5-
6 months old and must be separated or they will kill each other.
Some hens can be extra quarrelsome and may require special
housing.
If you want to put on a show it would be wise to go to a few
shows and get involved with the organizers and offer to help and
ask questions. The UGBA’s Show Standards book gives detailed
instructions on doing a show and all the forms you might need.
You can get the Standards at our shows or you can go to
www.UGBA.net and go to the “Store” tab for ordering.
