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.