Tracy Hayes

North Carolina

Background

Tracy Hayes has lived a lifetime with gun dogs. His first two dogs were a prezzie from a family mate he got when he was 9 years old. Coming from a birddog family, his youth was chockers with pointing dogs, quail, grouse and pointing dog field trials. In his early twenties, after graduating from Virginia Tech, he snagged his first lab and it’s been a life-long love affair.

For nearly twenty years, agriculture was his job but retrievers were his obsession. In 1990, he saw a sign that said NAHRA hunt tests. He stopped and had a squiz at Charlie Jurney, Allen Pleasants and a few other hunt test trainers and his life was never the same. He co-founded Big Elkin Creek Waterfowl and Retrievers in 1993. Over the next several years, with a hand from Charlie Jurney, he picked up the art and skill of training retrievers. In the late nineties, he started training full-time and set up Quail Hill Farm Kennels—the rest is history.

At Quail Hill Farm Kennels, training hunting retrievers for the true hunter is top priority. With several acres to train on they almost never have to nick off the property to give their gun dogs top-notch training opportunities. They train almost exclusively for working gun dogs and HRC hunt tests with the top dogs participating in every HRC Grand. They're stoked about training owners to become ace handlers for their retrievers.