A few months ago I sold my Polaris Ranger and have been looking around for a new dog training/hunting outfit. My neighbor helped me find this little Ford Ranger V6 4X4 at auction that had rear-end body damage. We got a good deal on it (2004 with 74,000 miles) and popped the bed off. After a bit of searching we found and ordered this aluminum flatbed from a company called Aluma in Iowa. It was hard to find a flatbed for a small truck, but I wanted to be able to have access to all sides for loading and unloading dogs and gear. I am waiting on a custom dog box from Diamond Deluxe to finish the truck. I enjoyed the Polaris but was disappointed with the gas mileage and buying new front tires all the time from driving on paved roads. I thought a light truck with a flat bed would be just right. So far, I love it. Thanks to my neighbor from JRS Auto Repair for helping me find the truck at auction and mounting the flatbed for me.

Buster got his first chance to guide at the pheasant farm last week. A client from Las Vegas was on his way home from a Colorado elk hunt and stopped in for an afternoon of pheasant hunting. Buster did just fine. He located and pointed about 8-10 pheasants before getting popped out because of the hot/dry conditions. This was mostly my fault for not having him in top physical condition because I was waiting on my new dog training truck. Buster retrieved pretty well and seems like he will be a good hand at the pheasant preserve this fall where I work part-time to get my dogs on more birds.