(MCT) — MINNEAPOLIS — Rooster pheasants hoping to stay alive might want to avoid Randy Breuer posting at the end of a corn or milo field. At 7 feet, 3 inches, the former Lake City and University of Minnesota Gophers basketball star, and 11-year NBA veteran, proves quite an obstacle to a fast-escaping bird, shouldering quickly his vintage Citori as he does, and squeezing off shots that often are on target.

Growing up on a farm, and still maintaining the relaxed aw-shucks demeanor of the small-town kid he was, Breuer, 52, on last Wednesday loaded Buster, his good German shorthair into his SUV and met me for a morning’s hike at the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club in Prior Lake.