J. Paul Jackson is a name that many people in the hunting and outdoor community are very familiar with. Originally from Dyersburg, TN, Jackson has had many successes in his career over the years and travelled all over the country, but still remains a very down to earth man. Jackson is married with three daughters and still resides in Dyersburg today.
“Like most kids from small towns, you always think ‘Man whenever I get out of school and grown up, I’m gonna get out of this crummy old town and shake the dirt off my shoes and live somewhere else’. But then as you get older, you start to realize ‘Man that crummy old town, its not so bad’,” Jackson said.
After high school, Jackson attended Ole Miss for a little while before transferring to University of Missouri at Columbia, also known as Mizzou, where he majored in personal financial management and insurance principals and received a bachelors of science degree in human environmental science.
“Once I graduated from Mizzou, I decided out of all the places I had traveled to and visited, I’d rather be in Dyersburg,” Jackson said.
After moving back to Dyersburg, Jackson went into the insurance business. After being there for a while, Jackson decided he needed a change, and realized he wanted to go to nursing school. So in 1999, Jackson graduated from nursing school from Dyersburg State Community College.
“While I was in nursing school, my wife was very supportive with my decision to go back to school. But she said, ‘I’m happy to help support the family while you do this, but I’m not going to support your duck hunting habits. You’ve got to do something to help supplement our income if you want to keep going to Arkansas all winter duck hunting’,” Jackson said.
This really helped launch Jackson down a path that would eventually lead to what is now Lone Oak Retrievers.
“I had trained a couple dogs for myself, and then had a couple buddies who wanted me to train their dogs too. So I started training dogs for other people while I was in nursing school,” Jackson said.
After Jackson graduated in 1999, he worked as a nurse in the emergency room and continued training dogs on the side. In addition to training dogs, Jackson also guided in the Stuttgart area.
“What really got my career taking off, was our dog Maddie. We got her in ’96 and started training her and people would see her in hunt tests and talk to me about training their dogs. Then in the winter when I would guide, Madi was my main hunting dog. She was just an amazing hunting dog, and a lot the of the people I was guiding were like ‘I want a Madi. Can you help me find a puppy and train it for me?’,” Jackson said.
In the fall of 2001, Jackson switched over to training dogs full time. He began having success with hunt tests and in 2004 was able to win the gold medal in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
“After that I never really looked back. I continued training dogs, and was able to work for some other companies as their spokesperson,” Jackson said.
In the fall of 2009, Jackson was presented with the opportunity to develop a television show for Drake Waterfowl called ‘Drake’s Migration Nation’. Jackson still trains dogs with his company, Lone Oak Retrievers, as well as through his website Training With J Paul.
“There’s no place I’d rather be for my business and family than Dyersburg, TN. Dyer County is full of hardcore duck and deer hunters and we have tremendous hunting opportunities. Not only that, we have some of the best schools in the state of Tennessee and the people in area are great. When I came back here to raise a family, I realized there was no better place to be, and I have been truly blessed,” Jackson said.
