Chance is gnawing up a storm on this hollow tree.  His half sister Daisy (Holly x Bingo) is cheering him on.  I have hunted with Daisy several times this season and she is consistently improving and is on her way to becoming a nice young hound.  The veteran Womack joined Jackson in the box for the ride to and from the woods.

Although the weather has been chilling lately, the sunsets have been nothing short of spectacular.  I took these pictures just before heading down to the kennels to take the hounds hunting. 

Introducing Marmalade, our newest addition to the farm.  She is a cross between an Angus and Gelbvieh.  She has settled in nicely with the rest of the herd. 

I took Belle and Jackson out in the snow to let them have a little fun.  They did a lot of sniffing around the creek but never tracked or treed anything.  I thought they might go after a squirrel but evidently the squirrels decided to stay in their nest on this cold afternoon. 

We have had a run of really cold weather.  This January will go down in the books as the one of the coldest starts since records have been kept.  We are definitely not use to temperatures staying below freezing for so long.  I have spent a lot of time breaking the ice on the watering troughs each morning and evening.  The cold snap has the heifers feeling frisky.  It amazes me to see them go about their daily business seeming to pay little attention to the coldness.

Jackson and Poppy were cut loose together recently and split treed.  I went to Jackson first to see what he was up to and was happy to see him treeing with confidence.  He yelped and shook his left paw and I put my light where he was standing to see if he had stepped on a briar.  Then I yelped.  We had disturbed a nest of yellow jackets and so we ran off crying as fast as we could go.  I am happy to report that we are both okay.  We made our way over to see what Poppy was doing and I accused her of running a rabbit because she was in a very thick briar infested field with only a handful of trees to be seen.  Then I felt badly because I saw two sets of eyes in the top of a small cedar tree.  I snapped a picture of her to show you the weeds caught in her collar from her romp in the thicket.  Never doubt your veterans.

I have always felt that Jackson was a strikingly handsome young hound but you never really know how a young how will do in the woods until you give them a chance.  So I gave him a Chance.  I started hunting Jackson with Chance and what a transformation.  Jackson is now regularly running and treeing.  I believe it has made Chance a better hound too.  I think there is something to be said for a little competition.  Chance does not like to be shown up at anything and when he is hunted with another male, he just seems to hunt a little harder.  I started hunting Jackson off of feeders that I set up to give him some easy tracks while he is developing a little confidence.  Chance is a chewer and can be seen on the left chewing on a feeder while treeing.  Jackson is on the right treeing on a hot July night.  ackson has a very distinctive tree bark that I can easily pick out of the pack.  Chance is a powerful tree hound and his volume hurts my ears when I get close to the tree.

We had a very scary incident last Thursday morning.  We were going through our regular routine and took one last look out the window before going off to work.  I thought I saw a grey fox, which isn't unusual, and then I realized the size was too big.  Then I saw another.  I soon realized that coyotes were attempting to take one of our week old calves.  I persuaded them to leave rather quickly but was at a loss for what precautions to take to protect the calves from future attacks.  After consulting with a few farmer friends, we had Zechariah before nightfall.  Evidently, farmers have used Donkeys to protect calves, lambs, goats etc for many years in our area.  I had no idea that they were so revered.  My hope is that Zechariah will protect our calves for years to come.  I'll add more later on how we picked his name.

Let me introduce Stonewall Farms' Thunderous Judge.  Judge is a registered Angus bull that joined the farm over the weekend during a thunderous storm that left us with over three inches of rain in about an eight hour period.  Judge is a youngster and will be two years old in October.  He has some growing ahead of him and we cannot wait to see how he fills out this year.  He has settled nicely into the role of herd sire and appears to be a very laid back bull.  We look forward to seeing our first calves out of Judge in the Spring of 2010.

It is that time of the year again.  Sally Fox had the first calf of the 2009 season and is seen resting comfortably on the left.  The new calf would not be alone for long because Brownie and Peggy Sue both added calves during the next two consecutive days.  Three calves in three days was a pleasant surprise and I snapped the picture on the right of the new arrivals taking advantage of a very pleasant April afternoon.

I snapped this picture early in the morning by going inside of Holly's doghouse.  Most of the hounds are eager to come out and say hello no matter the time of day but for some reason Holly tends to keep her own schedule.  Maybe she was tired.  She made three trees the night before while showing Belle the ropes.  The first was a den, the second was a blown over tree in the middle of the South Fork River and the third was a Carolina Possum. 

We have had some very crazy weather lately.  About eight inches of snow fell over the weekend and so it was fun-time for all of the hounds.  I snapped a picture of Chance blazing a trail across the back pasture.  The wind was so strong that snow collected on the sides of everything.  I thought it was interesting so I took a picture of a fence post to share with you.  Not to worry, we are suppose to have highs in the 70s by the weekend. 

Beauregard was recently reprimanded for baying a local skunk.  He and his mom, Holly, were out hunting and Beau started baying.  I knew this was not a good sign.  I watched from a distance as Holly went up to check him out.  She left immediately.  As I made my way closer to see what all of the fuss was about...I smelled the smell.  Luckily for me, Holly opened on a track further down the river and it didn't take much to talk Beau into leaving the scene of the crime.  I did handle him for the rest of the hunt with my gloves on.  I took this picture of him the next day as I was lecturing him on harassing skunks and how bad it was for all parties involved.  He was doing his best to look interested in what I was saying.

We recently added another cow to the herd.  Her name is Sally Fox.  She is seen in the picture on the left relaxing under the pine trees.  For some reason, the cows love the pine thickets and spend a lot of time chewing cud in the comfort of their favorite patch.  The picture on the right shows the girls enjoying a fresh bale of hay. 

Everyone that turns a hound loose knows that any night could turn out to be memorable.  You know what I mean.  Years from now, you'll look back and remember the night that old so and so did you know what.  Well, I had one of those memorable hunts over the weekend.  I decided to take Beauregard and his mom, Holly, out for a quick hunt.  They struck a good track that left them on the creek bank bawling and chopping.  Then I heard Beau open up in the field on the other side of the creek and Holly soon followed.  The creek was covered in muscadines and deer tracks.  I was very nervous.  I knew they would not be coming back so I followed them across a field full of cuckle burrs and briars.  It is not something I would recommend.  As I began to get closer, they located several times.  I shined the tree and there sat Mr. Coon.  I was disappointed when Beau opened again in the middle of the field.  Holly soon followed.  Again, I made my way across this field of briars and heard Beauregard throw several extremely long bawls.  I crossed back over the creek to get to easier walking and made my way towards him.  I was very upset when he quit barking.  I shined the tree in the area where I last heard him and there sat another raccoon (seen in the picture on the left).  I eased into the creek  and quickly found myself getting very wet.  The water was higher than my waders.  A huge splash scared me as Beau fell out of the tree and into the creek.  He had tried to climb his way to the raccoon and slid off of the tree near the top.  I was so happy that he fell into the water.  A fall from that high up could have been disastrous.  I told Beau that he did a great job on a very difficult track and was happy to see him graduate to running and finishing tough tracks.  This was a monumental night for him.  Beau and I headed back to the kennel and I assumed Holly would follow.  She did not.  I called and called yet she did not return.  I pulled out the tracker and found her.  As I pinpointed her location, I realized that it was very close to where I found Beau.  I looked up and there was Holly in the top of the very same tree.  The difference was that she had a very uncomfortable look on her face as if she were saying, "where have you been?"  I immediately made my way across the creek and shimmied up the tree.  I helped her back all of the way down the tree to safety.  It was a night to remember.

You may be asking yourself,  "why is Poppy giving us such a cheesy grin?"  I have the answer.  Many of you know that I am not a competition hunter and would consider myself to be strictly a pleasure hunter.  I have not been in a competition hunt in over three years and decided that it may be time to check in and see how the other half lives.  I thought long and hard about which hound to take and chose Poppy.  Poppy had not been hunted in about four months and spent the majority of her summer raising a beautiful litter of puppies.  The long and short of it goes something like this...Poppy was put into a cast of three high powered All-Grand Walker hounds.  She finished second with 125 plus points almost winning the hunt.  As we reminisced about Friday night's whipping of a couple of competition hounds, Poppy got this grin on her face that I had to share with you.  I was extremely proud of her.  

It has been unseasonably hot this first week of June.  We let Chance out for some exercise and instead of a romp through the pastures, he crashed in front of the fan.  He is a hound after my own heart.

Jackson (Ivey x Sneak July 2007) is in the very early stages of training.  I wanted to share a picture of him at eight months old treeing on a drag.  He did a great job and appears to have a lot of natural ability.  I usually wait to let the young hound tell me when they are ready to start their training and he was very loud and clear.  I look forward to spending more time with him in the coming months.  I will likely pair him with an experienced hound for plenty of on the job training.  My hope is that Jackson has Ivey's cold nose and tracking speed and Sneak's hard treeing style.  I'll keep you posted on his progress. 

On a recent adventure to Winona, Mississippi, I was able to take a slight detour and visit the Coondog Cemetery in Freedom Hills, Alabama.  On a sad September day in 1937, Key Underwood laid his hunting companion of fifteen years to rest in what would become the Coondog Cemetery.  At the time, Key had no idea that Troop would now have more than 185 hounds resting by his side.  I really enjoyed walking the many rows and reading the headstones of the great hounds buried in this sacred place. 

Once in Winona, I enjoyed several nights pleasure hunting with redbones from all over the country.  I had more fun than any one person should be allowed.  I was amazed by two things in Mississippi.  One, was how bright the stars were at night and the other was the size of their trees.  Here is a picture of one of the hounds from All Night Kennels (located in Kentucky) treeing his heart out on a typically large Mississippi hardwood.  Those Kentucky hounds were very impressive and made tree after tree until I was ready to call it quits at four in the morning. 

We awoke to a few inches of snow and decided to let the hounds have a little playtime.  Suzannah is seen on the left taking a break from digging in the slush just long enough for me to snap a picture.  We enjoy the peacefulness of living in the country but there is something about a fresh snowfall that adds to my love of nature.  On the right is Belle and Suzannah in a sprint through the apple orchard.

The yearlings Beau, Belle and Chance are continuing to make steady progress with the help of Poppy the puppy trainer.  Here is a picture taken from a recent adventure where Belle, Chance and Poppy treed a local raccoon.  Chance always gives me a good laugh at some point during the hunt.  As you can see in the picture, he is treeing his heart out and at the same time keeping an eye on sister Belle to see what she was doing.  Belle was on the opposite side of the creek at that point and had not quite made it to the tree yet.  Don't worry, Belle made it to the tree and put on quite a show.  She is a very intense treedog.  Also seen are Poppy's ears flying through the air while she helps Chance tree the raccoon.  

I was able to hunt with Terry Dalton in Sandy Ridge, North Carolina over the holidays and really had a great time.  I wanted to share with you a picture of his hounds Zero (Treeing Walker) on the left and Max (Bluetick) on the right treeing a raccoon on a very cold and windy December night.   

Hunting with Plott Hounds was a treat for me.  I hunted with Gary Woods and Mark Blount recently and saw a good team of Plotts make several trees on a Dairy Farm in Taylorsville, North Carolina.  To the left is a picture of Ike and Annie treeing a raccoon.  Here is a bit of trivia for you hound enthusiast.  The Plott Hound is the official state dog of North Carolina. 

On one of our recent hunts, Beau, Chance and Poppy went underground in search of a raccoon.  I must say that this clever coon disappeared in the creek bank and probably thought that these redbones would give up and go back home.  On the contrary, this pack would still be there digging if I had not intervened.  I pulled Poppy back and tried to catch the two boys.  At one point, Beau was completely out of sight up under the bank and all I could see was Chance's tail because he was right behind his brother.  I managed to pull Chance out by the tail and tie him back.  I had visions of going back to the barn to retrieve the shovel to dig out Beau when I was lucky enough to reach far enough into the hole where I was able to get a hand on one of Beau's legs.  Lucky for me I persuaded him to back out.  I was covered in mud from head to toe.  What a sight.  This was a very good hunt and showed me what kind of heart and desire that these two young brothers have when it comes to chasing raccoons. 

The weather seems to be cooling down as we are trying to recover from a very difficult summer.  The combination of heat and lack of rain has taken its toll on local farmers and it is time to put the finishing touches on winter preparations.  What that means to Beau, Belle and Chance is this...time for training.  I'm very excited to begin their training and we are off to a solid start.  Poppy (Polly) is our resident puppy trainer and can be seen here treeing a Carolina raccoon. 

I went on a hunt with a couple of Blue Gascon type Bluetick Coonhounds on a very hot summer night.  They are big and blue as adverstised.  This is a picture of Jim treeing on a hot summer night.  Mike Griffee of Granite Falls, North Carolina has been hunting these old fashioned hounds for several decades.  I enjoyed listening to their big mouths and seeing their hard treeing style.  They impressed me as very sensible hounds with high intelligence.  I look forward to hunting with them again in the future.   

This is the first time Chance and Polly hunted together and here is a picture of Chance caught up in the excitement.  His tracking collar is turned around and he is looking at me as if to say, "just hurry up and take the picture."  He did a great job helping Poppy out on this track and I look forward to updating everyone on his (and Beau & Belle) development.  This is a huge season for both Chance and Beau because how they progress in the woods will determine if they get to spend time in the breeding pen next year. 

I received a phone call from Chuck Copeland telling me that his young hound, Spirit, is spending time down in Mississippi with Royce Taylor.  Chuck sent me a picture of Spirit that I wanted to share with everyone.  This is Spirit at the ripe old age of 10 months treeing her own raccoon.  Yes, I said it.  Spirit is running and treeing her own coon at 10 months old.  This photo is a testament to great work by these two redbone men on getting this youngster up and going.  It takes a lot of time and energy to give a young hound the chance to develop into a treedog.  I'm sure we'll continue to hear a lot from them in the future.

Adventures in the creek take place nearly every day for these three youngsters.  Belle, Beau, and Chance enjoy getting wet during these very warm and humid summer days in North Carolina.  They have begun to get a bit gamey recently and have started treeing squirrels, possums, and a raccoon or two.  This trio has also had a most unfortunate run-in with a local ground hog.  I've enjoyed seeing them check trees with their heads up in the air.  This is the part you can't teach.  The breeding is either in them or not.  I have a good feeling that they are well on their way to becoming nicely started hounds by this fall.

Belle is wearing out this stick in the creek and Beau is enjoying getting his paws wet.  This group absolutely loves the water and will gladly jump in at a moment's notice.

I spent some time pleasure hunting with Eric Norris in the mountains of North Carolina and took a picture of Macy.  She is well on her way to being a Grand Nite Champion and has won 17 casts.  She is a half sister to Holly.  Both are direct daughters of Fireball's Timber Choppin Dan and Timber Chopper females.  I must say that hunting in the mountains is either straight up or straight down.  It is certainly not for the faint of heart.  We had a lot of fun and always have a good time enjoying the hounds. 

This is a picture I snapped during a recent hunt in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  I had the opportunity to hunt with some fine Southern gentlemen and their hounds; June is out front, Rock is hiding on the other side of the tree, and Fathead is on the right.  We had a wonderful hunt and treed a lot of raccoons with these two Walkers and the lone English hound.  You can find the details of our adventures in the June edition of Coonhound Bloodlines. 

I wanted to share a photo showing Beau, Belle, and Chance enjoying raccoon hunting 101.  I was very pleased with all three of these seven month old youngsters.  They all opened, ran, and treed on a catch and release raccoon.  No matter how many times I see the instincts of a young hound "kick in," it always amazes me and puts a big smile on my face.  It is no accident that these pups are doing so well.  It is the result of many past breeders' hard work. 

We are excited to have the addition of two new calves this spring.  Here are Clover and Dandelion standing with my favorite cow Bucky. 

I had a wonderful time pleasure hunting with some fine gentlemen in Monroe, North Carolina.  They have some really nice Black and Tan hounds that can flat out get it done.  Here is a picture of Bubba and company telling us that they located one of the local Union County raccoons.  If you would like to read more about my pleasure hunting experience, pick up the May edition of Coonhound Bloodlines.  I've recently become a monthly writer for the magazine and look forward to sharing the fun and fellowship of pleasure hunting with hounds. 

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Last Updated on Friday, January 22, 2010