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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.
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.
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.
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 Thursday, June 19, 2008 |
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
