Full Cry Magazine: Oct/Nov 2023

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Published Bi-Monthly for the Coonhound & Treedog Enthusiast

EDITOR

Dani Duby dani@fullcrymag.com

ADVERTISING

Jason Duby jason@fullcrymag.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Jaren Hobson publish@fullcrymag.com

PUBLISHED BY Duby Family Enterprises LLC

dba Full Cry Magazine PO BOX 128 Merlin, OR 97532

CONTACT US 1-866-FULL-CRY www.FullCryMag.com

@FullCryMag

@FullCryMagazine

USPS Identification Statement: Full Cry, USPS: 20802, ISSN: 00162620, is published bimonthly by Duby Family Enterprises, LLC. PO Box 128 Merlin OR 97523. Danielle Duby, Editor. Subscription $36 per year, 2 years $65. Periodicals postage paid at Grants Pass, OR and other post offices. Postmasters: Send address changes to Full Cry, PO Box 128, Merlin OR 97523.

Full Cry Magazine is intended solely for informational and entertainment purposes. The opinions expressed by our contributors and within advertisements do not necessarily represent our endorsement. We hold no liability for statements made by advertisers or contributors. Safety should always be paramount, and we strongly urge readers to adhere to all applicable laws and seek guidance as needed. Reproduction of any content in this magazine is strictly prohibited without express permission from the publisher.

Established February 1939

by Muriss and Estelle H. Walker

© Copyright 2023

Welcome back to Full Cry ! If you are wondering where we went, and why we look so different, then let's get caught up on the last three months. C+H Publishing ceased publication with their June issue. Full Cry has since been purchased by the Duby’s and the magazine has made the move out west to Oregon. If you had a subscription with C+H Publishing when they closed their doors, the duration of the time on your subscription will not only be honored but also extended by 3 months to compensate for the period that the magazine had ceased publication.

To make this publication viable we are changing publication periods to a bi-monthly period beginning with this issue. This means the next issue will be the December/January issue.

We are always accepting articles and stories for consideration in this publication. For the December issue we would love to see some heartwarming stories; kids and dogs, charity hunts, and/ or just a good winter storm hunt story, etc. Please consider submitting materials to us by October 31st for that issue.

WIN AN ORIGINAL VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 FULL CRY MAGAZINE FROM FEBRUARY 1939!

We are giving away a little piece of hound history. It is through mentorship that we ‘grow up’ the next generation of hunters and ensure the longevity of our sport. We are featuring the houndsmen that shaped us in the February/March 2024 issue. To be entered to win the original copy, we are asking for your story submissions. Here’s how to enter:

1. Write a story about a houndsmen that influenced you.

2. Keep it to 600 words or less (add a picture or two if you want!)

3. Send your submission via email to dani@fullcrymag.com or mail to Full Cry Magazine PO Box 128 Merlin OR 97532

4. Deadline for submissions is 12/31/2023

5. We will feature a few of these stories in the February/March 2024 issue and one will be selected as the winner!

Dani Duby - Editor, Full Cry Magazine

Famous last words that when spoken may find you owning one of the most historically significant treedog publications.

A degree in biology, a career in finance, and a midlife crisis that involves homeschooling children and milking goats.

None of this could have prepared me for the title I take on today. Editor and owner of Full Cry magazine. I don’t know journalism. I don’t know publishing. What I do know is the sport of dogs.

When I was in the 4th grade my parents brought home our first registered dog. From

there it took off into a family passion that had us traveling the country for shows with a kennel of 20+ dogs at home. It was there that I developed a passion for purebred dogs. Fast forward 15 years and my husband got bit by the hound bug. I saw this as an opportunity to bring our two worlds together. His passion for hunting and my passion for dogs. That’s when we brought home our first bluetick. ‘Hailey’ would go on to be the trashiest, stubbornest, biggest piece of humble pie we’ve ever owned. Through all that – she was perfect to us. Over the years the color of the dogs in our kennel has changed and the need for papers has no longer become a requirement to live here. My passion for purebred dogs has changed to a passion for purpose bred dogs. That love for purpose bred dogs is what led me here to these pages.

The magic of Full Cry through the years was the celebration of all things tree dog. On one page O.L. Beckham may have had you traveling deep through the hollers following the big open bawl of a black and tan. Then you turn the page and come smack dab face to face with a trophy lion taken out west by a grade dog that you can’t quite figure out what is mixed into it. Purpose bred dogs.

“How hard can it be?”

This nostalgia is what we all cling to and hope to find still in the pages of Full Cry, so much that when it was announced that Full Cry was closing in June of 2023 much of the hound world was horrified. My husband told me the news, looking disturbed enough you would have thought his favorite uncle died. My response: “Well someone should keep it going. Why don’t we buy it… How hard can it be?” Which leads us exactly to here.

We are excited for the future of Full Cry. It is with a love and respect for the sport that we see the significance of the history contained in these pages. With that said, the facts are that the world has changed over the years. The internet provides a platform for instant hunt results, advertising of stud dogs, and hunt commentary. In order to keep Full Cry relevant today the old and the new must merge.

This issue is a merger of those ideas. We are taking articles submitted to the prior publisher by some of the loyal contributors through the years and combining them with new faces and new viewpoints. Not only are there fresh voices, but there are some young faces. It is easy for those of us who are ‘seasoned’ in the sport to sit back with a ‘kids these days’ attitude about what we view as ‘self-promotion’ posted on social media platforms. I believe that if we want this next generation to continue on in the sport with a sense of respect

and duty, we must allow them the platform to join us. Do not see this as a changing of the guard but rather a recruitment to our army.

Our vision for Full Cry is that together we can use it as a platform for good. Highlighting the history. Celebrating the now. Fighting for the future. We humbly ask for your support to make that happen. The pages of Full Cry come

alive because of the stories and passion its readers share with each other, please continue to write. Share your stories. Voice your opinion (respectfully). Send in your pictures. It is the viewing of the sport through the eyes of each other that make this magazine run, and it deserves to run for a long time. If we all work together to make that happen then “How hard can it be?”

PLUMTREE’N PRIVATE RESERVE (HENRY). OWNED AND BRED BY THE EDITOR, THIS WAS HER FAVORITE HOUND TO EVER GRACE THEIR KENNEL.

Our Place in History

Navigating Tradition & Innovation

It has been said that these are the most exciting times to have ever come about in the sport of coon hunting. Not only have we seen an ‘old fashion’ practice accept the advances of a technological society, but other markers have served as the insignia of these new and ‘unprecedented times’ in the sport (No, I am not referring to the COVID pandemic either).

Over the past decade, we’ve seen things such as record game numbers, colossal cash prizes, a World Champion boasting an ‘All-Grand’ pedigree. Even deeper through the timber of this modern era, ‘space-age’ telemetry equipment and cryogenically preserved genetic material.

These marvels stand in staunch contrast to the whimsical imagery that might likely play out in the minds of folks when you talk about coonhunting. Coonhunters are supposed to be a primitive people, wise to the ways of the woods, hunting by the light of the moon, a trusty compass stashed away somewhere in the pocket of a worn pair of ‘over-hauls’. These people likely still pay the electric bill every month with a check and drive manual transmission vehicles. They just can’t get with the times!

At one point in time, these types of hunters made a good living on what game their hounds were able to produce. Hides were worked and sold for good profit, for gifts under the Christmas tree, for sustaining life in some fashion. These men came from all walks of society. They sported homemade dog boxes and, on their hounds, hung well-worn leather collars. From the old to the very young, they could read their dogs and read the woods around them like the best Navajo trackers. They knew every bush, every frog, and every coon track that came along the way. The

hounds mimicked their owners in this style. They were as varied as the stars in the sky.

the “benefit of the doubt”. Like any 21st century man, he has a tool that allows him to remedy a solution and produce results.

Fueled by the desires of man, the hounds have followed suit. The dogs of today are as stylish and modern as the pickup trucks you’ll see parked at the coon club.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are the coonhunter’s of the modern era. These hunters are less familiar to the general populus, almost unrecognizable nowadays. They sport the best technology known to man and use it to their advantage when running hunting dogs. These men do not need to leave their jacket lying on the ground where they last saw their hound, in hopes to find him patiently waiting the next day. More than likely, this hound is equipped with the latest version of a GPS signaling tracking collar, and the hunter will have him back to the truck in short order.

These “young” hunters are not easily pleased. They are strong willed and knowledgeable. Anything they want or need to know is available at the click of a button. Many will not be content with their dogs treeing with another hound, or in a hole in the ground, or even on a den tree, giving that hound

My last thirty years on this Earth have played witness to the transition between what we would consider traditional and contemporary coonhunters. Why exactly did things change? When did this ‘great sea’ of hound enthusiasts’ part and become these two separate factions? Can these two distinctly different types of hunters survive and thrive in the same arenas? And what does that mean for the sport of coon hunting?

The fact of the matter is coonhunters have come a long way in a short time. I remember just 15 years ago, hunting the bottomland of the Little Shenango River country near my home with nothing but a light and a prayer. Nowadays, I can’t even stomach heading to the woods with a GPS receiver on less than 50% battery life.

We live in a unique time between ‘Walking With Wick’ and ‘Talking With Fielder. The ‘old ways’ and the ‘new’ are starting to mesh and mingle together. As ‘new and improved’ as things may

continued on pg 10

“Coonhunters are supposed to be a primitive people, wise to the ways of the woods, hunting by the light of the moon”

look, there isn’t much to the sport that is distinctly brand new, maybe just recycled or revamped. Even then, many things remain the same. Take the raccoon, for example. Our quarry we pursue surely has not changed over time, albeit they are in greater numbers. The necessity for management of this species has not changed. The original purpose of the Coonhound still remains the same today. So, might I ask, what’s with all the change?

Regardless of the answer to that question, it’s important to recognize that the sport of coonhunting, and to a greater extent, the sport of hound hunting, is unequaled to all other outdoor activities in one aspect. That being how the past, the present, and the future cause it to morph over time.

The past is one of the most prominent forces at play when we discuss the everchanging dynamics of hunting with hounds. Houndsmen work diligently to preserve a time-honored tradition handed down generation from generation. We work to preserve the integrity of the breeds of dogs we fancy. We reminisce on famous crosses that were made between particular hounds. We comb through “vintage” magazines, hoping to glean some nugget of wisdom from old articles, stud ads and event results. We strive to understand the thoughts of our mentors and how they achieved prominence, whether

that was through their breeding practices, victorious conquests or simply by their reputation as a hunter. This requires a particular focus on things that have come and gone.

But the windshield is much larger than the rearview mirror. Houndsmen must drive the bus, after all, and we can’t get very far by driving backwards. Well-informed individuals will realize that while we need to keep an eye on where we have been, we also must pay attention to where we are going. The future is equally scaled to ALL historical contexts in the world of hound hunting, from this perspective.

“The here and now is an exciting place to stake yourself to. You don’t have to wait around for it to get here, and it hasn’t passed you by. You can do now what you intend to do”

simply accomplishing the goals we set for ourselves. Some Houndsmen are quite good at teaming up to accomplish likeminded goals. Still yet, some people even bring the idea of a better tomorrow into a collective association around a common interest, like big game hunting or a particular breed of coonhound. The future is important. The past is equally important. However, I believe that the most underrated asset to Houndsmen is the here and now.

The here and now is an exciting place to stake yourself to. You don’t have to wait around for it to get here, and it hasn’t passed you by. You can do now what you intend to do. This is a powerful concept when coupled to the intertwining facets of the hound hunting world. The here and now is where we all exist, whether we enjoy this sport from the perspective lens of a traditionalist, or a contemporary.

Houndsmen have always had their eyes to the past, but their vision has always been focused on the future in turn. We would be remiss to think otherwise. Every pedigree, every puppy, every Nite Hunt entry that has been paid, has been produced in the hopes of improving the future to some degree. We all have our own idea of what that future looks like. For some, it’s

In layman’s terms, there are many ways to enjoy the sport of coonhunting, and we all have something to contribute to this game we love to play. The old, seasoned, veteran hunters, as much as some may hate to admit it, could stand to learn from the young and green. Likewise, I am confident that these new, savvy, techno-hunters can in turn lend an ear to their older and wiser counterparts for a lesson or two.

It doesn’t matter where you find yourself on this particular spectrum. It doesn’t matter what kind of houndsmen you consider yourself. It

doesn’t matter whether you are a pleasure hunter or a competition hunter, if you hunt big game or squirrels, we all have something to contribute to the here and now. The overarching point I wish to drive home to you dear readers is this. Let’s work together to build a better sport. Better clubs, better events. Let’s take a young person coonhunting, or an old person for that matter. Let’s hunt those hounds we think so highly of, and most importantly, let’s use the time we have been blessed with to stake out our place in this great timeline called history. Who knows, your future may be the past that someone looks to for inspiration someday.

COREY GRUVER

Corey Gruver grew up hunting the Appalachian foothills and farm country of Western Pennsylvania. During his time as a coon hunter, he has trained and competed with many different kinds of tree dogs. Corey’s passion for the outdoors was fostered by his grandfather and the Bluetick Coonhounds he hunted with.

Corey brings a unique perspective to the Full Cry team, having been a competitor, an administrator and an acting official at some of the largest coonhunting events in the country. Corey was a former programs manager with the United Kennel Club, a graduate of Edinboro University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications, a passionate outdoorsman and writer, as well as being a current ‘family man’ to his wife Kayla and his daughter Elliana.

Corey hopes that Full Cry readers will enjoy his editorial writing style and quirky topics of discussion.

Coonhound Spotlight: Davis’ Rosedale Phrogger

Hello everyone, Clayton Stark here. I hope you are doing well. Over the past few years, I have been blessed to be able to hunt with some of the best coon and squirrel dogs alive. I have hunted with both UKC and AKC World champions, PKC National Champions, Pro Sport Truck hunt winners, and many other great dogs. I have hunted with your average pleasure hunters, the most successful competition dogs, and everything in between.

BY CLAYTON STARK

The number one question I get asked: Who my favorite coon dog I have hunted with is, and why? My answer has not changed over the years. I don’t mean to insult anyone I have hunted with (or their dog). I have met some amazing people with amazing dogs; but my favorite dog that I have been in the woods with is AKC World Champion and 2-time PKC Platinum Champion, Davis’ Rosedale Phrogger. Phrogger is owned by a good friend of mine, Burchel Davis Jr. Burchel is a great family man who knows his coon dogs and is as honest as they come.

A few years ago, I reached out and asked if I could see Phrogger hunt. Many things stand out as I look back at our first hunt. It was a very cold December night in northern Ohio when I first hunted with Phrogger. That time of year can be very rough

hunting, and there is a good chance you might be on a den tree if you do get treed. That’s not what Phrogger does though. We turned him loose five times and he treed five single coon in the open, in December. He looked like a well-oiled machine and had the best mouth I have ever heard in a dog. I could not find fault in anything he did. He did everything you could want and he did it in style.

I was very impressed with what I saw and was interested in getting a pup off of him in the future. At that time, Burchel was not breeding him much as he was still competing quite a bit. He was being hunted in the competition hunts by Eric Piatt. As the pups he was producing started to show signs that he might be a reproducer, and Phrogger continued to win, a lot of people in the coon hunting

world took interest. Since that first time I hunted with Phrogger and Burchel I have seen close to twenty dogs out of him. Both male and female pups look great. They all have a certain look and great mouths. He has become very popular as a stud because of his accuracy and ability to reproduce loud hounds.

Phrogger now has multiple pups with big wins in major hunts. One being PKC National Champion Wipeout Pharmer; a nice young dog that finished 2nd in a Pro Sport hunt I covered. I highly encourage you to go to my YouTube channel and look up Phrogger. If you enjoy hearing a hound work, he is one you will love. I look forward to writing more of these hound reviews for you in the future. I really am lucky to be able to do what I do, documenting the things we all love, the sound of the hound.

PHROGGER FACTS

Over $53,000 in winnings

2021 AKC World Champion

2021 PKC Superstake Champion

2021 PKC Ohio State Champion

2021 Top 10 of the Nationals

2020 PKC World Hunt Semifinalist

2020 PKC Superstakes Semifinalist

2020 PKC Top 16 Ohio State Race

2019 PKC Superstakes Semifinalist

UKC Grand Nite Champion at 1 year

2x PKC Platinum Champion

CLAYTON STARK

Stark Outdoors

Hello everybody, with this being my first article I thought it would be fitting to just introduce myself. My name is Clayton Stark, you may know me from my YouTube videos or social media pages. I am from a small town in Ohio and am married to my best friend Kristen. We have three kids, a boy and two girls. I live a quarter of a mile from where I grew up in some of the best coon hunting in the country.

My dad introduced me to hunting with dogs at a very young age. I was just old enough to walk the first time I went to the woods. We hunted both coon and squirrel with coonhounds. My Grandpa and Grandma Stark had redbones. Their farm is located about a half a mile from where I live so we have been hunting these same blocks of timber for over 100 years now. Dad hunted walkers mostly, but also kept blueticks, black and tans, and literally any type of hound that hunted the way you would want.

My uncles also coon hunted quite a bit. From an early age I got to go hunting with all the breeds. Dad would take me out with our family, Ned and Ross Boland, Charley Clay and Charley Sulfridge. When we got together to hunt, which was about every weekend growing up, we hunted redbones, blueticks, black and tans, and walkers. This had a great impact on me and my preference for dogs. Because of this I don’t necessarily have a favorite breed I like to raise and hunt, but a favorite style of dog I like to hunt. The memories I have with Dad and these other mentors in my life are what I hope to give my son as they were some of the happiest moments in my life.

My dad was a tank sergeant in Vietnam in 1967. Later in life he began having health problems. As time progressed it became too difficult for him to go to the woods, so I began filming my hunts for him to watch. I wanted him to still be able to see and hear our dogs do what they love. I would encourage you to film your dogs

in the woods also. One day they won’t be around and when that time comes, you’ll still get to see and hear them. This is where I got my start filming and editing videos. It was nothing really serious, just more for me and Dad to enjoy. I went to college to be a history teacher. During this time, I worked maintenance in a local factory and also hunted dogs for people for extra money. I began posting more and more pictures and videos with a cheap Walmart camera onto social media.

Once I graduated college, I continued hunting dogs because I was having so much success with it. I stayed booked out for almost a year hunting both squirrel and coon dogs. I am the type of person that’s never really satisfied so I wanted to continue learning and improving my ability as a dog trainer and hunter. I also missed going hunting with other people like I did when I was a kid, so I got the idea to go meet with the best coon hunters and dog trainers there were. My son had just been born so I wanted a good camera to capture moments in his life too, so this is where I got more serious

about understanding filming and editing. I saved my money and got a nice camera and began reaching out to people who had World Champion coonhounds in order to educate myself and hopefully the public as well.

This was the beginning of The Houndsman Spotlight series on YouTube. This project has been very successful, and I am currently working on season two of this series. These videos feature interviews and hunts with some of the most well-known and successful people in the coon hunting world. The connections made from the production of these videos has also led me to do work in covering squirrel and coon hunts for UKC and Pro Sport. My online audience has steadily grown over the past couple years reaching close to ten million people each month on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. I attribute this growth and success to my upbringing being a real coon hunter who genuinely loves hunting with dogs. I can’t put into words how much it means to me that I have a platform that shows the world coon hunting for what it is.

I try my best to be a great example for the younger generations getting involved online and also in person with my own children. I also coach high school football, so I stay busy and really try to make a difference in the lives of the next generation. I greatly look forward to continuing to write for you in the Full Cry magazine. Growing up these magazines were always there for me. Dad got all the hound hunting magazines so when I heard Full Cry was no longer going to be around, I was very concerned like most of you out there. I am very glad Jason Duby and his family took over and are keeping this alive.

My vision for the articles I will be writing will be sharing my stories from my own personal hunts with my family, along with news from the coon and squirrel hunting world. Since I attend and cover many major events, I hope to be able to share these moments and experiences with you through text and my photography. I am really excited to be a part of this and hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for reading, I wish you and your family well.

CLAYTON STARK AND OTHER HUNTERS AT A THANKSGIVING DINNER AND HUNT HOSTED BY BURCHELL DAVIS

The Voice

Echoes of Phrogger’s Unique Bark Resonate in the Digital Age

It’s what keeps us all coming back. It’s what sends us plunging into the unknown in pursuit of hallowed echoes reminiscent of the siren’s song. The voice. It calls to us, pulling us deeper and deeper into the black abyss. But like each page of a hymnal, every call is unique and wonderous in its own rights. For those of us fortunate enough to have been in the presence of such sweet songs, I can assure you the echoes of these vocalists will never leave us. They are the voices that will carry on with us forever because of the stories they told.

BY JASON DUBY

BURCHELL DAVIS AND PHROGGER

This has, historically, been a personal experience shared with few. With the boom of social media and other digital platforms things have changed drastically in recent years. While there is no substitute for walking behind a hound; it has brought opportunities for others to experience pieces of dogs that we may never have the privilege or opportunity to walk behind ourselves.

It is an interesting time for houndsmen and our hounds. With all the hound focused podcast, YouTube and social media accounts, we find ourselves with a unique opportunity to experience what these dogs are truly like and not just what looks flashy in a still photo. It is for this that I am grateful as it led me to a dog that’s voice that has been bouncing around the vast chambers of my brain for days.

Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

The seesaw sound of that bark had a driving beat you could create a symphony around. Steady and captivating. As I listened closer, I found myself turning an ear towards my computer much like I was there myself, anxiously waiting for what was next. I noticed the seamless transition in tones between low and high. The staccato hit of a “one two punch” to the ears as he loaded up on the tree and let the world know what anyone with a keen ear already knew. It was time to start walking.

As I found myself oddly engaged in what my eyes were seeing, and my ears were hearing I pulled myself back to reality. As Phrogger came into frame you could not only hear his unique voice, but you could see how it perfectly aligned with his movement and tree style. How could I possibly be experiencing something so vividly and never have to leave my desk? It left me wondering to myself: Can you imagine what he sounds like in person?

As they cut him loose again it was like your favorite record on repeat. Each time no different than the last. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. As the hunt went on, you

could see the definition of a “slobber mouth” tree dog. But like a true master of his craft, he poured every ounce of his being into every performance, leaving his audience waiting for his next stop on tour.

As I think about the big picture, I can’t help but think of how surreal it is to have all of these tools at our fingertips. Tools that, when used for good, can be valuable in our breeding programs as well as support the continuation of our traditions, passions, and sport. Tools to bring us together for the betterment of our breeds and ourselves as houndsmen. I sit here today writing on paper a description of a voice that must be heard. One that though I write about it must end with “you have to hear it”. To think that not that long ago those sweet see-saw sounds of Phrogger would have never reached my ears.

PHROGGER MAKING FRIENDS

PHROGGER ENJOYING THE HOLIDAYS

Face to Face with a Mountain Lion

Derril Fry’s Close Encounter

Lying on his back, shimmying through the slotted entrance of a cave, and when his head finally cleared the opening, there sat a wounded mountain lion with ears pinned back, ready to pounce. With his arms by his side and a gun on his chest, what was Derril to do but freeze? Derril Fry, a retired government hunter and trapper, spent his 42-year career pursuing dangerous wildlife, and this was just one of many close encounters he had.

Derril’s father, Lee, had been a lion and bear hunter, but he had sold his hounds when he started a family. When Derril was 12, he read an article by the late Steve Matthes titled “Brave Was My Dog” in Outdoor Life. Between that article and the stories his father told him, Derril knew he wanted hounds of his own and wanted to be a lion hunter. Working for his uncle, he saved enough money to buy a redbone pup, and that was enough to get him hooked. When Derril and his brother Bill were in their teens, they cut their teeth chasing bears out of their father’s bee yard with their hounds.

As a young man, Derril was a guide before working for the government (which he calls the outfit). During this time, he got to know many famous lion hunters such as Wiley Carroll and Steve Matthes. Steve and Derril became good friends, and Derril credits Steve for teaching him a lot about lions and also getting him started working for the outfit. Derril had many different hounds in those early years but ran a lot of Matthes Hounds. When his job for the outfit shifted him to mostly coyote work, the hounds he had used for many years just didn’t seem to fit his needs anymore. This is what led him to cur dogs, more specifically Kemmer Curs.

After obtaining a few Kemmers from the East, Derril struck gold with a dog he called Striker. Striker was everything Derril wanted in a dog. He could

trail lions in the dry Rocky Mountains, as well as decoy and locate crippled coyotes in the brush. Striker had come straight from Robert Kemmer and was out of Gold Nugget and Blondie II. This is a pretty famous cross in the Kemmer breed. The Striker-bred dogs are now known for their cold nose and bawl mouth on the track. These are traits not often found in most lines of curs.

found a small mail slot opening at the base of a large rock that had split in two.

The day started like many others: a tip about a mountain lion killing calves had come in. Derril went out to the ranch, and there was a family living there that had two large Rottweilers. They told him that the lion had tried to get in with the dogs. He could see where the lion had paced along the edge of the pen, and there was some blood there as well. Derril circled around, found the tom’s tracks, and noticed blood and pus in them. He followed the tracks as they went out through the cattle and found where the lion had killed a calf. This is where Derril fetched his Kemmer Curs and put them on the trail. The dogs tracked the tom up to a large pile of boulders. Derril climbed up and

As Derril walked up to the entrance, the tom came to the entrance and growled at him. This was very unusual behavior as most lions go to the back of a cave and try to hide. His flashlight batteries had died, so he hadn’t brought it along, but he knew he was going to need one if he was to go into the cave. On another encounter, Derril had shot a lion in a cave using a lit match, but as soon as he shot his pistol, the match blew out, and he was left in the dark. So, he didn’t want to do that again, especially with such an aggressive tom. He went back to the house and borrowed a flashlight, while the two young boys asked if they could go with him, and he obliged. When they got back to the cave, the tom once again growled, and one of the boys decided he had seen enough. The other said he would stay, so they proceeded to the cave. Using the flashlight, Derril looked in but didn’t see anything other than the cave opening up to about 20 feet around once you got past the tight entrance. He told the boy to pull him out of the cave if he hollered. As Derril started to shimmy into the cave, the boy tapped his foot and told him the lion was above the entrance, and they could just see a paw dangling down. There was no other way in, so Derril laid on his back with his pistol on his chest and started back in.

continued on pg 21

“This is where Derril went and got his Kemmer Curs and put them on the trail. The dogs tracked the tom up to a large pile of boulders”

As his head cleared the opening, there sat the large wounded tom directly above his face. Ears pinned back and ready to pounce, Derril froze. The tom relaxed just a little, so Derril kept shimmying in. As soon as his arms cleared the opening, he grabbed his pistol and shot the lion. He was shooting straight up and at a steep angle. He was aiming for between the eyes of the lion but, in the end, didn’t make the best shot. The lion fell right on top of Derril, cutting his face open, and then commenced rolling around, pawing at his head, and biting anything he could. Derril just laid there not knowing what to do. He tried to get the boy to pull him out, but the boy wasn’t strong enough. Derril had to shoot upside down and made two more shots. The first missed, and the second finally killed the lion.

Now retired, Derril has many stories like this and still continues to pursue these elusive mountain lions all over the mountains of Nevada.

BEN SHEETS

I started hunting squirrels and coon with curs in college. This led me to get my own dogs, then join the local coon hunters club at home. When I moved home, I got an American Leopard Hound because I liked curs but wanted a “hound” for the nite hunts.

Through them, I was able to make some connections in the bear-hunting world. This led me to go on my first bear hunt, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Within the last couple of years, I started my journey into photography in addition to running dogs. I wanted to be able to capture quality images of my dogs.

I now rarely go to the woods without my camera. Sharing the images I am able to capture and show how hard these hounds work, which has been very rewarding.

Taking photos led to Tree Talkin’ Media, which quickly grew into a podcast called Tree Talkin’ Time. Stories like this one from Derril Fry are told every week.

Listen to Tree Talkin’ Time anywhere you listen to podcasts

What to Expect When Your

Dog’s Expecting

Navigating the Whelping Journey

Whether you’re a complete newbie to breeding, or if delivering pups is old hat for you, it always carries a certain amount of stress and uncertainty. Everyone wants a healthy litter with no complications, and being equipped with what to expect ahead of time will help you get ready to do just that.

BY TAYLOR YOUNG, DVM

continued on pg 24

PREPARATION

As the due date approaches, it’s important to get things prepared well ahead of time. First, know where to go if things go wrong. Start with your primary veterinarian. Ask them if they’re equipped and staffed to intervene if there’s a problem during delivery. If not, figure out where your nearest urgent care or emergency veterinarian office is located and call ahead there, too. Save their address and number in

your phone so you’re ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Next, it’s time to get an area setup known as a whelping box. There are many versions of whelping boxes out there. The important things are that it is easily cleaned and sanitized, dry, draft free, and filled with good bedding. Examples of whelping “boxes’’ include plastic kiddie pools, an oversized plastic kennel, or even specialty made commercial whelping boxes.

A “pig rail” on the inside is a good addition that helps to keep mom from laying on a pup and smothering it between her and the side wall unintentionally (though I’d argue a good mother won’t do that). I’m not a huge fan of whelping on a wood surface, as it is hard to sanitize and keep clean, but covering that with plenty of absorbent bedding can work. Bedding should be easily cleaned, affordable to change out, and allow puppies to have good footing to move

around. Microfiber bath mats with rubber backing, fake “wool” rugs, and heavy towels and blankets can all fit this bill. Having several so that you can wash one while having a clean one in the box makes chore time easier. I’m not a fan of wood chips, hay, or straw, but if you’re going to use them, clean it out at least daily and don’t bed it so thick that the puppies can get smothered burrowing in it (also a concern with towels). Allow the gyp to get acquainted with the box at least a few days before she’s due.

Where the whelping box is located is also important. Indoors in a climate-controlled setting is ideal. Puppies have a very difficult time regulating their body temperature, and having them in a consistent temperature environment will help them avoid big fluctuations. Depending on the time of the year, outside can work just fine, though. Making sure they can’t get hit by a direct breeze is important. If it’s cold out, you may need to supplement heat. You’ll get lots of varied opinions on what works best to supplement heat - pads, bulbs, heaters, and more. The most important thing is that your whelping box is only partially heated. Allow room for the gyp and the puppies to get away from the heat source if they so choose. This will help them regulate their own temperature by moving around. Also make sure to follow the safety instructions; more than one litter has been lost in a fire

caused by a short or bad wire, and puppies chewing cords and getting electrocuted is a bad way to lose one.

“Indoors in a climate controlled setting is ideal. Puppies have a very difficult time regulating their body temperature, and having them in a consistent temperature environment will help them avoid big fluctuations”

Supplies that are important to have are clean towels for drying puppies (if mom fails to do so herself), clean obstetric lube and latex or nitrile gloves for helping a stuck puppy pass, umbilical tape or dental floss for tying off umbilical cords if bleeding, a bulb syringe for clearing airways, and a thermometer for checking temperatures.

If you followed some of the advice in my last article, you’ll have an idea of when she’s due and how many puppies she’ll have (the short version is to take advantage of hormone testing and x-rays). Even if you did, though, there are important signs to begin watching out for to know when it’s time. One trick many people don’t seem to know about is monitoring her rectal

temperature. Take her temp twice a day starting a few days out from her expected due date.

Normally it is greater than 100 °F. When the temperature takes a dip below that, usually into the 99 ℉ or even 98 ℉ range, whelping is coming within 24 hours. This isn’t foolproof, as some can take then dip and then go back up between your twice daily checks! Other signs may be that she begins to have enlarged mammary glands that are producing milk, or that she begins “nesting” in her lot or dog house; be warned, though, that they can also do this with a false pregnancy, which is completely normal for a dog and not considered a health concern.

LABOR

Labor in animals falls into three stages. The first stage of labor typically lasts 6 to 12 hours. During this time, the uterus begins its contractions, and the cervix begins dilating to allow the puppies to pass through. You will typically notice that the bitch begins acting nervous, restless, potentially pacing, panting, digging, or even vomiting. She may not be interested in food or water. All of this is normal.

The second stage of labor is when active pushing begins. The average time is 10 to 30 minutes of active pushing

continued on pg 26

for each pup, with 45 to 60 minutes in between one puppy coming out and the next round of pushing starting. Some bitches may take a break for as long as a few hours, especially if they’ve already pushed out a few. Unlike people and other species, it is considered normal for a puppy to come out either head or tail first.

As each pup passes, she should make recognition of the puppy and begin licking and chewing at it to remove its membranes. This will also stimulate it to take a breath and it should begin crying out. Puppies will move by instinct to her nipples and begin nursing on their own in most cases. That’s one thing I’ll never lose the sense of awe about when I watch it!

The third stage is the passing of the placenta. Each puppy has its own placenta, and so for dogs, the second and third stages actually alternate for each puppy. Many dogs will try to eat the placentas as they come. Many will also vomit them up later, so if you want to avoid that nasty mess, it’s okay to remove them as they come! If you know how many puppies she was expecting, the passing of the placenta after the last puppy signifies the end of the birthing process.

WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

Many people know that gestation is 63 days for dogs. What they don’t know is that

with natural breeding, that number can get skewed. Normal variation is considered from 58 to 68 days of the day of breeding. If it’s been longer than 68 days, it’s unlikely she is bred at all, but having her undergo an ultrasound or x-rays to confirm this can put your mind at ease.

If a bitch is actively pushing for 30 minutes without producing a puppy, goes longer than 2-3 hours between puppies, or takes longer each time to push one out, it’s time to call a vet. I’ve never seen a puppy lost by intervening too early, but I’ve seen a bunch of dead puppies from people waiting much too long.

“Many people know that gestation is 63 days for dogs. What they don’t know is that with natural breeding, that number can get skewed. Normal variation is considered from 58 to 68 days of the day of breeding”

around the head or the pelvis. Putting lube around the puppy can help it to pass more easily. The key word is GENTLY. If you’re having to use any force at all, stop… and call your vet.

Green or black discharge from the vulva, or lots of frank red blood, indicates a problem such as premature placental separation. If you see any of those… it’s time to call a vet.

Be prepared ahead of time for a Cesarean section (C-section). In many cases of dystocia (difficult birth), it is the only option. In our clinic, this usually runs $1,000-1,500, and in many emergency clinics it is much more. C-sections can have many complications, such as hemorrhage, infection, mom rejecting (or even killing) pups as she comes out of anesthesia, and others. However, they usually go smoothly and save the lives of the bitch, pups, or both.

Puppies that are too large or abnormally formed can become stuck in the birth canal. If you have clean gloves and plenty of lube, you can gently feel for a puppy. Don’t pull on a leg to free it: you can pull them right off the puppy! Instead, gently grab

Puppies that come out and are not getting attention from mom require immediate intervention. Use those towels you have on hand and start rubbing them. Break the membranes open with your fingers if necessary. Use your bulb syringe and gently place it in their mouth and over their nose to suction out fluid from the airways. This will stimulate them to start breathing, which is the most critical immediate need. Once they’re crying, grunting, and their gums are nice and pink, you can put them

next to the bitch where they can begin suckling.

Speaking of suckling, make sure the bitch has milk and that the puppies are latching on and eating. If there’s a problem, the pups need to be given colostrum supplement via tube feeding (placing a feeding tube directly in their stomach). I don’t recommend bottle feeding as it is a great way to give one aspiration pneumonia and kill it. Tube feeding sounds complicated, but once you’ve

been shown how to do it, it’s much safer than bottle feeding. Bring the pups into your vet and ask them to show you how so you can continue it at home.

CONCLUSION

There are many potential complications and issues that can happen, but hopefully this gives you a good overview of the normal process and the major things that can arise. The good news about delivering pups is that the majority of the time,

things go very well. Lord knows how many puppies have been born under a porch or in the back corner of a barn without even knowing she was due for any! Setting yourself up for success, though, will increase your chances of keeping every valuable pup she has, and keeping her around, too. Tune in to the next issue to read about rearing pups from birth ‘til they go home as my last installment of breeding, delivering, and raising healthy pups!

TAYLOR YOUNG, DVM

Tree Dog Doc

Taylor Young, DVM lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with his wife and two kids. He started hunting with curs as a teenager and got back into the sport as soon as he finished vet school. He has a Kemmer Cur prospect he’s starting this fall and gets him in the woods every chance he can!

The Canadian Tree Dog

A Conversation with Kelly Morton, Alberta’s Tree Dog Enthusiast

Hello folks!

In this series I’ll be talking with some of Canada’s most devoted tree-dog enthusiasts, looking at hound-life north of the border. This article takes us over to the Alberta Rockies talking with Mr. Kelly Morton, of Kelly Morton Hunting, big-game guides. Enjoy!

BY MICKY SIDDLE

continued on pg 31

Hi, my name is Kelly Morton, I live here in west central Alberta Canada, with my wife Chelsey, and our two sons Kannon, and Walker. I was fortunate enough to start pursuing outdoor activities with my dad at a very early age. Hunting quickly took a hold of me, and became my priority, above all other sports or activities. I hunted muskrats to moose and everything in between, but the first time I saw a giant tom lion in a tree would change the course of not only my hunting path, but the course of my career and life.

A good friend booked a resident lion hunt in Alberta, and I eagerly tagged along. After a few days of intense hunting, our efforts paid off. I’ll never forget the sight and sounds of those five majestic old-school redtick hounds, bawling as they rolled out of the box and tracked down the lion. When we reached the tree, I was awestruck by the sheer presence of the male lion. We locked eyes, and I realized I had shared the woods with this predator my whole life without ever laying eyes on one until now. I was astonished.

I marveled at how a team of dogs could be trained to track a single animal, miles away from their handlers, amidst countless other animal tracks, and still work together harmoniously without human assistance. They would patiently hold the game until we arrived, sometimes hours later.

Without hesitation, I decided to dive in headfirst. I started training under the outfitter the very next weekend, and my journey progressed from there. My goal was to make each season better than the last. I spent several years hunting in Canada before enjoying around five years of dry ground hunting in the US, following dogs and lions from November to May each season. Eventually, I started my own outfitting business in Canada, where we hunt black bear, bobcat, lynx, and cougar, all with the hounds!

We get to see a variety of different landscapes and weather patterns through our different hunting areas. The wind-swept Rocky Mountains to the boreal forests of Alberta. Big fir ridges with riverside cliffs to foothills and swamps. Bear hunting in 86 degrees and lion hunting in –40 degrees with 5 feet of snow. There’s a little of everything. It can be one extreme to the other. We do our Alberta hunts mainly on horseback but also hunt on UTV’s, tracked ATV’s, and snowmobiles.

I started off with pups from those very first dogs I hunted with. They were big (100 plus pound males) hounds that originated in B.C from Ben Mcbee and Ralph Stubich. They were majestic type dogs that would almost shake the frost off the trees when they opened up! They were amazing dogs in their own right and we still have their blood in our kennels today.

I wanted to know what else was out there for hounds, so I spent a lot of time traveling around western Canada and the western US. I hunted with different outfitters, dog men, and government hunters. I found what I believed to be some of, if not the best, lion hounds you could ever hope to watch, with Steve Biggerstaff in Colorado. I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with Steve and his hounds. I brought home several females and a stud dog from his program. Our kennel and outfitting program excelled quickly, thanks to Steve. Our dogs today all go back to his stuff and those old strain majestic hounds that we first started with.

Here at our kennel, we have been breeding for ourselves for the past 15 years. We primarily line breed, and just this year brought in a few new pups from a good friend and outfitter in Utah, that we might outcross with. While we are looking for all-around successful hounds on all species of big game, I try to focus mainly on qualities that excel at catching lynx, as that’s our primary targeted species.

We’re breeding for driven cold nosed but fast heads-up type trail dogs that use their brains to get the job done. Lynx can pull all kinds of tricks in the blow-downs. In extreme cold temperatures or deep snow, the conditions can be tough and the lynx can be difficult get stopped. Our dogs have to be able to sort loops and back

tracks quickly in order to keep steady pressure on the cat, and make it climb. We’re breeding for athletic, leggy, big chested hounds that can get through the deep snow and blow down trees. As guides, we ask a lot from our hounds, so they also must be tough footed and generally tough all around to go day after day, for weeks on end. We typically keep between 10 to 16 hounds in our kennel for our hunting operations.

I’ve been really fortunate to experience hunting with hounds from the northernmost tip of where cougars can be hunted to the deep southern US. I even visited Africa and hunted leopards. Every region has its own challenges and rewards.

We have always focused on hunting the largest and oldest of the species we were pursuing. That has paid off with some huge lions pushing 16-inch skulls. This includes the SCI world record crossbow harvested lion which my wife and some close friends guided with our dogs. Hunting with dogs has provided for us, taken us to a lot of places, and helped us meet so many great like-minded people. We can’t imagine a life without hounds.

Interview with Meat Eater’s Janis Putelis

Family Man, Hunter, and Big Game Houndsman

Well Folks, the day has finally arrived! Full Cry Magazine, under new ownership and restored to its former glory, is in your hands and if you are like me, the allure of a magazine that caters to your passions and lifestyles is thrilling. Magazines in themselves have become rare. Digital media, and social media have to a large degree taken over, and in some ways have connected us all to a degree that our parents and grandparents could never dream of. Still, there is something about a real magazine, and the

gathering of ideas and opinions, that is just exciting. On that note, it is my pleasure to introduce a man who is on the cutting edge of social media, and digital media. He is a producer of the Meat Eater media company as well as star of his own show under the Meat Eater umbrella. He is an avid hunter and fisherman and recently became a big game hound hunter with his young bluetick Mingus. Janis Putelis is my guest today. Janis will share with the readers of the new Full Cry Magazine his motivation for becoming a houndsman as a grown ass man!

BY BARRY “BEAR” SIRAGUSA

Bear Siragusa (B): Janis Putelis! Thanks for agreeing to this. I have wanted to talk to you for a while about you and your hound Mingus.

Janis Putelis (JP): Yeah, it’s always weird that I get requests to talk about me, hound hunting, and my hound, because I’m like the least experienced hound hunter out there (laughs), but I am more than happy to talk about it.

B: Well, that is part of what makes it interesting though right? Unless I am mistaken, you don’t have any family history of hound hunting do you?

JP: Nope, no hound hunting and no dog breeding or dog hunting in general.

B: You just had a great series of videos come out on Meat Eater about Latvia. Your whole family is Latvian. Is there any kind of tradition there for hunting with hounds?

JP: I don’t think they ever used hounds over there. I didn’t see them anyway. They do have something that they may have called a hound, that they use to hunt moose. I would really like to try that. The dog basically bays the moose up, and then you sneak in and try to get a shot at it while it is bayed. The interesting thing is that the moose doesn’t always just sit there and let you walk in. You actually have to sneak in there and get the wind right, otherwise the moose will know you are coming, and they will

run, and moose are marathon athletes. They just keep going and going and going. Other than that, they only had dogs for the driven hunts. Oh, and obviously blood trailing, they had blood trailing dogs.

B: Is it a requirement that the hunting clubs have a stable of blood-trailing dogs like it is required here [the author lives in Norway]?

JP: I didn’t hear about any requirement, but the club I was at had about 45 members and most of them had dogs that could blood trial. I don’t know if it was a requirement or not.

B: So, no family history, no cultural history for it (hound hunting). Then how did this happen? What made you get a hound at the stage in your life and career that you are in?

JP: The whole family was looking for a dog. We decided it was time for a dog and I had been researching dogs and I was pretty stuck on having a small dog. I had fished with a Jack Russel. They are smart and can do a lot of different things. There is one on Instagram that retrieves waterfowl! So I wanted a small dog because small dogs take up less room, don’t eat a lot, less poop, easy to travel with, good personalities... So anyways, I was researching all kinds of dogs. I had a friend that was breeding wire-haired (pointers) at the time, and he offered me a puppy of his. So I was looking at those. I was all over the

place! Eventually my kids got sick of me researching dogs and were like “look bro, as long as it has fur and at least three legs we are in” (laughs), so we started looking at shelters too. I wanted a dog I am into as well. That I can train. That I can do things with. Which will allow me to be a bit more into the dog.

B: That makes sense.

JP: Yeah, so I get a phone call one day, and my wife tells me that they are on their way to the Stafford Shelter over in Livingston, Montana, and there are three blue-ticked coonhound puppies and that if I want any part of picking the puppy that I should get down there. On the way, as I was driving, I called my buddy Jake, who has been my main mentor when it comes to hound hunting. I called him and told him about these pups and he was like “Yeah, probably! If it’s a hound it will hunt. I’ll help you with it.” We picked out the runt, and the chillest of the puppies. So, that’s how I became the owner of a bluetick coonhound.

B: There are a lot of coincidences involved in that story! Once you had a blue tick puppy, what made you decide to run with it and start training him on big game?

JP: Well, I am a big believer that dogs need to be wellexercised if you want them to be good dogs at home. You run in to so many misbehaved

continued on pg 34

dogs and I feel like it’s because they are not getting enough exercise. So the stars aligned and I had a hound and a good friend who is a great hound hunter who would teach me. I like getting outside my own comfort zone and this seemed like a perfect way to do it.

B: What does your buddy hunt?

JP: Mostly lions and bobcats. It seems to me that a lot of people start on lions, then move towards the bobcats because there is value to the hides and you can kill multiple in a season. Whereas, with lions, it seems like they don’t see the need to kill multiple. With the bobcats, they are trickier to catch, Mingus and I still have not caught one on our own. We have been in on a couple with other packs, but never on our own.

B: How did you start training Mingus?

JP: We started on coons. I took him down to Arkansas and hunted him with colleague and friend Clay Newcomb, and Mingus had his first 3 or 4 real trees down there. I also did the thing where you trap a coon and drag the trap around and then put the trap with the coon in a tree so that he gets the idea to look up. What’s funny is that trailing is built into them (the hounds), but trailing up a tree is not always built in to them. It can take a little bit before they learn to put two and two together and

figure out that when the track ends at a tree, then there is a cat up in it.

B: I wanted to ask you about that. You had a hunt with Mingus where you actually lifted his head and pointed it at the cat in a tree. Can you tell me about that?

JP: Yeah, that’s right. It was actually the first lion that he saw. Second or third tree he had been to. We had spent an hour the previous week at a tree under a lion and he just couldn’t figure it out. The lion was hard to see. There was another puppy there too that couldn’t figure it out either. So a week later we found ourselves in the same situation, except this time the cat is more in the open. After ten or fifteen minutes I was like “really?! Can it be that you still can’t see this thing right there in front of you?”

I put his feet on the tree and his nose on the tree, but I just wasn’t clicking. He wasn’t going to bark treed. So finally, I took his head and pointed it up, and I felt his head shake as he locked in on this cat and he let out a big location bawl, and let me know he had found it.” (laughs)

B: (laughing) The best part about that story is that method never ever works.

will sometimes visually track, bark, and sometimes chase airplanes. We happen to live under a flightpath, and he will sit and watch the sky and run up the hill and bark at the planes. I don’t know what it means!

B: What is your everyday game at this point? Is it lion or bobcat or do you hunt coons as a daily- bread kind of game?

JP: The cat season goes from December to April here, so that is a good bit of time to spend doing it. If I had nothing else going on in life, no kids or wife or anything, I would do it more. We actually have a decent coon population here. I always say I am going to but then fall rolls around and it’s time to go big game hunting. During the summer we run and hike a lot together. The fall is the worst time of year for Mingus, because I am gone and he doesn’t get to come. So December is when we get after it again.

B: One thing that fascinates me is that you jumped in to this without any kind of experience with working dogs of any kind or even much experience with dogs in general, correct?

JP: 100 percent.

JP: I know! That’s what my buddy Jake said! When he saw me doing it, he said “Dude, I have tried it a hundred times and it doesn’t work.” What is interesting with Mingus is that he is visually oriented. Like he

B: That must have had its challenges. You had to learn every aspect of what you were doing basically from scratch.

JP: Yeah, I guess so. Being so new to this though, I wouldn’t recognize the challenges.

B: Do you hunt alone with Mingus or do you hunt mainly with a pack?

JP: I like both. With the right pack your chances go up to catch. The wrong pack, your chances will probably go down. The reason I have hunted him alone a lot this past year is that I wanted to make sure that Mingus was doing it on his own. Then I could watch him and get to know him. Then when he caught a lion I knew 100% that he did the work. I think that is a benefit of hunting him alone is that it forces him to do the work himself. There’s no just catching up to the rest of the pack. It’s a different adventure to do it solo, but it’s also fun to do it with friends. Now That I know he can do the work himself, I know I can trust him. Although, he still like’s to run fox and coyotes sometimes!

B: What are you plans now? Will you keep him just on cats or will you get him on some black bear as well?

JP: I am not that interested in running the bears. I like the spot and stalk hunting. I would love to take him on a coon hunting tour. Get down into some traditional coon country where a lot of people do it, and experience the culture around it.

B: I hope you do and I hope you film it!

JP: There are people from here that drive north a long ways to catch Lynx in Canada. We still haven’t caught a bob

cat here in our back yard, so I want to do that before I drive 15-20 hours to go catch pretty much the same thing.

B: We hunt lynx here in Norway; they are the only cat we can hunt here.

JP: Are you allowed to chase? Are there training seasons?

B: There is no training season. You can run track them, but you can’t drop a

hound without running the risk of being accused of wildlife harassment. We do some work with researchers, but they often use a large version of a have-a-heart trap to trap and collar them.

JP: Nice

B: So, are you planning on just Mingus as you move

continued on pg 36

PHOTO BY DAVE GARDNER

forward here? Will you eventually look to build a pack? Or will you stay at the single family member, versatile hunting companion level?

JP: I would like to bump it to two for sure. There is a little bit of safety in numbers. Two dogs are more intimidating, and if a cat stays on the ground, maybe two will be less likely to provoke an attack. We also have wolves, but we won’t drop the dogs if we know they are in the area. My wife is happy with just Mingus, so for the time being it will just be Mingus and myself.

B: How is the situation with wolves there? I have talked to guys in the UP of Michigan who have lost half of their packs, or

even their entire packs, in the matter of a few days. Are you bumping into a lot of wolves with Mingus? Is that something you have experienced?

JP: We have not yet. We cut tracks, a lot of times it’s a single, which I don’t worry nearly as much about. Last winter I cut the tracks of a whole pack two times, and I just vacate the area. There I no reason to play with fire. It’s always in the back of my mind, and I think it is a risk you have to be willing to take. I haven’t heard many stories of a pack of hounds running into a pack of wolves and making it out. Those wolves seem to beat them up pretty good pretty fast.

B: Yeah, we have had some issue with that here in Norway. We have had a couple of instances where a pair of wolves have specifically targeted hunting dogs. There was a breeding pair that killed 15 dogs before they were themselves removed. Mingus is a big hound though.

JP: Yeah, he’s 80 pounds which is why I don’t think he is a true bluetick coonhound, because they seem to be a little bit shorter than he is. They can weigh 80-90 pounds but he has the height and very long legs. When he curls up he gets pretty compact.

B: There were ripples of excitement in the hound community when you got Mingus. It’s like Clay Newcomb says, we hound hunters are the low hanging fruit. When the anti’s come after us, it is real easy to go after the hound hunters. So, the excitement was real when you got Mingus because it gave us the feeling that it was becoming maybe more mainstream.

JP: Well, sometimes it is hard to promote this because, like any hunting, you don’t want more competition and finding lion tracks is what it takes to catch lions. The more people who get into it means more people at trail heads and checking canyons. So it’s a real catch 22.

B: That makes sense. You want to makes sure that the lifestyle lasts, so you want to

do the recruitment stuff, but at the same time it means more competition. I have a question about the nuts and bolts of the hunting you do over there. Are you allowed to use trail cameras there?

JP: Yeah, we can.

B: Is that something you utilize as you’re hunting cats? Or is it mostly driving for tracks?

JP: Mostly tracks. This past season I decided to start carrying a camera or two with me because when you find a fresh kill, it’s great to throw up a camera and see what kind of activity you get. So I will do it for that. I don’t know if it would be legal to plan hunts based off of trail cam photos, especially the cell-cams. I would have to check what the rules are here in Montana.

B: That is interesting. We can hunt based off of trail cam pictures that are taken the same day. Our collared cats won’t give us information [after] a full 30 days has passed, to avoid people using the collars to track them down in a hunting situation.

JP: Yeah, unless you were capturing it for the research, I could see that. But if you were out there for the sport of it you would be taking a lot of the sport out.

B: Well, I know you are insanely busy. I appreciate you coming on and talking to me. It’s cool to see a mainstream

BARRY “BEAR” SIRAGUSA

The Hunting Hound Podcast

Barry “Bear” Siragusa lives on a farm in the eastern mountains of Norway with his fox hounds, plotts, two wild sons, and his norwegianviking wife. Born and raised in rural Maine; He is the host of The Hunting Hound Podcast, a veterinary technician, and a writer.

personality with a hound.

JP: You might be giving me too much credit being mainstream. Outside of our little sphere not many people know who I am, but thank you.

B: Anything you would like to add?

JP: I don’t think so. I am looking forward to another season coming up here in December. It seems like summer just started, but I have my first hunt coming up in about a month. As soon as the fall starts, I will be busy busy busy. I will get to take a breath in December and we will start to hunt cats again.

B: What does your filming schedule look like?

JP: I film 6 hunts every year for my own show. I will usually help out and be a guest on whether it is a Meat Eater show or a show that is under the Meat Eater umbrella, I

will probably do one or two of those. So, I don’t know, it can easy stretch out for 10 different hunts each year and then obviously I try to make room and do some hunting with my family each year. My oldest daughter has taken some interest in turkey hunting and deer hunting, so she is going to join our traditional Wisconsin deer camp again this fall. Last year she didn’t pack a rifle. This year she will be carrying a rifle and try kill a buck or a doe herself. I try to keep enough time available that I get to do stuff like that with the family because, before you know it, they will be gone.

B: On that note Janis, I’m going to let you go. Thank you so much.

JP: Hey, thanks for having me. If you see something exciting happen on Instagram hit me up and I can come and tell you the full detailed story about it!

Hunting With Curs 40 Years Ago

Originally Published in Full Cry Magazine, May 1971

Dickson County, Tenn provides good coon hunting today compared to 1930. The fur market during the twenties had made it so hard on the raccoon in the southern part of the country the coon hunters sold their dogs and quit. These were the days when a coon hunter could trade a bee course for a coon track.

BY HOMON E. FIELDER

HOMON FIELDER, RIGHT, WITH PAT AND HIS YOUNGER BROTHER JULIAN, LEFT, WITH MIKE AND THEIR 1937 CATCH OF FUR IN DICKSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE. MIKE BELONGED TO HOMON’S OLDER BROTHER PHIL AND WAS THE BETTER OF THE TWO DOGS

My desire to follow tree dogs began during the middle twenties. My brother Phil and I slept on a feather bed upstairs during the winter and many nights were awakened by the mellow bawl of Wash Work’s old Joe trailing a coon up Piney River. This was just too much for Phil and me and we couldn’t go back to sleep until old Joe’s voice faded away.

In March 1930 Phil and I got our first tree dog pups. They were curs and were out of tome of the best tree stock in that area. I was ten years old and Phil was twelve but we were all fired up to do some night hunting. All winter as school we had listened to the neighbor boys tell us about their hunts and how many opossums they had caught.

We named our pups Pat and Mike and I suppose they were as easy to train as dogs could possibly be. Pat was a dun color with white trim and weighed about fifty pounds. Mike was white with a red back, one red ear and blue eyes and weighed about forty-five pounds.

These pups ran loose on the farm and by late summer they were running rabbits. By the middle of winter they were treeing squirrel and opossum. We had trapped an opossum about October and evenings after our farm chores were finished, we would drag that opossum out through the orchard and put it up an apple tree. These pups would have it treed in nothing flat when turned loose. By the time these dogs were three years old

they had a reputation of being outstanding tree dogs. Actually, they were combination dogs for they would run rabbits and tree squirrel until the sun went down. After dark they were strictly night dogs.

They were also good stock dogs and when a pig got out all we had to do was find a pig track and tell these dogs to get it. It wouldn’t be long until we would hear a pig squeal and that pig had sense enough to head for the hog lot.

Many evenings after supper our mother would say, “Boys, you have left something out as old Pat (or old Mike) for them and would find them lying beside a water keg, jacket or shirt we had left out.

continued on pg 48

THREE GENERATIONS OF FIELDERS HUNTING BEARS IN WEST VIRGINIA; LEFT TO RIGHT: HOMON, HIS SON STEVE AND STEVE’S SON CHRIS

Our night hunting was mostly for opossum and skunk. Our hunting gear consisted of a single shot .22 cal. Rifle, an ax, kerosene lantern and a twocell flashlight.

Our dream was to catch a raccoon and we were constantly looking for coon tracks along the river. About 1935 we went over on the east fork of the Piney on a hunt with a neighbor, Frank Luther, and had our first coon race. We had gotten ahead of the dogs and were waiting for them to check in when we heard them running behind us. They were coming towards us and the river. Shortly we heard something coming down the rail fence and then we saw the coon. That coon was really in a hurry and made it to a den sycamore on the riverbank. Then the coon began to move back into our part of the country and we had coon dogs from that first race on.

One fall a relative of ours, Donald Redden, had found some coon sign across from Joseph Petty’s. This was about two and a half miles down Piney from where we lived. One nice night my brother Julian, Hubert Myatt, Donald Redden and myself went to this area for a coon race. We were hunting on a big flat above the ivy bluffs and the river. We got a good track early and caught a nice fat coon.

We were across from Joseph Petty’s place when the dogs started working a cold track and began tapping tree. Now Mr. Petty had a big stock Shepherd he called Bodie. Old Bodie was bad to fight and had chewed nearly ever dog in that area but hadn’t had a chance at our curs. Old Bodie would yap yap for a while then move up closer. He crossed about one quarter mile of bottom and then crossed the river at a shoal. He was coming up over the ivy fluffs toward the flat where our dogs were working

“I could tell of many feats these old dogs performed, but you old-timers know just what I am talking about”

HOMON FIELDER WITH PLOTTS OWNED BY JOHN HARRIS AND HIMSELF UNDER A BEAR TREE IN KANAWHA COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA. HOMON IS AROUND 80 YEARS OF AGE IN THIS PHOTO

HOMON FIELDER RACCOON HUNTING WITH BEAR PEN ROWDY, LEFT, AND BEAR PEN BLUE JOE, SONS OF THE ORIGINAL BEAR PEN HOSS IN WEST VIRGINIA

the coon and got too close. Old Pat and Mike got tired of his yapping and decided to send him home. We heard old Bodie hit the river and he sounded like a horse. A few seconds later the curs crossed the river and then we heard our dogs baying old Bodie under Me. Petty’s porch. We did some fast calling for our dogs and they came right back but we didn’t get the coon. They did find a tree though and it was a den tree.

I could tell of many feats these old dogs performed, but you old-timers know just what I am talking about. I am sure many of you have owned or hunted with this type dog and knew their value during the 1930’s. They would put meat on the table and change in your pocket. I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in this location and environment with these great tree dogs.

I hunt a different type dog today but those old curs will always have a place in my memories. Their desire was to please their master.

HOMON FIELDER

Homon Fielder was a past president of the West Virginia Bear Hunter’s Association and a lifetime member of the National Plott Hound Association. He was a member of the West Virginia Bear Hunter’s Hall of Fame and had 4 dogs inducted into the National Plott Hound Association Hall of Fame.

• CH NITECH ‘PR’ Bear Pen Plotts Bronco

• Champion Bear Pen Fancy

• Champion Bronco’s Fancy Julie

• Bear Pen Song of the South

Perhaps his greatest contribution to the sport was developing a love for dogs in his son, Steve Fielder.

The Event Where History is Made

Autumn Oaks: A Celebration of Coonhound Community & Champions

This rebirth issue of Full Cry Magazine seems the perfect venue to spotlight United Kennel Club’s most famous and prestigious coonhound event, the annual Labor Day coonhound extravaganza titled Autumn Oaks. The recent sixty-fourth running of the event, begun in 1960, is fresh on this writer’s mind as I pen this

article a scant week after returning from three full days in Indiana, flocking together with like-minded coon hunting friends, many of whom I first met at Autumn Oaks. There’s a unique feel to the event that’s unequalled in the sport and it’s not just the enormity of the fairgrounds and the scope of the events that’s responsible.

BY STEVE FIELDER

WINNER OF THE THE 2023 NATIONAL GRAND NITE CHAMPION GRNITECH’PR’AFTER DARK FERRIS WITH OWNER/HANDLER LEE VARNER ON THE FINAL CAST.

I spoke with first-timer Esther Weimer of Clinton, Montana who describes it this way:

“I was very curious how these guys with the expensive dogs would act. I was going up and shaking hands and their attitudes by letting me pet their dogs was so old school family. I was thrilled that things were that way, old school, where you shake somebody’s hand, ‘Nice to meet you, where you from?’ They’re not bragging about their dogs. It’s all about community. It’s a family. They are just happy to share their stories with someone like us. I wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting a little more stuck-up attitude but no, it’s not like that at all.”

Many readers out west or from the deep south are yet to gain an Autumn Oaks experience. The venue, the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Richmond, Indiana, is readily accessible by air or ground from all points. It sits just south of Interstate 70, a major artery spanning 2,174 miles crosscountry from Maryland to Utah. Locally, the fairgrounds rests approximately 40 miles west of Dayton, Ohio and 70 miles east of Indianapolis, both of which have major airports, and features prime raccoon-hunting habitat, rich in row crops, creeks and hardwood lots.

hundreds of vehicles that arrive as early as Monday of Autumn Oaks week. Officially, the grounds open on Thursday, the first day of licensed competition and remain open through Sunday. The fairground features paved onelane roadways that are lined with display tents and vendor trailers of all descriptions. Golf carts and side-by-side ATVs are permitted with which visitors may navigate the expansive grounds. Open sided livestock barns are utilized by vendors as are two metal-sided vendor barns, each packed with hunting and hound supplies of every description. Many come to Autumn Oaks each year simply to shop for gear for the upcoming hunting season.

Organized events are conducted from two major buildings, the Kuhlman Center and the Tom Raper Center. The

former is designated the Hunt Building and the latter, the Show Building. The Kuhlman Center also accommodates the booths of the UKC-chartered breed associations and the recently added Media Center. The recent event found several podcast content originators on hand including yours truly.

The casts for the Nite Hunts are called from the Hunt Building each afternoon. The Nite Hunt entry for Friday night this year was a staggering 511 coonhounds. An entry of that magnitude requires a minimum of 128 guides. Satellite clubs are obviously needed to put that many dogs in the woods in a single night.

Since the beginning, Autumn Oaks has been an event that showcases the National Grand

continued on pg 45

Entering the gates of the Wayne County Fairgrounds, visitors are greeted by wide expanses of a fenced, level green piece of real estate that easily accommodate the

WINNER OF THE 2023 NATIONAL DUAL CHAMPION NITECH WCH FCH GRCH ‘PR’ MIDNIGHT BRINDLED BINDI, OWNED BY SCOTT AND CONNIE HOGAN

Champions in hunt and in show competition. All Grand Nite Champions entered in Autumn Oaks now hunt on Friday night instead of the former one-night hunt-run-intwo-nights format of the past. A few years ago, UKC decided to present a Grand Sixteen format in which the top sixteen Grand Nite Champion cast winners from Friday night are advanced to an early round on Saturday night, hunting the sixteen dogs in four casts. The winners of those four casts advance to a Final Cast late on Saturday night with the winner being declared the National Grand Nite Champion of the Year. The highest scoring dogs from each of the breeds are named National Grand Nite Champions of Breed.

The four hounds competing in the Grand Sixteen Final Four this year were:

Grand Nite Champion (3) ‘PR’ Snooki’s Cookie, Treeing Walker female, owners Justin and Steve Davenport and handler Cody Carter.

Grand Nite Champion ‘PR’ After Dark Ferris, Treeing Walker male, owner and handler Lee Varner.

Grand Nite Champion (2) ‘PR’ Willy’s Insane Scar, Treeing Walker female, owned by J.R. Gray and Ellis Keen and handled by J.R. Gray.

Grand Nite Champion, Grand Champion ‘PR’ Sparks Creek Moonlit Penny III, Treeing Walker female owned by Garrett Fender and handled by Curtis Sparks.

The National Grand Nite Champion of 2023 was Grand Nite Champion ‘PR’ After Dark Ferris.

Over in the Show Building, bench and/or conformation shows were held on each of the three days of Autumn Oaks.

The National Grand Show Champions of 2023 were:

Overall National Grand Champion Winner: CCH GRCH ‘PR’ Wabash River Lost

Highway, Redbone, owned and handled by Andi Emory.

Best of Opposite Sex Grand Champion Winner: GRCH(2) ‘PR’ West Fork River Cindy Lu, Treeing Walker, owned and handled by Melinda Hicks.

Traveling homeward from Autumn Oaks on Sunday has always been a melancholy experience for me but the memory of three days spent with longtime friends, the excitement of meeting new ones and the thrill that always comes with seeing beautiful hounds and their proud hunters taking their places in coonhound history always produces a smile.

I hope you put the 65th Autumn Oaks on your calendar for the coming year. I already have the dates posted on mine. I hope to see each of you at the Event Where History Is Made. I’m comfortable in betting you’ll want to come back.

Good Hunting!

STEVE FIELDER

Steve Fielder, spent his career directing the coonhound programs for AKC, PKC and UKC before retiring in 2011. He has served as editor of Coonhound Bloodlines and Prohound magazines. You can currently find him on the Gone to the Dogs Podcast or sharing stories in his book: Gone To The Dogs – A Coon Hunters Journey

@stephen.f.fielder @stephen.f.fielder

highlandtreedog@gmail.com

Highland Tree Dogs

Nova Scotia’s Versatile Canine

Hunters

Greetings from the Cape Breton Highlands of Nova Scotia, Canada! Well, here we are… Full Cry is back! Thanks to the new owners, Jason and Dani Duby, for keeping the mag going!

It has been a productive summer for the Highland treedogs. I had a massive litter out of the Raven X Ferguson cross, 16 pups in total! Despite trying to give them supplemental puppy formula, they didn’t want it, yet all 16 pups thrived! Raven was quite the mommadog and needed a constant supply of beaver carcasses and ground beef to meet their demands. I sent a couple of pups to my buddy Tate, over in Montana, to join his excellent pack of cat-catchers! My buddy Ranelle Harmon-Wiltse got the big black male pup. Ranelle is training him for versatility, and he will also be joining in with her outstanding pack of bear hounds! Most of the others stayed closer to home with hunters here in eastern Canada. And I kept two wirey females here, and they will be about the right age to start some proper hunting by cat season!

BY MICKY SIDDLE

I am doing a bit of night-time roading with my pack, treeing the odd raccoon here and there, when it’s not too hot. We are patiently waiting for the start of early goose season, to finally get some wild game on the table. I make jerky from the goose breasts, and that jerky is in my pocket while we chase cats through the winter. It is a true blessing to be able to take my bobcat dogs out hunting birds and small game before the bobcat season opens. And then at home and around the farm they will watch for predators and help move cattle as well as bay or catch an escaped hog.

MYLES’ HANK (LEFT) WITH A FINE OREGON BARE-GROUND BOBCAT

The reason our dogs make versatile hunters for both feather and fur, and even as working farm dogs, is simply because they inherit the required traits to do so. The more traits you want, the harder it seems to be to gather them up into one package, one dog.

My foundation dogs included the Deutsch Drahthaar (German Wirehair), the Leopard Cur and the Plott. Now, when we were getting started, finding a dog with ALL of the desired traits was one thing, but to find a dog that had all of the traits AND could reproduce them, was A LOT harder to find. I found that one of my foundation females (Lunar, wirehair) reproduced the full spectrum that I was looking for. And later, I found that the ability to reproduce was also passed along to her offspring. I culled out all the other experimental crosses, to focus entirely on this female line. We are now 4 generations into our line breeding program, and I believe the years spent raising litters and testing out pups is probably behind us, as full litters are making consistently high performing tree dogs.

Over in Oregon, Myles had a lovely looking litter from his own bloodline, that go back to drahthaar and leopard cur. He has kept a couple of pups back to start this upcoming cat season, and he says they are already treeing squirrels good. Myles also prefers a bobcat hunt, over almost any other quarry. To me, this is important. The bobcat will ‘sort the wheat from the chaff’ better than any other testing facility available.

HEADING TO MONTANA

HIGHLAND RAVEN AFTER A SUCCESSFUL GROUSE HUNT

HIGHLAND GOOSEBERRY WITH A NICE NOVA SCOTIA BOBCAT SHE CAUGHT

@AuthorBobPlott

Strike & Stay

Independent Plott

Dog Views & News

From Across the Country & Around the World

Hello friends!

Thanks for joining us this month. Here’s what’s happening in Plott news since we last talked.

BY BOB PLOTT

PlottFest will be held October 5 thru 8, 2023 in Canton, N.C., not far from Dutch Cove where Henry Plott first settled in Haywood County before moving a few miles west to Plott Creek a year later.

Canton will become the permanent home for PlottFest, right in the cradle of Plott breed history! PlottFest this year becomes part of an event called Plott-Tober Fest, honoring mountain culture and especially the influence that German immigrants –like the Plott clan– had on the early settlement of the area.

There will be all the usual UKC sanctioned baying and treeing events, as well as a bench show. Several interesting historical programs on these topics will be presented as well on Saturday October 7th We will have the usual custommade trophies for all event winners, as well as for the Methven Award winner, the R.H. Plott Memorial Award, and the Person Doing the Most for the Plott Breed Award. We will also have a new award: The Captain George Plott Memorial Patriot Award. Plott family member Cory Plott –who resides in Canton– will provide these handmade trophies and will be selling his wares.

I will be doing a Plott dog program, as well as selling and signing books on Thursday and Saturday. We will have more vendors, food, music, and crafts than you can shake a stick at.

Gary Baity will be back with his hunting supply trailer, and will be donating raffle items. Plott breed warriors such as Gary Bowen, Ken Ross, Joel Garris, and others who will run field events, while Gary Baity will handle the bench show with Eugene Walker as the chief judge.

We strive for PlottFest to have the feeling of a true family reunion, where ALL Plott enthusiasts are welcome. Hunters, non-hunters, show people, or just pet owners— ALL are welcome. We feel it is very important to educate non-hunters about who we are and the value of our sport to the environment, as well as in wildlife management control.

We plan to do our regular “Plott Breed legends” round table discussion. This has proven to be especially popular with folks attending the event, and we might get Danny Long to do an entire program on his own!

Last year we had folks from 21 different states and Canada. Hopefully, we will exceed that amount in 2023. Looking forward to that!

For more information, our website is www.mountainmemoriesproductions.com.

There is also a PlottFest 2023 Facebook page you can monitor as well.

continued on pg 54

Let’s move on to a little history. I mentioned in my last column that Christmas came early for me recently. I obtained about 40 books that once belonged to John Plott and his only son, World War II hero and Plott breed icon, “Little” George Plott.

The books alone were special, but to find handwritten notes in the margins by John and Little George (along with drawings by Little George) was an unexpected treat.

The personal comments he wrote in the margins or on back pages truly added insight to the remarkable person that he was. Another thing I loved about the books is that (in this case at least) it totally dispels the negative stereotypes that all mountain folks, hunters, dog men, and southerners in general, are illiterate, dumb, toothless, idiots.

While sometimes it is true that we hunters can be our own worst enemies, the truth is that most of us are law-abiding and productive citizens. Totally the opposite of these unfair stereotypes.

Not only was the young captain a hero but he made a ton of invaluable contributions to the Plott breed before his untimely death. Had George lived a normal life span: many believe (myself included) that Captain Plott would have gone down in history as the greatest Plott hound icon who ever lived.

The group of plott breed legends Isaiah Kidd, Taylor Crockett, John Plott, Von Plott, and Gola Ferguson –considered the “Big Five” of modern Plott history– would have instead been the Big Six, had George not died far too soon in 1944.

Back to these books. They make the young man even more impressive, while further dispelling the myth of the illiterate hillbilly.

Little George was born in 1912 and family records indicate that he began to read and write at a very early age.

He penned a Christmas poem at the age of 8 that went like this:

“I am a just a tiny little boy, But in this world of strife, I’d like to be a Christmas tree and glitter all my life.”

His words proved prophetic, as the young Captain was indeed a shining star that we all can aspire to be. The youngster loved to read, write and draw and was encouraged to read by his family, who regularly gifted him with classic books of the era.

In 1918 George wrote his name in cursive on the back

PHOTO BY ADELINE RICHARDSON

page of a book given to him for Christmas. He was only 8 years old and his handwriting was clear and beautiful. Many of the other books are scholarly works that George was already reading as a young boy.

Almost all of the books included not only Little George’s name, written in his own hand, but also superb drawings of everything from horses, pigs, chickens and dogs to outlaw cowboys. He was quite an artist!

I have a wooden cheese box full of arrowheads that he and his adopted brother, Jack Edwards, gathered as children on Plott Creek. The lid of the box is covered with drawings similar to those in his books.

Jack Edwards once told me that little George had big plans to not only raise great Plott hounds but also champion racehorses. Jack believed that George would have bred a Kentucky Derby winner had he not died so young. George owned two pure-bred racehorses before he went off to war.

The lad’s love for horses is clear from his detailed illustrations in many of these books. He was a gifted artist. Like most boisterous young men he could not resist adding his initials G.E.P. on one of the books.

There are also U.S. Army machine gun maintenance manuals, a Catechism of Outpost Duty (first written for officers in 1895), and a well-worn pocket New Testament and Book of Psalms issued by the Army. All have Plott’s name carefully inscribed in them, and notes in the margins. Plott was obviously a Christian warrior.

Based just on this small collection, it is clear that Plott enjoyed reading all sorts of books; from cowboy classics by Will James to the Bible- It is also obvious from his writing that he was fluent in French before he graduated from high school.

Until next time, may God richly bless you, your family, friends, and dogs in all that you do. Good hunting, my friends!

PHOTO BY BEN SHEETS

I am a Coonhunter

Musings of the Hound Hunting Athlete

Iam a coonhunter. That one simple sentence describes me fully. Simple but that’s all I am. Everything else, I am because of my obsession. Deeper within that statement is the rest of the story. Being a husband, father, railroad worker, athlete, and everything else I’ve done right is a result of this passion.

I started hunting with hounds when I was too young to remember. My dad was a fox hunter and I was born into a family of hound hunters. I spent the weekends of my childhood on the highest points of the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia listening to fox races. I remember the sound of the hounds ringing in my ears and fog rising in the early mornings like smoke in the distance. I remember trying to cut the hounds off to catch a quick glimpse of the red fox as he tried desperately to lose the hounds. It was all so beautiful to me.

By the age of eleven I had dove deep into Coon hunting. This is where I belonged and is where my passion became an obsession. To my eleven-year-old mind there was nothing like cutting a dog into the night, hearing them open, trail, and come treed. 30 years later nothing has changed. I was very fortunate to start with a good if not great line of dogs. I had some black and tans that were bred by Tam Young and Fred Smith. These hounds hunted hard. They were big nose, trailing style dogs that ran to catch on the jump. They all had good mouths and were loud decent tree dogs. I was clueless at the time of how rare it would become to own such a caliber of hound.

BY TEDDY SIMPKINS

I started working for the railroad when I was 20 years old and was hunting walkers at this time. I had some dogs off River Bend Flag, very nice competition dogs that I had a little success with. With my first paycheck I bought a walker dog,

@houndhuntingathlete

Nite Champion Lockdown Latch. Not a smart move spending your entire payday from a new job on a dog but I considered it an investment. Looking back, it was a good investment. Latch was a well-balanced dog that I enjoyed for years. We traveled all over and made a lot of memories.

Hunting in Appalachia is tough. Rugged steep mountains and little to no flat land makes a lot of people quit. Most of the people I took hunting with me never came back. I don’t blame them. Walking in the dark, in steep mountains, to follow a dog and look at a coon (if you are lucky) doesn’t sound appealing. But it was more than that for me. Watching a hound do what it is bred to do, what it is trained to do, and doing it right is something special to behold. The game I pursue has never been my primary focus. I love dogs. I love the physical demand the mountains put on my body. I love the peace of the wild. I’ve trained and followed hounds on foxes, rabbits, bears, squirrels, and upland birds. In my opinion, it takes more talent for a dog to hunt, strike, trail and tree a coon than the talent required to pursue any of the other game. To train a good and efficient game catching coonhound is a job to be proud of.

I have always been involved in sports. I stayed in good shape because of the physical output hunting required. But I wanted to be better at it. I wanted to top the peaks of these mountains and still be as fresh as my hounds. I knew if I could improve my endurance, I could

be a far better hunter with better success. I began running. A few miles here and there led to another obsession. Ten miles a day, five days a week became my new normal. Couple that with hunting, working and being a husband and father, one could easily burn out and quit. But I didn’t. Mile after mile, year after year I stay after it. Mornings start early. Nights can get long. I continually repeat the process.

I remember growing up hunting with overweight and out of shape hunters. I remember them struggling to make it tree to tree. Often, they sent me to the dogs and sat in the truck, minimizing their walking as much as possible. To each their own, but that’s not for me. I don’t care if the mountain is steep. It most always is. I am prepared for it. I’m not bragging or looking for a pat on the back for being a runner or staying in shape. I’m simply explaining an area of my life that hunting has made me a better hunter.

I require the same level of toughness from my hounds. I like a big motor. A hunting dog that will get deep time after time. Night after night. I can deal with a lot of faults. But I won’t hunt a dog that doesn’t have heart.

Hunting, training, and working has required a lot of my time but I make time with my wife and children a priority. I often wonder if the time I’ve spent on my obsession has taken away from my family. The simple answer is yes, it has. But I know it’s made me a better provider for them.

Sometime down the road, and I hope it’s much later than sooner, my life’s race will be run. What will be said of me at the end? What legacy have I left behind? I’m sure comforting words will be offered to the family. But those in attendance who really know me will know me for my opening line. I am a coonhunter.

NITE CH LOCKDOWN LATCH IN 2001

Buckley Farm Kennels

Preserving Heritage, One Bark at a Time

Top of the morning to all you fine dog folks. We at Buckley Farm Kennels hope this finds you and your family happy, healthy, and well. As you know Full Cry has a new face and we are excited/blessed to have the opportunity to keep writing our little articles. We are thankful that the new owners will keep the tradition that began with the first Full Cry in 1939.

BY STEVE BUCKLEY

We have been quite busy all year here at the farm. Our honeybee’s produced very well, and we cut way back on the number of colonies. Getting too old to lift and tug on so many boxes. Beekeeping is in our blood, but our back and shoulders are starting to feel the effects of too much lifting. On the gardening side of things, we put up 40 quarts of freezer corn and we are canning bread and butter pickles, dill pickle spears plus we are canning a couple of cases of sweet jalapeno peppers. We will enjoy the blessings from the Lord all winter long.

Our kennels have been busy whelping pups, and we are excited to hear how this year’s pups do in the squirrel

woods. What we get the most satisfaction from is receiving the reports of our pups doing well. We have kept a couple of this year’s pups to work on and will report on those as we hunt. In general fashion we have already planned some hunts and vacation days have been put in. To us there is no better sound than to hear the music of our dogs treed. We call it Mountain Music. Our youngster dog Buck we hunted hard last year, will roll into his second season and wow if he continues the path, he took last year he will be a squirrel dog deluxe. Buck will turn two on the first of December and can hunt with any 4–5-year-old dog. He was flat outstanding his very first season and just kept improving by seasons end.

We have been hunting the same line of Appalachian Prick Eared Mountain Feist our lifetime with the exception of a few years when I was busy with life/ divorce. My childhood growing up was prowling the bottoms, hills and creeks of Eastern Kentucky. Growing up on Buckley Farm was always exciting and every day I had one of these dogs by my side. It seems the old farm life and people having farm dogs that are dual purpose are slowly fading out. Time sure is changing quickly and I am not so sure all of it is for the better!

JESUS saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. JOHN 14:16

When I met my husband, he opened my eyes to a whole new world of hunting. He has been running dogs since he was in diapers. His daddy learned about deer hunting from his daddy while another family member taught him about running coon and bear. Word has it, he had some of the best trail dogs that you could find for states around. Although I didn’t get to hunt with him, I am very grateful for him teaching my husband all about it because in return, he taught me.

The Importance of Hounds

Unleashing Legacy in the Wilderness

Iam from Southeast North Carolina and have been married to Josh for almost 14 years. We have a 12-year-old son, Levi. I started hunting around the age of 12 with my Daddy, we still hunted for deer at local game lands. Some of my best childhood memories were made in those woods. It is where I learned so much about life and got to spend time with my daddy and brother. I have always been the girl who would prefer to be in the woods or shooting guns rather than going shopping. At 33, I am still the same.

BY CORA PARKER

Over the years, I had heard that “if you use dogs for hunting, you are cheating”, that “the dogs do all of the work”. I found these answers for myself and am here to tell you, those still hunters were incredibly wrong. One night, I was with a few friends coonhunting. We didn’t really get after anything that night, but it is a night I will always be thankful for. Why? Because we ran into a man running his own dogs, the man I would eventually call my forever partner. My husband Josh. He had two d beautiful Blueticks, Diesel and Belle, with him. I struck up a conversation about how good his dogs sounded in the woods. Was it corny? Yes. Did I leave there with his phone number? Yes! Mission accomplished.

We had our son in March of 2011. I never knew how wonderful being a mother could be. I also knew I wanted Levi to grow up the same way we did. Knowing how to shoot guns and carrying on the tradition of running dogs. We started taking him in the woods with us while he was in diapers.

MARIAH

At a very young age, he knew how to handle a gun safely and better than most adults. At 7, he killed his first deer, A beautiful 7-point buck, with one shot while running dogs. He put the kill shot on it like it was nothing. We were some of the proudest parents around! The joy on his face made every single hunt that we left empty handed well worth it.

I did not join social media until 2018. Josh and I kept to ourselves, I did not want my life out there on the web. When I joined Instagram, I met a girl much younger than me who loved to run dogs with her Daddy. Jordan was one of the first people I remember ‘following’. She reminded me of myself with her love of the outdoors. I was 28 and she was 15but our friendship took off. My family and I ended up going to Rockingham, NC to hunt with her and her Daddy in October of that year. Where I grew up, I did not know any other girls who hunted, but much less ran dogs. I was so excited to have met someone I could relate to.

I had met other girls through social media during this time who ran dogs. They became my best friends! I was able to hunt with Chelsea and Sadie quite a few times. Josh and I would drive to Raleigh so I could hunt with them. He has always been so supportive of things that mattered to me. A few years later, I ended up hunting with Lauren who has become my soul sister. I was missing out on friendships I had never experienced before. These girls supported me, lifted me up, and bonded through our love of hounds.

Now let’s get to the point. In October of 2018, with the help of Jordan, Girls with Hounds was born. A few months later, Hunt with Hounds was also created so guys would feel welcome. Girls with Hounds started as an Instagram page where we would repost other hunters. People started drawing to it, so we started making shirts with a simple design. This took off! Fast forward to 2023, I am proud to say there are GWH customers across the world. I have been able to hold multiple benefit hunts and raffles to raise money for people in need. This is all because of a community of houndsman who come together and support each other.

There is a lot that goes into running dogs if you want to have good dogs that can hunt on their own. It is not just turning them loose and hoping for the best. It is not just sitting in your truck and waiting for the dogs to run the game to you. Running dogs has been the best thing I have found, next to my family and

my relationship with God. The friendships I have made, the business I have created and the memories that have been made mean so much to me. This is why it is so important to teach our younger generations. We must show them the hard work and love that goes into this tradition if we want to hook them. We must lift each other up and be willing to answer questions without being condescending. This is our job.

I have included pictures of some of the local kids who run dogs including my son, Levi. Charity runs deer dogs with her Daddy and Momma and has been bear hunting. Mariah loves coon hunting, deer hunting, fishing, and all things outdoors. These kids are very impressive and passionate. This is what it is all about! This is how we keep this tradition alive and well. Get them in the woods, teach them to provide food for their future families and let them know how important this tradition that they are carrying on is. God bless and happy trails!

LEVI

Artist Spotlight

BRUSHING THE WILD: THE ART OF CHELSEA HANSLER

If you venture into the world of Chelsea Hansler’s art, you will instantly know that: “She walks the walk.” A dedicated outdoorswoman, she has made the outskirts of a small town in Ontario, Canada her canvas, and the wilderness her muse. Raising her family in an off-grid hunt camp, she has crafted a life that blends outdoor life, hounds, and artistry. It’s here, amidst the rustling leaves of nature, that she finds the perfect backdrop for the pieces she paints.

Chelsea is a houndswoman, and her unique lifestyle allows her to infuse her paintings with authenticity and experience. She explains, “Hounds take up every aspect of our lives, so it seemed only natural to bring their adventures to canvas. I realized quickly that if I wanted to always love painting, I would need to paint the subjects that I love. So, I do just that. I paint hounds doing what they do best.”

The piece featured here is, “Sudden Success.” It was a commissioned piece for Brad Jones from Montana. Chelsea’s ability to capture the heart and soul of her subjects has made her a sought-after artist among hound enthusiasts.

Chelsea is available for commission work. To discuss the possibility of having your pack immortalized in a work of art, you can reach out to Chelsea via email at chelseahanslerart@hotmail.com.

Additionally, Chelsea periodically releases prints of her work for purchase. The next print release is scheduled for October 1st and can be viewed on her website, www.ChelseaHanslerArt.com. This is an opportunity for art lovers and hound enthusiasts alike to bring a piece of Chelsea’s wildernessinspired artistry into their own homes.

Chelsea Hansler is a beacon of creativity in our sport. Through her paintings, Chelsea not only captures the beauty of the wild but also the profound connection between humans and their faithful hound companions.

Calling All Artists! We invite you to be a part of our artist spotlight. Share a sample of your work and your contact details with us by emailing publish@fullcrymag.com

Book Corner

Within the tree dog world there is a plethora of books recounting the knowledge and experience of those who have spent many years following the cry of their hounds. In this section those books will be highlighted so anyone interested may learn from the dog men of the past. For those who might think they have not the time to read, in a book you can learn in hours what another learned in a lifetime.

This book is extremely well written and is a wealth of

knowledge for anyone who hunts with a dog. The author was an astute observer of hounds and hunting but also a gifted writer who was adept at conveying his insight. No matter what game you pursue with dogs, this book is well worth the time and is highly recommended. The tales of the chase and descriptions of dogs long gone will engage anyone whose heart yearns for the thrill of the chase. Reading the introduction alone will bring you an overwhelming sense of pride in your acquaintance with “America’s Houn’-Dawgs” you

have known or hunted with. The story of the hound and his journey with man pre-dates recorded history yet little has changed between the hound and the people who follow them. This book immortalizes one of those special relationships between a boy, his hound and the things they learned along the way.

If you know a book on hunting with dogs that deserves recognition, please email boppe.hunting@gmail.com

Danny Boppe

Title: Hounds in the Hills

Author: Edward A. Briggs

Original Publication Date: 1938

Availability: Readily Purchased New or Used

Hunting Location: Pennsylvania

Game Pursued: Red and Grey Fox, Rabbits, and Raccoons

Type of Dogs: Walker Foxhounds, Mixed Fox, and Coonhounds

American Black & Tan Association

Tim Sizemore

American Leopard Cur Blue Ridge Section

The Blue Ridge Section started in 1992 so this year the club will be turning thirty-two years old. We have been in two counties from the start. We were in Davie County in Mocksville NC for about twenty years, then we moved over to Davidson County to the Yadkin River Coon Club at 870 Wind Chime Ct. Lexington NC 27295. We have a spring hunt each year in March. Our next hunt will be held the 8th and 9th of March 2024 at the Yadkin River Coon Club. Watch out for our ad in the December Full Cry! Thank you (Dani and Jason) for buying the Full Cry from C and H Publishing and starting it back up. The Full Cry is the lifeline for most of the people to get the news from clubs across the United States. I will try to have more in the December issue.

Thank you, until next time,

Hello from the West! Trying to get my foot healed up so I haven’t been hunting. Dues are $30 so don’t forget to send them in. Kathy Laroux 225 Rocking R Road Converse La. 71419. Also, congratulations to the new owners from Oregon. Looking forward to making it a great magazine. I was in Idaho all spring helping guide so the pics the next couple of months will be of the bears we took. Always have a great time over there. Hoping this heat goes away wanting to work 2 pups on some coons. Showed them a dead one for the first time and they went nuts over it. Skinned it the next morning and drug it around the house. Turned them loose and they had it treed before I could turn an old dog loose. Then one of them jumped up and pulled it down and both were playing tug of war when I finally got over there. Well guess that is about it for now. Remember Pack It In. Pack It Out. Till next time your western B&T hunter Tim.

Henry Harris

DAVE PELZER

8646 245th ST

ST CLOUD MN 56301

pelzpuppypalace@gmail.com

1-320-250-5499

It’s October and that means here in Minnesota our harvest season will start later this month. As I write this at the end of August we are still as hot or hotter

than we were in July. We are in the high 90’s with a chance of hitting 100. Heat index is also high, so I have been watering twice a day with fan’s running to help move air and cool the best they can. Have a litter of pups and that’s always fun too. People think having pups in Minnesota in January is tough but to me it’s harder in the summer. Hope everyone has a great season, and those young ones turn it on.

Results from the August 19th Sectional held at the Top of Michigan Houndsmen Club are as follows:

King of Hunt-GrNiteCh GrCh GrFCh GrWCh Pr Kyle’s Harvest Moon O/H Jeff Young

Queen of Hunt and Queen of Show-Pr Maple Ann

O/H Doyal Anderson

King of Show-FCh Ch Pr GTG Forever Red Silas O/H Greg Nichols

Mr. McIntosh lost his wife about a year ago in August. He said it was 22 years ago when she was at a stop sign and got hit from behind and he had taken care of her every day up to the last 6 months before she passed. He lives alone and has an old red and white female Walker that he trees squirrels, raccoon, and 3 bobcats. He was roading her one day and as they came around a corner in the road she ran into a bobcat and went on to tree it and has treed 2 others. He’s retired from GM and loves to read or talk about hounds and hunting. Said he didn’t know what had happened to the magazines and will be looking into Coonhound Bloodlines to keep up on the stories. A few days after our visit I received a couple pictures of his hound and she is a very nice hound and as they say,” she had the meat by her feet.” Was a pleasure talking hounds and the lesson on that “liquid corn.” (wink-wink)

Good old message board had a topic I found interesting on hunting in the heat. Seems that a hunter had a hound that was doing good but backed off performance in the heat. Can’t say I blame it. I’m not sure where he was from or where he hunts, but I do know up here my hounds don’t shed until September. They get a very heavy coat because our temps get down to –20/-40 in the winter. Then add the corn fields that make their own high humidity and black soil that holds heat, and we have a very hot

overheated hound. I know if you can hunt country that has water, and more woods than corn fields your probability won’t see the problem? And of course, the hound should be in better shape than most are. I’m a strong believer that it is easier for a southern hound to win in the northern states than it is for a northern hound to win down south. I remember the year ARCA Days was held in KY and the temp was 104 degrees and I had a full-time job keeping old Northern Joe XIII alive. Gave him lots of fresh cold water with ice cubes and kept wetting him down to help cool him off. I was never so happy to see that sign that says, “Welcome to Minnesota”.

Until next month, get their house in shape and have good bedding ready because it’s coming and happy hunting.

“In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.” Les Brown

2023 Sectionals:

November 4 Lapeer MI Michigan Coon Hunters Assn

November 18 Crawfordville FL St Marks River CHA

ARCA Days June 5th-8th, 2024 Cole Camp MO

Please check your memberships and your last book to be sure that your address and phone numbers are correct. Thank you.

Send your dues to Secretary/Treasurer Sheila Lewis, 58 Lewis Road, Gates TN 38037 or if you have questions, her number is 731-413-9484 OR you can pay on line by going to American Redbone Coonhound Association on Facebook or the web site www.archa.us

Dues for the American Redbone Coonhound Association are:

$20/ 1 year single or family

$50/ 3 years

$500/ Lifetime membership. $10 per year credit will be given for previously paid dues.

Redbook Editor: Lindsay Morrow 7030 N Lakeshore Drive, Shreveport, LA 71107 Phone 919-414-1034

Email ARCA.Redbook@gmail.com

Hunt Chairman: Jeff Young 11567 Farmhill Dr, Fenton, MI 48430

If your club wants to put on a hunt for the association, please give Jeff Young a call at 248-207-6430 or e-mail Jeffrey-young@sbcglobal.net

houndsmen have come to read and appreciate has become somewhat of an institution among hunters, and to even contemplate its demise is unthinkable. I wish to thank Jason and Dani Duby for taking the mantle of ownership and publishing this revered hound, cur, and feist publication. To learn that copies will come in color along with the usual mixture of club news, interesting photos, and fascinating stories should interest hunters and bench show enthusiasts everywhere. Having heard from the Duby’s via mail concerning expectations and guidelines for publication is most heartening. I am assured that Full Cry is in good hands and has the dog hunters’ interest at heart.

I will continue to provide American Plott Association news, hunt and show results, photographs, and other interesting tidbits relating to our breed of choice, the Plott. For those who have “suffered” through my writings before, you are aware that I enjoy learning about the Plott past and often find myself gravitating in that direction. In doing so, I trust that others may share the same interest for I am satisfied that no other hound breed has such a colorful background. Plott history is pure Americana at its best, and when you read and study it, you are touching the very face of hound history itself. If you folks would like to send a photo or write a letter or provide something interesting relating to the Plott world, feel free to contact me at the above address. Your input would be most welcomed. I don’t write all that well, but I’ve been at it for quite a number of years, and it has become somewhat a labor of love. As the only active charter member of the American Plott Association-and I say this with the greatest of humility-I feel our club has something really good to offer the breed. So, when you read my column’s usual opening caption, “Good day Plott enthusiasts everywhere/’ you’ll know it’s me.

It was certainly reassuring to learn that the old, familiar standby, Full Cry, will not cease publication. After all, the magazine that so many

Speaking of the American Plott Association, if you’d like to join our ranks or if your dues have elapsed, our Secretary, Lisa Johnson, would certainly enjoy hearing from you. Dues are $25.00 single and $30.00 family. You may either go the snail mail route or go to americanplottassociation. com if you would prefer. Pay Pal, I understand, is

Jeff Young and Moon

available. Lisa’s address is 3833 Brown’s Creek Road, Marlinton, WV 24954-7048.

Be expecting a newsletter to arrive soon with ballot information and proposed constitutional amendments. It also appears that our Brindle Book is running later than usual. Hopefully, things will pick up soon.

I am sure that many of our members took their dogs north this summer for training purposes, and National Forest holdings opened here in western North Carolina since about the middle of August. Many have been running their Plotts this summer on private land, both for bear and raccoon. By the time you read this month’s “News and Views,” hunting season may well be underway in your neighborhood. Here’s hoping that your Plotts are doing well and living up to your expectations. It has been awfully hot here in the Southeast; surely you have taken good care of your dogs and have met their needs in terms of shade and water.

I am saddened with the passing of a dear friend, Rex Meinert, of Cedarburg, Wisconsin. On behalf of all Plott people, I extend to Rex’s wife, Nancy, and the Meinert family our most sincere condolences. My wife and I were privileged to drive to Wisconsin and attend Rex’s service. The large Lutheran church was filled to capacity with many standing; Rex had an army of friends. His health had been on the decline for several months until finally he passed. Saddened, yes, but I am also happy for him for I know he no longer suffers and would have wanted a change. I claim Philippians 1:21, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain,’ for Rex.

My condolences also go out to the family and friends of Bob Giese who also passed recently. I never had the opportunity to meet Mr. Giese, but I had heard much about him and his skill as a hunter and the quality of dogs he ran, Weems, I believe. I learned of his passing through Facebook, having read Rodney Burris’ post that Mr. Giese had “gotten his wings.” A later obituary was posted by Rodney which I appreciated as well. I think of James and Ray Brown of Tellico Plains, Tennessee where Bob, if I may refer to him by first name, also

resided. I know they shared many pleasurable hunts together. You, too, rest in peace, Mr. Giese. We are all fortunate to have had you as a fellow houndsman and devotee to our breed.

Until next month, good luck, good Plotting, and may God richly bless.

Many of you may already know that the American Treeing Feist Association recently had their annual picnic at Pell City, Alabama. There was chopped pork sandwiches, desserts, and instead of having big fish stories, we had big squirrel stories. The board presented the dates of all of our upcoming hunts which are as follows:

ATFA 2023-2024 Hunt Schedule

September 30, 2023

Missouri Regionals Doniphan, MO

November 18, 2023

Tennessee Regionals Whitwell, TN

American Treeing Feist Association

Nicolas Gipson (931) 235-2580

American Treeing Feist Association Annual Picnic 2023 Pell City, Alabama

December 2, 2023

Arkansas Regionals Searcy, AR

January 20, 2024

Herschel Coxwell Winter Classic Gray, GA

February 3, 2024

Winter Rally Montrose, MS

March 8, 2024

Kentucky Regional LBL, KY

March 9, 2024

Bob Wallace Memorial Rally LBL, KY

After we heard a word from our sponsor Valu-Pak dog food and also, we heard from Page Teague Camp from the Alabama Dog Hunters Association about protecting dog hunter’s rights. This organization helps to fight for our rights not only as hunters, but as hunters that use dogs!

Lastly the awards for previously champion and grand champion dogs, and also the Claude Shumate Sportsmanship award was presented to Jane Yawn!

Overall, this was a fantastic opportunity for all of us to get together and talk about previous hunts, future hunts, great friendships, and an organization we all love to support.

A friend of mine once told me that everyone skins a deer a different way, and I believe this may be the same with taking a puppy to a finished dog. So, I was able to ask a few of the ATFA’s experienced hunters to put together some of their favorite tips for us to use in our training tools.

Bill Yawn with Pine Belt Kennels told me that the best way for a puppy to turn into a good squirrel dog is for it to first understand obedience, a dog that won’t obey simple commands won’t be a very good dog for too long. Let the kids play with that puppy and handle it often to get it used to being around people. To help with sensitivity to sound Mr. Bill told me that a person needs to wait until that puppy is hungry and feeding to introduce loud

noises. If it scares at first then you need to back off for little bit and start with a quieter sound until it gets comfortable, then get louder and louder.

Todd Coles known for his Powered by Booster line, says the biggest factor to success in his opinion is knowing your own limitations. If your time is very limited and you don’t have the necessary time to devote in training a puppy, then your best option may be to get a started dog. Other than that, if you get a well bred pup and you keep it in good squirrels then you will be fine, just wear out a couple pairs of boots on that puppy.

More tips will be in the next article and be sure to check us out on Facebook or on our website. Until next time “Hunt hard and Stay treed!”

Eastern Idaho Houndsmen Association

Jane Yawn receiving the Claude Shumate Sportsmanship award

Field & Water Trials Results 2023

Field Trial Awards:

Drag races are the main races where we set up a course that ends with a raccoon in a tree. The hound must follow the scent we dragged on the ground and line which means they need to pass inside the flags where the sent is. The hound must also tree which means the hound must bark at the tree. We give medallions for first and second line and tree. These are held at the field trials which happened on August 12, 2023.

Our first race is the Junior division which is any hound.

First line: Hound - Bud -- Owner - C. Smith; Second line: Hound - Grizz -- Owner - Kynlee Walton

First tree: Hound - Grizz -- Owner - Kynlee Walton;

Second tree: Hound – Gorgie -- Owner - Shay Downs

The Senior race is any dog that has won a race in prior EIHA events.

First line: Hound - Jack -- Owner - Shay Downs; Second line: Hound – Sue -- Owner - Maddie Montgomery

First tree: Hound – Sue -- Owner - Maddie Montgomery; Second tree: Hound - Jack -- OwnerShay Downs

The Old Dog race is any dog over 10 years old.

First line: Hound - Zizzy -- Owner - Braden Landon;

Second line: Hound - Ace -- Owner - Matt Borg

First tree: Hound - Zizzy -- Owner - Braden Landon;

Second Tree: Hound - Ace -- Owner - Matt Borg

The Powder Puff drag race is with female handlers only.

First line: Hound - Champ -- Handler - Larkin Haney; Second line: Hound - Peggy -- Handler Maggie (Dailey)

First tree: Hound - Sparky -- Handler Kaisha Hall;

Second tree: Hound - Chigger -- Handler Kynlee Walton

The Kids race is with any handler under the age of 16.

First line: Hound - Sage -- Handler - Blakley Walton; Second line: Hound - Steel -- Handler - Ledger Haney

First tree: Hound – Rubble -- Handler - Deegan Downs; Second tree: Hound - Luna -- Handler - Trinity (Erickson)

The Puppies race is any hound under the age of 1 year old at time of trials and is shorter.

First line: Hound - Justine -- Owner - C. Smith; Second line: Hound - Ariel -- Owner - C. Smith

First tree: Hound - Karl -- Owner - Kaden Walton;

Second tree: Hound - Cheryl -- Owner - Corey Dailey

We also hold a bear race where you sign up for $10 a dog and we let the hounds go at the same time. We had 52 hounds in the race this year. The first two hounds at the tree win some money. It is figured by how many are in the race. First place went to the hound Arrow owned by John Montgomery who won $255 (left). Second place went to the hound Sis owned by Braden Landon who won $109 (right).

Water Trial Awards:

We have the same drag races as the field trials except we put a raccoon in a boat and pull it across the pond. The hounds must swim across the pond and line in between flags and tree at the pole to advance.

The iron dog is a payout event also. We paint a circle around a tree with a raccoon in it and the last two dogs in the circle win the money. This can take a long time.

First place went to the hound Roxy owned by Camphouse and won $132 (left).

Second place went to the hound Fancy owned by Kevin Hall and won $57 (right).

Our first race is the Junior division which is any hound.

First line: Hound - Jester -- Owner – Gibb Tucker: Second line: Hound - Sin -- Owner – Corey Dailey

First tree: Hound - Jester -- Owner – Gibb Tucker; Second tree: Hound – Sin -- Owner - Corey Dailey

The Senior race is any dog that has won a race in prior EIHA events.

First line: Hound - Tator -- Owner – Jared Guinn; Second line: Hound – Brave -- Owner – Joe Hyde

First tree: Hound – Tator -- Owner – Jared Guinn; Second tree: Hound - Brave -- Owner – Joe Hyde

The Old Dog race is any dog over 10 years old.

First line: Hound - Wrangler -- Owner – Chance Rose; Second line: Hound - Saber -- Owner – Jamie Newman

First tree: Hound - Saber -- Owner – Jamie Newman; Second Tree: Hound – Wrangler -- Owner – Chance Rose

The Powder Puff drag race is with female handlers only.

First line: Hound - Tator -- Handler – Melissa Guinn; Second line: Hound - River -- Handler – Maddie Montgomery

First tree: Hound - Tator -- Handler – Melissa Guinn; Second tree: Hound - River -- Handler – Maddie

Montgomery

The Kids race is with any handler under the age of 16.

First line: Hound - Bocote -- Handler – Straton Maupin; Second line: Hound – Tator -- Handler – Averi Guinn

First tree: Hound - Bocote -- Handler – Straton Maupin; Second tree: Hound – Tator -- Handler – Averi Guinn

The Puppies race is any hound under the age of 1 year old at time of trials and is shorter. We only had one dog swim so he was the winner

First line: Hound – Thorne -- Owner – Shane Haney

First tree: Hound – Thorne -- Owner – Shane Haney

We also have a treeing contest. This is where we paint a circle around a raccoon in a tree and give the hound 30 seconds to bark at the raccoon. The dogs that bark the most win.

Blue Tick Male went to hound Jr owned by Kevin Hall

Blue Tick Female went to hound Newman owned by Hayes.

Red Tick Male went to hound Dash owned by Chance Rose.

Red Tick Female went to hound Smoke owned by Jayden Borg.

First place went to the hound Fancy owned by Kevin Hall with 54 barks.

Second place went to the hound Maggie owned by Gibb Tucker with 53 barks.

Third place went to the hound Rubble owned by Shay Downs with 49 barks.

We also have a bench show with different breeds of dogs.

Red Bone Male went to hound Top Hat owned by Jayden Borg.

Red Bone Female went to hound Waffles owned by David Anderson.

We did not have any hounds compete in the Black and Tan division.

Walker Male went to the hound Stack owned by Ledger Haney.

Walker Female went to hound Sharky owned by Kaden Walton.

Plott Male went to hound Ozzy owned by Steve Sherick.

Plott Female went to hound Fancy owned by Kevin Hall.

Open Class Male went to hound Champ owned by Ledger Haney.

Open Class Female went to hound Sage owned by Kaden Walton.

Puppies Male went to the hound Biscuit owned by David Anderson.

Puppies Female went to hound Potts owned by Christine Tucker.

Best of Show Male went to hound Ozzy (Plott) owned by Steve Sherick.

Idaho Houndsmen Association

I would like to start out by saying congratulations to Jason and Dani Duby and thank you for carrying on the legacy of Full Cry. I know it’s going to be great! We are so pleased and excited to be a part of it.

Best of Show Female went to the hound Newman (Blue Tick) owned by Hayes.

The Idaho Houndsmen started out 2023 with our annual Banquet that was held in March, where we all joined together to celebrate our one-of-a-kind way of life. The recipients of the 2022 Buckles were awarded as follows:

* Houndswoman of The Year - Rikki Mark.

* Houndsman of The Year – Brian Shanahan

*Youth Houndswoman of The Year – Katelynn Kidd

*Youth Houndsman of The Year – (a three-way tie) Luke Kidd – Weston Haines – Karson Haines

EIHA keeps track of all the points for each hound and awards Junior and Senior Hound of the Year.

Junior Hound of the Year for 2023 goes to Jester owned by Gibb Tucker.

Senior Hound of the Year for 2023 goes to Tator owned by Jared Guinn.

The Annual Houndsman Banquet will be March 30th at the Madison High School in Rexburg Idaho doors open at noon dinner will be served at 1. Several thousands of dollars in youth only giveaways.

*Hound of The Year – “Blacky Chan” Owned by Brian Shanahan

The club also elected new officers for 2023 - 2025:

*President – Kolton Haines

*Vice President – Dakota Jenkins

*Secretary – Rachael Kidd

*Treasurer – Bob Becker

*Master of Hounds – Hunter Hafen

It was a wonderful turnout with a wonderful group of people, we are so thankful to have so much support.

2023 IDAHO HOUNSDMEN

SPRING TRIAL RESULTS

*BEAR RACE*

1ST PLACE – HANDLER: BRIAN SHANAHAN

DOG: DOTTIE

2ND PLACE – HANDLER: BEAU SOUTHERN

DOG: MOXIE

Our Field Trial was held in April and boy was it cold! Along with that came snow, sleet, rain, and of course what would a spring day in Idaho be without wind. Our folks outside the warm wall tent were absolutely sopped to the bone including the kids that were running dogs. They would come back looking like they had just been drug through the mud, which in all fairness they probably had been! But despite the weather conditions we managed to enjoy a successful event with a lot of nice hounds that did not let the weather stop them either.

1ST PLACE – HANDLER: KEVIN HALL

DOG: FANCY

2ND PLACE – HANDLER: HUNTER SMITH (YOUTH)

DOG: BLACKY CHAN

*TREE CONTEST*

1ST PLACE – HANDLER: TANNER TODD

DOG: COWBOY (58 BARKS)

2ND PLACE – HANDLER: LUKE KIDD (YOUTH)

DOG: BLITZ (47 BARKS)

*PUPPY TREE CONTEST*

1ST PLACE – HANDLER: EMILY JENKINS (YOUTH)

DOG: CROW (37 BARKS)

*IRON DOG*

2ND PLACE – HANDLER: DREW WHITNEY

DOG: JUNE (21 BARKS)

*PUPPY RACE*

1ST LINE / 1ST TREE – HANDLER: BRIAN

SHANAHAN

DOG: DOZER

2ND LINE – HANDLER: KC MC DONALD

DOG: BOOMER

2ND TREE- HANDLER: RIKKI MARK

DOG: STORMI

*OLD DOG RACE*

1ST LINE / 1ST TREE– HANDLER: BEAU

SOUTHERN

DOG: ROSE

*SENIOR FINAL*

1ST LINE / 1ST TREE – HANDLER: BRIAN

SHANAHAN

DOG: DOTTIE

2ND LINE – HANDLER: KELLIE METCALF

DOG: BOO

2ND TREE – HANDLER: LUKE KIDD (YOUTH)

DOG: OAKLEY

*JR. FINAL*

1ST LINE / 1ST TREE – HANDLER: COLE HIGGS

DOG: MORGAN

2ND LINE / 2ND TREE – HANDLER: DREW

WHITNEY

DOG: GRIZ

*YOUTH FINAL*

1ST LINE – HANDLER: CROWE

DOG: DAISY MAE

1ST TREE – HANDLER: KATELYNN KIDD

DOG: HANK

2ND LINE – HANDLER: CROWE

DOG: DAISY MAE

2ND TREE – HANDLER: KATELYNN KIDD

DOG: HANK

I hope everyone had an amazing summer and by the time this is published most everyone on the west coast will be through Bear Season. To our fellow Houndsmen and Houndswomen that have had many great accomplishments and exciting hunts this year, we celebrate with you and to everyone that suffered the loss of a good dog or a beloved hunting partner, we grieve with you. May everyone enjoy as much time as possible with your hounds in the woods. We never know when will be the last time that we turn them loose, so cherish them, train them and be selective. The heart of a hound is incomparable. I look forward to bringing you the results of our 2023 Water Races in the next issue and hopefully share a good bear hunt. - Rachael Kidd

Kelly Thomas Portteus

713 East Sycamore

Jasonville, Indiana 47438 (812) 798-1606

Hello to all you out there in the tree dog world. I hope this finds everyone safe and well.

Welcome back to Full Cry. We are very happy to have Full Cry back-up in production. I look forward to seeing the new changes coming our way. I have taken many

National Cur and Feist Breeders Association

calls from all over asking about Full Cry and it made them all happy to hear that the magazine would be back up and running soon.

By now everyone that had their membership paid up should have received their new yearbook. I must apologize that it was later coming out and hope to get it out sooner next year.

We hope you all enjoy your book. Thank you all for your support, memberships, and ads.

I only have a limited supply of extra books and once they are gone, we will not be reordering.

I am excited that fall is finally coming on and the weather has cooled down some. The summer was brutally hot and made it difficult to get those outdoor chores done. It is not enjoyable doing those outdoor things when it is so hot. I hope that we will see many of you at our Upcoming World Hunt. It has been too long in between the last hunt until now.

For those hunters that do not have Facebook and are not aware, NKC owner, Del Morgan, and the rules committee met and overhauled some rules and added a few. The rules are posted on the NKC website and can be viewed there or can be viewed on the back of the new score cards. If you attend the hunt you can ask to see the rules and can view them there.

Friday October 27th Elnora will hold an appreciation hunt with a deadline at noon. Friday night NC&FBA will hold the Annual meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the Elnora Outdoor Club house. Saturday Oct 28th will kick off the World hunt with deadline at 7:00 a.m. The hunts are Cur & Feist only and must be NKC registered. Inspections and NKC Registry Registration will be available on site. Membership will also be taken on site. Hunters must be paid members to participate in the World Hunt.

Saturday we will hold the annual raffle and the auction in the afternoon. Please remember to bring any items you want to donate to the auction. The bench show will be held in the afternoon. The Nite hunt will be held Saturday night with deadline at 7:00 p.m.

The kitchen will be open Friday afternoon until 5:00 p.m. and reopen Saturday morning by 6:00.I encourage everyone to come in and get breakfast Saturday morning and support Elnora Outdoor through kitchen proceeds or consider joining Elnora

Outdoor club through membership. As we all know, the price of things keeps increasing and it takes a lot to keep a club afloat.

So, folks do not miss out on a good time. Come see us in October at the World Hunt weekend.

As I close, as always, please keep those sick, injured, or in need in your prayers. We look forward to seeing you all at one of our events. Take care & stay safe.

Respectfully and Your friend, Kelly

2023 Oregon United Sporting Dog Association

Field Trial Results:

1st Division:

1st Line: Hydro - Jeff Borsini, NV

2nd Line: Ned - Mark Boyer, OR

3rd Line: Mochie - Jeff Borsini, NV

1st Tree: Hydro - Jeff Borsini, NV

2nd Tree: Ned - Mark Boyer, OR

2nd Division:

1st Line: Lew - Wes York, OR

2nd Line: Blue - Matt Carmen, CA

3rd Line: Judge - Ty Powell, OR

1st Tree: Lew - Wes York, OR

2nd Tree: Judge - Ty Powell, OR

3rd Division:

1st Line: Strain - Brian Shanahan, ID

2nd Line: Dollar - Matt Carmen, CA

3rd Line: Mia - Jim Palmer, OR

1st Tree: Strain - Brian Shanahan, ID

2nd Tree: Dollar - Matt Carmen, CA

Tree Contest results: barks in 30 seconds

1st Place: 37 - Ammos - Rob Alessio, CA

State Field Trial Results

August 19-20, 2023 Prineville, OR

(*won in a bark off)

2nd place: 37 - Tiger - Matt Carmen, CA

3rd place: 35 - Buck - Mark Boyer, OR

Iron Dog Tree Contest:

1st place: Ammos – Pete Stacy, ID

2nd Place: Crew – Wes Craddock, OR

Bear Race:

1st Line: Hunter – Joe Thompson, OR

2nd Line: Lew – Wes York, OR

3rd Line: Spice – Ty Powell, OR

1st Tree: Lew – Wes York, OR

2nd Tree: Dixie – Mark Boyer, OR

3rd Tree: Spice – Ty Powell, OR

3 Dog Pack Race:

1st place: Hydro, Mochie, Kia – Jeff Borsini, NV

2nd place: Lew, Rocket, Witten – Wes York, OR

3rd place: Strain, Lacey, Blacky Chan – Rob

Alessio, CA & Brian Shanahan, ID

Overall Events Points:

1st Place: Lew – Wes York, OR

2nd Place: Ned – Mark Boyer, OR

3rd Place: Hydro – Jeff Borsini, NV

Tri-State Squirrel Club

Nicolas Gipson President

The Tri-State Squirrel Club is a newly formed NKC hunting club. Our Club house is located at 9307 AL73, Bryant, Alabama 35958. This Location is within five to ten minutes from the Tennessee and the Georgia Line. The Officers of the club are

President

Nicolas Gipson, Tracy City, TN (931) 235-2580

Vice President

David Blevins, Trenton, Georgia (423) 322-9030

Secretary/Treasurer

Dustin Hill, Bryant, Alabama (256) 605-5753

We will be having four organized squirrel hunts, with treeing competition and also a bench shows at each. These hunts will be feist only hunts and the dates are as follows:

October 28th, 2023

February 17th, 2024

January 6th, 2024

March 23rd, 2024

Check in for all hunts will be at 5:30 and a roll call at 6:00 at the Club house. All NKC rules will be in effect for hunts, treeing competition, and bench show. Come on out and meet some new friends and have some fun with the Tri-State Squirrel Club. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to any of our officers.

Treeing Tennessee Brindle Breeders Association

Don Bonsett - Walton, Indiana

First, I would like to think Jason and Dani on their big and bold venture of acquiring Full Cry Magazine. I know that I speak for so many tree-dog folks that look to all things win, love info, cry, and find it to be a true blessing that it will continue. TTBBA members if you are a paid-up member for two 2023 you should have received your latest yearbook in the book is the information on our events at Clay City Illinois last weekend in October. The events are open to any and all UKC registered cur and feists. Please check our ad in this edition of Full Cry. As Full Cry transitions to a new format so this article for the treeing Tennessee brindles must also make a transition to a new column writer for us. Many of you have known that I’ve done this on and off for several years and it is a long past due to hear from some other of our members. I feel certain that the good folks at Full Cry will help our new column writers get off to a good start whoever that might be.

Classifieds

AMERICAN LEOPARD HOUND

Puppies for sale. Meeks breeding. Born August 6th 2023. Located in Colorado. Call 719-221-9292

BLUETICK COONHOUNDS

Our bluetick, Daisy, is a pup out of Richard Casey’s Nite Ch. Casey’s Missouri

Blue Spook and Galloway’s333333

Blue Indian tea. Grandsire’s and dam’s go back to Bissels Northern

Blue Daisy, NGrCh GrNite Ch B&D’s

Blue Sike, GrNite Ch. Bissels Northern

Blue Daisy, NGrCh GrNite Tree Slammin Blue Hillbilly, GrNite Ch Goodtime

Jackhammer, GrNite Ch Northern Blue rebel, GrNite Ch Northern Blue Hammer XVIII, GrNite Ch Northern Blue Jet V. If you would like to reserve a pup, call Jerry Dees at 580-483-2718.

BIG GAME HOUNDS

Born August 3rd. High Tan x Finley River Pups. This is very old hound blood with no running dog. Both top and bottom side goes back to Finley River Chief and Finley River Buddy on a five generation paper. Mixed back with Ray Mear’s Finley River blook that goes back to my dad and gramps with a touch of Cameron, that has Cameron’s Blue Man in the fourth-generation papers, and some old lion bred dogs out of Nevade. They’re grade dogs, bred best to the best for years. I can tell you every dog in their bloodlines for 50+ years because I’ve owned and hunted them all. These are solid dogs with no holes. Bear, Bobcat, or Lion. They do it all. They have huge hearts with no quit in them. From cold nose, trail, speed, drive, bay, strike to tree. They are all very well rounded. $800 each. 541-321-2554.

MAJESTIC TREE HOUND

LEARN ABOUT A SUPERIOR HOUND for hunting coon and big game. Free brochure includes history, breed standard and 14 photographs. Send self-addressed, stamped envelope to: National Majestic Treehound Association, 1011 West State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

MISCELLANEOUS

Beaver Creek Kennels- We have pups occasionally and started dogs. Champion bred blueticks, redbone, and walkers. -We also have some UKC registered mixed breeds. If you would like to reserve a pup, call Jerry Dees at 580-483-2718.

West Coast Telemetry- Tag-ALong / Ride-A-Long Tracking collars. Mounts on GPC collars for $55. Battery replacement $35 for plastic case or $40 for acrylic. 1-800-8338236 www.westcoasttelemetry.com

For Sale- Evans dog boxes, Northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania. Several Colors. Also have box pads. Call Ken Carnsew, Cortland, OH 330-637-5118

For Sale- Memories of a Fox Huntin’ Terrier Man by Pete Bassani, 190 Urban Court Hawley, PA 18428. $17.25. A fun read.

Mearicle Solution- Simply, “The Best” Ear and skin solution is now available in ½ gallon refill size, (all sizes still available). Use it in the ears on canker, mites, yeast, or fungus; On the skin for cuts, tears, abrasions, wounds, hot spots, bug bites, crusty spots, etc. It works! Order yours today- online: www.mearicle. com or call Heather or John Hocker, Sierra Vista, AZ 520-303-6980

MIXED BREED

Beaver Creek Kennels- We have UKC registered mixed breed. The female is a pup out of Walker Boogar and Bluedog Ripley. Boogar is a pup out of GrNite Ch Boogar Hollow MoJo. Ripley is a pup out of Cool Water Blue Sarge, a Vaughn bred bluetick. The mixed breed is a female named Thelma. She will be bred to our walker Freckles. This will be an excellent cross. If you want a good coondog or want to reserve a pup, call Jerry 580-483-2718.

REDBONES

BEAVER CREEK KENNELS-Our redbone’s sire is Hommer’s Tree Slammin Homer. He is a pup out of GrNite Ch. O Marty’s Tree Slammin Hommer and NiteCH Lewis Blazin Autumn. Our female redbones are Danyell and Little Ann. They are both pups out of ChGrNite Ch Ky Moonlite Woody and CCH GrCh Granriver’s Hou’d That Suit Ya. Grandsire and dam’s are GrNite Ch. Montana Red Mountain Ranger, GrNite Ch. Sawblade Fiddle, Ch GrNite Ch Yellow River Red, GrCh GrNite Ch. All Night Brush Buster II, GrNite Ch. Hoffmeiters Red Bomber, Ch. GrNite Ch. Vauhns Red Banjo III, GrNite Ch. Tree jammin Trump. If you want to reserve a pup, call Jerry at 580-483-2718

TIMBER CHOPPER KENNELS- Redbone hounds for coonhunting and big game for 30 years. Puppies and started dogs. Wayne Campbell, Campbell Springs farm, 1888 Old Buckingham road, Cumberland VA 23040

Email: wayne@timberchopper.com

website: www.timberchopper.com

SQUIRREL DOGS

For Sale- Feist, OMCBA Mtn. Curs, Laikas. Pups, started, finished. Text or Call 419689-9635 or kevinghuntfish@gmail.com. Squirreldogdynasty.com, Ashland, Ohio

TREEING WALKERS

Beaver Creek Kennels- The sire of our Walkers is Wipeout Freckles. He is a pup out of Ch. Wipeout Warpaint and Shorty’s Stylish Freckles. The dam is Mojo’s Little Boogar. She is a pup out of Ch GrNite Ch. Boogar Hollow Mojo and GrCh. Washita Lexi. The grand sires and dams are GrNite Ch.Tequila Sunrise, GrNite Ch. Fletchers Stylish Jake, GrNite Ch. All Grand Tackman, GrNite Ch. K&K’s Stylish Belle, GrNite Ch. Ball’s Stylsih Hickory Nut Harry, GrCh GrNite Ch. Rat Attack, Ch. GrNite

Ch.Rockriver Sackett Jr., Ch. GrNite Ch. Nocturnal Style, GrNite Ch. Rick River Lady, GrNite Ch. McAllisters Stylist Tack, GrNite Ch.Rock River Sue, GrNite

Ch.Davis Stylish Harry’s J-Lo, GrCh. GrNite Ch. Extreme Insane X, GrCh. GrNite Ch.Night Heat Abby, GrNite Ch. Stills

Stylish Trixie, WLDnite Ch. Bolden and Turpins Insane Jane, GrCh GrNite Ch.

Stylish Harry’s Freak Show, GrNite Ch. Hard Knockin Stylish Hayes, GrNite Ch. Schmersal’s Stylsih Nocturnal Skipper, GrCh. GrNite Ch. Hardies Bigtime

Trixie, GrNite Ch. Tatpins Stylish Rube, GrNite Ch. Stylish Witch, WLDNite Ch. GrCh. X Jr., GrNite Nailors Hurricane Jane, GrNite Ch. Fleetwoods Hardwood Henry, GrNite Ch. Beans Stylish Sandy. We have females and males available. Call Jerry 580-483-2718

“SNOBALL”

Killed August 20, 1965

By Gordon Kelch

New Richmond, Ohio

When it was almost winter, And he was just a pup, We laughed and called him Snoball Which made his ears perk up. He didn’t look like a coon dog, for his

ears were very short

His voice not like the Redbone, very deep and coarse.

His coat not like the Black and Tan, very sleek and short.

But he was always ready just as soon as it got dark.

And we always knew it by his yaketyyak bark.

His coat was white and shaggy, He had a stubby tail.

But when that old coon was up a tree You could hear him wail.

For almost twelve years

I listened to this sound

I’ve watched the best of coon dogs Try to put him down.

But God made this dog for a special reason I guess

And now Snoball’s in glory for a special deserved rest.

And as sure as God’s up in glory And that old coon’s rambling around It seems that off somewhere in the distance

I can hear Snoball’s yakety-yak sound.

Kids Corner

To submit your child's hunt photos, short stories, poems, or artwork for Kids Corner send them to publish@fullcrymag.com One child each issue will be selected to receive a $25 gift card.

Tony Wytcherley received this very special painting from his great niece Grace Callas, 16. This was her high school art project. It took her about a year of hard detailed work to get this beautiful picture complete. We are so honored and wanted to share this with others to enjoy. Editor’s Note: This is a very special submission for us to include. We are adding a photo of Grace as a little girl with her dad and little sister. We remember her at this age bouncing around the back of our truck while we ran down mountain roads trying to catch up to a bear race.

Jonah Goode Van, Texas, 9 years old.

Cameron (aka Camo) Combe. He’s a hard hunter who is always ready to pull an all-nighter running dogs.

This painting was done completely by Bindie Coats the cat woman. Bindie has hunted and trapped bobcats since the age of 3 and absolutely loves it! Her painting is of 3 of her kemmer curs Skinny, Oprah, and Big Boy treeing a cat in a swamp. She put 6 hours of hard work in two days into it! She decided to use a dog feed sack as her canvas just to be different.

ABOVE: Connor Duby, 5, belongs to the editor of this magazine. He loves going squirrel hunting with his dad and tells us that that’s a squirrel dog on the tree in his painting. BELOW: Colin Duby, 7, is also claimed by editor. He says, “Rose is the best hound dog ever.”

Jackson Gibson from Oregon loves cat hunting with his dad.

Ol’ Duke

BY DAIREN SIMPSON

Ol’ Duke lays still on an old wood floor his eyes gone blind and old, Ol' houndsman calls his name once more, he comes as he was told

He struggles to the old pick-up with help he makes it in the man remembers all the hunts and the places that they've been

Old man recalls the trees and bays 'neath lion , coon, and bear on the seat lies Duke so lifeless now for so long ol' Duke was there and now he gets just one more ride as the old man drives in tears rememberin' how old Duke was there for fifteen loyal years

When times were hard and money scarce and scraps was all he got when bad guys came to rob the place got wounded when he fought His big ol' heart and waggin' tail would never wain or rest he gave his love and all his soul through any given test through widowed, sad and drunken times Ol' Duke stayed by his side When friends abandoned, family left Dukes' love had never died

His long ears listened to the man like a servant to a king He'd joyfully await his hand and the soft touch it would bring

His tail a waggin' brought the hope to a sad and lonely heart and caused his face to bear a smile when his world would fall apart

Now he takes the dreaded trip down the rough road to the "Doc" the old man holds Duke close to him as he weaps he gently talks

"Ol' Duke" you've been my dearest friend I love you you're the best, don't know if I can bear this end as you take your final rest."

In a waiting room the old man stays with his old hound at his feet, he looks down at his pal so grey as the "Vet" comes in to greet They slowly rise and go through the door to reveal the old dogs fate "I'm sorry sir can't do anything more, I'm afraid it's just too late."

The old man cries and hugs his hound, as the needle slides on in, "Dukes" waggin' tail goes still and down, as the old man clings to him.

"Ol' Duke you've been my dearest friend, You were the very best, don't know if I can bear this end, as you take your final rest

"but you go on to the other side, and sing your bayin' song where leash and fences don't abide, and the coons run all night long."

"I'll be there soon with lantern bright, you'll be huntin' soon with me,

again we'll hunt all through the night, I'll be there for every tree."

The old man digs a humble grave, and lays Duke gently down, In the woods where old Duke loved to play, says Goodbye to his old hound.

He marks the spot with a hand-carved cross at the base of a Laurel tree, and leaves alone and slowly walks, and cries 'til he can't see.

At home he sits by ol' Dukes' bed, he can still smell his old friend. The bowl placed where he last was fed, his broken heart won't mend

For hours he sits in his empty place, falls asleep in his old chair, then awakens to a cold nose on his face, to see Duke standing there.

His eyes shined bright with a waggin' tail, his claws click on the floor. He bays to hit the hunters' trail and they both charge out the door.

Deep in the woods some hikers see as they walk along their way, at the base of a mighty Laurel tree an old man, lifeless lays

where he suffered to his greatest loss, and grief no one could stand, he lays and holds a hand-carved cross, with his lantern in his hand.

Since then on nights of moonlight bright not far from where they lay, in the woods you'll see his lanterns' light and you can hear the old hound bay.

DAIREN SIMPSON, PREDATOR CAPTURE SPECIALIST, COLLARING A JAGUAR FOR RESEARCH

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PHOTO BY KILEY EAMES