competition hunt

Jamie has been a long time Black and Tan fancier and admits his search for another great black dog is a never-ending quest for the elder of the pair of men.  Trey is Jamie’s son, a hard-to-please-competitor at the highest levels of coonhound competition.   Currently Team Perrin is relying upon a pair of competition-bred and trained Treeing Walkers which are discussed in some detail.   

The Perrins are part of the annual hunting party to which Steve belongs at the White River Refuge in Arkansas and the discussion naturally drifts to stories from those annual hunts.  Jamie discusses his partnership with the late Mike Harrell of Flora, Illinois and their famous Harrell’s Anne female, a big winner in her day.  

Trey and Jamie represent the hard-to-find father/son team that is rare in the sport today.  This is a podcast that covers good dogs, good friends and the proof that families that hunt together stay together. 

It may have been a Walker dog world for many but deep in the cold-stream hollows and sandstone-faced cliff rows of southern West Virginia coal country, the Plott dog was king.  Among recognizable names like King, Moore, Walker, Bolen, Wickham and even Fielder from that region, none reached the level of acclaim in the Nite Hunt game to match that of our guest, John Sturgill. 

Sturgill gained his well-deserved reputation through the exploits of his Grand Nite Champion Timberline Tack dog, followed by the Tack II and Tack III from subsequent generations.With three National Grand Nite Champion of Breed titles with Tack II and Taxi, and an in-your-face win as high-scoring male win at Southeastern Treeing Walker Days with Tack, Sturgill’s fame spread throughout the coonhound world.

Now, at age 73, and with two knee and two hip replacements to his credit, Sturgill is still hunting and winning with his beloved brindles.  Sturgill’s insight into training and his unique perspective on hunting Plotts compared to other breeds make this an interesting and entertaining hour and twenty minute visit with a hunter that, despite the Walker dog’s popularity, simply chose to march to a different drum.

Bob and Steve spend the better part of two hours talking about the hounds and the hunters of the region of which there are many.  No doubt Bob honed his story-telling skills in the shop where he has had a captive audience for decades. 

Come on in, climb into the chair and prepare for your coon hunting itch to be scratched and your own experiences doused with Bob’s special blend of coon hunting memorabilia as only a life-long coon-hunting barber can.  When done, a glance into Bob’s mirror will reveal lots of familiar images of hunters and hounds that you will remember too.  

Steve catches Hawkins tending the fire as he hickory-smokes jalapeno and cheddar cheese-laced summer sausage, a six-hour process at 165 degrees.  The two old friends use a third of the time to catch up on memories of their days with PKC hunting, with mutual friends like Tam and Clay Young and publisher Terry Walker. 

This one is also for the straight-talking good ole boys among us as Hawkins talks straight about today’s dogs and hunters and the way things have gone in the hunts from his many experiences over the years. 

The boys talk on into the night as the smoker breaks down the fat and the back and forth renders some pretty solid content, proving that all coon hunting conversations are not just about good ole boys blowing smoke.  Get yourself a beverage and savor the coon talk, Arkansas-style.      

Steve joined the PKC staff in 1998, the same year his guest Rusty Jones made the final four and placed second overall in the PKC Youth World Championship at Aurora.  A recent phone conversation between the longtime friends prompted Steve to record this look back at one of the most enjoyable times for both he and Jones as well as thousands of other coon hunters, in all their years of experience with the sport.

Jones and Steve paint a mental picture of the Tennis Center, not only by describing the physical attributes of the legendary venue but also by sharing stories of the people that made each visit to Aurora so special each year when October rolled around. 

This is coon hunting conversation with a nostalgic twist that will make those that never experienced Aurora wish they had, and all that were fortunate to be there, to yearn passionately to go back again.  See if you don’t agree. 

Risk was injured in a HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) jump that ended his SERE active-duty career, but he continues to teach military skills to soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.   Steve and Courtney hunted together throughout Steve’s tenure with the American Kennel Club in Raleigh, North Carolina from 2006 to about 2013. 

Born in Nebraska and growing up in southern California, Courtney’s mother took her family back home to Iowa where he hooked up with a coon hunting uncle and started a lifelong journey with the hounds of the night.

This is a multifaceted conversation about hunting in Washington State, New Mexico, Missouri and North Carolina.  The boys discuss favorite hounds and a myriad of coon hunting’s most recognizable personalities, including Jess Dickerson and the late Timothy Ball, both of which Risk was and is well-acquainted.

Risk reveals his affinity for Iowa-Style Walker dogs and how he includes the slogan of the 19-time National Championship-winning University of Iowa wrestling program in the names of his hounds having Hawkeye roots.   

This a good conversation for coon hunters that appreciate the wide scope of the sport whether geographically or from the standpoint of interesting personalities one meets along the way.You’ll count this one as time well spent.    

In this episode, Steve’s partner Mark Miller is in the studio to discuss pup training, how he has successfully trained his Grand Nite Champion (2) Treeing Walker and how he is applying his training principles to a project he and Steve own together, an eight-month-old Plott Hound pup named Fever. Fever is a bright pup and is responding well to Mark’s training regimen. Miller goes over the steps he’s applied to bring Fever from a green four-month-old to a pup that has treed his own coon and split treed from the dogs at less than eight months of age.

This podcast is designed to help coonhound trainers realize success when starting a well-bred pup, from weaning age to the competition stage. Newcomers as well as old hands to the game will benefit from the conversation.

Enjoy.

www.stevefielderbooks.com

GONE TO THE DOGS PODCAST with Steve Fielder

https://www.dusupply.com/gone-to-the-dogs-coonhunting-book.html

This episode travels back to the heyday of competition hunting when UKC events were experiencing their highest levels of participation, when the Purina Outstanding Nite Hunt Coonhound Award was competition-hunting’s most difficult most-sought-after prize and when hunters crisscrossed the countryside in search of coveted points to be counted at year’s end.  It was the greatest of times in terms of national recognition for one’s achievements in the game and a time when the name Duke Proulx was legend among all others.  With two UKC World Championships and two Purina Award championships to his credit, Proulx (pronounced Prue) was one of the most successful competitors of the day and in fact, of all time.

This episode contains a lengthy conversation between two individuals who remember the era well, one from the field and one from behind the administrative desk.  If you have heard of the guy with the unusual name and wondered what makes him tick, now’s your chance to meet The Duke.  You will enjoy the experience.