Hello Folks,
Well summer is in full swing now, and I am finding it hard to motivate myself to take the pups to woods during the day. I know these dogs need more work than I am giving them, but after working a hard eight it gets tough to find the energy to go back out for a couple of hours before the sun goes down. I feel like coonhunting almost every night because I can do this when it cools off a bit. I might find me a young boy or girl to take on as an apprentice dog trainer during the summer. Might even work them a deal on a good pup.
How many times have you been to a hunt, showed up right before the draw out time, drew out and went to the woods? Probably a lot. How many times did you see little kids running around, maybe leading a pup? Nowadays, not that much. It seems hunts are being ran off the hoods of pickup trucks a lot. They have their purpose, such as mid week hunts, where a man barely has time to go home and get his dog in order to make a deadline. For weekend hunts you should see women and children enjoying the family atmosphere. Participating in bench shows, treeing contests, and even entering the hunts. Do not be afraid to enter a hunt, you will be wasting no ones time but your own, and I guarantee that it is time well wasted. It will definitely be a learning experience.
Do your kids a favor and get them their very own pup to work with. It will be one of the most rewarding experiences they will ever encounter. Teach them how to work a pup on the bench. If they are old enough and have an attention span enough to read a book, get them some of the books they put out for beginners on training dogs. To name a couple, Squirrel Dog Basics, by David Osborn, is a good book to start a kid out with. If coonhunting is your pleasure then maybe a book like Walk With Wick, by John Wick, would be more your flavor. You get two plusses with them reading up on dogs: one, they will be expanding their minds by gathering knowledge, and two they will be able to apply that knowledge and see how it works out. I would almost bet that it will be more fun than being force fed knowledge in school.
My two year old son is going to grow up to be a heck of a dog trainer someday (must get it from Mom). Sometimes I will find him out in the yard working the pups. He tries to show them where the squirrels are, he makes the poor things load and unload from the dogbox over and over (Now I have to keep the tailgate shut after I get home from hunting). I hate to say it but he has more patience than me. It makes me proud to see him wanting to work with dogs at such a young age. When I am seriously trying to do some training in the woods it just about breaks my heart to tell him he can't go. But I do take him plenty so there will always be next time.
One day I hope to see more folks interested in squirrel hunting with dogs here in Florida. It seems a few of the old-timers I have ran into have owned one at some point in their life, but squirrel hunting with dogs in Florida is a pastime that is all but forgotten. I think one major reason is the leaves on the tree all year round situation. This makes it tough on a person to find a squirrel after its treed, but it should not hinder a good dog that knows how to use its nose. Squirrel hunting is something that can be done with kids during the daytime, and you don't have to worry about the little ones being quiet. You can walk along with your buddy and carry on a good conversation or just sit at the base of a shade tree and wait for a tree bark. I expect that once our squirrel hunting portion of the FTDA takes off, more people will become educated on just what a squirrel dog is. Its good fun and a good challenge!
This is for all knowledgeable dogmen and women. We need some articles for our website. If you have a good tall tale or a hunting experience you would like to share, shoot it our way. We are also looking for any tips on training, dog health remedies, recipes, and breeding strategies you may have to offer. We could also use any photos you may have for this column. Any photos sent using regular mail will be returned to you at your request. If you have them saved on a disk or on a computer file, they will be more easily used, but we welcome all. I also want to remind everyone out there that we are open for any suggestions you may have. We intend on trying to work with every member to make their hunting experience more enjoyable. If you have a suggestion for a specific hunt, seminar, get- together, trade days, or any function please speak up and let us know.
I spoke with our first official member Billy Ray Roberts, (sorry about the mail mishap Billy) the other day on the phone and he was very helpful in offering a helping hand to us. Mr. Roberts is the Black Gold Dog food distributor for the entire state of Florida and parts of Alabama, and Georgia. He turned me on to Black Gold's Club Program that they offer. Thank you Billy , we look forward to dealing with you in the near future.
I hate to say it, but my good friend Wade Kimball has decided to relocate back to Texas. Wade was the first person I spoke of the FTDA with when it was just barely a daydream. Wade has some good curdogs and has spent a lifetime around hunting dogs of different breeds.
I have just recently purchased a new Walker pup. I have been looking forward to messing with a hound pup for some time now. I would like to take a second to thank Mr. Orlis Roberts for his assistance in acquiring this pup. I can't wait for the date I can enter a nite hunt with a hound. I like these curs, and I like my feists, but I really like the good music that a hound makes on a still night. I've tried hunting curs against hounds in competition but it just didn't work for me. I think the curs were just too hot nosed and didn't have the range that a hound does to go and grub up a track. The rules in most open nite hunts are geared more towards hounds and away from a cur's hunting style in my opinion.
For some time now we have been looking for some land to buy in the general area where we live. My wife's concern is how in the world are we going to keep all these dogs I have been dreaming about! If I had it my way the word work would translate into the word hunting. Well, I guess I will just have to keep looking. Every place we look at has to meet my requirements, such as oak trees to hang squirrel feeders, good drainage for the kennel (shouldn't be too much of a problem in this sand) and either deaf neighbors or no neighbors. It sure is hard finding a place that meets even those minimum requirements!
I want to relay a true story that took place a few weeks ago. It was about midnight on Saturday, May 25th when I received a phone call from my good friend Gary Hostler's wife, Jane. She was upset and explained that Gary and their young son, JW, had been out hunting and were missing their Walker hound Dixie. Dixie was raised from a pup by JW, and was a special part of his life. She was the first hound that he could call his very own. From what Gary had relayed to her via cell phone, she gathered that the dog was attacked by a gator. Jane was able to contact an officer at the Florida Wildlife Commission's office to see if they could offer any assistance. They were unable to help and urged them to not take matters into their own hands. She had called me to find out if I had a boat available to assist in searching the lake for the dog. Unfortunately I had recently gotten rid of my boat, but I offered to come and help in any way possible. My wife and I made the trip to Haines City to help search and we ended up using Gary's canoe. When I spoke to Gary before starting our trip , he was still getting a long range signal out over the lake, but when we arrived no signal could be found what so ever. On one hand it was discouraging, but on the other, it offered a little bit of hope that the dog had run out of signal range from being frightened by the gator. We drove and searched around the lake's shore until right before dawn. The search was postponed so that the worried young man, JW, could get a few hours of sleep. We decided to try again during the daylight and luckily the tracker was able to pick up a signal again. The signal was coming from a part of the lake that was very swampy and only accessible from the water. We were stuck, the winds had picked up and there wasn't a chance that we could get the canoe over to the opposite side of the lake to continue our search. By the Grace of God a kind man, who had been alerted of the past night's experience, offered us the use of his pontoon boat. We were able to reach the other side and after a short trek through the swamp we came upon some small water holes about the size of a pick up truck. Gary fired up the tracker and was getting a good signal on close range. We went a little further into the swamp and noticed in one of the small water holes a good sized gator half submerged. The tracker was used once again and indicated that we were right in the vicinity of the dog. After much thought we agreed that there was no safe way to attempt to retrieve her and our families were more important than the tracking collar. With heavy hearts, we decided to turn and go back. If that gator had wanted to come after us we wouldn't have had a chance, because we were waist deep in sticky muck.
To some of you this story may not seem important, to others that have experienced something of this sort you may be able to relate. It was not the loss of a tracking collar that concerned us, it was the loss of a young man's friend and hunting companion that urged us into action. Tracking collars can be replaced but a friendship has no monetary value. A special "Thank You" goes out to the kind gentleman who offered us the use of his boat (I regret not getting his name). By loaning the boat, this man helped to validate the fact that this young hunter's dog was gone. And even though it did not help to ease the pain, it definitely helped him to come to terms with the loss and move on.
Many other fine folks have reached out to help this young man by offering him a new friend. For this, the FTDA and I thank you. Patty and Dubby Beasley from Claxton Ga., have offered a fine Bluetick pup from a litter they are expecting. I can tell you that this has made this young hunter very happy and excited. Thank you for giving him another shot at raising a hound.
My intention in sharing this story is to make folks a little more cautious when hunting around gators, for our dog's sake as well as ours. Until next time, be safe in the woods and take a kid hunting.
