The Hunter’s Horn
December 1953
Page Sixteen
You Tell Me
By Don P. Steed
Candor, N.C.
When you first became interested in foxhounds did you start with black and tans or redbones and then later
find that there were hounds that had been especially bred to run a fox that were usually much superior to
the so-called “potlicker?” If you happened to have been reared in some parts of Kentucky or Tennessee
then maybe you started hunting with hounds that would run all night and with enough speed to keep a red
fox on the go. But I believe that the majority of us that started hunting over thirty years ago did not begin
with the kind of hounds that we now have.
The first Walkers that I ever saw I was convinced that they were hounds crossed on pointers. Then after
hunting with them and seeing how superior they were to our black and tans I began thinking more highly of
them. Then along about that time one of my hunting friends “ordered” a Walker from a hunter up near
Marion, N. C. He called me to go down to the express office with him and take a look at her. This bitch had
a pink nose and was a white and dirty liver spotted. That naturally renewed my suspicious of the pointer
outcross, but this bitch proved to be a good one and her owner later bred her to Billie Bristol. I still see
quite a few lemon and white hounds with pink noses and we accept them without worrying too much about
where it came from.
If you will secure a few copies of any of the leading foxhound journals that were printed 20 years ago you
will note that there were many more Triggs advertised then than now. Everyone has their opinion as to the
cause for the decline in numbers of hunters that were interested in Triggs. Mine is this: Just after Joe
Kemper won the National most every dishonest hound peddler that owned a dark backed hound with white
feet and ring neck sold him as a Trigg. In 1932 I bought three of these “over-night Triggs” from a fellow at
Glasgow, Ky., and three sorrier hounds never lived. For 20 years I did not own another Trigg and the ones I
did see had very much of the collie appearance with a tendency to be mouthy.
It was fortunate, for us that like Triggs, that a few breeders that knew hounds (and especially Triggs) stuck
with them and the result is that there again is a great amount of interest in this strain. I recently got hold of
an old bitch that was bred by the late Lee McMillan. She was by Royal Roy and out of Fan Dancer. I bred
her to a Jack Lambert hound and these pups, now less than a year old, look like hounds.
Several years ago I had a Trigg gyp by Logan Porter ex Blue Gal. Shipped her down to S. C. Ch. Will Rogers
and got a litter of very mouthy hounds. Did any of you hunters ever get any extra tongue from old Will or
was it my bitch? Along about this same time I had a pair of young hounds by Ten Broeck. Those two hounds
were the prettiest colored hounds you ever saw. They lay around the house until nearly a year old and
never once attempted to run a rabbit with the other hounds, but when we carried them hunting they ran the
first fox they ever smelled—these proved to be extra good hounds. By the way what color was old Ten
Broeck (as if that made any difference) and that Million dollar mouth that we have heard so much about—
was it a chop or a long calling tongue?
Does a chop mouthed hound have any advantage over a hound that gives his tongue in a long calling
manner? Did you ever notice a hound trailing a fox down a cotton row? Haven’t you seen him get scent
and throw his head in the air and maybe run 10, or maybe 15, or maybe 20 yards before he sniffs again? And
if the fox turns them likely he has run over. It appears that the hound that gives tongue in the chop manner
will be able to catch scent between each chop. The first time I heard of this I thought it was a joke but some
time ago I was talking with the famous handler of Beagles, Berryl Bishop, of Asheboro, N. C., and he had this
to say, “If two hounds are equal in every respect and one hound has a chop mouth and the other give a
long tongue, in nearly every case the chop mouthed hound is the best as she can hold the line better.”
You seldom hear this discussed among foxhunters but among beagles it is always a going discussion.
How are you going to know the kind of hound to breed your bitches to? If it is a local stud all you have to
do is drive over and put your best down with him, enough times, and shortly you will know whether he has it
or not. Of course this does not mean that his pups will be an exact duplicate as in many cases like does not
beget like and you have the bitch to consider. Or if I do not want to do all this running to find out then I lock
up some hunter that has run the stud. But then I want to be sure that this person likes the kind of hounds
that I do as if he does not then what he calls a good hound and what I call a good hound might be altogether
different.
Speaking of good hounds: A hound that I call good might be one that you would not even have, depending
on the kind of country and type of fox that is being chased. For example I run Red Foxes in open hilly
country and it makes no difference to me if the hound will not fight the thickets and briars (what is called
swamp running). I am most pleased if one of my hounds goes two or three miles to find a fox—this might be
very objectionable to some in certain localities. I dislike a hound that will even occasionally tongue a
covered track when getting back up to the running pack—but some hunters might prefer their hounds to
do this and if so it is their privilege.
So when someone recommends a hound for stud as a good hound then we should be sure that we value
the same qualities in a hound, as few hunters value qualities alike. A few years ago, when I was doing most
of my hunting down in the Eastern North Carolina swamps, I bred a bitch to Flying Heels. From this I got a
litter of hounds that were about twice the size hound that I needed for swamp running—however they
would have been ideal for the kind of hunting that we are now doing.
During the last months I have read several articles by hunters that feel that it is almost disgraceful for a
hunter to go out and come in before daylight or before the race is over. The tone of it is the poor hounds
are out running their feet sore while we are snuggled up in a nice warm bed. Did you ever think that the
hound was all snuggled up in his kennel resting during the day while we 12 o’clock hunters were trying to
make a living? I am not saying that you “all night stayers” don’t also make a living. If you want to work all
day and hunt all night that is your choice but it is not for me—I’ll come in around midnight; thank you.
The nice thing about foxhunting is that it is the type of sport that each hunter is permitted to keep and feed
just the hounds that please him and to hunt in the manner that suits him best.