How are Those Pups Doing?

Teach, Train and Learn every week on The Journey on the Houndsman XP Network. 

On this episode of The Journey, Heath features another installment on the progress of litter of pups that were whelped in 2022. Forest Redd and Wesley Woodyard join Heath for discussion to reach the 2022 bear season and the progress the pups have made so far.They talk about the good the bad and the ugly. 

Listeners will get a full breakdown from professional trainer Heath Hyatt and his buddies to discuss the training of these young hounds. Where they are and where they should be. This is a great episode packed with valuable information about training hounds and performance dogs.

[00:00:00] The Houseman XP podcast Network is taking you on the journey. Your host, master trainer, Heath Hyatt, will combine his decades of experience as a homan and as a professional trainer that will light the path forward and make our packs lighter on this lifelong journey to become better hunters and hounds men.

There are no shortcuts. So lace up those boots and grab a dog leash. The journey begins now.

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Hey guys. Heath from the Hound XP journey. We are coming live from Studio B here at the Hyatt Ranch this evening. It's really not a ranch. It's like an acre with 13 barking dogs. But we'll call it a ranch. I can dream, right? Dream big. Today we're gonna follow up on some podcast. We're gonna talk a little pup update.

They're gonna be, oh, they're gonna be a year old here next week. So we'll give everybody kind of a [00:03:00] rundown on what the Ps are doing and talk a little bit about bear hunting and dogs. So today I have got the wonderful and proud owners of these fine specimens of hounds that come outta spook and fancy. So I got Wests back with me today enforced.

They're sitting in the co-chairs and we just wanna start talking dogs. How are you guys doing today? Doing good. Yep. Y'all been doing nothing today, haven't you? Working in working at the house, remodeling, working at the house, and remodeling. Yep. What are you remodeling? The whole house, kitchen. Your house Dad's.

Oh, yeah, I got you. So Wes, what are you doing? Building fence? No, I'm, Danielle's got me painting today. Oh, I did see that. Looks like you got some on the ceiling. Yeah, I'm not I'm not a finisher. , make her do the detailed [00:04:00] work. Yeah. No, I It'd be a bigger mess, I'd imagine. Yeah. I'm, I don't like to paint.

I can roll, I'll roll the walls, but I don't like any of the trimm work. Yeah. Paint moving. Not a fan. Yeah. So our season's over and it's a down, down downtime. We didn't, I, I went hiking today and went back up on the mountain to the other mountain. We hunt above your cabin and hit a couple high points and overlooks.

And we went to Barney's wall, which always makes me nauseous. Like I just, when I get up on top of that thing, I really wanna pass out. And then we went up to the tower and went over to the cliffs and looked over it. And I didn't realize it until today. And I, as many times as I've been there, there was, there's a waterfall coming off of the right side.

Yeah. Right side. And I've been through there and I guess today where the water was up a little bit, you could hear it and actually see it through the trees where there's no [00:05:00] foliage and everything. I don't know. Like I said, I've been in there, I can't tell you how many times and I've never noticed that until today.

Yeah, I don't know that I've ever seen it. So then back to the nauseous thing, he gives fuzzy a bunch of crap about heights. Here we are. It's not the height, it's standing over towards the edge of that thing. Yeah. And it's oh yeah. I just can't, I'm not a fan of that stuff either. Yeah.

Sometimes you gotta get over it . No, I'll just go under it. . That's what I mean. You gotta get over there to get around it to get down to the dogs. Yeah. There's that ledge on the bottom. I can't tell you that I'm a, I know two times in September and training season that I've had to climb up on that ledge on the bottom side and get my dogs off of it.

Yeah, me and one of the, yeah, one of the guys was in there and we were shucking dog leads and everything to try to get 'em off of that mess. Who? Yeah. He hung 'em up on it. Like I, the dogs were just, . They were baed up, but there was nothing there. But rocks. Huh? I'm a different podcast of there I was on a ledge.[00:06:00]

Let's talk about that. Wes, you was with me and give us your version of that day. That was more of one of my lazy days. It come back towards the end of the season for us. And I had a lot of trouble this year with dogs and things didn't come my way. I had a lot of trouble with the off game as I did the last podcast we all done.

So I, I was down morale that day and Heath was going, so they went, we sat in the truck, they I didn't wanna, I knew he was gonna go by himself, so we went anyway, me and Claytor that day. And ended up being a good day for him. Like I said, know if you listened to the other one, he was almost out and we were sitting in the parking lot and you could hear the dogs.

I was like, what are they doing? He's I don't know. That things got good. I said, you jinx me. Yeah, that's what I said. We were talking about, we didn't find anything all the way down that valley except fresh coyo crap. That's it. Yeah. And we were almost out. Like I said, I was eight tenths of the mile from dropping to the [00:07:00] truck and the dog's open.

And I told him, I said, you just jinxed me talking about that . Yeah. No, that's, I hope I did . If you'll jinx me like that every time I'll take it. Yeah, no, I hope I did. But then there I was in the parking lot but no, they got interesting quick, and I tried to get in there and tried to give him some help, but they come within maybe 200 yards of us and had a handful of dogs.

They just went right back up towards heath and them, and just couldn't help him. But he didn't need it. And like he said in the other podcast, it's probably better that there wasn't. . Yes. 10, 15 dogs on that ledge in a hole. It would probably different outcome I'd imagine. Yeah. It'd been a disaster. , I mean that, yeah, I, yeah.

But yeah, and I don't know if I told this in the other one, but I'll tell a little tidbit that when we turned to come back around the mountain, I had told Chelsea where to meet me at which she's very familiar with that area cuz we hike in there a lot. In fact, we'd just [00:08:00] been in there November and when I took off and I was passing hikers and some girl was pushing a bike down up the path, passed her and her mom.

And three hours later when I seen her, she had tears in her eyes and she goes, I can't believe you left me . I said, you had a radio in your backpack get it out and turn it on. And then she ended up, I guess she walked down to where you were at or did she walk to where she was at? She wasn't far from us.

She was just at waterfalls there. So she probably working 6, 7, 800 yards. Yeah. But yeah, you didn't get that siren relief. . Yeah, I got a I got a little fussed at for that, I can't help it. I ha I was trying to keep up with them and I just couldn't, if the yoga would be better, she probably could have made that hike with you.

, we me and her and Chris had this conversation out at the shot show and we were talking about, you can do, I've done CrossFit, like you can do whatever you wanna do exercise wise. It's different. It's just different. And I think where I have spent pretty much my whole life in the [00:09:00] woods there, it's just second nature.

And I think we all feel that way, that, we're comfortable. It's just the way it is. But it's a different, it's a different fitness. It's a different level of being in shape, I guess to say. It's more for me, like a drive. Those are your kids, if they got 'em, treat you got something.

Treat you want to get there and. Everything goes blank for me just trying to get there in a hurry at him. And typically I'm the adrenaline. Yeah, I mean it's like fuzz. He says that time about me, he says that he can out walk me, but when the dogs retreat always meet him there . Yeah. But Fuzz reminds me of flash off of Zootopia, you know the sloth that works in a DMV and it takes him four and a half days to type out a tag.

Oh Lord. That's fuzz. Like he moves at sloth pace. Like when I get in a hurry, I always leave everybody with him. If the girls are with me or Chelsea, I'm like, y'all just stay with us. . Yeah. [00:10:00] Sorry. Fuzz can't help it. It is what it is. . But yeah, it was a good day. I, I think I thought about that day a lot and the dogs did a good job.

I'm blessed. But if I had that to do over again, and could had time to think about it. I'd never, I would never have taken that bear. I just wouldn't done it again. You could sit and describe where you were at a million times to, different people, but until you're there you don't understand the predicament that you were in.

And of the, we came up and you showed me exactly where the hole was and it was literally on a ledge and there's nowhere to go. It's, that's a split decision that you can't take time to make. Yeah. . Yeah, I know. But I just, I, like I said, if I had time process it, I'd just let her go, let her roll.

That's what I told Chelsea down there. Cause I heard three shots and I was like, it's gotta be a good one. . The last time I heard him shot, I mean it's been years and years. Yeah. And and I was like, Hey, are you okay? First off, cuz I knew where he was at. I [00:11:00] knew what was going on. I had six dogs, seven dogs in a hole.

But I knew it was bad, but it turned out Yeah. . Yep. Yeah. So let's catch up a little bit. Let's have y'all been listening to any podcast? I don't care. Mine, somebody else's. And if you are, what are you taking away? What are you learning? What's your interest? The Bona Crockett one the other day was interesting.

Yeah. . The, what, the last one that, that you all did really pertains to me as far as the dog that I owned with the Barking and which one was that? Jerry, he was from unc, he had Tar Hill, Jerry Bradshaw. . Yeah. Yeah. What'd you take away from that? Or what did you think about it?

I've just got some different strategies that I'm gonna try and pick up on with Jacob. He's a five year old dog, so I know I'm gonna have problems off the bat. When I got him, he had problems was where it became my problem, but the truck barking and stuff, so I'm trying now to load him every day.

And it is actually, I'm starting to see a little bit of difference. He knows now that he's not going hunting for right now, but, . As far as the barking [00:12:00] goes in the box. . He's, like you were saying, as soon as they hit a gravel road, they know , and I have a truckload like that, but not so much like him.

But now I'm starting to take, every day, every chance I get, go to town, to the farm, wherever, then I'm loading him up and I'm stemming him because he is still barking. But the end result is, I think I'm seeing a little leeway with that. . So we'll see. Stay on it through the off season, and hopefully I can teach an old dog a new trick.

I think if you're consistent until August, I think it'll be different. Yeah. But you got, it's the consistency. And I think Jerry talked about that too. And we're all, we're guilty and I'm like, I'm guilty that I'm not, I try to be consistent and when I am consistent, it's usually when I'm hunting because I'm out with them every day.

Yeah. And I, it's not an, it's not an issue. It's the off season and. Not doing it that way, but Yeah. But you're just doing him by himself? Yeah. The problem that I have, if I have another dog, then if I stem him in the box, he thinks that he's getting bit by another dog, [00:13:00] then he tries to turn his head.

But he's not a violent dog at all. That's just in his mind. That's what he's thinking. But, so right now it's just him alone. . He's really my main problem. Yeah. What about you force? You listen to anything? Yeah, I don't, haven't listened to many. I listened to one with Jeff when he was in Oh, yeah.

Hunting with us and just his, philosophy and how he trains his dogs, and then the similarities and differences between working dogs and our hunt dogs. Yeah, but Jeff's a world of knowledge. And it's sitting in that classroom, and like I said, I remember it was in August, 2013 in St.

Louis, Missouri. And I was sitting in the classroom with him, listening to him and learning. And I'm like, man I'm so far behind the ball because I already know this stuff. I've been hunting hounds. I know what he's talking about. I've seen it, and I'm not applying it to the law enforcement side. And it's a very humbling experience.

It just deflates you and [00:14:00] you're like, all right, I gotta do better. And we've been to Jeff's Robby and I've been to Jeff's a couple times, and, every seminar we go to, we spend time with him. We're, we're around him or just talking to him and getting any knowledge we can from him.

And, now he's. Coming up with us, which is even a bigger blessing and, they wanna come back next year. They enjoyed it and he enjoyed it and the girls enjoyed it. Yeah. So I bet he'll be in better shape next year when it comes . Yeah. Yeah. That walking sticky head it'll be a little shorter on it.

Yeah. But I also think too, like with Jeff, it opened his eyes on how we train, have our dogs trained to free cast and stuff. Picking senses up and he was saying I don't know if he talked to he, we said a little bit about he could take some of that back to his dogs. Where he rather has control.

About like letting them trail and stuff. Yeah. And he does a lot of fire trails, which, in our side of the world, that's his, the dog's running off trip, [00:15:00] running off lead. The person takes off, drops an item, and they take off into the woods so the dog visually sees the prey leave. and then the SIN article, which is usually just a washer rag or a towel, or that could be a hat.

I know when I was drowning, I drop my hat a lot. Just drop a sin article. The dog runs past it, and it reaffirms that odor. Oh, okay. I'm chasing you. I'm chasing this person. And then they have to switch it from their eyes to their nose because the person's outta sight. So he does do a lot of the fire trails, and that's how he starts a lot of his dogs.

And I've always said it that our biggest hindrance in law enforcement is having that lead on a dog. Our, my dog would probably be 80 or 90% successful if it wasn't for me behind it. Really. And now that I'm running schools and I'm teaching that application the new handlers, and they, unless they have a really solid dog,[00:16:00] , that experience, it takes a while to get that experience.

And that's why maybe right out of the gate, they're not successful at Apli actually having real life fines and deployments. But as they gain that experience and that dog gains that experience, then they seem to start picking up their success rate. I, yeah, that's something that I see.

And like I said, I hate the lead on, on tracking with, for humans because I know I'm gonna mess my dog. Like I know I'm gonna either, I'm gonna take a left when he's taking a right. And that's because I think I'm smarter than he is. And actually I can't smell what he's smelling. Or I stopped and missed a turn or something like that.

It's all, and I'm a bank, I'm a boat anchor. Like I'm slowing that dog down. That was one of the things that that he was talking about too, is, you know how quick the dogs got through the country. Yeah. Just bam. And. We can't allow errors to be off lead. Cause it then it becomes a liability.

Yeah. Especially if you have apprehension dogs, then it's a double liability. And yeah. Wes, any others? [00:17:00] No, there was something about, speaking of Jeff, there was something about his, and I was looking forward there while you were talking. He was talking about the dogs going so hard and getting gas, but I can't remember exactly.

Humidity. Yep. , yeah. Humidity. Yep. Yep. So yeah, h him, me and him got into a conversation one evening about the humidity and he felt like that it helped him with the Scent, scent Association and, which I know moisture helps odor. I get that. But after we got to talking, . It definitely, it gases the dogs cuz they can't release their preparation.

Yeah. Through panting when the humidity levels start getting higher and in, in turn that gases 'em twice as quick. And we don't really have those issues during December. It's late Aug August and early sep NSF September though. We keep saying our dogs are getting in better shape.

Of course we're running them every day, but at the same time, the weather, two weeks into August, our dogs are probably in the shape they're [00:18:00] gonna be in, then the every day of this, the weather changes and then temperature changes and the humidity changes. And I think that's where we see the big difference in 'em.

Yeah. Yeah, we talked about that. Yeah. I'm definitely gonna do it different this year. I spent too much time in August and didn't hunt in September like I wanted to. It was just so hot. Yeah it's dangerous. Yeah. It's just dangerous. We saw what happened, but Yeah. No, thank you. Yeah.

Yeah. So let's get into the pup update. Let's just talk about our pups and where they're at, what they're doing, and what our goals may be for this coming year. And Wes, I'll start with you. You're on the other end of the table. I'm really liking August so far. She's really settling down. She was kinda whiny on me here back in season in the truck a little bit, but she's got her quirks, but she's really, seems like she's really getting comfortable at the house and she's getting comfortable with me.

And, I've just about probably 90% got her tone broke, not broke, but tone broke. And I'm, I've been out coon hunting a little bit and that's been some [00:19:00] success and some failures with that. I've run some off game till last night. I actually hunted her and it's I'm really liking the direction that she's headed, so what's your. Yeah I know we, we've been keeping up and you've, texted me and sending me videos and stuff. So just to put it out there, she is like a replica of Spook, except she trees harder than he did at that age. She sounds look like him, looks like him. Everything about her is him.

Yeah. Except the tree. And she does have more tree in her than he did at that age. Yeah, she's definitely she enjoyed after the first one we had back in August through, you ride together with both the pups. And that's when things we really changed as far as the tree goes. And the second one the next day.

And then every other time, she's been packed in the trees and she flies in there and she's a hammered down tree dog. But she's not a lockdown tree dog, but she likes to get after [00:20:00] it. Down the road. I think she's gonna be just fine. Yeah. She's gamey. Very gamey. Yep.

More so than what I'm seeing out of mind. But so what, talk about your successes and your failure. What are you seeing good? What are you seeing bad or not bad, but what are you seeing that's not where you want it to be? Right now, so the last time they hunted, I had a little issue.

I couldn't get her really to leave. And we talked about it over the phone. Maybe to lay her up for a little bit. But, she was doing pretty good. My neighbor beside me's got a a silage pile. And the Coons are in there. And so we were, consistently putting her on game and running game.

And noticed she finally did a solo with the ro coon. And then I thought, okay, good. But then we'd have a good day, then we'd have a bad day, then we'd have a day, we'd do anything. And then, . Like I said, I'm quite certain the last time I run 'em, it was a co her and coa. Pretty certain of that.

But I'm just gonna keep hunting her, and I think that's all you can do. But I don't want to put too much onto 'em, they're just getting ready [00:21:00] to turn her turn a year old here in a few days. And I don't wanna pressure too much, but I think she's hitting the right direction. I think she'll be fine.

Yeah. Yeah. I like what I see out of her. Yeah. The little things that, that you're running into is part of being a pup. And a young dog and some maturity's gonna take some of that outta her and hunting her and exposing her is gonna take it take a lot of that problem out.

So I don't see foresee any issues at all. No. And I have noticed that I'm, it seems like I'm better off if I take her and her alone. There, she's, she has to be way more dependent, but. , it seems like she enjoys it more. If there's another dog there. It seems like she's traveling. She's getting her her range of hunting is getting wider.

If another dog was there, if not, then you know, I've got a. Be within probably a 200 yard range as she's coming back. , which is fine. 200. The journey on Hounds XP has teamed up with one tdc, this dual action [00:22:00] support for oral health and mobility in our dogs. This unique supplement is so effective that it is recommended by top veterinarian experts worldwide to maintain and improve our dog's health in four different areas.

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But that again, that's gonna come with maturity too. Yeah. Yeah. That's gonna come with maturity is she'll start ranging out if that's what you want. And doing those things. Yeah. Four or 500 yards. I'm good with that. Any further is just not really interested in, she wants to go deep and find one then I'll get when I get [00:23:00] there.

As long as she's sitting under when you get there, right? Yep. As long as it's in the tree not running. Yeah. Forced. What about you? We lost Ash back in end of October, I think it was. , came home from work. Daughter come running outside, said that the dog wasn't acting right. No, he was in the backyard.

We loaded him up, ran him down the vet's office and that was pretty much it. The stomach had flipped and he passed before we got out of there. But anyways so Ari. Back first day of kill season this year, she finally got her into a bear. She could see it was a pretty nice one. And when she was in there, she treed the whole time, I think.

Oh yeah. That was the first bear that she seen really good in the tree. I guess a couple times we hung her more. I [00:24:00] started cutting her loose with some other dogs, and she's real gamey I would say, probably more than Wess. And she'd get out there six, 700 yards and start trailing, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't what we were hunting. Yeah. Old dogs weren't going with her but yeah, she really turned around there after she seen the bear.

But she, I mean she's, she didn't make all the races. She made a few, was that the tree? But she was there the last day. Y'all hunted or? Yeah, she was when Addison got hers. Yeah. She was on the bear. When Addison, the second to last day, she was at the tree treeing. Yep. And then after she shot it, she just like fancy, she didn't really want a chew on it, but she was banging it like crazy.

Yeah. And then the last day, me and Hunter and Greg Tree, that one, we put her in there and she was treeing good on it. Yeah. And then we actually ran the second, another bear [00:25:00] last day and we put her in there, but she didn't, she got hung up at the creek and didn't cross and they treated 450 yards on the other.

Was the water up? It was up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And I know the dogs don't mind water because we've had a minute. Even when they were puppies, they were back here at the pond. We take 'em back there and swim. I think because we didn't pack call, we just only packed two dogs when it crossed, when JJ brought the Bear Cross and there's other dogs marking the truck, I think might have messed her up, but yes, that could be an issue for sure.

Yeah. But I will say she's, like I was saying, she is gamey, she wants to trail and run stuff. , I just gotta get her, put her on the right thing, straighten her up. That kind of takes me back to what you were saying with her acting like fancy, just, on a dead bear. I'm a little concerned with August on the other side of that because she flies in and I'm worried that she's gonna have to be taught a good lesson.[00:26:00]

I'd say that probably comes back from the daddy. . But I do see her doing that. And she's super aggressive with Coon as well. The bear, she flies in and I'm worried that she's just gonna go in on the wrong end. Hopefully she's got some guidance there if she does yeah. Yeah. Mine I'll give you a rundown of mine and we'll talk about that.

So you've heard, you heard Bryce and I talk about Attica. So I basically tried to split mine up as I was doing, I tried to hunt Attica one day, a acts one day, and then Allie one day a Attica. I don't know. And I'm still, I don't know how she did it or why, how, I mean cuz her experience is very is not a lot.

Yeah, we had her on, I had her on some bear. We had her under two or three. We led her into two or three four trees during training season. And then the day that. You were there. , she actually made that race. That was the first race she'd made. And the race was exactly one mile.[00:27:00]

And then the second bear when we got in, everybody had left and it come out with, and me and you had Attica in August. And they went crazy. Yeah. And you remember, cuz you and I talked about the tone, how that tone changed in that bark. Yeah. It gets deep and wild. Yep. Yeah. So the first day of season, you guys are on the other end of the valley.

I'm coming in from the top. Me and Bryce is coming in from the top. Now Attica had already started two or three races that day. Like she'd went in there and I know cause she's got a high pitched squeal. , I'm not, I'm 90, 99 0.9% sure it was deer. She'd run 'em for a couple hundred yards. and I'd tone her, she'd come back, we'd go hoop.

We'd keep walking and she'd go another, do the same thing. She'd strike, go a couple hundred yards and I would tone her and she'd come back. We, she'd done that two or three times on that day, and [00:28:00] we had went around this curve and Spook and Kate and Maggie was in heat, so I had Spook and Kate and they had went down to the creek, which was about 450 yards from where I was at, and was trying, they heard Greg's dogs and went down to them.

So we were just paralleling them walking and lit. Literally, Attica went up on the R above us about a hundred yards, and she'd give out one of them big balls, just whoa. And me and Bryce, Bo looked at each other and I'm like, . That ain't no deer. Yeah. We hadn't took, we hadn't walked another couple steps and all the dogs on the lead blow up.

So I had Hart, Houdini and Tripp. So I turned heart loose cuz that was my most trusted, turned her loose. She goes right to where Attica's at. And of course these dogs are barking on the lead too, so I know it's, I know it's a good track. She goes right to where Attica's at and she leaves [00:29:00] attica's with her.

I turn trip loose. Trip gets in there and then I turn Houdini loose. They go up towards the top of the mountain, make a hard turn, go out the mountain and then drop right back down and cross the path in front of us. When they crossed the path, spook and Kate heard 'em bee lying to 'em. Everybody got together and they come down to you and turned and come back.

. And so when they caught that bear, when they had went to you and turned and come back to me, we were standing there and that's when they had, they caught and was stopped. , and that's when Attica turned, like she didn't want no part of it. And I had noticed that in, when I was in either down on the coast or in North Carolina, I can't remember.

Yeah. She wasn't a big fan, so she come out, you ended up catching her that day. . But she started that track, so she definitely wants to run just like y'all. She wants to run stuff and throughout the season, I don't know that I got her on another [00:30:00] good race. I don't know.

Like I said, I was alternating the dogs and trying to take, one here and one there, and if we had too many dogs, I'd, I just wasn't taking the pups. So there was some times I didn't take 'em, but, and then the last day, the day that you were there, and I ended up killing the bear over on the cliff.

She, I don't, I'm just gonna throw this up there. I had her, I had put her on the lead because she was running so much off game, all the way down that valley, and we had to stop and wait on her for 30, 40 minutes at times. So I had told Chelsea to put her on a lead, so we had her on a double coupler with Tripp and Kate Sp and Maggie was loose, and I don't remember where they were at, but we were getting ready to, we were literally making that drop down to that first big hard turn sh the switchback to y'all.

And she literally blows up on the lead. And when I say blows up, blows up wasn't she wasn't shutting up. Yeah. Even when I tried to make her shut up, she was spook [00:31:00] and Kate went up the hill and Spook went right, left-handed. Kate went right-handed and that's when Kate ended up jumping.

Spook turns and comes back and anyway, so I don't know if she winded that bear cuz Kate was almost 200 yards from me when she opened. I don't know if Attica winded that bear. I don't know if it was junk and we just happened to be in the same area, but she opened off the lead on a double coupler and none of my other dogs said a word, none of them.

So I don't know. But they ended up catching a bears. I don't know. That's interesting for sure. So ax I had him a couple of days, didn't really get him in on anything for some reason. Most of the days I had him, we were hunting for the bear that we never did end up demolished your dogs. And we never did actually get to get him

So I really didn't get him in on none except the one [00:32:00] that Danielle was on. And we we treat 2, 2, 2 that day. Yeah. We treat two. . Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think. Just up the steep there, down next to Oh yeah. And I packed him from the road with, yeah. And he was, he went in, he has not been to a tree with a bear in it.

So me and Maddie was sitting there and I was talking, me and mad was talking. I'm like that's his first tree that he's actually been to with the bear sitting up in a tree that he can see. But he was just barking because the other dogs are barking. Now. My opinion of ax, he's a little rattle headed.

He's a little more like goofy than I prefer. I do feel like as he'll mature out of that. He's very sporadic. It's like he's got a d he's all over the place. When I feed him, like until, still to this day, like when I feed him, . He's like a caged gorilla just bouncing off the pen.

And I make him set. We all seen it. , I make him set and then he'll down, [00:33:00] and when he's calm, he gets his food. I'm trying to establish that foundation like Jerry and I talked about now, because he is all over the place. Now, Attica, Allie, they're not like that. But, so I got him into the one tree that we caught down in the holler, and then the tree that Danielle was on.

, which he got come into the tree and then he ended up leaving and then he ended up coming out where we come out and I called him an hour later, whatever it was. So yeah, got some work to do with him, but now he really did a good job in North Carolina. He stayed on a bear on the ground.

First bear he'd ever seen for two. He stayed longer than any dog that I had. Him and Hart stayed longer than any dog I had. Yeah. And I didn't turn spooking him loose. So though, but puppy wise, . He stayed, him and Hart stayed until those shotguns started going off, and it spooked both of them. It is what it is.

He was six and a half, seven months old, maybe not even seven. He wasn't seven months old at the time. And then Allie [00:34:00] I don't know. I'm a little disappointed in her. She's a pleasure to be around. She loves to be with you. She, man, you can go hiking and I don't care how she's with you.

She's not got to the point where Ax and Al Attica, if they hear the dogs, they gone. They're gone. She's not that way. So I'm hoping that the little bit of maturity will help with her. I didn't get her on any, , I had put her up, actually. I didn't hunt her as much as I did Axon, Attica, just because of that reason.

I wasn't in a big rush. And plus I had those two and I didn't need to take her so much. But towards the end of the season when Maddie was with me, I started taking her quite a bit. I took her two or three times, not quite a bit. But yeah, she goes she's easy to handle. You go out here and drop the tailgate, open the dog box, she's in it.

She wants, she acts like she wants to go. But the Gaminess, I'm not seeing it like I do [00:35:00] with the other two. And like I said, she's not, it hadn't kicked in that, when somebody's over here barking, you need to get in there because they may have something going on. She's not there yet. Which leads me to the next thing, talking about the dead bear.

My two, both of mine, they'll stand back in bay. . They're not, the Attica was on the bear in the hole. And if y'all remember me saying she was over on the other side of that cliff booger, barking, and, you hound guys know what booger barking means. She was over there booger, barking the whole time when I was trying to figure out where this bear went.

And she was standing 20 foot from it, booger, barking at it. And of course the time I got all the dogs around there and everybody tied up and whatever, she stood there and barked for an hour, just banging at it. But she didn't want, she don't want a part of it. And one thing I've noticed with my older dogs too like their daddy's at Spooks, not a, [00:36:00] he's not once it's over, he'd care.

. Yep. Okay. Let's go get another one. He's not, that, he's not gonna sit there and chew, or he's just not gonna do it. The only dog that I have that does is trip's, the only one, and he's the one getting the crap beat out of him consistently. Kate Kayle, she'll do it a little bit, but she don't care.

Maggie could care less Hoo Indian heart, don't do it. So I don't know. Maybe that's something that this genetic, I don't know. It's fancy. She's, this year was the first time I've ever seen her get tore up on that big bear. . And had five dogs on it at the beginning.

From eight o'clock till four o'clock, every one of 'em got tore up. Wesley packed. two dogs and they got tore up later in the day. But if you'd have told me that before, I would've told you she wouldn't have got tore up. She's never been that. We just haven't seen that outta her.

This year was [00:37:00] definitely different For fancy. Yeah. It happened a couple weeks prior to that. She didn't get tore up, but she was walking on the ground baying a lot more than I thought she would do. She, yeah, that day that that one y'all laugh at me for getting run up on my truck.

Chief run up there. That's right. , I just, no, I just got higher elevation. Yeah. That's what I got. But yeah, that day, she was the last dog I called off of that, like she was the last one. So they ran that bear a long ways. Yes, they did. a long time. Long time too. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, I don't know. Genetics, I don't know. But what I'm seeing from me, and this is just my opinion, I'm at the point that I don't care if my dog does that at when the game's over. I don't care. And I do think Wesley, that hopefully if it was me, I would want, [00:38:00] I hope August gets on a bear.

That's not vicious. When she does do that and she learns really quick. Yeah. And something else that we had talked about on, I don't know what podcast it was, but I really, the more I think about it, the more I feel like it's logical is that, Kate used to be the one that got tore up and she'll still get a whole winter here and there.

She's not getting, . Eat up. Eat up, like trip. But I feel like that the old dogs, if they just stay back and bay and walk and bay I think it helps the young dogs not become so aggressive. Yeah, just any, they all learn, they're all learning off each other. It's anything though, but yeah, definitely that, that's why, as I was saying a minute ago I hope that if that does occur, then she's got some good teachers there with her, not just don't pack the foresters.

Dogs. Yeah. Not forest's, dogs, jj, yeah. [00:39:00] Any of 'em. Not having another one in a suitcase. Yeah, but they were in some, they were in some country there that's not, there's, they get back in some of that them hollows with them big ledges. There's not nowhere to go. Yeah. Like they ain't getting them rocks. It's not like they it's open timber.

Yeah. That big bear that day, I was 20 yards from 'em. Yeah. Could barely see the dog that's never seen the bear. Yep. Yeah. I get it. I'm, but I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. That's mine. Like I said, I'm the dogs are, the pups are Okay. I don't I will say this, I don't think any of mine are gonna be above average.

I think they're gonna be the average, even Attica like star, opening on bear tracks with the lack of experience that she has. I don't see August in her, like I don't see. . I don't see August in Attica. Yeah. I feel like in her current path and if I can do the right work, [00:40:00] and I think she's gonna make me a really nice dog.

Honestly, there's my assessment with August. Yeah. I see the same thing in August. I think she's probably gonna be the most all around dog. Out of the pups. I think Ari, in my opinion, is gonna be more of a trail dog. Yeah. Just like fancy out and, but that could change. She's going trail, she's gonna run something and she'll treat it.

Yeah. Yeah. The dogs definitely have more tree in them than Spook. It was a year and a half, almost two years before Spook really clicked with, he'd run the stuff to the tree, run 'em all day long, but, That click. But I think where we've mixed, put fancy with, her being a registered walker, put that in with him.

That's brought a little more of that tree out quicker, I think. But I think Attica is the same thing. I think Attica like she's gonna trail and tree. I just don't see her having the drive at this point. [00:41:00] Now. It could change cuz they're gonna mature differently. Yeah. I see Attica and Ari in the same field.

And I let's talk about Ax. The day that, that they were up there and I sat in the truck. It was the day after I killed mine. . And remember I let all three of 'em out. Yeah. And what'd I tell you sitting there? Yeah. Me sitting that sucker. We'll go run something here in a minute. And wasn't about a minute there he was.

I, I called the other two. I called, I had Attica, Allie, and Rogue. Y'all hear me talk about Rogue next year. He's my next project. I had them and I got, went ahead and caught them and Ax was gone. And I told Wesley, I said, you just give him a minute. He gonna be running up on the side of this mountain somewhere.

And I don't think we got back to the truck. No. And here he come who? Ray to rail around the side of the hill. He wants to go and run. Like he wants to go and run. Like I said, it's, he a little rattle headed. I, this guy say he's rattle headed for me. I don't know. I think they're all a good mix between the two dogs, between [00:42:00] Spook and Fancy.

I think they're a good mix. How old's fancy now? Four. Yeah. Four. Four. Yeah. I mean she really, she was a nice dog when you got her, but this year separated her, in my opinion. Like she, yeah. She'll be five in August. So this year, this coming? Yeah. Yeah. . So I don't know. So other than coon hunting, Les, what are you gonna do in the all season?

You gonna work on Jake? Yep. I've got Jake, I need to get Willow, decide what I'm gonna do there. , I've got some projects as far as dogs. So mainly I just, my main, my main goal was August, but I'm not gonna pressure, but my second goal was to shut that barking up. Cause I'm about to go nuts, and everybody else that hunts with me.

I understand. It's crazy, but it isn't a podcast. A long time ago they talked about you overlooked some of the faults because you like the dog. And I have [00:43:00] overlooked this fault, but I do the dog, but most does he like most days. Yeah. Besides the marketers, if he's running I'd love to listen to him.

That's that truck man. It's just something about it. And I started this, he's got a big old mouth on him too. Yeah. He's got a. . But now does he bark like it in a kennel? No, he's quiet at the house. You'd never know you had him. It's that excitement with the roads. Yeah. And he knows he's, we're about to go hunting or y'all talked about, with the podcast the other day that it was really relatable to what I'm dealing with.

But he's super quiet at the house, hardly even barks when I feed. But that truck is just something else. It's, that's when the fun begins. Yeah. No I understand why now I just, I need to try and I wish that I had the knowledge, from the podcast and stuff. Hey, I could call you anytime of the day and ask you something, but I wish I'd have got on this earlier cuz like I, now he's five and I've got a five year old problem, like I said, consistency's a key. Yep. I would think. What about you for what you gonna do? You gonna be outta [00:44:00] commission ain't you? Sounds like it. Yeah. Go to the doctor next Friday, see about surgery. Yeah. So I, my hound hunting, I guess will depend on all that for the summer. Yeah.

Yeah. Hopefully it won't be out too long. I'd say you'll be back in the game by September, I hope. Yeah. Or if not, you can sit at your cabin and we can holler at you when we need a ride. Or at least go by and get breakfast everywhere. That's right. You can fix breakfast. And there's pros and cons to this for us,

I can turn some dogs loose. Somebody's have to get 'em for me and we would, we'll get 'em. You go have to make sure fuzzy takes his time off when he's supposed to. Who knows. Yeah. Anyway. Usually has something else on his mind off season. Chasing that off game, that fast tail. Yeah. Four fuzzy. . No.

[00:45:00] When we gonna get Clay to get a dog with it ain't happening. I asked him if he wanted to come, actually come with us. Just listen today. He didn't do it. Nah, no. He's just, he's very content with not having a dog. He's the same thing. He's hunting other things and get his head on straight too.

What's wrong with these guys? Trashy. Yep. Trashy, trashy, . So what's what's the plans this year? I know that one of my goals for the year is to get Cape Bread. I definitely want to get her bread. So that's my, one of my number one priorities is when she comes back in heat. And even so I'll just let you guys listening now.

Who, so she come in heat in September. and I chose not to breed her cuz that means she would've had the pups pretty much in December. I'd have missed bear season with her. And so I made that decision this year. If that happens, then [00:46:00] I'm just gonna have to miss her season with her. I'm, she'll be, she just turned four and, I don't wanna keep putting it off.

Yeah. We need to get something going as far as she goes, we, we need some dogs, so we're all getting, we've got these puppies here. That's really, that's about all we've got right now. Yeah. As far as coming on. And I feel like, Kate's gonna be a contributing dog no matter who you breed her to.

I, while we're on the breeding thing I'm gonna sit down and you guys have listened to me talk to Jason Carter. on breeding, good to good or best to best. And I've talked to numerous hunters or BirdDog guys that are in clubs, European clubs, German clubs, and they have such a strict and stringent, rule.

And I've said it on here before, I've bred dogs just to be breeding dogs, and I'm trying my best not to be that person anymore. Kate [00:47:00] has a lot of good qualities, a lot of good qualities. The only thing that I don't care for is her being tight mouth. But we seen this year, and I'll ask your guy's opinion.

Just tell it like it is. I feel like Kate's got a better nose than we thought she did. Yeah. We, you and I have talked about it. We talked about it when we went up to New York and stuff, but. she'll get gone. And then when, by the time you've realized she's r barking or running, or the bark indicator's going off from the garment, she's jumped.

. She didn't go seven, 800 yards for nothing. No. And the day that Brad killed his bear, like literally she went over the bank into that little hollow in a, in some rocks. And she stayed in there and stayed in there and stayed in there. And we had walked a couple hundred yards and usually, she'll get done and come on.

She didn't. And I'll tell one on myself[00:48:00] I was getting ready to tone her, and I was like, eh, I'm gonna give her a few more minutes. We're not in a hurry. Give her a few more minutes. And then she started making some circles and she made a couple circles, and then she started down the hollow and she hit to the creek.

And by then of course I've hunted in there. I I'm like, okay, let's see what happens here. This is interesting. She hit the creek and when she turned acrossed the creek and went, started down the creek towards you. Where she opened, she'd give them three yodels, yo. And spook hurt her.

Boy, them ears come up. He perked up, stood forward, chest out, and I grabbed his collar. And when she yoed that second time, she was about a hundred yards in front. Yeah. Of where she was at. And then he just bee lined it to her soon as he hit the creek. He squalled and then of course then we knew.

But then she had it treed before everybody else. But I'm, that was nothing that I had started in those rocks like she did. [00:49:00] Maggie was down there, spook had been down there. They did not stay like she did, but she has a stubbornness about her that it drives you crazy sometimes. Drive. Drive you crazy.

I love it. , what was the day that you had to pick her up on the other side of the mountain? Yeah, but you said that before, but she goes and gets gone, but more often than not lately, she's getting gone. She's coming up with something. That was one time that I caught her, that she wasn't doing anything.

Yeah. Lately, more often than not, and we treat to bear that day. Yeah. We, yeah. Treat a bear that day. But she was, I suspect something over there picked her interest and just couldn't work it down, but if I had it to do over, I think I'd have just told you to let her go.

Yeah. Just let her keep going. See what she does. Yeah. At that point we to reference and everything now house. Yeah. Yeah. But, so anyway, my goal with Kate is to breed her to a really good male. I have a couple in my mind just don't know which direction I'm going yet, but I wanna make a good cross.

Give her every opportunity to [00:50:00] produce the best thing that, that we can get her hands on and continue to. strengthen our packs is my overall goal. But back to the breeding thing, like I'm gonna make a list and I'm gonna start like, start doing some checks. I talked to a guy in one of the German clubs and their temperament, like that's big for them.

If this dog does X, y, and Z, he gets three strikes and you do not breed him or hurt, whatever. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna come up with a list and start seeing if those dogs check the boxes myself. Mine, mine too. Yeah. If mine's not checking the boxes, no matter how much I like them Sure.

Then I shouldn't be breeding them. Yeah. That's same with me. I, I love some of my dogs, whether they're world beaters or not, but I would never, at this point, the dogs I've carrying I wouldn't feel it would be responsible to, to make a cross with anything else right now. I definitely understand what you're saying.[00:51:00]

The only three dogs that I've got that are catching game by theirself or Will is Spook Maggie and Kate. That's it. I don't have nothing, none of the young dogs have separated theirselves yet, which two years trips to, yeah. Yeah. He's a little over two now and hou Hart or two, two, and then of course we have the pups.

So I, I don't have anything separating theirself. And me and Maddie had this conversation the other day. Friday evening. We went out, me and her went out and grabbed some supper and, she said, dad, she goes, I really enjoyed this hunting season. And I said, you did?

She said, yeah. She said, we gotta spend time with the dogs. You and I got out a little bit by ourselves. And she said, I just really enjoyed it, and that. Makes me feel good. . Cause you know, your daughter is out in the woods, tromping 10, 12, 12 miles a day and she's not crying about it.

Yeah. And she had blisters on her feet that day that that you caught Kate and you come around. [00:52:00] Yeah. Just you and her walked in and me and her and we ended up trending back in that mess. Same whole forest was in. Yeah. Drug addict, . Yeah. She had blisters on her feet and she never complained.

Never. And I'm like, honey, we gotta get you some boots. But yeah, we were talking about dogs and breeding and just what we had and right now, Kate and Maggie's just a good solid dog. She's not flashy and fancy and but dependable. She's very dependable.

And this year, I did see that, like she told on those young dogs a couple times, run coats. She flat out, man, as soon as trip started, she couldn't get back to me fast enough and I didn't do nothing to her. Like she'd just got, she'd come back and of course the snow was on, thank the Lord.

And I was able to go down where they crossed the road and it wasn't nothing but dog tracks. So there you go. But yeah, Kate and Sp, Kate and Maggie's only two things that I, females that I have that I would, consider breeding at this point. So my goal is to do better too. And[00:53:00] see, produce dogs that we can catch game with.

What y'alls thoughts? I don't, I just have fancy the female. It's the only female I have. Everything else I have are males. I've talked to Wesley, I've talked to you two. Boone's, almost 10 I would breed. Boone and Whelan to something. I just don't know what I'm like you.

I'm not just gonna breed to any other female just to get pup. Yeah. I want it to be something worth breeding to. I think if you're looking for the quality of dogs that we want, I think we have to be more strategic in what we do. I'm really, that's one thing this podcast has done for me is really opened my eyes talking to all the other guys that dogs in general, and I don't care what kind, hound bear, hound line, hound, bird dogs, retriever.

I don't care what it is, but [00:54:00] it's opened my eyes to some big mistakes and some faults that I've had or done. That, if you're gonna produce top quality dogs, you need to be very strategic in how you do that. And that doesn't mean that it's gonna turn out either. Yeah. I could, yeah.

I think half the battle, it's not really, even on the dogs, you could take two top top-notch dogs and ruin 'em by the way, you handle 'em. Like I said, I think with these dogs, and I commended you last time we had the same conversation here about 'em, how they were handled is, it's almost seems like to me 75% of once they came up as pups.

Yeah. I think it's a foundation. Yeah. I do, I think that's a, and I, I learned that from the police, the law enforcement side of it is when we go to these vendors and they've raised a litter of pups and pretty much put 'em in a big pen and a kennel and they haven't done a lot of hands-on stuff with them.

They're driving stuff are still off the chart. , but they're miserable. Be around. Yeah. And[00:55:00] like Pinot was raised on a farm over in Holland and they had sheep and goats and great pyne running around. And when I got him 11 months old, he was like a two year old dog. Maturity L wise.

Yeah. And I do think that hell, I do, I'm a big believer in that. And I know a lot of Hounds guys, they're able to do that. So I don't know. But yeah. Pop update. Anything y'all wanna add, take away? No, I don't think so either. Yeah, like I said, I feel like August is the she's a splitting image of Spook.

That day that we were up there on the, that we had treated those two, that, that day, like me and Maddie was sitting there, fa August was on the right side and Spook was over here on my left side. and we're Maddy's I can't believe how much she looks like him. And she sounds like him. And I'm like, yeah, it was pretty it was, she's almost identical.

Yeah. [00:56:00] And I think Ari and Attica sound like fancy. Yeah. Do you think so? I do. Yeah. Ari reminds me exactly like fancy. Yeah. And I told you that when she, she looks the same. Yeah. Carries herself the same way. Yeah. She's taller. , she took after the, she's got her faith.

After her speaking I was out. Is she outta spook? But yeah, she's taller and fancy. I'm gonna tell you, if you put August and spook beside each other, you can't. If you don't see what's, who's carrying, what parts on, you wouldn't know. Yeah. And just the sound too. They sound almost the same, but look the same.

Yeah. Yep. But yeah they're big dogs. I was thinking about that too. You can't expect, they're younger dogs, but cuz they're got 12 mile legs and they shouldn't be making seven mile races, but I think we want 'em to do good, but Oh, this year's gonna be a good year. Yeah. They going we'll know more by the end of the year.

Yeah. But what we got, like I said, all of 'em is already opening on tracks and running their own tracks. , the only one out of the five that we have is Allie. [00:57:00] She's the only one that hadn't taken off on her track, on her own. Ax, you better hold on to him cause he gone. Yeah. And now Al Attica, she'll stay with you and hunt, but once she catches something, boom, she gone.

And then yours is doing force. Yours is doing it. Wes, yours, Matt, Allie's the only one that's not taking off and doing what the others are. And I've really struggled with keeping her at this point or letting her go. She's, I don't know. I'm going to, I'm gonna give her do training season at least and see if she turns around.

Yeah. Comes on. She says she's easy to be around. She, you ain't gonna put a lead on her she'll go wherever you holler for her. She's there. You open a tailgate. She's in it. Attica's the same way, but Ax is a little he's a little hard. He's he rattle headed. That's to it. . He got some he's a couple bricks shy, full load, but he game in.

He likes to run. So we'll see how it plays out. Guys, I appreciate [00:58:00] y'all coming over to the ranches. Evening, . Yeah. Thanks for having us. Stop by and get our brand here before we go. Yeah, I got a new brand. Oh, I don't even wanna know. It's It's the double bar. H . Find one better than that, I believe. . All right guys.

I appreciate y'all coming over, so help. Thank you guys for helping us teach, train, or Learn, just learning about the Pup update.

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