The Truth: Chris Collins

Show Notes

This week on THE TRUTH Josh sits down with Texas Houndsman and Competition Coon Hunter Chris Collins to talk a little competition coon hunting, and what it takes to compete with the same dog for over a decade. Chris and his dog Moss Hill Smoke Ring have been a staple in both the state of Texas and nationally for a decade, and Chris continues to hunt Ring Sparingly still at 12 years old. Josh and Chris talk about his beginnings in the sport, Ring Pups, Leash lock, and much more in another fun filled conversation that you can only hear on the Houndsman XP podcast network!!

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Show Transcript

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All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Truth on the Homan XP podcast Network. And today I am joined and we're actually both in East Texas Collins, but we're not together. We're over here. We're doing this over the phone. Me and Chris, were gonna try to get together this evening, but with as busy as we are, we couldn't do it.

So we're just doing a phone call even though we're a couple hours apart. But how are you, Chris Collins? Man, I'm good. I I'm hot, but I'm good. It's done. Got hot down here. [00:03:00] Oh, it ain't too bad. It's pretty nice. They said it was worse last week before I showed up. It was we had some 90 degrees, but it's still, we're just anticipating the hot, so it's already hot to me.

Yeah. I can hear my son's phone in here somewhere going off. But anyway, uhoh. Yeah. I'll tell you what. Traveling with a small child is almost as bad if not worse than traveling with a dog. Oh, hey, I'm telling you. Always gotta stop to pee or something. Oh, yeah. And they leave stuff laying around constantly.

Absolutely. And losing it. Everything. But Chris, the reason, one reason I want to talk to you and there's not many folks like us, and I'm not bragging or anything, but normally we hunt our own stock. Yes sir. And we hunt at pretty fairly high level. I can think of just a few.

You're looking at Jed and Kevin Cable and Kurt usually is packing some [00:04:00] TrackMan stuff. But most of the guys that hunt at the high end pro classic level, or even the big pkc open event level and stuff like that, most of them are, they're not raising puppies very often. And you're one of the exceptions to that rule.

And I know you're three generations off ring. I think last time I checked and your course ring, I seen you, Brett, a female to him yesterday, it looked like, huh? I did. I did. He he actually just turned 12, the 21st, and I was like, man, there probably won't be no more puppies. I have some breedings up there at Stacy Smitherman.

Yeah. But I was like, man, there probably won't be very many more live breedings out of him. And a Annie would just got a phone call out of the blue and said, Hey, would you wanna breed this g? And I was like, absolutely. Yeah. No, that's good. When she's a gold champion female. Outta what? She is out of Rham Willie, and the mama is a gold champion female, oh, I gotcha. Out outta Una River Bear. I believe so. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's that's stuff right there. Look at you. Look at Willa and Will or Willie and Cooner Rivera. That's some stuff been real hot [00:05:00] lately in the winter circle that, that's right. For sure. So I, I'm excited about it and like I said, hopefully Get a good pup out of it and we'll just see where it goes.

What about, cuz I love this part of the world. I really do. I love coming down here even this time of year when it's hot, I enjoy my time down here. I enjoy the people and I enjoy all that stuff. But this is not the easiest place in the world to hunt raccoons. What on earth got you started doing that in a place like, southeast Texas?

So I was born and raised here all my life. I guess my mom had married a guy whenever I was young and he had some dogs and I didn't know much about it. I always liked the outdoors killing deer and hogs, whatever it could be, just being in the outdoors. He had an old, I think as a red tick and he wanted to take me out one night, I guess to show off to my mom, Hey, I'm taking your kid out hunting.

Anyway, we go to Cleveland National Forest over here, and yeah, we go in there and we tree a [00:06:00] coon and I'm like, man, this is what I'm talking about. So I guess I was probably maybe 12, 12 ish, and I got out of it after that. He they end up divorcing, so we moved on our separate ways.

I was sitting there at the cafe right here in Mall Hill and Willie West was sitting there and I'd heard that he had some dogs. And I said, man, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get me one and maybe go hunting with him one night. I call him or I go over there to his table and I said, Hey, Willie.

I said, you gotta, I heard you're a coon hunter. He's yeah, I am. I said what about take him to coon hunting? He said, why? I've got something better for you. He said, if you'll go with me, I'll give you a dog. And I'm like, oh man, I can't beat that. So anyway, I meet Willie in there.

I've got, my dear lease I'm talking about to him and he's getting excited. Like any coon hunter, that's about to pick up some more land. Oh yeah. And he's oh yeah, I got a dog for you brother. And I was like let's go. Anyway, he brings this black and tan female, and so this is probably my second time to [00:07:00] ever really go.

Yeah. And I don't know much about it. This is only about 11, 12 years ago. And anyhow, he we cut loose and the dog runs over there and we go to the tree and his dog's tree, and we go over there and look. And the dog that he has given me is like walking in a circle and lays down right by the tree.

And I'm like, so I asked him, I said, Hey, Willie That dog's supposed to do that. And he goes, no brother, she's not supposed to do that. He said, we'll find you another one. I said that'll work. But but yeah, so just hunt. I guess to answer your question about hunting around here, it started with, hunting with Willie and it's just taking off since.

So that's but like I said, I've lived right here where I've lived all my life. That old boy that took you the first time had an English dog that went and just ran a tree to Coon in the middle of the Cleveland National Forest. I'm telling you right now, I was, I was 12 years old, I was impressed.

But to see it done now, I was thinking, man, he might have had a pretty good dog. No kidding. That's what I was just thinking. That thing probably. Alright. [00:08:00] Yeah, I'm thinking in my head now, if I had one like that now I might be able to do, do a little bit of winning. Yeah, no kidding. So where'd you go from there?

Did Willie get you another dog? So he did, he he come across another one and he give it to me. And I'm gonna tell you, she was a black and tan. Willie was a black and tan man at first. And if I would've known what I know now about coon hunting, she was probably. I probably one of the best black and tans that I've ever been with, and I haven't been with many cuz you know, they're just not in the hunts.

There are, I guess back then compared to now. But anyhow, they man, Josh, she was so trash she would run anything with four legs and a tail and she would treat coons and she would leave you barking. And I was like, in my head, this thing is trash man. Yeah. I just didn't like it at that time.

And I was like I've gotta get rid of it. So I ended up giving her to a boy and I bought a dog from a guy. He wanted $600 for it, and she was running a treeing. And you look at the prices [00:09:00] now for, a started dog running a tree in 600 bucks. Back then, 12 years ago that was a fair price.

Now you're gonna pay three to 4,000 for one, needs another 30 nights on it or something. Oh yeah. And you're, and lucky to have it. Yeah, that's right. So I had bought that Jeep for $600 and I got her going pretty good. And I put her in her. She was the first dog that I wanna hunt with.

I went to a Pkc hunt in Corgan, and I won $110 $50 hunt being paid 110 to win it. But I was on cloud 10, I say, was you walking in tall cotton? After that thinking is the greatest coo ever look here. I couldn't fit, I had to let the air out of the door, outta my head so I could fit in the door when I walked in.

But but yeah, going from, from her I just realized, being around the hunts and. Joe had magic at that time. Yeah. And just exceptional Kondo for around these parts. And anywhere you would've taken him, I think he'd have won no telling how much, if you'd, the hunts were as big [00:10:00] as they are now.

Then anyway, just hunting with kind of dogs like that. And Van Pierce had a Lincoln and, just these exceptional dogs around this area. I got to realizing that mine wasn't too exceptional. Yeah. She'd run in Tre Coons, but she wasn't what I thought that she should be, what their dogs were.

So I get to poking around and I ended up buying a dog. I sold her and bought a puppy off of Tequila Sunrise and smokey Mountain Crook. Yep. And he was a freak show. At nine months old. I had put him in a few cast. I had won about $250 with him. Two U K C first and a Akc win and a kid down here, Quentin Campbell had put him in a u kc a kc, I'm sorry, youth State Championship and won it with him.

And I ended up selling him to Ashley Hopkins and he ended up dying. I think I think Ashley told me they bought him, said he was one of the closest things that he had seen since son that he, just acted the same [00:11:00] way he did, was just a freak. And I think 4th of July night, he had him out there on the chain and I think, if I'm not mistaken firecrackers went off and he run up the chain and come down the tree on the other side and hung himself.

Yeah. Di didn't own the dog two weeks. It was just a crazy deal. Do you ever regret, do you regret selling any. Absolutely. All the time I look back and think, man, what a pup. Yeah. At that time I seen dollar signs and I had my eye to get to where I'm at now on Ring anyway.

Yeah. Because I had taken, his name was Deuce. I had taken him to a U K C hunt over in Dewey, which is right on the Louisiana line. And Ring was about a year and a half, at that time. And Cody Reynolds owned him. And man, he just got out there and we cut loose and man ring just has always been a good strike dog.

And anyway, he just throttled me and I'm like, man, but I'm hunting a nine month old pup in my head I'm going, it's not that bad. Yeah I [00:12:00] had offered to buy Ring at that time and Cody said, no, I'm not gonna sell him. So I said I'm just gonna sell him and sell this puppy I puppy that I got, and I'm gonna throw some money at him and see.

So I did. And I sold him to Ashley. And anyhow, I went to another hunt and I think I was hunting a buddy of mine's dog and Drew Ring again and offered him $2,500 for him. And Cody about fell out when I offered it for him. He said, man, you'd really gimme that much for that dog. I said, absolutely.

Right now, And he said okay. He said let me think about it when we get to the truck, and in my head I'm going, man, this is the real, this dog is the real deal and I'm about to steal him for $2,500. How you sleep that night, Chris? Now with the fan on yeah. With the fan on real loud.

With a fan on, real loud. So I I sit there and I was thinking in my head, man, I'm really about to steal this dog for $2,500. This guy, I really don't know what he's got. And anyway, he [00:13:00] gets up to the truck and he calls me, man, I'm, I already tells me, he said, man, I'm just not gonna sell him. I said, okay.

I said I, I got it right here in my pocket. He said, I appreciate it, but I'm not gonna sell him. I said, okay, fine. So at that time, I'm, I'm down a dog. I don't have a dog, and I buy another pup and I start hunting him. And anyway, Cody calls me up about a month later and he says, Hey, man, he said, I'm not hunting too much right now.

He said, would you wanna buy a ring? I said, absolutely. I said, how much you want for him? He said, I want 3000. I said I'm at work right now. When I get home, I will head your away and I'll bring you $100 bills. He said, okay, sounds good. Get home, throw the dog box in the truck, pulling outta the driveway.

He calls me, Hey man, I'm not gonna sell ring. I decided not to sell him. Oh, okay. And I'm in my head, I'm in my head. I'm like, golly, I said man I'm already, I done told him a little lie. I'm like, man, I'm halfway to your house, hoping he'd feel bad for me.

Yeah. But he didn't, he had no remorse. So I tell him, I say, all right, man, I understand, I [00:14:00] understand. It's no big deal. This rock's on and I keep texting and calling. Another day it is probably two months outta the blue after that, he calls me up. He said, man, and I've done, bought a dog in the out of rat attack directly outta rat.

And I'm hunting him and I've done some winning with him. Put him in a couple U K C and p KC. Hunts had probably three or $400 one with him. Not a whole lot. Yeah. And Cody calls me outta the blue and he says, Hey man, thing about selling the ring again. I said that's good for you. He said cuz by this time, this is the second time this guy's done told me I'm gonna sell you this dog.

And I'm like that's good. He said, how much do you think he's worth? Would you buy him? I said, man, I've got a dog. I said, I don't need him. He said how much do you think he's worth? I said, Cody, that's a $5,000 dog all day long. Yep. He says, really? I said, yep. And he says, okay, I'm gonna sell him for that.

And in my head I'm going, man, I could really still buy this dog, and come out good on top. I feel like. So anyway, I I go sell my other dog to buy this, [00:15:00] to buy a ring. I call him up and said, Hey man let's meet up if you tell me you're gonna sell him and you back out on me again.

I'm just gonna come take the dog outta your yard and leave the money on the porch. And he's no, man. I promise you bud. I promise you I'll sell you this dog. So I said, okay. So Ring is by this time, I guess he's. I'm gonna say a little, maybe two. He's two, probably two years old. Just turned two I believe.

Had his super steaks left and he had a terrible birthday. And so anyway, he comes hunting with me and I bring Willie West and he's got a slam dog, which at that time I thought was a really nice dog. And he is still, he was a nice dog. We cut loose by, ring by himself, sinks in there, boom.

Trees a coon. And I said, that's good. We cut both of 'em together. Slam goes one way, ring goes the other. Boom, ring trees, another coon. I said, Hey, this is what I'm looking for. I already knew the dog cause I done drew him twice, yep. Yep. And anyway, he trees the, he trees, the third coon after that.

And I said, all and I said he said, you seen enough? I said, yeah, I've seen [00:16:00] enough. Let's go ahead and go up to the truck. We get up there and I said, look, Cody, I'll give you $4,000 for this dog in my pocket right now. He said, no, I guess I'll load him up and take him back to Buena. And I said, oh, he ain't bluffing, so he loads him up and puts him in the back of your, and goes, put him in the back of his truck.

He's pull that other thousand out of there and you can go ahead and buy him. So I did and I bought him. And the rest has been history since. That ain't, that's better. That's better for your conscience than 2,500. Absolutely. Yeah. I made myself pay five, an extra, 2,500 on top of opening my fat mouth and saying he's a $5,000 dog, and at that time, Josh, heck, he's eight years old now 10 years ago, or 12 years old now.

Yeah. So 10 years ago, 5,000 to me was a lot of money, especially for a dog. 10 years ago, 5,000 would get you a really good Kondo. And it did. It did. When you said the dog was worth $5,000 that's what he was worth, and that's right to, to the right person.

Maybe it's a $10,000 [00:17:00] dog at that time. But most of those dogs of that caliber, there weren't a lot. It was just as hard to find a good dog back then, as it is now. But back then, a good one you could get for five grand, and today it's gonna cost you 15 to 20. That's right. That's right. For sure. If not more, you know what's in Yeah.

I say if not more 75 for Apollo if you're looking Yeah. Yeah. I mean I could write a check if he'd take it, as long as he don't cash it. Yeah, that's right. Just do it on credit. One thing, because you're talking about that black of taje you had, that was wild and trashy, barked a lot and you didn't like her, and then looking back now you say, boy, that dog was probably all right and I wish I had that dog.

That, cuz we don't, like if we were just pleasure hunting Chris, just as well as I do, we'd have dogs that didn't bark a bunch and they didn't go two miles every time we turned them loose and they wouldn't run no junk and they would just be common, coon tree and we'd have all kinds of fun.

But the competition aspect [00:18:00] changes all that. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I and down here where I'm at, I'm going to pleasure hunt so you know, so much more, which everybody does. I say maybe dual and Ward and Weed and them and Joe, they're gonna go, to a lot more hunts Yeah.

Than I am. But I am going to do a lot more pleasure hunting than I am in the big hunts, because, which I do go to 'em, I've got the I've went to the black IP this year and done well and to the Franklin 5,000 entry and done well there. I have hit some bigger hunts this year, but for the majority of my stuff, I'm not.

I'm pleasure hunting, five nights a week and I'm not just listening to something every time. It's foot hits to ground barking. Yeah. Pleasure hunting. That's a big, that's been a big topic on the interwebs. This week is babbling dogs. And, I've got one right now. I'm hunting brandy.

I've tightened her up some she's still gonna bark way too much to suit me, but send her to me. Yeah, you wouldn't like her either. That's mud hole and [00:19:00] crazy skunk killing thing. I'll tell you what. But anyway I've had both, I've had dogs that duds open. You hunted with duds. He opened plenty, but brandy opens a lot.

Con didn't hardly say nothing. Rain didn't say much on the ground since the same wave. I've hunted 'em both ways. And when it comes to winning coon hunts, that babbling is not as big a deal as people think it is. If you just tree coons, man, that's all that matters. That's all. I mean it does help.

I will say, especially when, people strike 'em right off, to the le off the leash. And they'll run over there, they'll run half a mile before they ever even think about getting treeing tree of coon. I've also seen that babbling dog that's done that also hustle enough to go tree another coon or two to help itself out.

So in my mind I'm thinking yeah, it might've babbled, but it also tree coons behind itself to, to help that, babbling part out. Yeah. I do think the 90 minute casts and pkc, the major events are a, I hate 'em. Yeah. Think I mean That does kind favor a [00:20:00] Babylon dogs. Yes. I can't stand it.

Because Ring and Stick the dog I'm hunting out they need that extra 30 minutes. Yeah. It's just, they just need it. When they took that extra 30 minutes away from us it really put me in a jam with the kind of dogs I hunt, because they're more of a trailing type, gonna look for their type of coon, type dog.

And it just really put a, a little bit of a, damper on me. I still. Do good with 'em, don't get me wrong, but that extra 30 minutes, I'm thinking if I had another 30 minutes, what could have happened? We tailor these dogs to the rules and we have, ever since competition hunt started before me and you would probably ever even walk this earth.

And it's hard to do that when the rules change every 60 minutes, yeah, that's right. And that's right. Somebody gets upset and here we go with a rule change. Yeah. It's just like the leash lock, and I was. I'm not gonna say instrumental, but I was one of the loud voices against the leash lock, and then we get rid of it and it all passes and [00:21:00] next thing two months later it's gone. And we're back to having a leash lock and we still have 90 minute casts. And I love Roger Dale. He gets mad at me all the time when he goes, every time I listen to your podcast, you just run me down.

We're not doing that. Roger Dale. No. Not running you down. Just listen to us a little bit. Rd. Yes, exactly. No, if, my thing is, if we're gonna do the 90 minutes, there needs to be no leash lock. That. It is just, it. I hunt, Hey, if we're losing hunting ground, I understand. I mean it, we compared to up north, down here I live In the, so I had, I built this house, last year, and my father-in-law owned 650 acres and I built right in the middle of it.

So I'm I'm able to hunt 650 acres plus the land next to me, which is about 1100. I'm blessed to be able to go out my back door and cut a dog loose. But that being said, there are places, around here and around up north that aren't this big. Up north this would be huge, and I do know there are places that are losing hunting ground, and if that's the case, and we do have to [00:22:00] go to the 90 minutes and stay at the 90 minutes we do need to make it no le lock, in my opinion, just because of that babbling dog, or, a break. At the super steaks this year I stayed on the leash for I think 40 minutes on Tuesday night.

I mean it, I couldn't do nothing for, 40 minutes. Yeah. And, that was one of the reasons. In the long run, the leash lock is going to get us dogs that are not so wild. They're not, spread apart. Maybe they'll tree together a little bit because the name of the game is to win.

It always has been. And then with no leash lock a dog that'll cover out of the truck, maybe cover one other coon and tree its own is gonna win a good vast majority of the time with the leash lock on, three dogs pile into one tree and they're all struck for, 50, 75 and a quarter will that dog that's struck for a hundred that floats through there two miles and gets treated and l locks 'em all up till he gets there.

And now you're in a big deficit with less time to do anything with. Yes, sir. And I was at [00:23:00] that deal. I went to Louisiana to a pro classic this past weekend. And talking about a dog, not saying nothing bad about the guy's dog by any means, but I cut loose, I strike for a hundred tree for a hundred, I got a cone.

She comes and backs me for 50. She struck for 50. We pull off of there. She, another dog's working a track. She goes over there in trees and the dog that just got off the tree with me pulls over there and trees another, trees with that dog for 75. Yeah. To me, those dogs like that are just so hard to beat.

Yeah. And it's. It aggravates me to know when, but in my head I'm like, Hey, if that's what that guy likes to hunt, there's nothing I can say because, that's his dog and that's how he, likes to hunt maybe. And that's totally up to him. Yeah. And that's totally fine. But in my head I'm hating to lose like that.

But hey, it's coon hunting. It's part of it. You gotta take your medicine and go one thing about those dogs like that they're gonna back a slick, they're gonna back a possum, they're gonna back a lot of things, just to back to and they're gonna get in trouble. But, you get in [00:24:00] a coon tree in contest with a bunch of coon dogs, they're hard to beat.

The trick is getting one that'll back a coon and nothing else. I wish that she would've went and backed on a possum or a slick, but she didn't, she drew a bunch of coon dogs is what she did. Yeah. Mine did mine, tree that coon, and then he wanted to mess around the rest of the cast.

Yeah. He just, I blame it on him. I was telling my buddy on the way home, Hey I tree a coon, outta the truck. Yeah. That's great. And he looked good doing it, but he had 40 minutes to go tree another coon. Yeah. I said he should've treated another one.

That's his fault for not getting it done, not mine. Yeah, no, I agree. That's enough rule rant, Colin. So let's yeah. Let's go back, let's go back to dogs. You borrowed list. Yeah. No kidding. You got you got ring bought, hey, and you gave a good chunk of change for him, but that was the dog it sounds like to me, that you wanted this whole time.

It was, absolutely. I had, like I said, I had my eye on him from, the first minute that I drew him in the, in a hunt. Yeah. And then did you [00:25:00] immediately go to Winn's ring or did you guys have a feeling out process with the new handler, new owner knew all that stuff. So let me tell you.

I spent the 5,000 on him. And I buy this dog in about a week into it. I call the guy that owns him. I'm like, Hey man, this dog's not working out. He don't wanna go hunting for me. He just, he was a, at that time, I guess he had never been nowhere but Cody's house. And I'm like, man, is there anything that I can do to get this dog back to you?

And, he gives me the old one-liner. I've already spent that money. Yeah. I'm like, okay, that's fine. I'm gonna keep him. It took about I'm gonna say probably a good month. He would run in tree coons, but not like I seen him doing these hunts, yeah. And it took me a good month for him to get used to me and me going out there every day and, loving on him and petting on him. And this dog is not a shy dog by no means, but he just had to know that. Hey, I've never been to this guy's house before. He's not gonna go out here and kill me.

Yeah. It took me a good month, but yes, there was a [00:26:00] little that about a month, that 30 day, trial, I guess you would say between me and him that I wanted to pinch his head off of many a times. And, that kind of surprises me too, cuz rings won with multiple handlers. You've let other people handle ring a lot of times for you while you've been hunting something else.

And the dog's done well and looked good, but he probably was he staying at their house at any of that time or was he always at your house? Yes he did. I would, so do Chad Dolan would take him. Cuz I had, just the way my work schedule was national, it was always out for me.

And he would take him to the National storm and he'd win a couple early rounds and just get beat late. Then he took him to the truck hunt for me. I got a truck ticket with him. He got him in the top 16 of the truck hunt. Just couldn't get it done. Joe as chance chance Lynch has hunted him John, this buddy of mine that is just now getting into it.

Ring turned 12 a few days ago and I've been letting John hunting cuz he's, he's starting to learn and he wanted a good dog and to, I said, Hey. I said, we'll make you a good [00:27:00] dog. I said, until then you need to learn where a dog get is just gonna run striking tree coons and be by himself.

So all the hard part is out of it for you. It's just easy. And man, I didn't think that ring, he hadn't been outta the pen since. The lone Star and we pulled him out of the pen and I hunted him a few nights before the lone Star, cuz I thought I was gonna go up there and, maybe hunt him, go a few nights up there and yeah.

Anyway, John takes him and he starts hunting him and he's man, I really like this dog. He trees a lot of coons. I said let's go put him in the hunt. Before I know it, John's done won a thousand dollars this year and with this dog, and I'm like heck, I'm over here struggling to win cast sometimes and rings over there.

John's got ring winning cast. I'm like, why don't you get my dog back, man. Yeah, no kidding. That's hard too. When you think a dog's, it ain't like rings retired. You've been hunting him. You was, you just got him in, didn't you get him in at the black ip? You was hunting him down there, wasn't you?

Or was you hunting that pup out of him? I was hunting stick at hunting. Was hunting. Yeah. You stick when? When's the, because I seen you get ringy in [00:28:00] here last winter sometime, somewhere. Yeah, I did. I got him in I got him in at Cleveland, like a little pro classic bear. Yeah, that's what I was thinking probably.

Yeah. Yeah. And then, stick really started coming along, so I really just put him on the back burner and every time I show up somewhere, with him, everybody's I thought you said he was retired because the last hunt I put him in every time I go. This is his last one, boys. Yeah, this is the last one.

Show up to another. I thought you said that was his last one. I was this might be it, but it just hard to get off bulldog. It's hard whenever you're starting that you not that you're starting sticks more quite a bit too, but you got stick and then, you've got a consistent castin sitting right over there in the kennel that doesn't take a whole bunch of hunting through the week.

You know him like the back of your hand. You've been around him for dang near a decade. So it is hard to take a different dog when you wanna win. It is, and I bought that dog when I bought him. He was a gr he finished out to a grand night before he was two. And I do, commend, and give Cody all the credit for that part.

But he was, at a [00:29:00] two year old pup, he was still so green, yeah. In a lot of ways I took him, he had a, he was a Grand Knight and he had I think $110 on him whenever I bought him. Cuz Cody didn't do much pkc hunting. Yeah. And now, he's, of course he's a Grand Knight. And I think if I'm not mistaken, I'd have to go or call.

But I think with John putting that thousand probably on him, he's probably won about 25,000 now. I've won. And that's, that's that's a lot of hard hunting. That's not these big hunts and stuff like that. His biggest win came down there in Buffalo that year that we held that the one that Jed put on down there.

Yeah. Yeah. And the shootout. Yeah. The shootout. Yep. And that was his biggest win that I won with him. That was a $5,000 win right there. Yeah. Yeah, everything else has been, little small pro plastics now that they're starting, and then a hundred dollars entry or or $50 entries and, little added purses.

Yeah. When did cuz you know, he, I'll tell you what he reminds me, and we talked [00:30:00] about magic earlier and I was there when Magic made Platinum Champion that night. He beat old duds over at the Lone Star. Yeah. He knocked me out. Yeah. He got in and I, what'd he have? He just had three and a quarter or something like that.

It was a real rough night. Sucker had 175 plus and I had 175 plus and he had 200 circles. Yeah, he did have 200 circle out of the truck that, that was when duds climbed that tree. Oh yeah, duds was up the tree and I was getting him handled when they went over there to score that circle tree. And then we recut.

Yeah, recut. And he got struck for 75 and treed that coon for a hundred. That's what it was. Y'all were, y'all were the last cast to come in. Cuz then I'm I'm in my head going, I should get in. There's one more cast out. And then I asked Joe, I said, what'd you have? And he said, I had 175. I said, me too.

He goes, but I had 200 circles. What'd you have? I said, not 200 circles. And he goes platinum. And I was proud for him. Yeah. He was so excited. That old goal. When I think of Magic and Ring, they got a similar career trajectory as far as they [00:31:00] took magic. Never had a bunch of huge wins where he was bringing home 10, 12 grand at a time or nothing like that.

And Ring was the same way. It just seemed you guys went to a lot of hunts and you won a lot of money. But it was a lot of cast wins. A lot of cast wins. Them poor dogs. If, they're, if they could talk and tell you how many miles are on their, little legs and feet, on and just the competition side of it to win.

I think magic probably ended up with about 20 to 21,000, if I'm not mistaken. He might have been a little bit more, but rang at 24, 20 5,000. That takes a lot to win that. Yeah. A hundred, $110 at a time. Yeah. $110 at a time. And like I said, a few little here and there, added purses, at the Lone Star, he would always show out at the Lone Star, but really it's just one of them things that like, man, that's a lot of hunting and not a lot of money won. If you look at it now. You could win that in one night. Yeah, exactly. What about his pups? When did you get your first set of ring pups and [00:32:00] when did they hit the ground?

I Are you using OnX maps while you're out running your Hounds? I know, I do. There are all kinds of features within OnX in that app that allows me to mark den trees. It allows me to mark terrain features. It keeps me from floating my hat on those deep stream so I can mark those shallow places where I can cross streams.

I use it all the time, whether I'm east or west, and the east property is chopped up into smaller chunks. And when a dog gets through the country, I can actually look on OnX, dial it in, see who owns that property and plan my route. In and out of there to retrieve my hound. When I'm hunting in the west, same thing.

All the terrain features are included on OnX maps and I can plan my route. I don't always have a choice of where my hounds end up, but I can always depend on OnX to get me in and out of there as quickly and as easily [00:33:00] as possible. You can save 20% on your next purchase at OnX when you go to OnX maps.com.

And at checkout you enter the code H X P 20, you'll get 20% off of your next subscription when you go to houseman xp.com. Click on the sponsor tab and join us on Patreon. You will receive a code to get 30% off of your next subscription of OnX. Know where you stand with OnX when I had got him, Cody had already bred him cuz you know, And he had bred him to a female.

And so he had one, one living pup out of him. But when I had got him, I'd realized, Hey, this is the kind of dog that could, as a coon dog, this is what I've been looking for. I think this dog is what everybody would want in a dog. So I'm on breeding. A lot of people pick on him because he is little, he, yeah.

50 pounds soaking wet. And that probably has stirred, I do [00:34:00] know a lot of people have taught me, and talked to me about him man, if he was a little bit bigger, I'd breed to him, but I'm just scared that, he'll throw that in his pups, which it never bothered me. And I was telling that buddy of mine, John maybe today or yesterday, I really, truly believe Ring has held up so well.

And acts still like a two year old because of the size he is. Yeah. If, to me, if he was a big 80, 90 pound dog, I don't think that he would be able to withhold and withstand what, just, like I said, going to a hunt last weekend with him and so to me he's just, he's a little bitch on the short side.

But that had de deterred a lot of people from, breeding to him. But it never did me. So a buddy of mine that lived right down the road, he had a female and she was pretty, she was pretty nice. He said I'll tell you what, let's make that cross and let's make this cross. And said what we get.

And I said, okay. So we did. And I ended up getting eight puppies outta that litter. And we all sent [00:35:00] 'em, they scattered out, everybody wanted one, so they all got scattered out. I got one that wasn't running Tree. Everybody else just seemed like they wanted to start good. And every, mine's over there looking at a coon I don't know what this thing is and I'm scared to death of it.

And I'm like, that's about right. So anyway, Willie ended up with one and he called him banjo. He was telling me how trashy this puppy was. How you know he'll run everything with, four legs and a tail. I said heck, let me have him. And anyway, the puppy that I had at the time, I said, you know what?

I got a puppy. I'm not gonna worry about it. I'm just gonna try to hunt him. I got him running trim. So I told Willie, I said, look, just sell him. I'll help you sell him. I ain't got time for him. And so anyway, I helped Willie sell this dog. So I'm hunting mine. And anyway, this guy calls me that he's sold him to, and he says, Hey man I got this pup and I'm just wondering if you would be interested in [00:36:00] buying him back.

I said I don't know nothing about him. You know what is he, I know he is outta ring, what kind of dog is he? He's a good strike dog gonna be by himself. Tells me all this line of stuff that, everything you want to hear, especially being outta your dog. Yeah.

And I'm like, man, absolutely. How much do you want for him? And and I don't even remember the price, but I was, we were in a group text and I was texting I think it was like me, Jason, k clm, Caldwell, Joe, a bunch of us Clint Burger. Yeah. We were all in a group text with clm, text me out of the blue.

He said, Hey, I wanna buy that dog. And so anyway, I get CLM hooked up with this guy on this dog. He gets him down here clam starts calling him tough. And so anyway, at this point, clams got him for about two weeks. Same thing. Clam called duty. So trashy, I'm going, he's probably not gonna make it around my house.

He might not eat a boat, another bowl of dog feed. And I said let me take him, see if I can do anything with him. [00:37:00] So anyway, I take him, same thing. The guy that told me all the stuff that you want to hear about your dog, that he's running a tree and he is doing good. None of that was true.

I were you surprised though? Because every time someone calls me with a dog for sale, they start telling me how good it is. I immediately don't believe him. Oh, just almost hang up the phone on him. I do, but so we're sitting there and clams yeah, I'll meet you with him. So I meet clam with him.

And anyway, I get this dog and he's doing the same thing. Clams telling, man, he'll run anything. He'll treat possums, he'll do it all. And I'm like, so about, I guess it was one of his last nights that I had made my mind up like, dude, you better get it together, or you're about to go meet Jesus. I'm sitting there and I take him to a feeder and he just runs over there and falls Tree.

I'm like, man, he's treated something and maybe it's a possum. I don't know. I go over [00:38:00] there and he's got a coon in the next tree. He's missed this coon. But I'm excited that this puppy even, wanted a tree of coon. So I shoot the coon out. Yeah. And it was like a light switch. I would've shot that coon out too.

It was. And I did, and it, like I said, a light switch flipped on this dog, and from then on he just turned into. Josh. A lot of people don't believe me when I tell, but this, and I've hunted in a lot of these hunts. But he is by far, and I've got a two year old and stick right now, but he is by far the best two year old that I've ever seen.

Go coon hunting. He turned into a freak. We didn't put, so I called clam and I tell him what happened and clams like, Hey, let's just go in partners with him. I said, Hey, sounds good to me. So couldn't ask for a better partner. And Jason. Yeah, we and super good guy on that. We, we'd go to a hunt, we'd split it, whatever it would be.

He was great. We go to [00:39:00] the Texas state hunt, U K C, Texas State Hunt. He's 13 months, 14 months old or something like that at the time. Goes up there and wins it. And I'm like, flute deal. And that's crazy. He wins the U KC state hunt. Bunch of dogs there. Yeah. I I'm, so that was his first kind of big win, that I thought hey, he's all right.

But maybe he just got lucky. Then all of a sudden I start putting him in these u pkc hunts, and he still starts, demolishing these dogs that, he would just, tree coons were, a lot of coons would, a lot of dogs were run by. And anyhow, so I take him to these super steaks.

Actually we had him qualified to go to the nationals and he ended up getting cut on a cast one night by a hog. He was treed on a tree at first and first on it. I have this coon. I win the hunt, he's treated, we're walking to him, and all of a sudden I hear him boo. I'm like, man, what was that? And I see him get down off the Garmin and he starts to come to me and I'm like, man, this dog don't ever come to me.

Anyway, he [00:40:00] goes, and trees another coon I go to look at him and he's got a big hole in his gut a hog and run by, I guess he had stirred up a pack of hogs and it cut him. So we missed the nationals with him that year and we had to lay him up a little bit. So I get him over there to the right after that, super stakes is coming around.

And we end up doing really good at the super stakes. Got him in the final seven. I tell people how bad my luck is, there was a final seven, everybody draws heads up. I draw the three dog. Yeah. That's just my luck on how that kind of stuff goes. Knowing what I know now as a handler, I should have struck the dog for a hundred, but I was scared.

I'd never been that deep in a hunt in that kind of, a big hunt like that. Yeah. He leaves out of there screaming and I'm like, man, I ain't striking him because if I do and he shuts up, I'm gonna be in a bind and I'm already, I'm gonna be sitting, with a hundred pump right out of the truck.

So anyway, I strike him for 50 they end up their tow dogs bark Tracy Thompson. And oh shoot. Who else was on that cast with me? Tracy and Bobby Burton. Yeah. And man, their [00:41:00] dogs go to screaming out there, ba bam, strip strike. I'm like I guess strike me now. I could have toed the hundred all along.

But anyway, I get beat and come back home and put him in the another U K C state championship hunt. This is the following year and win it. So he's a two time Texas state champion. He's done one right around 7,000 and this dog has not been put in a whole lot of hunts. Yeah. And he end up dying of, I think what happened, I went out there one night, I treat four singles with him, come home and he just goes to raising cane in the pen.

I'm what in the world? I go out there and his gut is bloated up in his chest and it has collapsed his lung. Yeah. And so anyway, I ended had to put him down and all that stuff. So it was just a bad deal. But that was my first pup outer ring that really. Done something for me and real, made me realize that this dog really can reproduce.

What about stick? How did you come about him? So I, Wayland Pearson Van owned Bella. His mama, they had got her from [00:42:00] Steven Dunn up in Arkansas. And I was actually talking to Steven about that at the super steaks this year. He was wondering about her and Waylan and van said, Hey, I'd like to get a pup outta ring, let me I got this G right here.

Would you want to breed her? And I'm like, absolutely, I'll breed her. And she's out of Z three and Brendan Tony's old Homer dog's dad. Yeah. And so anyway, I get her I breed her. She was really a nice little coon dog. She'd done a lot of good things for me whenever I was hunting her, letting ring, just relax.

And, I was kind, he was semi-retired, but I was semi still pouting because. Tough is dead. I don't have another dog. Yeah. But anyhow I get up Bella and start hunting her. She has these puppies and I think she had five or six of them and their stick. So I ended up selling stick actually, when he was just a little old puppy to Lake and Reynolds and the dog that I had kept, the puppy, I kept out of it.

He had got Parvo and I said he didn't [00:43:00] make it. So I begged Laken for this puppy back thinking, man, I need to get a puppy cuz this might be one of the last ones at this time I'm thinking outer ring. He's getting old and I just need to find something out of him. And anyway, she ends up being nice enough and selling him back to me.

So I end up getting back and so he'd been at my house since he has been about. Four months old and now we've won I guess about 19,000, right around 19,000. And he's a night champion, so he's just, he's been a little blessing to me too. Yeah. How old is Sticks now? He will be three in June. Are you gonna raise any letters outta him?

Probably not. I'm, he's not what, he is a nice dog and he's by himself. The one thing I don't like about Sticks sometimes is he's hit or miss on his strike. And, he's my dog. I'll talk about him all day, and a lot of people might talk about him anyway, but one minute he might strike, like the other night he strikes for a hundred, and [00:44:00] then there's some nights he strikes for 50.

And I'm like, where, he's inconsistent sometimes getting struck good to me. And I'm, the way some of the things that he does that ring don't do. I don't like, and I'm like, I don't know if I'd ever breed him. A lot of, some people have asked me, would you breed stick? And I'm like, man, I just don't know if I would or not, and to sit back and think, I'm like that would be another, that would just carry on the little, the ring name, then I get to thinking maybe I would breed one female. I'm up in the air about it, Josh, but if I do, he'll be 7, 6, 7, 8 years old before I ever even think about putting him on a female.

Yeah. How many pups are out there out of ring? I called the other day and there are 80 pups showing outta him. And if I was a betting man, like me and Joe told you when we'd done our last podcast, I would bet there probably aren't but 15 maybe, that are alive outta all that 80. That's just like [00:45:00] traitor when it shows he is got 40 some pups and by the t2, got blasto quick, fell out of a tree, couple of them got run over.

The one that litter mate sister to descent and shock and them that I raised, she gets outta the kennel one day and we lose, and there ain't but probably 20 pups outta traitor that we ever made it to adulthood. When he, we were hunting these dogs like we're hunting them. It's hard to keep 'em all alive.

I could promise you. Oh. I've had more people call me. Hey he got snake bidder. Hey, he got outta the pen and got ran over, Tufts litter mate? Really nice little dog named Stack. I actually owned a little him for a little bit too and then I sold him. Guy calls me one day and all upset and I'm like, what's wrong man?

He is man, he says, stack got run over. I'm like I'm in my head thinking that ain't nothing new with these ring puppies. They're a road magnet or a snake bite magnet and something has killed them. That's the thing, when you throw a hard going dogs, they're constantly in trouble.

That's right. Constantly in trouble. That's right. Especially the trader stuff that [00:46:00] don't ever come to you when you call it, Hey, that makes it nice when you call and they just look at it and just get further. Yeah, that's right. But but yeah, it shows that he is got I think 80 and yeah, like I said, maybe 20 something or if that, I would be willing to be if that or alive.

Like I said, I made Stick The Night Champion. There's a pup out down here out of him right now. He's won about 2,500 and he's a Grand Knight. Charles Wood has won. That's won. She doubled up at the super steaks a couple years ago. She she's a night champion working her way towards the grand there there's a few down here.

All in all, if these guys would have hunted these, puppies out of him, there's no telling what this little dog could have probably thrown. I tell people a lot, he's to, in my eyes, One of the most underrated stud dogs. I'm not even considering him a stud dog cause that's not what he is, but because I just bred a few females, the puppies that are, the females that he has bred, there's always [00:47:00] been two or three out of that litter that has just been exceptional, and the exceptional ones end up getting ran over and the other ones that don't make nothing could get out in the road and play in the road and 18 wheelers pass by and nothing happened to them. Yeah. It'll swerve them and run into your kennels and kill your good ones. Hey, can't, Kay.

That's exactly right. You can't kill a sorry one. I don't care what you do, but that one gets over there and sniffing a track by the side of the road. A guy sneeze and run off the road and hit it. Yeah. That's one of the reasons I was asking that is cuz if you don't breed sticks, what are the odds are you getting a grand pup to ring?

If there's not a, if there's not a whole bunch of 'em available, So I had talked to and there's not really, so I talked to a guy, d Wilkerson has boogie him and Tyler Phillips on him together now. And I could get one out of Boogie. But my next thing is I wanted a grand pup off of him out of a, I wanted to get a good female off the ring.

And there is a couple, Charles has a nice one[00:48:00] Glen TAs up north. He has a really nice female, she just hadn't been putting a whole lot of hunts. And I was thinking about, breeding her to either goose or to rodeo or something like that. Something hot right now. And getting me a good pup off of that and saying here's my next generation of rain.

But I have not hunted any, I've hunted nothing but a ring dog since I've bought Ring 10 years ago. And he has blessed me. He's paid a Minia truck note for me, a car note, house note all this good stuff and I've. Been able to hunt puppies outta him that's been able to do the same thing.

Yeah. The old man, which, I just buried duds last week and yeah, he was so aggravating and all you hunted with him, he had all that talent, but he was just aggravated me to death. And every time I'd see him and I'd think, I'm really not gonna feel bad when that dog dies. But he did and I did feel bad.

It's not just the hunts that they win or all that stuff, but if [00:49:00] it wasn't for duds, I never would've met Finley. I never would be down here at camp in East Texas. So many, to make with 'em though. Exactly. And it's just they do change your life and it sounds like Ring has changed yours for the better and it's hard to keep it going.

We're five generations off Skipper now, but I'm in the same situation you are with Con only having one litter on the ground and one male up alive. And I'm thinking do I want to breed him again and keep that going or do I want to go a different direction? And, it's difficult sometimes, but you gotta, you just got a deep appreciation for 'em, especially when they get the age and ring.

It is. And and when I bred this female, the other, yesterday I was in my head going, thinking in my head why he's, I'm waiting on him to get done. I'm thinking, this is probably it, bud you better, you might as well enjoy it. Cuz this is probably, one or two more.

I've got another guy gonna breed another one when she comes in. Heck, that might be next year and I might have to use a straw that's steaming, yeah. But like I said, I really do. Because I know what kind of dog. He's not the [00:50:00] best dog in the world. I've been beat by some of the sars and I've beat some of the wor some of the best he's been good to me.

And, like I said about that other guy earlier, we will hunt what we like. And I like him and I like what he, has done for me. And and. That being said, what you talked about with does how many people I've met just along the way with him. Yeah. I never would've, considered Joe Manning my best friend and, met Chad Dolan or Met Chance Lynch and, all these guys that have hunted him and met all these people along the way if it wasn't for, buying ring at the time.

Yep. He just put me in a different position of where I was when I started out hunting and that's, that's where I wanna stay at. And with his pups, I wanna keep doing the same thing. I hope you do, Chris, and I wish you continued success with sticks and Ring, and I hope you get, I think you should breed sticks even if he's not exactly perfect.

I know we're always looking for perfection and you're looking for that, rule or that meter [00:51:00] stick when it comes to, his daddy and stuff, but there ain't nothing wrong with stick, and I think he'd reproduce just fine as well. And I do too. And I talk to, I've talked to people about it, and like I said, there's nothing wrong with this dog.

I, I'm my dog's biggest critics really in a way, when I think they should do this and I think they should do that, and they don't do it. Willie West told me a long time ago, he said, they're not robots brother. He said, we want this out of 'em, but that don't mean that they're gonna be able to do it every night.

Just because it's dark don't mean it's a good night of coon hunting. Yep. And I said, you're right. The way Stick is bred, he has bred, you can't beat his breeding and he's got a good mouth. He's got, he's got the drive. He, he's got the coons when he trees, he's go, just everything about him.

He's got the looks, he's got the size, heck, he probably weighs 70 pounds Yeah. Compared to rings 50, yeah. He probably would reproduce and I probably will, eventually, like I said, breeding, but it's gonna be no time soon cuz I still do have seven breedings off a ring and I'm not just gonna burn 'em up within the first year or [00:52:00] two to get a pup off of him.

But I'll always have that to fall back. But I do, I probably will bring him down the line, but no time soon. All right, Chris, let's wrap her up. Thank you for joining me and taking the time to do this too. And maybe next time you get up to camp, we can do a little hunting next time I'm around.

But this will be the latest in the summer. Earliest in the summer or so. Any, I ain't coming back till it gets cold. I'll just say that. Hey, just on down here, the other night we've got all that rain and I counted three alligators down here in this creek that runs by my house. Come on down here and we'll hunt and, have a good time.

I don't care about the alligators and the snakes don't bother me, but I ain't dealing with these mosquitoes at 90 degrees no more. Hey, Josh. Look here. I was tell, I know we're wrapping up, but I, we've probably got, and it's been dry this past week, thank God, but the week before, the two weeks before, we have probably gotten 10 to maybe 10 to 12 inches of rain just down here at my house.

And when you get in them woods, It's, you can't even, you gotta cover your [00:53:00] nose, your e they're just all over you. Yeah. The mosquitoes are terrible right now. And I hate putting off on more than anybody in the world, cuz it seems like you put it on and you're instantly sweating the death.

But right now I have started putting it on because I don't want the West Nile. Yeah. I don't want it either. I've bet down here for a couple nights we hog hunted. We ain't cooing on it yet. We're gonna go tonight. Ain't Bobby's coming over, but I'm not looking forward to it. It was still, it just snowed on us a couple weeks ago at the house.

I wish y'all would send some of that down here. Yeah. It's just such a difference from up there to up down here, with the hunting and with the mosquitoes and the we talk about it all the time. Where's always a big argument over the internet, hunting the south, hunting the north.

Yep. But yeah, right now the mosquitoes and y'all, where you're at, y'all really don't have the gators right now. Like I do down here. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm an hour and 40 minutes from you, but they are thick down here. Yeah. See, we got a little four footer right down here below camp. But he's just a pet.

Yeah. I was gonna [00:54:00] say, he's a cute, he's a cute little, he's just a pet. He might be able to swallow a little brandy, but I think he'd have a hard time with angels, so I ain't too worried. I hear you. Yeah. Y'all kill all them hogs and you kill all the mosquitoes while you're at it. All right, Chris.

Hey, thanks for joining me, buddy. We'll get together and we'll have a hunt soon. Yes, sir. I sure appreciate it. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, that is Mr. Chris Collins and this is the Homan XP Podcast Network. We thank you for listening.