Starr is owned by Mark Alford, KY
10/22/02
12/7/02
������� Gr. Nt. Ch. 'PR' Combs and Smith's Smokey
������������� 'PR'� Sowder's Ruby
��� Ch. Nt. Ch. 'PR' Lovers Lane Ramblin Moon
������������ Gr. Nt. Ch. Ch. 'PR' Greene's Piney Cr. Cash
������� Ch. Gr. Nt. Ch. 'PR' Lampman's Ramblin Angie
������������Broatch's Amy Sue
'PR' Moon's Blackwater Starr (UKC & PKC SS paid up, DNA VIP Eligible, born 8/17/01
������������ Gr. Nt. Ch. 'PR' Combs and Smith's Smokey
������� Gr. Nt. Ch. 'PR' Chenoweth's Smokey II
������������ Nt. Ch. 'PR' Goodlett's Sugar
�� Nt. Ch. 'PR'� Smokey's Ragin' Ruby
������������ Nt. Ch. 'PR' Markham's Black Smokey (C&S SmokeyXScaggs Queen)
������� Nt. Ch. Ch. 'PR' Collins' Smokin' Queen
������������� 'PR' Markham's Ragin' Starr (grandaughter of Umpher's Ragin' Black Hoss,
��������������������������� Logan's Black Sally, Eads Go Riney, and Sowder's Ruby)
Pups' progress:
12/7/01: These pups have played with a coonhide with Dixie showing a little more desire to tree on it. They both have barked and played with the housecat with Dixie actually treeing on it.
Tonight, I came in from hunting with some other fellows and we were doing some paperwork on the tailgate. Dixie was jumping on the side of my pickup, barking. I thought she was barking at the dogs in the dog box so I smacked her down a few times but she wouldn't quit and just went to the other side of the truck. Finally, I got one of the dogs out of the box, thinking that would shut her up, but she completely ignored the dog. Thats when I remembered there was a dead coon in the back of my truck. I asked one of the guys to throw the coon out on the ground. He did, and Dixie jumped on it and woolled it around. I was amazed a pup this young (4mos.) would bark at a coon strictly by scent with no track and only scent through the air.
1/8/02: I finally had a chance to show these pups a coon. They were a little suprised at this "coonhide" but they were both soon barking at it pretty good. I drug it around some and that fired them up. Dixie will get pretty close to it and Starr will stand back about 10 ft.
1/9/02: I laid a very short drag trail with the coon and put it in a tree. Dixie soon found it and treed on it. Starr wasn't quite as focused on it. I drug the cage around some and got Ruby in on the action. With Ruby slobbering up, Dixie got a lot braver and was slobbering and barking as well. Again, Starr was content to stand back a few feet and click 'em off.
1/10/02: Laid another drag trail with this one being a little longer than before. Dixie had no problem finding it and was treed by the time I got there. Starr was a little more laid back about it but did bark at it.
1/11/02: The pups got to see a coon leave out. I had Dixie tied and held Starr. When the coon got 20 ft. away, Starr got away from me and ran right up to the coon. The coon growled and snapped at her but, luckily, didn't get ahold of her. The coon went into a thicket and I was afraid he might be laying on the ground so I penned both pups up for 20-30 minutes to give the coon a chance to climb. I turned them loose and both went back to where they last saw the coon and both did an excellent job of using their noses figuring out where he went. Not knowing where the coon was, I saw Starr get up on a tree and whine and then come to me. The tree was empty. Then, Dixie went to the same tree and started treeing. I thought this tree deserved another look and sure enough the coon was about 8 ft. off the ground, on the opposite side from me. Dixie treed pretty good and Starr even chimed in some. I poked the coon with a stick and made him growl and that fired the pups up even more.
2/7/02: I live right next to about 25 acres of rabbit heaven and I have a beagle that lives to run rabbits. So, needless to say, this beagle is giving rabbits fits most of the time. I've found that sooner or later most hound pups will go with him. I feel like this gives them an opportunity to use their nose and learn about tracking in a way that will not be too harmful for their future purpose. In the last couple days, Starr has gone with the Beagle and I'm amazed at the speed she shows. She has also opened on rabbit tracks some. I've never had a dog run rabbits at night, but I'm beginning to think Starr needs her freedom curtailed some. Dixie has also gone with the beagle and I've heard her open some, too, but not to the extent that Starr has.
2/12/12: I let the pups see a coon and then they saw a coon run off. I waited 5 minutes and then released the pups. They took after him and in a few minutes and about 200 yards away, I heard Dixie locating, shutting up, and locating again. I took Ruby on a leash and got to her and saw that she was paying alot of attention to a decent sized cedar that had limbs to the ground. She got to treeing on it after I got there but there was no coon. The coon was in a locust tree about 15 ft. away. I think the coon ran through the low limbs of the cedar and then went to the locust tree. I got Dixie on the right tree and she hammered it. All this time Starr was running all around and smelling the ground, trying to figure things out. I tied Starr and she got to barking pretty good. Dixie is ready for hunting at night and Starr is still showing some puppy. I believe Starr needs to mature another month or two and maybe be in on another "hot" coon.
2/15/02: I took Dixie hunting for the first time, with Lizzy. She fired right in there with Lizzy. She opened before Lizzy and I believe she was honest about it as Lizzy opened and they seemed to work a track on the other side of the creek. It got rough and Dixie came in. I walked in and she went back to Lizzy and continued to try to work this track. At that time I saw a coon up, right on the creek. They worked down the creek right past the coon. I didn't want them to go this way and they got close to a road, so I caught them up.
2/19/02: I've been turning Dixie and Starr loose when I get home from work and letting them run until dark, or sometimes all night. They've been getting kind of bad about going rabbit hunting with the Beagle and I probably need to put an end to this practice. This evening, Dixie was opening on her own track, quite a ways from where the Beagle was running. A short time later, she sounded like she was bayed or treed on the back side of my place. I got to her and she was bayed alright, with a skunk backed up in a low growing cedar. Starr started baying after I got there and she actually put her nose to the skunk. Surprisingly, they weren't sprayed that bad but I got them caught up and got out ot there, lol!
2/20/02: I took Dixie with Lizzy on her 2nd night in the woods. She hung with Lizzy on a bad track and opened some. When Lizzy located, Dixie opened and ran the track backwards. When I got her back to the tree, she started treeing without any encouragement from me. See picture above.
2/27/02: I turned these pups loose on another "hot" coon track that was about a minute old. They ran him about 1/4 mile through some woods and across a small creek and ended up in the only brushpile around. Thats not what I had in mind, but they did the best they could.
3/18/02: I took Starr for her first night in the woods. I took her with Ruby, her mother. The first dump, Starr went with Ruby a short ways, but came back. Ruby struck a track, worked it a short distance and treed. Starr had made a few attempts to get to Ruby and was at the tree when we got there. She got up on the tree, smelled, and whined, but didn't tree. Made another dump which turned out about the same except Starr didn't show much interest in the tree.
3/25/02: I turned both pups loose on a "hot" coon track which was less than a minute old. It was a small coon and it had already frosted for the night . The pups seemed to have a hard time with it and Dixie seemed to be able to drop her nose to the ground and work it. They weren't able to push it very hard and the coon made it to a brushpile. I found out my neighbor has several brushpiles.
3/25/02: Dixie has been sold to Jason and Allen Payne of North Carolina. Thanks, guys, I think you have a very good prospect!! Dixie will be staying with me until B&T Days.
4/1/02: Starr's 2nd night in the woods. Every time she has been cast, she has gone with the other dog(s), for a ways and came back. Tonight, for the first time, she stayed with the other dogs for the complete turnout. Unfortunately, the track ended with the other dog slick treed across a deep creek and I caught Starr up.
4/23/02: These pups have not been hunted right, but I did take Dixie last night. As always, she went hunting. They hit a bad track. Dixie opened some and they took it back towards a road that had more traffic than I expected. Dixie and Kate had crossed the road before I got them caught. Kind of a scare!
5/4/02: I delivered Dixie to Jason and Allen Payne at B&T Days in Flora IL. They have a website and are keeping a hunt long that can be accessed at http://www.xanga.com/home.asp?user=darkbart
5/7/02: I took Starr with her mother Ruby. Starr went with Ruby and came back. Ruby treed a small, lone kitten. Starr was smelling all around like she smelled other kittens, and she came into the tree and got up on it but didn't tree. I leashed her. I turned loose again and Starr went deep with Ruby. Ruby was working a bad track almost on the next road over and I caught them.
8/20/02: Starr's 15th night in the woods. She has been a little slower starting than some of the pups I've messed with, but the last couple nights she has been opening on about every track with Ruby and Lizzy. 2 nights ago, Starr was working a track and was not at the tree with Ruby and Lizzy. I took them back to the truck and Starr stuck with the track for 45 minutes or so. I'm fairly certain it was a coon. Tonight, she got on the wood and treed with the other dogs fairly good, for the first time. She still has a long ways to go, but she is showing signs of improvement.
8/24/02: Starr is in heat.
9/8/02: Starr's first hunt after being in heat, might be a little early, hehe. She opened on track with LIzzy on a couple turnouts but didn't tree to speak of. The third turnout she treed.
9/11/02: I took Starr with Lizzy and Spin. Made 4 dumps, 4 trees, saw coons in 3 of them. Starr treed pretty good on all 3 and seemed to get stronger on each one.
9/26/02: I took Starr with LIzzy and Spin. Dumped them in a cornfield, Starr got the strike and the race was on. Starr got to the tree first and I heard the nicest locate but she didn't quite nail it down until she got some backup. She treed good, afterwards.
10/22/02: Starr has been going hunting good. She treed good with Lizzy on one coon and was no where around on another coon.
11/22/02: Starr is going deep with Lizzy and getting on the wood and treeing every breath. I see alot of Moon in her but when I listen to her, she reminds me of her late Momma.
12/17/02: I took Starr with her half sister, Spin. Neither one is close to a finished dog but they treed 2 coon tonight. Spin got the tree on one, Starr got the tree on the other. They looked almost like a couple old dogs: no junk, went hunting, took their tracks as they came, and got treed with a coon.
12/27/02: Took Starr with Lizzy. She opened on track good with Lizzy on first coon but didn't tree until I got to the tree. 2nd dump was a bad track and she opened on it, along with LIzzy and hit the tree first and treed good, but it was slick. 3rd dump, they went about a mile and Lizzy just came treed, no track. Starr treed good on it with Lizzy, had the coon.
1/10/02: Mark Alford came up from KY and we went hunting. It was a bitterly cold night, that got down in the low teens. The first dump, they struck about 1/4 mile in and treed. The tree was either a slick or a den, I could just about make out a hole where a limb had broken off. We dumped again, and the dogs were gone a long time and went through an area where they can almost always strike. I called them in. Mark bought Starr, I wish him good luck with her, I think she is a nice prospect, that is improving every trip to the woods. Thanks, Mark.