In this episode, Steve talks with five hunters from as many states that came to hunt raccoons with hounds in the White River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas this year.   Hunters from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee are included in the conversations.

The episode offers more than three hours of content that collectively describe the hunts and the types of hunting the refuge offered this year.  Perhaps more so than any of the previous fourteen years Steve has hunted the White River Refuge, this year presented many challenges which are discussed in length in the episode.

Whether you take in the full volume of content at one time or carve it into bite-sized pieces to enjoy in coming days, you will enjoy meeting Billy Carter, Robert Cromer, Caleb Griffin, John Staib and Brandon Taylor as they tell their stories in our White River Recap 2004.  

We would like to thank those who support this podcast.  Special thanks to Alpha Dog Nutrition and Double U Hunting Supply for sponsoring this episode.  Want to learn more about Alpha Dog Nutrition? Check out the links below

https://www.dusupply.com/alphadog

www.dusupply.com

https://alphadognutrition.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@DoubleUHuntingSupply/podcasts

At the point of the recording, two nights of a four-night hunt have been accomplished.  The account of opening night; a date coon hunters universally look forward to all year long, is the tale of a young dog coming of age and the tale of his journey from pup to coon dog.

Each listener that keeps hounds and loves the outdoors will enjoy this podcast. The conversation will paint the picture of two friends, two hounds, a coon dog and a pup, in an amazing autumn setting that can only be experienced in depth by doing as Steve has done, by getting in the truck and putting nearly 1000 miles on the odometer before the hounds are released into the mountain air on an incredible opening night. 

We would like to thank those who support this podcast.  Special thanks to Alpha Dog Nutrition and Double U Hunting Supply for sponsoring this episode.  Want to learn more about Alpha Dog Nutrition? Check out the links below

https://www.dusupply.com/alphadog

www.dusupply.com

https://alphadognutrition.com/

This episode drops on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Steve extolls the joys of one of his favorite times of year as the episode opens.  Thanksgiving could well be called the hunter’s holiday since so much hunting activity routinely takes place on and around the traditional holiday.

Fellow podcast content creator Clayton Stark’s post on social media forms the basis for reflections by many members of the hound hunting community as they recall special memories.  Moreso than any other, Thanksgiving is a holiday for families; sumptuous meals, football games, recounts of family adventures combine to make the most, for some, enjoyable holiday of the year.

A phone call with Steve’s hunting buddy and frequent traveling companion Arnold “Nubbin” Moore rounds out the conversation as they discuss the upcoming annual trip to Arkansas and the White River National Wildlife Refuge. 

With this episode, Steve and Ella, as well as the crews at Double U Hunting Supply, Alpha Dog Nutrition and Zepp Predator Calls, send a collective “Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!”

This episode takes the listener to eastern Kentucky, land of our host’s roots and home of our guest Robbie Spears.

Spears is a coon hunting game warden with the rank of Lieutenant in the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, a coon hunting Mr. Green Jeans.

Robbie and Steve enjoy a conversation about their Kentucky roots, about Robbie’s lifelong desire to work outdoors, and spend a great deal of the episode talking about some successful English Coonhounds, his breed of choice.

Spears has done his share of winning in competition, placing sixth in the UKC World Championship and winning the Purina Outstanding Nite Hunt Coonhound race overall.

A good deal of the conversation centers upon the importance of passing the tree dog sports on to the kids, of which Robbie has two.  His outlook is interesting may present views the average houndsman has not considered before. 

And by the way, the coon hunter whose name Steve could not remember in the episode was Irvin Sutton, owner and handler of Dark Shadow Bobbie, a remarkable English coonhound in her day. 

This one is worth you time.

We would like to thank those who support this podcast.  Special thanks to Alpha Dog Nutrition and Double U Hunting Supply for sponsoring this episode.  Want to learn more about Alpha Dog Nutrition? Check out the links below

https://www.dusupply.com/alphadog

www.dusupply.com

https://alphadognutrition.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@DoubleUHuntingSupply/podcasts

What happens when an active raccoon and bear-hunting houndsman is faced with a debilitating injury at the onset of hunting season?  Does he become discouraged to the point of giving up or does he purpose to overcome adversity and forge into the future with a firm resolve? 

The subject of our episode this week personifies the latter. Mark Miller of Taylorsville, North Carolina is a houndsman in the prime of life, a guy that approaches hound hunting like a rookie fireman on his first five-alarm run.  His determination to take a green pup all the way to the Quadruple Grand level in the coonhound game is evidence of just how hard he goes at it. Unfortunately, Miller finds himself dealing lately with a severe back injury that so far is devoid of a clear long-term prognosis, a situation that would get a lesser man down.

Steve and Mark spend the duration of the podcast talking about Mark’s personal battle, about the hound that the two friends co-own and finally, about a new prospect that Steve hopes will follow in his sire’s footsteps. 

Despite the variety of subjects at hand, some with a serious degree of uncertainty, the friends manage to see light at the end of the tunnel in the upcoming Grand American and American Plott Association upcoming at the first of the year.   It’s an hour of the “dog talk at its finest” you’ve come to expect in this spot each week. Enjoy. 

In this episode, Steve records with Randy Smith of the famed Lone Pine Kennels in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, renown producers of world class Treeing Walkers  Steve recently spent seven nights hunting with Randy.   Randy’s son Troy and video and podcast content producer Clayton Stark of Stark Outdoors joined Steve and Randy on some of the hunts.

In what could also be described as “A Trip To The Lone Pine Museum” Steve questions Randy about several of the photos and paintings found hanging in the guest quarters and the answers are a walk through the annals of Lone Pine history. 

This episode is the next best thing to driving to western Pennsylvania and hunting with the Lone Pine hounds in person.  Enjoy. 

Fred Moran, a frequent guest to the Gone To The Dogs podcast, is eighty-seven years old.  The remarkable octogenarian coon hunter continues to hunt raccoons regularly with his beloved Redbones at an age well past the point most coon hunters have retired from the game.  Not only is Moran still hunting, he continues the pursuit of good hounds wherever they may be found.  In this episode he discusses going to Mississippi to try a new hound.   This is a vintage Fred Moran conversation that listeners have come to appreciate over the life of this podcast.  Enjoy. 

The Gone To The Dogs Podcast is nothing if not a gathering place for the nation’s best known and most revered raccoon hunters.

The week the podcast features a big helping of “Dog Talk At It’s Finest.”Steve brings one of the sports most respected and longest running breeders of Treeing Walker Coonhounds, the renown Jim “Wildman” Meeks to the Gone To The Dogs microphone.  Meeks, a first ballot inductee into the North Carolina State Coon Hunters Hall of Fame, is possessed of a wealth of knowledge all areas of the coon hunting game. 

This one literally oozes Old School coon hunting from the first drop to the final tree.  Steve and Jim discuss a gamut of subjects from hunting gear to pup training and a little of everything in between.  With hunting seasons upon us, this one is for the guys that do it simply for the love of the hounds, as told by one of the true purists in our sport. 

Jones describes first-hand what it’s like to see entire towns, bridges and highways swept away with no warning.  This frank conversation exposes the insensitivities of those outside the region and the shear hopelessness felt by citizens of the region, many of them hound people themselves.  

Jones describes the devastation and recounts the terrible tragedy as a fellow coon and bear hunter on a rescue mission with his boat is swept under a bridge and has not been seen.  It’s not the average feel-good episode but it does reveal the importance of living each day as if it is the last.

I felt it important to do this podcast at this particular time if for no other reason than to bring help and comfort to those that are so badly in need.  Jones emphasizes the importance of looking to those nearby that may need our help and doing what we can for them first.  It’s a sobering episode but one that we all need to hear at this very difficult time.

We would like to thank those who support this podcast.  Special thanks to Alpha Dog Nutrition and Double U Hunting Supply for sponsoring this episode.  Want to learn more about Alpha Dog Nutrition? Check out the links below

https://www.dusupply.com/alphadog

www.dusupply.com

https://alphadognutrition.com/

Georgia's Peach State Shootout winner Gregory Mitchell joins his father Greg Mitchell and event founder Caden Riley to discuss Gregory’s recent success in capturing the prestigious year-long coonhound series designed exclusively for youth hunters.

Riley was a guest in June of this year to discuss the event already in progress.   Barely out of the youth competition age group himself, Riley is the architect of the event which consisted of eight qualifying events across the State of Georgia with successful cast winners vying for one of the Top Nine spots in the final.

Listeners get the full account of the event from both the management and participant's perspective.  This is big league youth hunting at its finest and the listener will realize it from the opening bell until the final tree is scored.  Enjoy.