Smith and Strickland are profits of the Davis Doctrine every time they release their immitigable Lone Pine Lady female into the deep dark woods of a major coonhound competition hunt and they are fulfilling Davis’ commission on an incredibly frequent basis these days.

GONE TO THE DOGS PODCAST host Steve Fielder catches up with Smith and Strickland just a handful of days following Stickland and Lady’s mastery of the JOY Dog Food Super Hunt in Texas on the last weekend in February.   The trio talk about their hound, about John’s winning ways in competition and Smith’s prowess, and long- term success as one of coon hunting’s most dedicated and effective breeders.

If you want to know how the upper tier of the game operates, from selection of the breeding pair to cashing in at the payout window, this one will satisfy your every whim.   

Corey assumes the host role for a bit to quiz Steve on his recent trip to the UKC Winter Classic, a coonhound event that ranks high on each of their lists of favorite events to attend.  Corey is particularly interested in Steve’s reaction to his experience as one of three judges in the prestigious Top Ten show held for the past four years in conduction with the February event.  Corey served in the same capacity in the early days of the show. 

When the two friends get together there’s never a lack of material to explore and this one fills the bill as expected.  You will enjoy the conversation from the standpoint of a couple of guys that have participated in organized coon hunting on both sides of the entry desk.  It’s a good time as you will see.  

Steve and his buddy Nubbin Moore made the trip to Batesville, Mississippi for the 36th running of the prestigious event in early February.  This episode contains a collection of on-the-spot interviews with several of the events’ attendees that stopped by the Gone To The Dogs Podcast booth.  You’ll enjoy the interviews conducted at the booth located at centerstage in the massive Batesville Civic Center.  Surrounded by live sounds from the arena, it’s the next best thing to being there. 

The conversations span a wide category of subjects that will be worth your time.  Listen to one at a time or enjoy them all in one setting.  Either way, you’ll enjoy this visit to one of the coon hunting game’s most enjoyable events. 

In this episode Steve has a belated visit with Jim Meeks and Tom Gilroy which normally occurs at the annual Grand American Coon Hunt in Orangeburg..Jim is the founder and longtime curator of the Yadkin River strain of Treeing Walker hounds, known nationally for its contributions to coonhound history through several notable, well-advertised hounds.  Circumstances this year prevented the old friends’ annual reunion in Orangeburg and so Steve the pair to fill in the gap.  Listeners become the beneficiaries in the interesting exchange. 

Young Tom, soon to be 23, joins his mentor and longtime family friend Jim to discuss the Yadkin River dogs, past and present.   Steve takes the opportunity to drill down into several interesting points in the strain’s storied history.  Of particular interest to the host is the question of which trait or traits has carried down through the strain’s fifty-plus year history.  The questions of size and mouth within the strain are examples as is the question of Meeks’ favorite among the many famous hounds that have worn the Yadkin River name. 

Dog talk abounds in this two-plus hour episode.  Join us for answers to expected questions as well as those generated by the fluid conversations.  No doubt Walker enthusiasts will find this episode as gratifying as a fireside rocker on a crisp mid-winter evening.  Pull up to the fire and prepare to be warmed to the core by dog talk at its finest, cordial interactions that center upon the hounds of Yadkin River. 

It’s said that within every man there’s a ticking time bomb.  It manifests itself in a physical phenomenon we know as the dreaded heart attack.  In Steve’s years of experience, he’s known several hunters that experienced an attack that ended poorly for them.   Houndsmen are particularly vulnerable due to a number of factors.  Poor physical condition, due in part to the false sense that following hounds replaces regular cardio exercise is certainly a factor.   And, the fact that an attack may come when we are off the grid where rapid medical attention may mean the difference in a good and a not-so-good outcome.  In this episode, Steve relates his experience with an attack while participating in a competition hunt.  The information he shares may be helpful to anyone facing an attack in their future.

The episode also features a brief review of Steve’s choice in a new coon hunting light and finishes with a how-to session on beginning pup training.  Steve rides solo on this one and you’ll likely feel you’re in the truck with him on the ride to Batesville for the UKC Winter Classic which opens the week the episode drops.  All aboard!

Steve wrote an article about Wimp Aron that was published about five years ago in American Cooner magazine.  That article becomes the foundation upon which this episode is built and explores in detail the descriptions of Mr. Aron’s continuous line of Walker females, each bearing the name Queen and a Roman numeral to indicates its position in the long, long line of Skuna River hounds.

Recorded on the day of Mr. Aron’s funeral, Mark Sumrall and Ricky Campbell, longtime friends and hunting partners of Wimp’s, join Steve to discuss many personal aspects of Aron’s life including memories of hunts taken, conversations had at four AM, and Mr. Aron’s last wishes concerning the continuation of the Skuna River line.

This one is for everyone that knew Mr. Wimp and for all those that aspire to make an indelible mark for the good in coon hunting in the years to come.

Special guest Mike Sheppard and Heath Hyatt join in the conversation that includes several stories of their own experiences with Wickham.   Steve takes the opportunity to share Sheppard’s interesting story of his life as a coon and deer hunter, hunting guide and JOY Dog Food representative.   Hyatt previews coming episodes of his popular The Journey podcast as the longtime friends share stories of their experiences of hunting hounds together. 

Mike Sheppard sends a shoutout to Greg Morrison without whose help the hound Sharp Woody’s success would not have been possible.  Thanks Greg!

In this episode, recorded at the 60th Annual Grand American Coon Hunt in Orangeburg, SC, Steve invites the newly-formed All American Bluetick Association’s Secretary/Treasurer Mark Hauck to the Gone To The Dogs Podcast mike for an interesting and provocative discussion rooted in Hauck’s chosen coonhound breed.

Hauck is a retired Army veteran who spent more than 20 years in action-packed jobs with dangerous assignments in airborne and Special Service units based at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg. 

Steve peels back the layers of Hauck’s coonhounds story and follows up with direct questions about the need for another breed association for a breed already possessed of two longstanding and firmly-established associations.  It’s a good conversation for those that enjoy the Blue dogs and for anyone desiring to be kept abreast of the goings on in the realm of purebred coonhounds. 

Laws talks of dogs that were white with brindle spots, he talks of the most famous of the Plott family hunters, Von Plott, keeping Airedales and he speaks of a hunter that was afraid of bears. 

In this episode Laws gives advice on how to kill bears over dogs, talks about senility in hounds using his own favorite best hound he ever followed, the infamous Troop of his daddy’s. 

The tenacity of the Smoky Mountain bear hunter comes to the front in this episode as James relates a story of hunters that chose to follow the hounds as opposed to manning a “stand” to kill the bear as was the popular method of the day.  There’s a story of a big bear that took eight shots to kill on Deep Creek, another of the drainages along with Hazel, Noland and Fourney that drained the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains.

The tale of the death of two outstanding bear dogs by their owners while attempting to kill their bear is a strong lesson for anyone that aspires to hunt bears with hounds.

Enough writing about it.  Give this episode a listen and you will agree with Stewart Biesecker that it would have indeed been grand to have lived and hunted in the days James Oliver Laws remembered so very well. 

In this episode we resume the interview with James Oliver Laws. It was said of Mr. Laws father, Uncle Jimmy Laws, that he would know the day before the hunt where a bear would move that night. He served as the paid guide at the famed Hazel Creek Rod and Gun Club where Von and Little George Plott hunted bears with hounds. In this episode you will hear James Oliver Laws give descriptions of the dogs that were hunted by the Plott family as well as other famous houndsmen of that day. Descriptions of the dogs by Mr. Laws often conflict with the UKC breed standard for the Plott dog of today. 

Mr. Laws’ accounts of the ways the hunters would breed to the dogs of their fellow hunters is much the way the hunters of West Virginia and Virginia did when Steve was a young hunter. There are many parallels in the experiences of Steve and James Laws, especially in following, the footsteps of their famous fathers on multitudes of bear hunts in rugged mountain terrain.. Mr. Laws’ frankness in describing not only the hounds of the Plott family and his own but also in describing the demeanor of the men themselves is eye-opening. His revelation of the origins of the Plott family dogs as well as the original breed type of their dogs will no doubt raise questions about previous historical accounts associated with the popular breed. Due to the overall length of the interviews, Steve has chosen to run it in three parts. This is the second episode of a three-part series. Merry Christmas!