Hound Dog Podcast Network by The Sportsmen's Empire

The Houndsman XP Podcast hosts Chris Powell and Steve Fielder chat with Double U Hunting Supply owner Buddy Woodberry. Chris and Steve talk to Buddy about his background with hounds, the history of Double U and the impact the company has had on the hunting industry. Buddy is an advocate for houndsmen and continues to provide services and support to houndsmen and several pro hunting organizations across the nation. The discussion takes the listener on an in depth journey to discover the roots of the sport's premier equipment outfitter Double U Hunting Supply. Listen as Chris and Steve interview Buddy about his company, the involvement with state organizations, Buddy’s personal passion for hunting with hounds in the Pacific Northwest and the companies relentless desire to provide the best products and customer service to the hound hunting community.

In the second part of the podcast, Buddy interviews Chris and Steve. Buddy drills down on the motivation to produce Houndsman XP. Chris takes you into the depths of his soul, his loyalty to a friend gone to soon, and his desire to keep up the fight against the anti hunting movement. Steve explains his long time dream of diving into broadcasting for the benefits of hound sports but finds new opportunity in the podcasting medium. This three way conversation exposes the nerve that drives motivated people to be committed to the sport of hound hunting at an eXtreme Performance level.

Hound hunting is under attack across North America. Animal rights organizations like HSUS, PeTA and The Fund for Animals continue to devise ways to keep our hounds out of the woods. Across America, front-line organizations like the Michigan Hunting Dog Federation (MHDF) represent our main defense against the onslaught of ill-conceived regulations that, if enacted will spell the end to the sport of hunting with hounds.

In this episode Chris and Steve talk with Mike Thorman who has served MHDF twenty-four years, many of them as Legislative Director. Steve and Mike relive many of the battles they fought together when Steve served as Vice President of Legislative Affairs for two national kennel clubs. Victories under Mike’s direction have included the fight to create hound-friendly recreational trespass laws and the defeat of overly restrictive animal cruelty and puppy mill legislation. Some of the bills the MHDF has successfully defeated were not necessarily dog related but nonetheless affected the ability of houndsmen to free cast their dogs afield in Michigan.

Mike Thorman is a former drill sergeant, high school football coach, farmer and lifelong houndsman. He runs the pack of Walker hounds he has bred successfully over several decades on coyote and bear in his native Michigan. Listeners wishing to join the fight against the foes of hound hunting will profit greatly from this informative and entertaining episode.

Success, for houndsmen of all persuasions depends upon the performance of quality hounds that are bred to do the job. Top-performing hounds are the products of those skilled in the art of breeding dogs. Whether the proving ground is a cornfield-bordered Midwestern woodlot, a moss-draped southern swamp or a cliff-laced southwestern canyon, regardless the type of game the breeding behind the hound will largely determine the success of the hunt.

In this episode, Chris and Steve interview Treeing Walker breeder Randy Smith whose Lone Pine Treeing Walker kennel in Pennsylvania has produced several winners in the fast-paced arena of competitive raccoon hunting, America’s largest organized sporting dog activity. Smith and his partner Tom Strang won the 2016 World Championship for coonhounds sanctioned by the world’s largest coonhound registry, United Kennel Club and have made numerous appearances in the finals of the most prestigious events in the sport.

Chris and Steve explore Smith’s background, his philosophy on breeding hounds and the keys to his success as a hound breeder and competitor. Smith’s portfolio of non-hound related outdoor pursuits, including fur trapping nationwide and trophy pike fishing above the Arctic Circle, typifies the extreme performance mindset of our guest, embodied in each episode of the Houndsman XP podcast.

In this episode Chris and Steve join fellow houndsman Allen Hallada, DVM, to discuss a wide range of topics relative to maintaining top health and performance in working hounds. Dr. Hallada, affectionately known as Doc Holiday on hound-related online message forums, presents common sense answers to frequently-asked questions about hot topics in the realm of canine nutrition and wellness. Hallada fields the hosts’ questions about identification and treatment of tick-born diseases, internal and external parasites, hot-topic canine ailments such as hypothyroidism and hip dysplasia. He delves authoritatively into the murky waters of best practices for feeding our hounds, identifying the good and the not-so-good in the broad field of commercial diets for working dogs.

Hailing from the upper Midwest, Hallada began coon hunting with hounds as a young man and has continued to run hounds as he moved his practice, first to Idaho and ultimately to California where he now resides. Chris and Steve successfully coax down-to-earth answers to timely questions from one of the premier authorities on hound health and performance in the nation. Hailed as a highly-interesting and well-informed individual, Hallada doesn’t disappoint.

Bear hunting with hounds in the rugged southern Appalachians requires a special level of toughness and dedication. Hounds and hunters are tested to the limits of strength and endurance by the rugged terrain. Hunters here not only revel in joys of the successful hunt, they also deal with the heartbreak of losing a prized and best-loved hound to the perils of the chase.

In this episode Chris and Steve visit with Virginia houndsman Randy Fielder, co-host Steve Fielder’s brother and son of West Virginia Bear Hunter’s Hall of Fame member and renown Plott breeder Homon Fielder. Perhaps lesser known than his brother and dad, Randy is no less the experienced houndsman, having owned and followed hounds on the chase for many years.

In this segment, Randy talks about coon and bear hunts with his brother and his dad and pulls back the curtain to reveal the family’s mountain world of coons, black bears and the hounds they use to catch them. Randy’s memories of hunts with standout members of the Bear Pen pack are the stuff of which great hound stories are made. This segment climaxes with his heart-rending account of the loss of a great bear hound that was killed in action in its prime.

In this episode of Houndsman XP hosts Steve Fielder and Chris Powell are joined by lifelong houndsman Gary Roberson. Gary hails from Central Texas and has made a life of hunting predators across Texas and throughout the west. Gary is the host of Carnivore TV and owner of Burnham Brothers Game Calls.

Gary, Steve and Chris discuss coon hunting, hog hunting and lion hunting with hounds. Stories are shared of hunting the Navajo Nation for mountain lion and bear. Gary shares the importance of mentoring young houndsmen and shares his philosophy on breeding top hounds.

Chris and Gary discuss Gary’s involvement with Ruger Firearms where he serves as a Ruger Ambassador. There is also a sneak preview of good things to come from Ruger Firearms and Burnham Brothers Game calls.

Burnham Brothers Game Calls and Carnivore TV website: www.burnhambrothers.com

Chris and Steve are joined by Montana State Houndsman Association representative Ross Feenstra of Bozeman Montana. Chris and Steve discuss hunting mountain lions and bobcats with the use of highly specialized hounds in Montana and Wyoming with Ross. Ross tells some general hunting stories.

Ross, Chris and Steve discuss the future of the western houndsmen. They talk about access issues for backcountry hunters, tag requirements, and quotas. They discuss recent legislation that was influenced by illegal guiding and outfitting in Montana. They also talk about the importance of houndsmen becoming aware and involved in issues that impact not only Montana Houndsmen but houndsmen from across the United States.

Chris and Steve discuss the advancement of hounds and houndsmen. From the early colonial times of the utilitarian hound and houndsman to the modern era of highly specialized hounds and houndsmen, Chris and Steve discuss how hounds have been bred and developed for many uses. From the Low Lands of South Carolina to the peaks of the Rocky Mountains join Chris and Steve as they discuss the travel of hounds and houndsmen westward. Whether used for mountain lion, bobcat bear or coon, the American hound and houndsman has shaped history.

Steve and Chris also discuss the impact that competition coonhunting has had on the hound breeds as a whole. Even if a houndsman has never entered a competition nite hunt, the registration and preservation of the hound breeds has shaped all hound hunting. Steve emphasizes the impact of coonhounds, registries and nite hunts while Chris bridges the gap between Big Game Houndsmen and Coonhunters.

Meet the hosts of Houndsman XP Podcast in this short segment. Chris Powell and Steve Fielder talk about Steve’s many years of professional services in the biggest hound registries in the world. They discuss a career as professional houndsmen, conservationists, writers and promoters of coonhounds and big game hounds.

Chris and Steve worked many years in key roles and development of state hound organizations representing houndsman of all stripes. From working on legislative issues to fighting in the trenches against the onslaught of the animal rights activists to promoting the ethical use of hounds to pursue game, Steve and Chris discuss the plans for continuing their work in this new age world of podcasting.