Hello all fellow tree dog enthusiast. This makes my second column in FULL CRY I have yet to get any negative feedback so I guess the first column went over well. I have quite a bit to talk about this month and want to introduce a new idea and hopefully get some feedback from you all. I have an idea that I would love to include in this column if there is anyone out there interested in such a thing. I would like to do a monthly interview with different folks in this sport. It will be a question and answer type interview and hopefully would be informative and interesting for all to read. What I would like to do is first start the column “Out And About” by talking about things I have seen, folks I have met, or hunts or clubs I attended. And then I would like to finish the column by talking with one of the fine folks in this sport, It could be a breeder, a competition hunter, a pleasure hunter, or an average person that just loves to hunt or handle squirrel dogs. I don’t know if this has been tried before in this magazine but I think it would make for some interesting reading. Let’s face it a lot of folks that read this magazine may follow a certain line of dogs or a certain individual in the sport but for one reason or another have never had the opportunity to talk with them or ask them a few questions. Well I plan to do that and the interview will be printed here in this article for everyone to read. I do not plan to make my column controversial by any means but I will try to ask questions that I believe will benefit the reader and keep things informative. And if you keep you back issues of FULL CRY as I do, I believe these interviews will be informative tools you may be able to use as reference for years to come. So send me an e-mail who in the Cur and Feist world would you like to see in the hot seat. (Ha-ha) I have a few ideas already and a few folks are about to receive a call from me. Look out for next month’s column for the first Q&A with??? It should be interesting.

I spend some time surfing the internet from time to time, modern technology nowadays sure is something! You can send music, pictures, and video, via e-mail with one simple click of a button. It does not take much to keep in touch with friends and family via the internet. I am glad we have it; there is one particular place I like to visit when I am on the internet and that is Squirrel Dog Central. These are my kind of people, I get on there when hunting is slow or it is too miserable outside to hunt and talk with some good folks about what we all have in common “Squirrel Dogs”. I talk with some real knowledgeable folks on Squirrel Dog Central and they are always fast to lend a helping hand to any newcomers in this sport. My hats off to the administrators of that fine website and I believe they deserve an honorable mention here in my column. They play a big part in the hunts I attend close or far away. It seems I meet a new person that frequents Squirrel Dog Central every hunt I go to. Some have approached me at hunts and said, “Hey your Snide on the board I am so and so” and a good conversation peruses, it is a great ice breaker. I went to a hunt in Parsons TN not long ago where everyone wore nametags stating their real name and where they were from with their Squirrel Dog Central name right below it. I met folks face to face that I only knew through post they had made on the board. Now I can put faces with many of the names. Hello to all my friends on line and continued success with your great website.

Since squirrel season has ended here in Indiana in January I have done my best to stay active with my Curs, I have attended a few hunts and looked at some nice dogs in the woods. Although we can not take squirrels this time of year we can still run our dogs and keep them in shape. When season ends and you find yourself with that itchy trigger finger you can take advantage of the extended squirrel seasons in other states. A couple months ago I received and e-mail from Jim Allgood better known as “Jim Bob” of the Redneck adventure TV Show. He had invited me down south to Mississippi for some squirrel hunting that they are going to feature on the Redneck adventures TV Show. With season here in Indiana past I jumped on the opportunity to go have some squirrel dog excitement “Redneck Style” with team Redneck Adventures. I had first learned of Redneck Adventures a few months ago when a friend had sent me an e-mail of one of their episodes on hand grabbing catfish! I then checked out the website where I could see they had some great squirrel dog footage and these guys were in the squirrels!! I quickly shot Jim Bob an e-mail to see if he had room down south for a couple of Hoosiers to roam the woods with. He promptly e-mailed me back and invited me down. I got on the phone and drummed up Rodney Stratton to join me on the trip, my good friend and hunting buddy Jacob Jump could not get out of work and most everyone else was already down south hunting somewhere themselves. We made it into Natchez Mississippi from Milan Indiana around 13 hours. We met Jim Allgood at the local Ruby Tuesdays for steak upon our arrival. Jim is an interesting fella, the best I can explain him is that he is 110 wired into 220 and he is sure fired up about hunting and fishing of any kind. As we sat and ate dinner that evening he explained to us what it is that he did with Redneck Adventures and where he planed to take the show over the next few years. He has a passion for small game hunting and told us that the Cur and Fiest or (squirrel dogs) in general do not get enough credit and by doing this episode with squirrel dogs he hoped to shine positive publicity on our style of hunting dogs. We could not agree with him more and was set to go to the woods the following morning. Redneck Adventures was nice enough to keep Rodney and myself up at the beautiful Cedar Grove Plantation which is located right outside of Natchez MS. This Plantation dates back over 100 years and has a beautiful landscape and ponds scattered about its property. While sitting on the large back patio of the establishment you can see the grey squirrels scurry and scamper across the lawn and around the Pecan trees. We were surprised to find out from Mrs. Kay (Cedar Grove’s caretaker) that George Clooney and Julia Roberts both stayed at the Plantation during one of their movie filmings. We were as impressed as we could be for a couple of hunters from Indiana, Rodney and I joked that we thought we would stay in some hunting cabin with a roof that leaked and mice that would get into our luggage but that was defiantly not the case. Redneck adventures sure do things first class, there is nothing Redneck about the hospitality and gratitude we shared with them down south. I took my Mountain Cur Hank along for the hunt and Rodney brought Hanks daddy Hardwood Lake Jake and another young female out of Jake he calls Rose. He also took along a female that he had bred to Jake a few weeks prior that he calls Kung Fu. We had plenty of dogs and Redneck Adventures had plenty of squirrels. We met our hunting guide the next morning after our arrival at 6:00 am, his name is Glen Wisner he is part of Team Redneck Adventures and is also Jim Bobs father in law. We spent the next several days in the woods with Glen, chasing dogs and treeing squirrels and he never once stopped for a minute, no matter how big the hill or steep the valley Glen was by our side and enjoying every minute of it. He was a very knowledgeable dog man who had not owned a tree dog for several years but knew a lot about them. Glen educated me as well to some things I don’t see here in Indiana. “Spanish Moss” looks like 3 dozen squirrel tails blowing in the wind along the side of the trees down south. “Lighter Pine” which he will get the tractor and try to pull every last bit out of the woods because it is highly flammable. “Wild Boar” if one charges us Glen does not have to be the fastest man in the hunting party just faster than me…(Ha-ha) We had a very good hunt, we were in the woods for 3 solid days only taking short lunch breaks and back out at it again. The dogs worked real well together, we had the typical split tree after split tree. I could take up the next three pages talking about our Redneck Adventures experience but I will try to sum it up. This is an annual squirrel hunt that is non-sanctioned by any registry; it is a get together for bragging rights only, held on a Saturday in February (we went down early). There were other cur dog men present as well, Danny Wilkinson, James Menser, Mark Morrison. I had talked to a couple of these fellas over the phone before but never met them in person they are good people and I got to see Bayou Whitney for the first time and better yet I heard her on the tree over a half mile away from where I was standing at the time (what a mouth for a female dog). Mark Morrison had quite the hunting rig he come wheeling it in on a trailer (utility cart complete with dog box and winch if he gets it stuck) he has a very nice set up there! I ate crawfish for the first time and loved it, oysters and frog legs, quail, sweet tea by the gallon. (I gained some weight I am sure! These fellas sure did feed us right) Had a great time with Maury Andrews the owner of Sportsman’s Camo Covers over in Ecru MS, he had one of those Yamaha Rhinos, now that is a nice machine to squirrel hunt off of! I am going to set up a Bowfishing Trip with Capt Darrel of Marsh Masters, he squirrel hunted with us quite a bit, what a great guy and a traditional bowhunter as well, which I also enjoy when I am not chasing tree dogs! And I could not end my story without telling you all about the other half of Redneck Adventures, Keith “Stork” Rayborn. He is the other front man of the show along with Jim Bob, he does all the video editing and most of the behind the scenes type stuff that it takes to make a great television show. They call him the Redneck Bubba Spielberg (Ha-ha) I met Storks son who pitches baseball for the Padres Minor league team. That is a heck of an accomplishment and best of luck to him in his baseball career. The Best is yet to come for Redneck Adventures I am sure to be a part of it next year. Jim Bob and Stork, thank you for the great opportunity we had to hunt squirrels down south, your hospitality knows no bounds and we sure did enjoy ourselves, we will see ya’ll soon. If you would like to see what these folks have going and you could also check out some good squirrel hunting footage, check out their website at www.redneckadventures.com I am sure you will be glad you did.

I had a conversation with my veterinarian the other day; he informed me that they may be taking the heartgaurd injectable heartworm preventative off the market. Supposedly there have been a few cases of trial dogs dying after the injection. He was not familiar with any canine deaths because of it locally but he said he would keep me informed to what happens with the medication. I know that I have had my dogs on the shot since it has come out with no problems yet. But after hearing that dogs may have complications or even death I have switched back to interceptor. Speaking of which, it is that time of year for those of you who only have your dogs on a good heartworm preventative 6 months out of the year to get them back on. I know here in Indiana mosquitoes start coming out in full force around April so take your necessary precautions. I have fooled around with different things from time to time around my kennels. I used to put fly traps around my kennels to trap those pesky flies that hang around the kennel area. But what I come to find out is that the traps seemed to attract more flies than they trapped so this year I have switched to good old fly sticky traps (fly tape, the fly stick) They do not have any kind of scent attractant added to them and the do not draw flies the just simply catch the ones that are flying around. I also use good old Sevin dust around the kennels and in the dog boxes to eliminate fleas and other pesky bugs. They also make a Sevin yard and fertilizer granular mixture that kills most common bugs around the yard. My kennels are located right along a woods edge and I use the fertilizer and bug killer around the yard and around the kennel grounds to help eliminate any pest. This time of year it is very important to try to keep your dogs cool and give them plenty of fresh water, I wire my watering buckets to the kennel so the dogs will not knock them over. Nothing frustrates me more than a knocked over water bucket. I have a funny story that involves just what a started dog should be. As you know there is a wide array of opinions on what a started dog should be. Most of those opinions define how a dog hunts or handles while away from the kennel. My definition of a started dog also includes must not bark in kennel, walk in its own stool or knock over water bucket! (Ha-ha)

I talked with the notorious Merle Seeley on the phone the other night, without going into too much detail Merle and I have a little bragging rights hunt set aside for two of our dogs. The last time we had drawn out in a hunt together the female he had came into heat so he withdrew her from the hunt. It was a good thing because the dog I was packing was getting ready to put a large spanking on his dog score wise if she had not been withdrawn. Ha-ha boy oh boy I can see Merle’s face now as he reads this…Ha-ha!! I am just kidding of course and I am truly glad that there are good folks such as Merle in this sport that can dish it out but yet take their fair share as well! Merle is a great friend and accomplished cur dog man he always has some real nice dogs. I never look forward to drawing him at a hunt but when I do we have fun and we do not let emotion get in the way. There are several folks such as Merle that I have drawn with that I can say were down right pleasurable to hunt with. Larry Wilson of Murfreesboro TN the owner of the great Boggs Creek Turbo gave me a real hard time once because I questioned him or something in a cast, I can’t even remember what it was about but I do remember what a good hunt we had despite our differences that were handled in the field. He did however tell me later that he had a voodoo doll with my name on it that he continually poked and prodded all the way back to Tennessee! (Ha-ha) I don’t know why because to the best of my recollection he won the cast and the hunt!!! Larry had back surgery a few months ago and should be doing well, I hope so, he is a great guy and I look forward to a re-match.I may be biased by saying this, but I believe we hold a different character over here in the Cur and Feist world. Folks just seem more laid back and easy going at competition than some of the coon dog competition hunts that I used to go to. Maybe there is more at steak at the big hound events, I don’t know. But I truly believe that we have some of the best folks there are to offer in the treedog world right here amongst us squirrel dog men and women. Don’t get me wrong there are great people in the hound world as well but I am sure some of you little dog folks know what I am trying to say. I got a call from Chuck Berry the other night (not the singer, Ha-ha) Chuck lives in northern Indiana and has a nice young male OMCBA dog he calls Capone. Chuck is on the lookout for a nice started female OMC for his breeding program. I told him I did not know of one right now but if I find or hear of one I will sure let you know! Chuck always makes it a point to call and chat dogs with me, I hear from him monthly. I am glad when Chuck drops me a line! You can just ask my wife, I love to talk dogs!! (Ha-ha) Well that will just about wrap it up for this month’s article. I am however including a couple of pictures of our down south Redneck Adventure. Picture one picture is of Rodney Stratton and a fine young female that he calls Hardwood Lake Rose. This picture was taken after a short one hour mid-day hunt with Rose. There are six squirrel and one coon we missed 2 others and left them to be treed another day. Picture two is of the beautiful Cedar grove Plantation where Redneck Adventures Television Show kept us for the week.

Until Next time, KEEP LOOKIN UP!

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