Amber came from Dave Pelzer's kennel in Minnesota. We waited a long time to get a Blakesley bred redbone. Unfortunately, she didn't mature to be a show quality hound (Dave will be the first person to tell you he breeds hunting dogs, not show dogs), so she was placed with a friend who was just starting out in hounds. She was hit and killed on the road in front of his house after a hard day of bear hunting. It was a very unfortunate accident and nobody was able to figure out how she got out of the yard.
Mouse was one of our little bluetick Beagles. We purchased her from Clay Richey in Mississippi. This poor little pup had the longest, majorly delayed, flight of any pup we've ever had shipped in. We were expecting her to be totally traumatized by the flight, but she came out of her crate in good spirits. She was a joy to own but made it clear from the start that she didn't want to be a housedog like our other Beagle, Molly. She died of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis.
Ranger was an excellent hound on coon, cat and bear. He was everything a houndsman could want and a worthy representative of Dave Dean's breeding program. Unfortunately his tree climbing cost him his life.
This page was last updated on: September 12, 2011
The life of a hunting hound is dangerous. They live to hunt and are hard to keep happy when they can't, but they often die hunting too. It seems we lose the good ones too young and the memories of the not-so-good ones get better over time. We miss them all but we know they go to the very best hunting spot to hang out with other great hounds and houndsmen.
We had to make the difficult decision to let Arlis go sooner than we would have liked. His degenerative disc disease required that he not be hunted much, and he just wasn't happy being left behind all the time. Arlis loved hunting, loved life, and clowned around and acted like a puppy most of the time. It was hard to watch him depressed and in pain. We will always miss him. He was our big puppy and the foundation sire of our kennel.
Jessie was the foundation bitch for Rincon/Chisum-Trail Kennel. She wasn't a super-star hunter but she was a consistent and honest cooner. She was also my (Chawn's) nearly- constant companion, and she was my heart-dog. Jessie whelped pups that were better than herself, and that's exactly what a foundation bitch should do, but she didn't give me the daughter like her that I wanted so badly. She died of lymphosarcoma and we will always miss her.
Witch was the only daughter from Jessie and Arlis who was ever bred. She produced one litter for us and the four living pups did good on the bench and in the woods. Witch lived up to her name in many ways. She was a difficult dog to own because she was very smart, easily trained, easily bored, and very stubborn. But for those reasons she will also be deeply missed.
IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER
"Happy"
Gr Ch PR Chisum-Trail Elegantly Wasted
7/9/96 - 12/02
Happy was our first home-bred Ch and Gr Ch, and our first dog to compete at the UKC World Show (1998). She was calm and sweet-tempered and loved to hunt. We spayed and placed her in another home because her sister Witch was always bullying her. She was hit and killed while running a bear during the 2002 season. We will miss her and hope to have another like her someday.
Cameo was the second bluetick to join Rincon/Chisum-Trail Kennel and the dog responsible for one of our kennel names. She was never much of a coon dog, but she was a decent bear dog and loved the water races. She was never bred or finished to Gr Ch because of developing pyometra and having to be spayed. Cameo had a happy, affectionate, silly personality. She never met a stranger and there wasn't a mean bone in her body. She died of cancer. She was a wonderful bluetick and it was hard to lose her even after a very long life.
Diamond was only with us for 8 short months. We had so many plans for her, but she was hit and killed by a car.
She came in heat almost immediately after we got her, was bred to Boone, and whelped a very nice litter of 6 pups. We didn't get to hunt her much since most of her time here was spent involved with her pregnancy and litter. The few times we did have her out, she proved herself to be a good coondog. She went hunting as soon as she was turned loose and was a hard, loud treedog. She was also a beautiful dog and we're glad we at least got her finished to Champion before we lost her.
We drove to Ontario Canada to get Tuff and had first pick of the litter. She rode all the way home in a little kennel between the front seats.
Tuff was a go-getter from the first time she went hunting. She got really sick in the Spring of 2004 and almost died, but our vet did a great job of saving her. In November 2004 she got a first place Nite Hunt win in spite of being badly chewed up at one of the trees. She also had points in the Bench Shows. We were hoping to finish her to a dual Champion in 2005 and breed her to Rebel in 2006. She was hunting with Diamond when they were hit and killed. We're really going to miss both of these girls!
Jessy's death was extremely hard for us because we had to make the difficult decision to put her down. Her quality of life had greatly deteriorated due to her allergies, which we were never able to permanently eliminate. Her ears were so badly swollen that her hearing was impaired. That made it difficult to take her hunting and she would stand sadly at the gate as we left with the other dogs.
She was such a sweet and easy dog to have around. We miss her so much!
Taz came to us from Arkansas as an 8 wk old pup. We raised and hunted her, but she wasn't the caliber of show dog we wanted so we gave her to a friend. She was passed on to two more homes, hunted a little and earned a 1st place win, but spent most of her time away from the woods before we got her back at 6 yrs old. We tuned her up, finished her to a Nite Ch and raised two really nice litters from her.
Taz was all coondog with an ice cold nose and a huge bawl mouth on track and tree. There were no conditions too tough for her and no quit in her.
She had an outstanding temperament and was a true alpha dog -- dominance with zero aggression.
She spent the last year of her life in Iowa with Bob Jondle getting to hunt a lot more than she ever would have here with us.
Rebel was born in our kennel from the outstanding cross of Arlis and Jessie (2nd litter). He was one of those once-in-a-lifetime dogs from the time he ran and treed his first coon at 6 months old until the day he died, having treed 7 coons on 1 hunt less than a month before his death.
Rebel was tough as nails and had that prized ability to know where to look for a coon. He knew when he was in a Nite Hunt and would become very competitive, but was well-mannered around other dogs in the woods, on the tree, and in the box.
He helped train a lot of pups and young dogs that have passed through our kennel during his lifetime.
Our biggest regret is that he only sired a couple litters and has very few pups out there. He went sterile at about 7 yrs old, which was about the time we retired him from the hunts and decided we'd get serious about getting some pups from him. Too late!
We will never forget Rebel and the many friends we've made because of him. We hope one day to own a son or grandson that can follow in his footsteps.
