Thanks, Tom. Faith is a pretty girl. Walter and Faith's mother, Dutchess, is littermate sister to our Nitro male, who you met while you were here. Joanne, Faith and Walter's breeder, briefly owned Nitro when he was a pup but was forced to sell him when she did a relocation. She is not Nitro's breeder, however. The Sierra grapevine is pretty small and not many folks are breeding or running these very worthy dogs anymore. They have an excellent reputation on big game and plenty of go power in the woods. This is why these dogs are a focus of mine right now. We have plans for another Sierra frozen semen litter next year from a different male to compliment Walter's Vindicator blood. We want to do our part to help keep this line around for future generations. Maybe a redbone is still in your future!
I put Walter on his first coon drag a couple night ago. I planned to trap a coon for him earlier this summer like I've done for our pups from last year's litter but never put the live trap out. Now, with the forest burned I'm not sure how successful I would be. This summer's events have been pretty crazy. I was in the ICU for a week and got out a few days before the fire hit. Things are definitely getting better for us now, though. The attached photos show Walt on his drag (please forgive my crappy camera and equally crappy photography skills). This was his first exposure to coon, bear, bobcat, lion or any scent. I saw a fresh road kill the other night on my way back from town and figured I'd give Walter a try on a drag. He's a natural. Tracked and treed like an old pro. He's catching a couple feet of air in one of these shots and showed a lot of intensity on the wood. Great mouth on him, too. Walter is in his puppy darkening phase right now. I expect him to end up a medium red like his father, Vindicator, or his grandfather, Commando (see Commando on a bear in the bottom photo). Joanne owned Vindicator after OW got too sick to keep him and he was her "once in a lifetime" hound. She tells us that Walter reminds her the most of Vin from the pups in his litter. My good friend Lori Mills at Sidearm, who knew OW and his dogs well, helped me make my selection from photos, and he's definitely a keeper.
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