The red dog on the tree....
That old Ike dog of mine will be ten years old this April and has probably earned the right to be mentioned in this post. Ike came from a cross from the Timber Chopper/Harold Hoffmeister redbones and was bred for a coondog. One of my old big game hound buddies wanted me to buy a western bred, big game hound that he thought would probably suit my needs more than a coondog pup, so I went and bought that coondog pup to show him that hounds are hounds, and that the trainer or the man behind the hound has as great as impact on the finished product as the region the hound came from has on a dog.
At eight months of age, he'd come out of the box on a dirt lion track, settle down immediately and stick his nose to the track, follow it and open. He made nine lion trees his first winter and finished twice on that state record bear I killed the following spring at thirteen months http://www.ingramwildlife.com/bear.htm . And he's been there and doing it every since. Ike and one of his seven year pups are the only dogs I have, or have ever seen, trigger on an old lion or bear track from the rig that they can't even run. Now that isn't much help other than telling me a bear has crossed and I messed the track or it didn't come to the road. You might ask what good is that? Well that dog has enabled me to quit cutting roads for tracks, and I can't even begin to tell you how nice that has been.
I had a young kid that is probably still in high school telephone last fall and ask me if I was still running that red dog Ike. I laughed and told him he is still one (if not) the best hound I own, but I realize the day is coming when he starts to slip or slow down. Last September, at nine years old, Ike helped strike and run down a bear for a hunter. The track was so bad I started to pulled them but let them continue. It was late afternoon when they jumped the bear and took it over the mountain. Because it was late afternoon, I tried to call them all off and only managed to pull the young dogs and those two redbones of mine stayed with the bear. As we got back to the truck, the sun was sinking behind the hill and we could hear those two redbones treed high on the mountain. At daylight the next morning, they were still treed so I started into them alone and the bear jumped. Those two dogs trailed out just after dark that evening after thirty four or more hours.
More recently, I had my hounds out on a walk and they struck a lion up the canyon and left out before I could find the track. When I reached the track, all I could find was a tom scratch and melted out ice tracks with six hounds tracks in it. I knew I was big trouble on that deal. That evening after dark I could beep those six hounds and they were still cold trailing. The following morning they were in a different area but still cold trailing or coming out. Around 9:00 AM, a full day later, those two redbones tree switches started going off and I about crapped. When I climbed into those six hounds it was mid-afternoon and ol' Ike was treeing just as hard as any dog in the pack--wow!
I realize our (mine and Ike's) time together is limited, but what I will say it's been a good ride and I've enjoyed it..............
Ike
