Roy Sparks - Acknowledgments to Pioneers in Africa.

[Roy Sparks]

While our Hound History here in South Africa can be traced back to the early 1800's it must be mentioned that the influx of the original hounds here was almost exclusively restricted to proper English type hounds.These were brought in by the more affluent English settlers for purposes of sport hunting. I believe the resultant trials in pursuit of jackal here must have been a tremendously comical sight to behold , the contrast between the tame English countryside and the rough Cape mountainsides must have been spectacle to numerous thrills and spills.

The resultant introduction of these hounds in the passage of time saw the inevitable spreading of these hounds throughout the Western , Southern and Eastern Cape. The Eastern Cape became the stronghold of the basis of hounds and hunting culture of hounds in Southern Africa and remains so to our present day.

Some pioneering developments were intiated in the late 60's and early 70's with the introduction of American Blue Ticks by Mr. Gary Miles which caused a great sensation in hound circles locally. However it was virtually impossible to buy a hound of this type from Mr. Miles let alone aquire a breeding proposition from his kennels.Irrespective it was a major advancement in the history of the more modern trends that were to follow.

To a large extent the English type hounds still held their ground being more freely available however by and large these hounds could rarely be categorised into breed types anymore as they were almost thoroughly a mixed assortment of various outcrosses of English origin - Foxhound , Fellhounds, Harriers and to a lesser degree beagles.

Farming right next door to Mr. Miles was a young man who was madly passionate about hounds and hunting and who from an early age had entered into the sport of hunting with dogs. This was Trevor Filmer from whom I aquired my original hounds.

Being devoted to hounds Trevor obviously lent toward Gary Miles as a mentor and watched with eagerness the progress Gary was making with these " new hounds " practically on his doorstep.Trevor had very much the general type of hound commonly available here in the Eastern Cape of English origin . Try as he may it was virtually impossible for him to get Gary to budge on agreeing to sell him a hound from his kennels.

At this point Gary kept a nucleus of Blue Ticks in the pure form however these hounds were bought through adverts in hound publications with very little in depth research into thier backgrounds. It was also known for Gary to cross these Blue Ticks to various other hound strains trying to develop an all round hound suitable for both lynx and jackal here in the Eastern Cape . A lot of this outcrossing produced some outstanding hounds and earned Gary the reputation as being the leading houndsman in South Africa.

Though Trev and Gary interacted nothing would seem to gel between the two concerning the hounds.At a point Trev after his military service scrambled together some money and went on what I consider the revolutionary exploratory trip to learn more and find out where he could import the best possible hounds that would be suitable for our harsh and varied conditions in the Eastern Cape.

Trev spent a long time visiting well known field trial experts in the US getting to know the American Foxhounds - Running Walkers and eventually landed up down in the South West where he recognised what he was really looking for.

It was here that he aquired the basis of what he has developed and unsellfishly shared with me and several other guys here in South Africa.Through trial and error and devoted breeding for thirty years Trevor has kept and continued to improve on his strain of hound to what I believe to be the best all purpose hound here in South Africa.

The Red and White colored hounds from his strain is what Trevor has particularly fancied while I have not really minded to much about the color though mine tend to lean toward the Black and Whites.

The pics sent by liontracker of the red & whites are actually Trev's current hounds that he is hunting so I just would like to set the record straight that those are actually his hounds and recognition is due to him for developing those magnificent hounds. I have some Red and Whites from Trev I got recently that are still pups of which I'll send some pics again. Then I have proginy of the original hounds I got from him which are both Red & White and B&W which I have since bred for the last 15 years. I got hounds from Gary Miles as early as 1987 which were Redtick and Bluetick which were both good hounds but I no longer have those hound bloodlines.

More will follow as to how I became involved with Trev and his hounds and the pioneering of organised guided hunts for leopard here in Africa - The new dimension in hunting with hounds in Africa.

Catch you later - Roy Sparks.

[Big Horn Posse]

Great and informative post Roy.

[liontracker]

Thank you Roy.

[2ndhound]

Good read Roy, very informative and interesting Ken

[JTG]

Roy, I spent quite a bit of time in the Congo. I heard South Africa is very nice. JTG

[Roy Sparks]

Hi JTG, Yes there are some lovely areas in South Africa , though not as wild as the Congo. What were you doing in the Congo ? Hunting man or game ?

Excuse for for being so blunt in my question but I know a lot of freelance soldiers spent time there and I also know there is some good game hunting there.

Thanks for your post - Roy.