Hi my name is jack and I use too know 2 hunter would now be in their 40`s (Randy Taylor) (Mike Pipkens) of Antiuck Ca in the sanjoaquine river delton out of the sacramento river by I-5 south . Randy had Timberchopper line an Mike had PuckettxBlakesley lines . this was back in the 80`s/ and of course Joe Puckett but he has too be desiest now hed be over 100 yrs old now. There should be some nice hunten dark red one in the bay area of Ca, from their crosses yet still kept and goen-on I had Pepper`s Burgandy Hank and Pepper`s Ole Sugar. Hank was pucket line and Sugar was lite fawn colored an Tucker line with Jungle Jim line bred-in on her by Little Bow owned by Ronnie Rice and Richard Lewis of Rio Linda Ca. Maybe the Taylor line is still goen of Timber line?Ike wrote:I got a call from a buddy last night telling me he'd gone out lion hunting yesterday with a client hunter and one of his dogs in the box blew up on a rig, so he stopped and looked around. To his surprise, he found a lion track.
"Do you know what dog rigged that track," was his question? To which I responded, "No." He laughed and told me it was that Sam Dog I'd sold him.
He finished the story and claimed the lion bayed at the tree and cut up four of his dogs before treeing and they ended up taking the lion. That little Sam dog that use to belong to me had rigged him a lion on their first outing and ran it to the tree. So it seems the redbone breed is still alive and well and catching a few of these western lions.
This guy had called me awhile back looking for a lead dog cause his had gotten killed and his best young prospect had been bitten through the nose, which seemed to have set him back. I remember him saying his dogs just weren't fcentral cainishing tracks they should finish. According to his talk, he'd been running hounds for twenty-five or thirty years and had bought dogs from many of the top dog breeders and trainers in this region. This guy had come from the northwest and talked about hunting and people in a lot of western states, and seemed to know the game.
I don't usually turn loose of a dog, but with the deep snow, the lack of lions in my area combined with me moving away from winter Lion hunting, I told him I would think about it. I was feeding nine dogs and just didn't really need seven dogs that would run and catch their own lions, so I took him my five year old Sam dog along with a guarantee saying I'd take him back if he didn't work out for him.
Well, it sounded like he was sure proud of that little redbone yesterday as he already had plans to breed him to a young red dog he got from some California houndsmen out near Redding. And I'll bet it would be hard to buy him back now. Yes, it sounds like the redbone hound is still leading alot of hunters and handlers to the tree these days.
jack



