How we got started and our history.

[LarryBeggs]

Buddys give away post and some of J.C.'s history he shared in his post kinda got me courious about not just how we got started hunting hounds but some of our family history with hounds.I know there were a lot of people moved here to oregon from the south back in the fiftys.Suspect alot of us have simmilar back grounds. I got started hunting hounds with my dad as far back as I can remember. Dad was born in Broken Bow Oklahoma. He did some squirl and coon hunting back there as a kid with some relatives named Osborne. He live in every state between here and there till Grandpa went to work in the woods in Sweet Home Or. From there they moved to Jewel Or. and eventualy settled in Toledo Or. Grandpa always had a dog or two around but things didnt get to serious untill dad got out on his own.About that time I came along. I reccognized alot of the names JC and Mike mentioned in JC 's post. Brings alot of memorys back form riding around in the truck listening to my dad.

[mike martell]

Ha....You couldn't take it could you Larry.....Most of the Oregon bunch go way back in time. I hunted in High school with Ron Henthorne and David Fowler, now Usda in Wyoming. We would coon hunt as much as possible since hides were around thirty bucks each. I would visit with Frank Merritt who owned redbone hounds. Frank was along in years and I would see a pile of coons in his old datsun truck. I wanted to have some coon dogs like Frank and started with a red dog. We hunted coons and one by one the guys dropped off and quit hunting. Gerald Jackson was the senior guy and we all hunted together.every summer we would visit family in Sweet Home and one summer we bought a place. My family all lived in Culbertson Montana and were all glad to leave the cold eastern Montana winters for tropical paradise.

Tucker Bates brought all of us together....Your family is related to one of my old hunting buddies Jack Gibson.One of My old hound hunting friends back then was Paul Bess,Your cousin.Paul met Jennifer and he and his dogs soon parted. We still hunt together whenever we have a chance and now we are breaking in his son in-laws. We make an annual trip south every spring to hunt bear and turkeys and going again soon. Some of the greatest times in the dog world was spent at Hickey's S & S Farms. Just about every dog man would show up and it was never a dull moment.

I'm wanting to Order David Peightal's book.David lived in Washington if I remember correctly and was connected to Bill Dwyer through a dog called Mc Kenzie River Banjo and sold a hound to Dale Looney (lost valley rainbow) crossed to A nice california bred cat hound belonging to Bill Paetsch called Rowdy.That started the line Mark had back years ago. The line that made me quit plotts. I was hopeful David made mention of his travels and hounds in the Northwest.

[Dads dogboy]

Mr. Mike,

You will not be disappointed with what you had hoped would be in "The Northern Bobcat Dog"!

All that you mentioned is covered nicely and in detail!

[al baldwin]

Larry, I grew up in S.W. Virginia until 14 years old. No one in my family was a hound hunter. My Dad was an avid squirrel hunter (with or without a dog) Used to beg him to get a hound. He said hounds talked too much & did not tree enough squirrels. Just lover hounds from a young age. Meeting Clarence Berg & Tom Barnett when I was about 19 years old was a real asset. Recall first time Clarence introduced me to Tom we had a short visit & when he was leaving, he said if you ever want to go hunting come down some morning. Hard to believe, knew Tom was suppose to have the best hounds around, also knew he did not hunt with many people. What day and time I asked, any day just be there before daylight he answered. Found that to be true and what an experience for a young green horn wanted to hunt with hounds Al