My trip to Glenwood Arkansas to meet Mr. Finney Clay
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 12:49 pm
I just recently got back from cat hunting down with Mr. Finney Clay and C. John Clay. Boy’s it was a true honor to watch and listen to their well bred pack of dogs, rig, jump and then smoother a cat track to death for over 50 solid minutes without making a bobble on the track. Mr. Clay’s dog’s applied tremendous amounts of track pressure on that cat in some of the most god awful saw briars and reprod thickets in the South East. If you have never listened to a pack of about 14 cat hounds bunched up so tight on a cat track that you could cover the entire pack with a blanket, you are truly missing out. It’s quite a rock concert!
What impressed me the most about Mr. Clay’s dogs performance on that hunt was during our hunt the majority of the dogs he had on the cat was just a bunch of pups and young dogs not over 1 to 2 years old. We rigged those dogs right through whitetail deer as they boiled across the road in front of the rig, while the dogs were up on the box and not one time did a dog even try to bump one. Not to mention all the other trash they passed by. If you have ever been to Arkansas you would know that it’s loaded with Armadillos, Opossums, Beaver, River Otter, Muskrats, Mink, Coons, Coyotes, Hogs, and in places Fox & Bear just tons of critters that love to lure in young hounds. So keeping all them young dogs together and straight on just cat is a huge accomplishment. Those young dogs handled like old time Farm Sheppard’s. Mr. Clay is blessed that he has a top notch “Dads Dogboy” there to help with the hard work that it takes to own, and maintain such a nice cat pack.
Even if I didn’t get the pleasure of watching & listening to fine hounds run a cat until the cat decided it’s had enough and waved the white flag, the trip would have been “A Cat Hunter’s dream vacation”. The reason I say that is Mr. Clay has the most impressive breeding program that I have ever witnessed. He has his dogs pedigree’s down on paper and traced down so well that it’s overwhelming to take it all in. His attention to detail and record keeping on dogs and hunts, is something I have never seen before. It is truly amazing. Mr. Clay has figured out a way through his careful thought out family breeding program to reproduce cat dogs that basically reproduce themselves.
I have meet a lot of top hunters in my life that have been very successful with hounds and the quarry they pursue, but I have only meet a few that could completely excel at both hunting their quarry and run a top breeding program that consistently produces hounds of top notch caliber. If there is such thing as a “Dog Whisper”, I believe Mr. Clay is one.
I have been blessed throughout my life to have been able to hunt with some of the best cat dogs and cat hunters around and Mr. Clay is top notch and sets my measuring stick to a new level. At 83 years old he is still tough as a cob and humble as they come. I think the Webster dictionary should use his picture when you look up the term “Catnap”. A word like “Catnap” had to have come from a cat hunter like Mr. Clay because if you cat hunt with him you are only going to get a quick “Catnap” before he has you back in the woods Cat hunting again. I could only imagine how tough he was when he was young. I would have to say probably about as tough as one of his Clay hounds.
Fellows if you get an invite from The Clays to come for a cat hunt, I highly recommend you take them up on it. Mr. Clay, Mrs. Clay and Mr. C. John Clay will take good care of you and feed you very well and provide a nice soft bed. Within 5 minutes of being there I felt right at home and it reminded me of the good old days when I would sit and swap dog hunting stories with my Grandpa and Dad. I can’t wait to get down there for another cat hunt.
Thanks for the hospitality and allowing me to go along. I enjoyed every minute of it! I am very lucky to live not too far away from The Clay’s and get an open invitation personally from Mr. Finney Clay to come whenever, I get the inch. Mr. Finney Clay may regret that because I already got the itch to go back for another hunt! Again, Thanks Mr. Finney Clay & Mr. C. John Clay for the hunt and first class treatment.
Mr. C. John Clay I want to personally say thank you for sharing your Dad with me and other cat hunters. If it wasn’t for you, I would have never had the opportunity to meet a Southern Cat Hunter of his caliber. In my past experiences with cat hunters of Mr. Finney Clay’s caliber they were just like phantoms in the woods and elusive as the bobcat. Other hunters would hear they existed but very few ever meet them and dang sure never got the chance to hunt with them. You made that possible for me and a few other hunters. Until next time hunt hard and enjoy the time spent with your Daddy. Life goes by way too fast, but these hunts and hounds sure can give us some fond memories and friendships that last forever.
What impressed me the most about Mr. Clay’s dogs performance on that hunt was during our hunt the majority of the dogs he had on the cat was just a bunch of pups and young dogs not over 1 to 2 years old. We rigged those dogs right through whitetail deer as they boiled across the road in front of the rig, while the dogs were up on the box and not one time did a dog even try to bump one. Not to mention all the other trash they passed by. If you have ever been to Arkansas you would know that it’s loaded with Armadillos, Opossums, Beaver, River Otter, Muskrats, Mink, Coons, Coyotes, Hogs, and in places Fox & Bear just tons of critters that love to lure in young hounds. So keeping all them young dogs together and straight on just cat is a huge accomplishment. Those young dogs handled like old time Farm Sheppard’s. Mr. Clay is blessed that he has a top notch “Dads Dogboy” there to help with the hard work that it takes to own, and maintain such a nice cat pack.
Even if I didn’t get the pleasure of watching & listening to fine hounds run a cat until the cat decided it’s had enough and waved the white flag, the trip would have been “A Cat Hunter’s dream vacation”. The reason I say that is Mr. Clay has the most impressive breeding program that I have ever witnessed. He has his dogs pedigree’s down on paper and traced down so well that it’s overwhelming to take it all in. His attention to detail and record keeping on dogs and hunts, is something I have never seen before. It is truly amazing. Mr. Clay has figured out a way through his careful thought out family breeding program to reproduce cat dogs that basically reproduce themselves.
I have meet a lot of top hunters in my life that have been very successful with hounds and the quarry they pursue, but I have only meet a few that could completely excel at both hunting their quarry and run a top breeding program that consistently produces hounds of top notch caliber. If there is such thing as a “Dog Whisper”, I believe Mr. Clay is one.
I have been blessed throughout my life to have been able to hunt with some of the best cat dogs and cat hunters around and Mr. Clay is top notch and sets my measuring stick to a new level. At 83 years old he is still tough as a cob and humble as they come. I think the Webster dictionary should use his picture when you look up the term “Catnap”. A word like “Catnap” had to have come from a cat hunter like Mr. Clay because if you cat hunt with him you are only going to get a quick “Catnap” before he has you back in the woods Cat hunting again. I could only imagine how tough he was when he was young. I would have to say probably about as tough as one of his Clay hounds.
Fellows if you get an invite from The Clays to come for a cat hunt, I highly recommend you take them up on it. Mr. Clay, Mrs. Clay and Mr. C. John Clay will take good care of you and feed you very well and provide a nice soft bed. Within 5 minutes of being there I felt right at home and it reminded me of the good old days when I would sit and swap dog hunting stories with my Grandpa and Dad. I can’t wait to get down there for another cat hunt.
Thanks for the hospitality and allowing me to go along. I enjoyed every minute of it! I am very lucky to live not too far away from The Clay’s and get an open invitation personally from Mr. Finney Clay to come whenever, I get the inch. Mr. Finney Clay may regret that because I already got the itch to go back for another hunt! Again, Thanks Mr. Finney Clay & Mr. C. John Clay for the hunt and first class treatment.
Mr. C. John Clay I want to personally say thank you for sharing your Dad with me and other cat hunters. If it wasn’t for you, I would have never had the opportunity to meet a Southern Cat Hunter of his caliber. In my past experiences with cat hunters of Mr. Finney Clay’s caliber they were just like phantoms in the woods and elusive as the bobcat. Other hunters would hear they existed but very few ever meet them and dang sure never got the chance to hunt with them. You made that possible for me and a few other hunters. Until next time hunt hard and enjoy the time spent with your Daddy. Life goes by way too fast, but these hunts and hounds sure can give us some fond memories and friendships that last forever.