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Hey out there I don't post much but I wanted to share this because I am proud as a peacock I have a 5 month old all blue pup not completly of what we think of as gascon blood lines but he is deff looking like he will meet the standards he is all blue he has some sugar creek, some french creek but has some hammer on the top side.this guy will start his own tracks opens on track well and trees till you lead him away, I usually don't mess with pup to much at this age but he has always minded well I've been running him on some short cat drags and he has been doing outstanding, this evening I laid a drag for a young female of mine a long well thought out drag and I took him because he was pushing his way out of the kennel he open first off the lead about a hundred yards from where I start the track so I let him go first and he was moving it quick and talkig good the female finally opened and I turned her in she ran past him trying to drift it and beat him she lost it and he just stayed steady and was soon back in front and screaming at the top of his lunges he has a loud screaming bawl on track, he beat her to the tree and she was even a little doubtful on the locate but he knew he was right and when I walked in he never missed a beat and kept singing till I patted his head and praised him and then he got even louder tomorrow morning I'm going to start the track where I left off but start him at the begining again to give hime a marker of day old scent and see what he does when he gets to yesterdays tree and the cat has left. I will try to get some video and picture and post tomorrow night or saturday but I am proud of this hound he really impressed me and I'm not easily impressed.

French Creek Smoke?
Anxious to see a pic of him.

There is a couple pics of him, I will add some more when I am not so busy, I just started working a new job so its been busy. I will also get some video of him working soon and post that as well, he is young so I dont want to burn him out and if you keep him out of the woods for a week or two right now you can tell when he is ready to go again, he has a good memory and as long as i dont ruin him i think he will always get better everytime out. another month or two depending on how he matures, i think i can get him striking from the rig pretty easy he already strikes cat drags when on leash down the road, or if free casted, the thing I like the most about him though is for his age he handles, listens and responds to correction very well.

He must be out of a French Creek Smoke daughter?
I'll bet I have his cousin here.

Yes coles stella,and coles patch both local dogs, patch the sire,has some very diverse blood some hammer some cameron,some local blood and he is dark mahogeny trim, looks like a cameron tall rangy hound but not real heavy about 80lbs max stella is a big dog about 26 to 27 inchs about 85lbs all blue hound the litter my male is out of was all blue.

I really like a Cameron x Sugar Creek cross. I feel you get the best of both strains.
They also have a very good handle on them.

I like the x of the two as well, I am just getting back to where I can have more then one or two dogs again, I just served in the army for the last eight years,so I've always had a hound or two but now I'm trying to build a pack again, if this pup continues on to be an outstanding hound then I think I will breed him to a cameron female atleast 3/4 cameron. Then I have a kelly bragg,smokey river female hard little female very quick track dog cold nosed, she is one this month but she came along well this past cat and coon season,she is not as loud or open as I like but she is young she typically don't open unless the cat is up and running or she already has it treed. But she is young and I think its just a confidence issue she don't like to do the wrong thing,I think this female in another year will be good and if so I'd like to breed her to something with some sugar creek to put some more creek in my foundation, I think a good sugar creek dog will give her off spring a good balance, and ill have a good foundation to my new pack.

When the times comes, you'd be welcome to breed to one of mine or get a pup.

thanks and I will keep you posted. what do you have on the sugar creek side of the house?

this is the young female i am talking about she weighs about 65lbs in hunting shape, she is a hound full of muscle athletic ability and grit, and she still looks like a hound, I hope she keeps moving along.

Heavy linebred back to Old Rattler, Terrible Tom and Thunder Cheif.

Very nice looking female you have there.

How far back is the Grant blood in this male dog he has to have it?

I would have to do some research there could be some there but nothing in his 7 generation pedigree some of the sugar creek dogs have been all blue as well and this is starting to show up more because some people are breeding for it and it is a dominant trait so it only takes a couple generations to get them all blue constitanly I am trying to do some research on the sugar creek hounds beyond where they really came into the spotlight right now I like to know as much history as possible.I will post when I figure it out, but if you look at a lot of the abghs now adays a lot of them are all blue and they don't all stem from the same blood of grants hounds

BT78 Here's some info for you:

There is too much info for me to put down all at once. But the short version is this. In the 1930's, Harry O. Smith started Sugar Creek Kennels, in Ohio. During the 40's and the 50's he he produced some of the best Blueticks in the country. A lot of breeders bought their foundation stock from him. They were known as a larger, heavier headed blue. They were cold nosed, tall, rangy and very gritty. Males ran 80 - 90 pounds with some over 100 pounds, in the 27" to 32" range. This strain had a lot of the good old French blood in them. Del Cameron bought the last remaining Sugar Creek hounds from Harry in the late 60's. He used them in his outfitting business with great success and sold pups out of the best. He was getting $500 a pup in the 70's. They were an outstanding strain. At their peak, most people believed that they were the finest biggame hound in America at the time. Heavy line breeding took it's toll and he ran into problems with bloat and by the mid 70's he had lost most of his good ones to it. He then sold what he had left to Lionel Charles in Missouri. Lionell ran into a lifestyle change within a few years and then sold out to Ugene Gabala in Pennsylvania. Gene enjoyed the hell out of them for a few years until a guy named Frasier Streich showed up on his doorstep. Frasier payed $20,000.00 for the kennel name and a few dogs. Frasier bred and sold for a few years but in 1995 a fire wiped out his house, barn and all but a few dogs. This took the wind out of his sails, so to speak, and his heart was not in it like before. By 1996 he had given them all away. A guy named Ed Hawley bought a male and a female from the last litter and these were the last pure Sugar Creeks left in the U.S. There were 18 registered pups produced that were 1/2 to 3/4 Sugar Creek. I had one of the females, but she passed away in her sleep about 1 1/2 months ago. She was 3/4 Sugar Creek, 27" tall and 115# pounds. She had the coldest nose I have ever seen on a hound and the sweetest personality a man could want. There is one more left alive, a 1/2 Scr female, but she is too old to breed. I have scoured the country for a couple to go with what I have and I am into a breeding program with the intention of resurecting this noble strain. They are breeding true and I am very pleased with the results. They look, act and perform just like they used to.

Lion Tracker, thanks for the info, i knew most of that history, but you are always willing to share what ever you know, it is appreciated. I am trying to research some history on where Harry O. Smiths foundation stems from and what he used to produce the original strain, I have heard that in the 20s there were some french dogs imported and that these dogs were heavy in the SUGAR CREEK strain I have never been able to get any solid information that far back, thats kinda what I am looking for, and beyond that if this is where his blood stems from I would like to research the blood lines of the gascons used in this strain, and see where there ancestors on the other side of the big pond have ended up and how they are performing and on what game, its allways been a quest of mine so to speek, and maybe a secret to ressurecting the noble strain. Thank you again, and if you know anything that far back that I dont please share. Thanks, BT 78