|
Hi all, here is a little bit about us here at Clay Hill Kennel. We believe in owning, breeding, raising, hunting, and selling quality coonhounds. By quality I mean they can tree a coon in competition, pleasure, or when it really counts, during the hide season. I believe this has been forgotten by a lot of breeders today.
Clay Hill Kennel is operated by my wife and I. We are not a fancy kennel but we are working on improving or facilities all the time. We all work full time jobs. My wife and I work second shift. This has its good points in coon hunting and it has it's bad ones. The bad one is I miss a lot of the local hunts during the week.. However I get to spend a lot of daylight time with my dogs. I feel this is important also.
Today when dogs are bred it is usually because of what they have won or because of the big fancy add in the magazine. A fancy add doesn't mean that it will be a good cross on your female. This is starting to be realized again by a lot of people.
As far as the winning a lot of these dogs do, it is in the summer with the leaves on. The tracks are generally good and run real fast. The coon are thick and climb quick. If the tree has enough leaves and there is no coon seen, this tree is circled on the score card. This means it doesn't count except in a tiebreaker. Terriers can tree these kinds of coon. Don't get me wrong! A lot of these dogs are coondogs and will tree a lot of coon in season when it counts to most hunters.
Most people that know me, know that if a dog jumps off my truck at a hunt, it will tree a coon. It will work a track and have a coon at the end of it. I like a tree dog, but barks per minute are not that important to me. The things that are important, is that they stay and have a coon. I like an independent dog and split treeing is a must. This is the type of dog that I try to breed and reproduce. Before a dog is bred, a little homework should be done. Look to see how the dogs ancestors reproduced. Do this on both dogs.
I welcome anyone to come and hunt with me, with an appointment, or just to look at and talk about dogs. Or, I am usually at a hunt on Saturday night and I welcome you to come on a cast as a spectator. So bring your light and your boots and we will go to the woods.
|
|
