2010 Senior Showdown Final Four
Hightime Houchie Momma
Johnny Moreland – Owner
Ryan Crowson - Handler
Wipeout Zeb III
Brad Mitchell – Owner
Jeff Travis – Handler
Booger Hollow Mojo
Ellis/Engle – Owners
Scott Engle – Handler
Wipeout Hellbily
Cullom/Kiddy – Owners
Barry Kiddy - Handler
2010 PKC Senior Truck Final Four Qualifiers
By Amy Kovac-Thomas
The Senior Truck hunt always brings out the best of the older stock of hounds in PKC. The names that qualify are ones that get to be known quickly after they’ve begun their PKC hunting career . They have earned this right to name recognition due to their consistency in success.
Tonight it is down to the final four of this group here in a soggy Lula, Mississippi and the names of the dogs are not ones that those watching on the internet will be surprised to see. The magic four rising above all the others who came out and gave it their best are: Hell Billy, Mojo, Zeb 3 and Houchie Mama. Behind them are names that people will find even less surprising: Barry Kiddy & Sumner Cullom, Scott Engle & JC Ellis, Jeff Travis & Brad Mitchell and Ron Crowson.
The time has now arrived to send these top dogs out to the woods and see who will be driving home their new truck home from the Isle of Capri Casino. So let’s take a closer look at these heavy weights of the sport.
Platinum Champion Hell Billy
Owned By Sumner Cullom and Barry Kiddy
Hell Billy is a 5 year old Walker out of Wipeout Zeb Again and Dana, who is out of Sackett Jr. crossed onto World Champion Awsome Annie. At the time of Billy’s breeding Kiddy owned Zeb Again. Billy was sold as a pup and changed hands from Adam Joiner to Brian Sanders then to Deron Schuler and finally to Sumner Cullom who has paired up with Kiddy on this fine hound that he had created. Since their pairing up, this team has been quite successful. These two bring with them a powerful combination to their partnership…experience and enthusiasm. They have balanced each other out from the start.
Sumner was just getting seriously into competition coon hunting at a time while Barry was busy building a new home with his wife Tonya for their family. This caused him to be not quite as involved in the sport as he was before. Sumner’s entry into the sport came with an enthusiasm and freshness that had him extremely intense. He put those qualities to use as he began to seek out the perfect coon dog. It was this search that led him to Hell Billy.
Barry had also heard of Hell Billy and was interested in the young dog, but after he had hunted with him and decided to buy him…it was too late! He had been bought by Sumner.
However, these men were about to do some role reversals in life - Barry was ready to get back in to the sport and Sumner and his wife, Angie, were going to have their daughter Karlee. This would slow him down. Sumner had hunted against Kiddy and knew his great involvement in the Wipe Out dogs so it just made sense to approach him about Hell Billy.
The two men then made a very smart decision - they joined forces on this dog and became the partnership that we are all looking at today. They have had great success with Hell Billy including being in many final fours, winning the 2008 Walker Days and last weeks AKC’s Black Gold Championship.
Barry Kiddy is the one behind the wheel this weekend with Billy. However will the two be able to drive home the truck for their team? We’ll find out by the end of the evening!
Platinum Champion Mojo
Owned by JC Ellis and Scott Engle
Mojo is a 3 year old Walker out of Davis’s Stylish Hammer, a brother to Harry Jr. and Cutter, and Horse Range J-Lo, from the Rat Attack line. He was originally owned by Robert Raxter of North Carolina, who bought him from S&S kennels. With his very early success in the hunts, especially with being the second dog to ever win the Junior and Senior Superstakes, he caught the eye of experienced handler Scott Engle. Scott approached Robert about coming in as a partner on Mojo. He immediately put his handling ability to work on Mojo, propelling him even higher than Robert had alone.
Mojo has caught the public’s eye with his great disposition, good looks, and ability to look even prettier in the woods treeing coons! He has won the above mentioned Super Stakes hunts as well as the Purina Walker Coonhound of the Year, in addition to this being his second year to be in the truck finals, and was also in the semi-finals of the 2009 PKC World Hunt. In fact, he was such a successful, attractive package that long time PKC supporter and well-known name JC Ellis decided he would like to have a piece.
JC Ellis bought out Robert Raxter’s half on Mojo and now it is he and Scott standing behind this dog - whose name seems to be very fitting since he has all the right chemistry. Though this is a relatively new partnership, its success is being seen in the fact that these two men are now waiting to find out if this youngest dog in the hunt will have the magic touch it takes to bring home the new truck. However, if he does it won’t be long before Scott will be adding a baby seat to the back as he and his wife, Erica, are expecting their first child in about two weeks.
Not only is Scott feeling the stress of being far away from home at such a critical time, but now he will find himself under more intense pressure as he tries to bring this big prize home for his new partnership!
Platinum Champion Wipe Out Zeb III
Owned by Brad Mitchell/ Handled by Jeff Travis
Wipe Out Zeb III, a 5 year old Walker out of Zeb Again, has had a very good run since being bought from Barry Kiddy by Brad Mitchell, who then turned around and paired him up with seasoned veteran handler, Jeff Travis. In the last year, Zeb III stayed in the very tops of the National Standings, earned a great deal in the Pro-Division, won the Breeder Showcase Open, and was in the Final Four of the World. In this new year, he has already got into the final four of the Pro Showcase and first Pro Hunt of the year in Oklahoma, got in the final four of the Sunshine Jamboree and now he sits in tonight’s top four.
Brad Mitchell likes this line of dogs. He owns a half brother to Zeb III. He actually became interested in Zeb III after a conversation he had with his fellow competition tonight, Barry Kiddy. Barry had told him about this dog owned by Bob Pridgen, but Brad didn’t think about it much more until later when Kiddy had actually gone and purchased him. Brad then told Kiddy that if he ever decided to sell him that he was interested. When Kiddy did, Brad wasn’t about to miss out again and Zeb III became part of his kennel.
Brad then decided that he wanted to find the best handler he thought he could to put behind this dog. Since he had already had Jeff Travis handle successfully for him before with another dog, it just made perfect sense for him to decide to put him behind this fine hound also. Jeff has had a lot of success with many of the hounds he’s handled through the years. He’s been in the winner’s circle very consistently and has even broke records with this success.
Now Jeff will go up against a fellow Wipe Out dog having much success and against the former owner and handler of the dog he is now behind. In addition to having to stay one step ahead of Mojo and Mama. It will be a muddy, bumpy ride for Jeff and Zeb III, but they just might emerge from the woods to find themselves driving home on smooth pavement in a nice, new clean truck!
Silver Champion Houchie Mama
Owned by Johnny Moreland/ Handled by Ryan Crowson
Mama is a 3 year old Treeing Walker, out of Melody Acres Ozark’s Monkey, that goes back to the Nocturnal Skipper bloodline. Johnny has owned her for a year and a half. She was bought from John Jones in Neosho, Missouri.
Johnny met Ryan many years ago at different club hunts. Ryan liked her and since Hemi was on pups, it was decided that Ryan would hunt Houch for Johnny periodically. He was very interested in getting her ready Walker Days which will be held in Oklahoma this year. Ryan was also the one to win the ticket on her for Johnny. Houch hasn’t really been hunted much, just a little over a year, but yet she has made it to this elite group of four.
Tonight she enters the hunt as the dark horse with much against her as she wasn’t retrieved from the late round until 9 am Saturday morning. She was in the flooded swamps and Johnny had to go buy a boat to reach her. Luckily, they were finally able to get her caught up and he was able to return the vessel before it launched it’s maiden voyage.
Johnny made the trip with his wife, Denise. Ryan is married to Tami, who couldn’t join him this weekend because she had to stay home to take their children to basketball games. Both men have been very active in PKC. Ryan has been hunting for 20 years and Johnny’s first PCA hunt was in 1979. Johnny comes from a long line of coon hunters as his father, Bud, was also heavily involved in the sport.
When not being stranded for hours in a swamp, Houchie is a pretty radical style dog, full of bronc action material - and tonight is definitely the dark horse! Johnny hopes that if he wins the truck he won’t have to haul a new boat in it to get his dog after tonight/s round.
Stay tuned for the play-by-plays to see just who willl drive home the new Chevy Silverado!
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