Super Stakes Finalists' Interviews
JUNIOR SUPER STAKES CHAMPIONSHIP
Glenn A. Scott, lives in Bath Springs, Tennessee and has lived there all of his 40 years. Known to PKC hunters by the nickname Peanut, Scott started hunting PKC in the 1980’s but took a timeout for a few years due to the health of his son. He started back about 6 or 7 years ago. Scott is a Baptist minister.
The hound he is hunting is CH Wipeout Willie, a son of M/F’s Wipeout Zack (Moose) and will be two years old in December. Willie’s dam is Flat Rock Annie, a daughter of Flat Rock Bones and Rocky Branch Crickett. Scott placed Annie in the 2000 World Hunt. She was carrying Willie and his littermates at the time of her World Hunt win. Willie was bred by Peanut Scott and Avery Bell.
I asked Scott to describe Willie and he responded this way:
“Willie has an excellent mouth. He bawls and squalls on a cold track and ads a chop to the mix as the track warms up. He hunts medium wide alone or in competition. He is very independent as evidenced by the fact that he treed a coon by himself in all the casts leading up to the final but one, the early round cast on Thursday night, the night he put the two cast wins together.
“Willie trees with three dying bawls and rolls over to a chop. Although not a hard tree dog by himself, he will kick it up to 120 per minute when other dogs come in to his tree.
The early round Thursday night was hunted a Smithland, KY. After 10 minutes of hunting time, he and a Walker female went one way while the rest of the cast went the other. One of the hounds kept treeing and leaving, preventing the cast from advancing on Willie who was trailing in the distance. In the late round at Smithland, Willie treed a coon by himself. He was split treed 20 feet from the other dogs in the cast. He had a coon and they circled. “
In the semifinal round Sunday, the early cast saw Willie treeing a coon all to himself, scoring 200 plus. In the late round he scored 200 plus right off the bat which proved to be a cast-winning effort.
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T. John Treadwell, 23, not to be confused with his dad, John T. Treadwell lives in Claremore, Oklahoma. He’s in trade school for the heating and air conditioning trade. He’s been coming to Aurora since he was 14 years old.
The pup he is hunting will be two in December. CH Heart Attack, named by the senior Treadwell was sired by Rat Attack and is out of a female named Fear This out of Stylish Harry. She was bred by John Treadwell.
T. John calls the pup Whitey. He has a squall mouth and she gets it open quick and uses it about the same on a hot or cold track. She hunts hard and gets deep. She’s a quick tree dog and barks about 130 barks a minute on the tree.
Whitey got in on Saturday night after hunting all three nights. She got an early cast win on Friday in Elkton, Ky after treeing two dens alone, both circle, to win the cast. In the late round she blew in deep and was found after the hunt with a coon.
On Saturday night she hunted out of Mayfield, treeing one coon to win. In the late round she scored 175 plus on a coon, 2nd strike and 1st tree and then the cast treed in the ground and made a circle tree. She won the cast with 175 plus.
On Sunday night, Treadwell drew Mike Creasy and Billy Bell. He won the cast with 50 minus after making 3 or 4 circle trees. The late round was won on circle points, beating Ebony River Robuck who drew minus.
T. John Treadwell finished second in the 2000 World Hunt, hunting the Bad Habit dog. This is his first appearance in the finals at the Super Stakes Championship. I asked him if he had a strategy for tonight and he said, “No. I just try to hunt a good dog. She hasn’t looked the best but she has done her part by winning every round.”
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David Blake, 33 is a cattle buyer from Lewisburg, KY who has been hunting PKC since he was 15 years old. This is his first appearance in the Super Stakes finals although he's hunted in the Super Stakes Championship twice. He won the PKC Walker championship in 2001 with a dog named Diesel Dan.
The pup David is hunting in the Final Three tonight is Clear Lake Rex, an 18-month old male Treeing Walker sired by Clear Lake Cracker. PKC members will remember Cracker as the sire of last year's Junior Super Stakes Champion. The dam of Rex is Sheba, sired by Eliminator and out of a female owned by Ricky Hampton.
I asked David to describe Rex and he told me the pup has a good, clear horn bawl mouth on track. He gets struck quick, opening about right in Blake's opinion. He gives a good locate and is a chop-mouth tree dog. He's pretty good about having a coon, in Blake’s opinion. The pup is a hunter, going deep if he has to. Blake has had him to hunt up 3 miles a couple of times lately. In the first round Thursday night, he went 1.6 miles by the GPS.
Rex got in Thursday night in Elkton, KY. In the early round he treed a coon by himself and another hound had one to itself. Rex won the cast on strike points. In the late round Thursday, Rex scored 100 and 100 on the only coon seen. Nothing else was there nor did they come into his tree, giving him the obvious advantage.
The semifinals on Sunday night had Rex treeing a coon by himself and netting 175 plus off a second strike and first tree. The other two dogs in the cast made three trees and they didn’t see a coon. Time out was called to find new territory. When they cut loose again, the other dogs ended up scratching. Rex was running when time expired.
In the late round, Rex scored 175 circle on the first track. One of the handlers put 100 minus on his hound by calling Rex in error. Blake then struck Rex for 100 and the pup treed. Blake says he laid back and took 25 on the tree. The plan worked as Rex won the cast to advance to the finals.
I asked him about any pre-game strategy and he laughed and said, “Just call my dog. That would be the best thing.”
SENIOR SUPER STAKES CHAMPIONSHIP
Bobby Burden of Morgantown, KY is thirty-one. He and his brother Shawn make a lot of PKC hunts, hunting Treeing Walkers owned by their dad, Billy Burden who also lives in Morgantown. Bobby’s kids, Zachary and Ashley are familiar faces to the crowds at the hunts, literally growing up with PKC.
Bobby is in the Final Three in the Senior division with a pup named Flat Rock Train. Burden calls the pup Thrasher after his famous sire, Flat Rock Thrasher who won both the Junior and Senior Super Stakes as well as the PKC Futurity in his illustrious puppy career.
Flat Rock Train has chop mouth on track but comes on the tree with a deep bawl that generated his name, “Train.” He can hunt deep, getting through the country but will also hunt around you, according to Burden. He’s a quick tree dog, “a ½ bark tree dog,” according to his handler and “a pretty good little tree dog” as well. When asked about the pup’s accuracy, Burden says, “pretty accurate.”
Train put his two cast wins together on Friday night hunting out of Aurora. Burden says the cast hunted back toward Hardin. His pup got to himself and treed two singles. On the first tree he split about 12 feet from the other dogs. Each tree had coons in them. The second coon was treed off a feed track where the coon had been feeding on acorns.
In the late round Friday, the pup made two trees, both circled den trees. The rest of the cast scored minus to cinch the win for Train.
In the semifinals, the early round found the other dogs in Train’s cast treeing a blank persimmon tree. Train made a circle tree by himself. A female in the cast scored 200 minus, treeing a possum. Train scored 50 strike and 100 tree on a coon.
In the late round, right out of the truck the other dog had 200 on a coon. Train got by himself through the country and treed a circle. The other dog split, also circled. The dog having 200 plus treed again and Burden was forced to lead Train to him. That tree circled as well. With 41 minutes left in the hunt, time out was called. Train struck and treed and was called on that “1/2 bark” according to Burden. He had the coon. The dog had 25 on that one. Another dog in the cast split treed and was circled. Burden says the cast finished this way. “I strike for 75 and they come treed. I take 25 on it. When we get in there, he’s split treed with a coon and they circle. I win the cast with 350 plus and 150 circle.”
I asked Burden about strategy and he said he just plans to lay back and call him for what he does.
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Loyd C. Morris, 33, is self-employed in the music business. He began hunting PKC about 12 years or so ago. He’s hunting a Treeing Walker male by the name of Iron Mike Tyson. Morris holds one third of a three-way partnership on the pup with Scotty McNeil, Morris and a gentleman named McKenzie. Tyson’s sire is Ball’s Stylish Harry. His dam is a female owned by Logan Julien.
I asked Morris to describe the pup for me. He says he has a big squall mouth that Morris describes as way above average. He opens his mouth quick, is a good mouth, is a good strike dog, usually getting first or second strike. The pup hunts wide. “You get him off the tree,” Morris told me. I asked about his ability as a track dog and Morris said, “he’s just average.”
Tyson is a good solid tree dog, barking 100 barks per minute and is fairly accurate, a description that seems to be a theme among handlers of pups these days. Of course, I have to pause and remember that we are expecting much more from these hounds at younger and younger ages these days. Tyson is an “action-type” pup according to Morris. He will get by himself but he will also back another dog.
Morris got the pup in on Thursday night, hunting out of Aurora. He scored 150 plus in the early round to win, followed by a score of 125 plus in the late round to seal the trip to the semifinals on Sunday.
In the early round Sunday, Tyson scored 200 plus for the win. In the late round, Tyson had the least minus in the cast with a circle tree to secure the cast win.
When I asked Morris how the pup was looking, he said, “Good but he’s a little tired.” As for strategy, Morris simply said he planned to “Call him like he does it.” He says the pup’s strength is in his hunting. He knows how to find a coon. Of his chances to win the Championship, Morris said, “I hope they are good. I need just need a little luck.” This is the first trip to the finals in the Super Stakes Championship for South Carolina hunter.
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Indiana hunter John Gossett is 33 years of age. He lives in Birdseye in south central Indiana and is a Human Resources Director for a furniture manufacturing company. He is hunting a Walker female named Pine Ridge Chic in the Senior Super Stakes Championship. Chic was sired by Stylish Clover (Whitey) and is out of Pine Ridge Emma, a female out of Hark Knockin’ Stylish Hayes and Wessel’s Wild Julie.
Chic strikes with a houndy, squall mouth that is loud for most females. She’s a “swing” hunter, according to Gossett, choosing to hunt around you rather than in a straight line away. She’s a good locator and a good tree dog, barking about 70 barks per minute. Her accuracy is her strong point. “I feel good going into her trees,” he told me.
Gossett and Chic got in on Friday night, hunting out of Aurora. In the early round she got “by herself” and treed one, caught another coon on the ground. Then she treed another coon but Gossett said he didn’t need it so he took the last tree. In the late round Friday she treed the only coon seen and due to some minus, ended up even with the board to win the cast.
In the semifinal round on Sunday, the Hoosier female won with a circle tree and the least minus. No coons were seen on that cast. Then in the late round, again Chic treed the only coon seen. He hunted against the black dog named Jack and the Maul-N-Wedge Scar dog. All the dogs had some minus but Chic treed the only coon seen.
I asked John Gossett about his strategy and he told me this: “I’m going to strike on the third bark and take my time treeing her if she’s through the country, using up as much clock as possible on the trees. Hopefully, the leaves will be off enough to plus or minus the trees as they should be.”
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