Dustin Myers
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Oct 2006
Location: Bonners Ferry, ID
Posts: 776 |
Here’s a little more history of these hounds for those who are interested. I realized that I have talked about Randy Gibson’s Luke dog and the crosses that have been made between him and the Lightfoot hounds, but I haven‘t posted any pictures of him. I thought I would post a few pictures of Luke and talk a little about him and the litter he came from. We ended up choosing Luke because he was a very nice hound, from a very nice litter, from a good bloodline, that was developed by top notch guys. Here are some of the reasons why he was our choice.
When we were looking for an outcross, there were a couple of characteristics that we wanted to improve a little in our hounds as a group. The goal was to improve our hounds is those areas while keeping the chances of introducing any traits that we didn’t want to a minimum.
We wanted to breed to a hound/bloodline that would help settle our hounds down a bit, making them easier to handle and more enjoyable to hunt. They could also stand to be a little less rambunctious, and a little more settled at the tree. From what we had heard about Luke and his littermates, they strongly possessed both these traits. They appeared to be hounds that treed as hard or harder than what we had, without the bouncing around, spinning, and chewing. We saw video clips of them being called off a tree and walking away without a lead on them. This is something I don’t necessarily expect to be able to do with our hounds, but not having to yell, kick, and drag them off the tree would sure be nice. Especially when you have to lead 4 or 5 of them off the tree at the same time.
We were told they were hounds that were stay put pressure tree dogs, but would go out of their way to avoid getting into trouble with a rough dog if at all possible. While I think almost all hunters want a hound that doesn’t “start” any trouble at the tree. I know there are different opinions on what a coon hunter wants there hound to do when they are getting harassed by another hound at the tree. Some want them to show them who’s boss and win the fight. Others want them to back up and avoid the conflict if possible. I’m not a competition hunter, so I don’t claim to know what type of tree dog it takes to handle the pressures of being in a big hunt. I’m simply trying to explain the style of tree dog that we need. All the big game hunters I know want their hounds to stay treed but do everything they can to avoid getting into a fight.
Often times a big game hunter has several dogs under a tree at once, and they all need to get along. This is even more important if you decide to run with someone else’s pack of hounds. Years ago when I used to hunt more with different guys, I witnessed a few pretty ugly battles under the tree. Luckily the hounds I was hunting at the time would just be sitting off to the side treeing, while the others were rolling around under the tree going at it. Wanting your hound to win the fight isn’t a good option in these circumstances, because it might start out as a 1 on 1 fight, but could be a 3 or 4 on 1 fight by the time you get there. I’ve been fortunate enough to not have my hounds involved in one of these altercations. But the few I have witnessed with other guys hounds were not a pretty sight. Having hounds that can take being bumped around, jumped on, and face barked, without losing there cool, is what we want. The fact that Luke and his siblings were this style of tree dog was another plus in making him our choice.
Randy and Luke
Ram, Luke, Buck, and Kate all littermates.
I refer to this line of hounds as the Luke dogs, simply because he’s the one we have used directly. Others refer to them as Ink dogs, because they are double bred on Harmon’s Ink. But regardless of what you call them they are a line that has many generations of good hounds behind them, and I believe many more generations of good hounds to come in the future.
An important hound in the foundation of this bloodline.
After seeing the results of the crosses that have been made between these two bloodlines, it certainly appears that they have complimented each other very well. We are very pleased with the results, and feel that we have been successful in improving our hounds in the ways we wanted. The crosses we have made using this outcross have produced balanced hounds with the toughness and ability we need, but are definitely a little less hard headed. They listen and handle better, which makes them more enjoyable hounds to own and hunt. By using Luke to help reach this goal, we feel we were able to improve our hounds like we had hoped, without giving up any game catching ability in the process. It sure looks like Randy and the guys back east are having equally good luck with the hounds they have from these crosses. Much of the credit also goes to the good group of guys who are hunting these hounds and helping to evaluate their abilities in the woods.
Here are some pictures of some of the hounds from these crosses being hunted around the country.
Here is the 1st generation.
Idaho Lightfoot Smoke - (Gibson’s Sunset Luke X Idaho Lightfoot Stinger)
Gibson’s Sunset Tazer - (Gibson’s Sunset Luke X Idaho Lightfoot Stinger)
Idaho Lightfoot Venom - (Gibson’s Sunset Luke X Idaho Lightfoot Stinger)
Lightfoot Stride - (Gibson’s Sunset Luke X Idaho Lightfoot Stinger)
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01-28-2012 01:51 AM
