Registered: Oct 2012
Location: burnt district MO/KS border
Posts: 787

"BRAYMER, Mo. Milton Kelley Stagner, 92, of Braymer, formerly of Dearborn, Mo., passed away Wednesday, April 29, 2015.

Kelley was a lifelong farmer and coon hunter.




Preceded in death by: his parents, Elijah and Ruby (Kelley) Stagner; siblings, Frank, John, Joe, Jim, Sarah Arnote, Al and Mary Taylor.

Survivors: two nephews, Jim Bob Stagner and Harry Taylor; two nieces, Jo Ellen Stubbs and Sylvia Stagner."

after hearing about the death of a past mentor of mine, I found this in the St Joe MO newspaper.

Mr Stagner needs no intro to English fanciers, he WAS Platte Valley English.

I was 13 when I met Mr Stagner while living in nearby Hardin MO for a short while. The last time I spoke to him was in 2007, when at article about me came out in Bloodlines and I had mentioned him in a list of those who had formed my love for the breed.

He told me at that time he had assumed the coon hunting world had long forgotten about him and his dogs, I told him that his influence on the breed would survive forever in the blood he forged and in the respect he had earned from myself and others. that phone call ment more to me than 1000 articles ever could.

so sadly im here to say yet another great has passed.

"like the howl of a wolf in the distance, the locate on a tree dog brings out primal instincts in men that people who do not coon hunt will never know. I have seen it cause old men to regain the spry of youth, and youth to gain the wisdom of the wisest of sage."

it was Mr Stagner and men like him I was referring too when I said that, and the things younger men like myself gained from there labor.

RIP Kelly. Spike has been treed along time now, and you can finally go to his tree.

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when policemen ignore the law, then there isn't any law. there's just a fight for survival.

*billy jack

It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.

Robert E. Lee

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Registered: Oct 2011
Location: WV
Posts: 139

Nice tribute , well written .

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Scott Little 304-676-1622 cell

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Talala, Oklahoma
Posts: 5208

As a teenage boy, I had a top female out of Don Moon's Platte Valley Ringo.

She was a big, houndy female with a million dollar mouth, out of the same cross as Penny's Dancin' Disco, Willow Creek Golden Bugle, and some other fine English hounds.

When she got ran over, I couldn't find another English with the kind of mouth and cold tracking ability and looks that she had, and I wound up hunting Blueticks, and have been ever since.

I cherish the conversations I had with Mr. Stagner.

A legend has slipped away.

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It takes a big man to cry; it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man.

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Registered: Jul 2006
Location: Carrollton,Missouri
Posts: 947

I went by Kellys house when I was in school(early 90s). He had some nice looking dogs. I just got into coonhunting and his dogs were impressive. He lived between Mandeville and braymer then I think.

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Brian Davis
Carrollton,Mo.64633
1(660)542-0932

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Registered: Dec 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 2027

Sorry for you loss flag,may he RIP. Very beautifully written, I'm sure he would have appreciated the kind words.

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"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
Mark Twain

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Registered: Oct 2012
Location: burnt district MO/KS border
Posts: 787

I remember one trip to the farm, I was 13 I think, and my dad and Nick Oster took me there to pick out a pup from a litter that had just been born. they didn't even have there eyes open yet.

Im not sure where my dad and Nick wandered off too, but Kelly and I went to the barn by ourselves and looked at that litter and a couple of others. Then we did the chores of feeding and watering all the dogs ect. The whole time we were talking about hounds and hunting, he would ask me questions, explain what was right or wrong in my answers, ect. I learned more in that 30min to an hour than I learned in any entire year before or after.

When we made it back to the house, he showed me the trophies and pictures he had in a big trophy case. there were also relics in there like the collars of Golden Bugle and Spike, and others. He would tell the story of each dog who wore the collar or won the trophy, and point them out in the pictures.

to a 13yr old boy consumed by the coon hunting bug it was like being given a tour of the most sacred of holy sites. The holy grail of English blood, and the prophet himself was giving the sermon.

__________________
when policemen ignore the law, then there isn't any law. there's just a fight for survival.

*billy jack

It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.

Robert E. Lee

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