Frank Reese on Brace Trials

[Beagle Huntsman]

May 24 was Frank Reese’s birthday. Thought you might like this letter from him regarding the brace hounds of the 1970s....

From the Jan 1995 The Rabbit Hunter magazine....

“My hounds cannot win in this slow stuff. I am through with it. I would not breed to a stud in the South on free stud fee. I have bred to some of the best rated and the pups stand and bark, and run back track. I have had to give them away to dog traders. They lack desire and nose and I have found that the whole country has revolted. You should see my letters. To start with field trial rejects is a long way up. I have my bitch line for 10 generations. I do not hit it on every cross, but I know what to expect. I hate to admit this but that is what we have come to.”
- Written by Frank Reese in a letter dated 3/21/77.

[main event`s beagles]

nice thanks for sharing

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Never seen a traditional brace beagle run in person.Have googled them on the internet and watched videos and will say -- unbelievable, but if that's your thing....
When Better Beagling was absorbed by Hounds and Hunting I saw pics of brace beagles in the magazine and again -- unbelievable.Don't even look like the same breed of hound and FOR CERTAIN not the same breed of hunting beagles.Low slung,droopy ears, loose eyes,heavy jowled,heavy bodies,big heads,poor angulation in their running gear. I guess all bred that way to keep them slow and pottering as they trail. No wonder Frank had no luck trying to incorporate them in to the Gay Beagles. What surprises me is that he would even try??

[Beagle Huntsman]

Yes, today’s brace beagles are a horrible mess. A disgrace to the breed, in my opinion. They started downhill after WWII when Gray’s Linesman became popular. Wilcliffe Boogie, Car-E-Line Buddy, then Pearson Creek, then Wind Creek Limbo, Gold Coast Sambo, Dunlap’s Benson, etc, all took it down a degree. I have heard some mention that a basset cross somewhere along the way is responsible for the big bone, long bodies, etc. But nobody would ever admit to such a thing.

If you look at Frank’s pedigrees, his method for many years was to breed his bitchline to a brace field champion to produce the next link in his chain. During the 1950s and 60s, he could do that and still get useful hunting hounds. He seemed to stay away from Wilcliffe Boogie, which helped. I don’t think Gay Baker had any Boogie, but Gay Cindy did, so he eventually got it.

By the 1970s, Frank was having trouble finding suitable brace hounds to use (as stated in the letter). He was friends with J.W. Kidd, and used a little of Kidd’s brace line. He tried to use Dingus Macrae, but couldn’t get his bitch to him because of a snowstorm, so used Dingus’ brother, Dutch Fork Huntmaster instead. Around that time he stopped using as much brace blood and started developing his own males or using Mandy Bobbit’s Bedlam show bloodlines to bring up the conformation. For about a 25 year period, the Gay beagles were arguably the most popular strain in America for hunting and SPO trialing.

What is a little amazing is that the early UGBF breeders started with a lot of Limbo and Pearson Creek and did exactly what Frank spoke against - they gradually bred the speed and track ability back “up”. That’s why the early UGBF hounds were so conservative, causing a lot of true hunters to turn away and use other lines, like the northern hare bred lines. Now today many UGBF trialers are complaining their hounds are getting too fast! What goes around comes around?

[Shady Grove Beagles]

I have read several articles over the years where the person writing or being interviewed stated that in the 1970's that the southern cotton tail beagle was in trouble of becoming useless as a hunting dog due to the brace influence and that they were "saved" by the use of and influx of northern "hare" blood being brought in by concerned gun hunters who wanted a hound that could actually "run" a rabbit to the gun.
I don't know much about that segment of beagling history except what I've read.In the mid 1960's I was rabbit hunting with my dad and a couple of his friends with what would be described as grade "meat hounds". They produced on cotton tail and the occasional hare. I was a young teen and honestly couldn't tell you how fast they were but they sure weren't slow !

Fast forward to 1995 when I moved from New Hampshire hare country to Tennessee cotton tail country. I ended up making the acquaintance of a fellow that had a fairly large beagle kennel and was a strict devotee to the Gay bred beagles and told me stories of his many visits over to North Carolina to hunt/run or breed to Frank Reese's hounds.
We ran the dogs together twice before it became obvious that we were running two entirely different types of hound that were not a compatible mix.
His dogs were very good rabbit dogs that could jump,lock on and stay with their rabbit but when run with mine could not stay up with them at all. We hear a lot about that over used term "medium speed" and I guess it's relative to what you are used to. For what I was used to they seemed pretty slow.
The fellow surprised me when he told me that his hounds were considered a little "too strong" for the U.B.G.F. trials that were held in our area of middle Tn. at that time and that they usually picked him up.

[S.R.Patch]

I think Little Ireland hounds were from trial rejects and show hounds crosses. The problem is, trials being competitions are always pushing the limits of style and fashion. Competition by it's nature is always sacrificial against the well-rounded ,balanced hound, hunter's strive for.
I happened to have a 7 generation pedigree of Diamond Sadies Sport in front of me. Whelped in 1990, he was full of Pearson Creek, going back to Limbo, Car E Line Buddy. Little John. Sport was a LP Rabbit Champion and his parents Diamond Ring III and Bredemeier's Sadie also Champions. It is the standard and selection of related hounds that's keeps a line going, not outcrossing and destroying the accumulative good qualities you've built in the line. I was ask one time, for as long as the patch hounds have been registered, why are the pedigrees not littered with FC hounds. What I've seen in my short time in hounds is that once good bitches in competition come along, they are out crossed to the modern day Champion of popularity. It's like once you've reached the title, you can disregard the bloodline, and the weight of your individual hound can carry the banner forward, but this goes against the grain of the weaved web of fiber that molds the patchwork together. I often wondered what Capozzi was thinking when he out crossed his patches? Were there no other patch available of blood and quality to breed too? Or, was this his crafting his individual mark on the line that truly made it his own?
The pride of man is a heavy weight for a hound...jmho

[Hippy]

Been doing this for 60 + years and I too have seen it go FULL Circle- The 60-70 Hounds were rabbit dogs that you could kill a lot of rabbits with then the "Traditional Brace" craze kicked in and now U would STARVE to death or die from Old Age waiting for a rabbit to circle.

Paul Short had a BIG influence on the SPO style dog he bred for line control and run in any condition (BIG NOSE) that pretty much lasted for 20 + years now with the influence of Richard Sawyer and others the speed has gotten to the point were a lot of times it takes 4-5 rabbits for a winners pac.

I have ran ALL types -speed dogs and I now have the SPO style dog but like a lot of Rabbit Hunters/ prefer the 2-Couple Pac competition as it is dogs vs Rabbit and the "Buddy Buddy" system is pretty much eliminated and it is DEFINITELY more like Actual Rabbit Hunting

As mentioned "Feed what U Like -BUTT Like what U Feed"

With all the ANTI's we need to stick together and fight for the Better Good

Jim

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey Hippy
Thanks for your in put. Always appreciate hearing other's thoughts and experiences concerning the hounds.
Would you clarify your comment " with the influence of Richard Sawyer and others the speed has gotten to the point where a lot of times it takes 4-5 rabbits for a winners pack".
I don't know anything about Mr. Sawyer. When I was still receiving Hounds and Hunting / Better Beagling he would always have one or two pages of stud dogs advertised in every issue.
Are you saying his hounds are too fast and not accurate enough on the line? Given the awards / placements of his hounds that he lists I would have to assume they run in fairly conservative trial formats ie U.B.G.F., Deep South,etc.
There are two brothers that regularly run on the W.M.A. where I run and they say that almost all their hounds come from Sawyer's kennel.I see their hounds as quite conservative and medium speed at best.