Wilderness Patchwork

wingpatch · Post by **wingpatch** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 5:20 pm

I just read it and found it very interesting. Who else on here has read it and what do you think.It has some good pictures of some of the old patch dogs and some real good stories about Willet Randall.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 8:08 pm

It is an excellent book!

J.Murphy/Murphy's Kennel

Bob Graves · Post by **Bob Graves** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 8:26 pm

wingpatch, I have read it, and thought it was great! I live in the foothills of the Adirondacks, so it was interesting to read about Willet's life and times as a beagle breeder as well as a "LOCAL GUY". I found it informative, as well as humorous. He had a great respect for all of nature, and understood the delicate balance that must be maintained for all things wild to exist. He was a great man in my book.

wingpatch · Post by **wingpatch** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 9:13 pm

You know when i was a young man there were a lot of men like him. they would go out of there way to help a young hunter that was interested in what they loved, that being hunting with dogs. Back then it was a way of life. I guess we have all heard it before,[I wish i new now,when i was younger] Anyone who could read that book and not take something from it there just aint no hope for...wingpatch

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 17, 2003 6:24 am

I just finished reading it myself and I loved it!Took me back to another time and place .Bob whats that area like now?Condos subdivisions??or can a guy still find a place to run.
Harvhounds at work

Bob Graves · Post by **Bob Graves** » Mon Mar 17, 2003 10:31 pm

Harvhounds, I used the term "Local Guy" very loosely. I am not familiar with the area Willet called home, but I do know there is over 2.5 million acres of state land within the Adirondack Park, that has been classified "Forever Wild" and will never be developed. The NY State Dept. of Environmental conservation website has a lot of info if your interested, here's the link. http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dlf/publands/adk/

Sorry if I made it seem like Willet and I were neighbors, he was just a fellow New Yorker.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 12:16 am

The meadow is mostly grown up with trees. The old kennel place and field is still kept open & mowed by Mike, there are still a few trees left from the orchard. The old rock where Willet layed to rest many hounds, is split right up the middle and a small tree is growing out of the crack. The names of the hounds that Willet carved in the rock have all weathered away with time, like the dew from the grass. It is a touching moment to stand at the kennel site and look across the meadow at Slide Mt., to view the things that Willet saw every morning, when he walked out of the house onto the porch, on his way to feed the new pups or take out another batch of youngsters, to see who will make the cut an carry the cross from where the old ones have laid it.

Oh, too have been there with the "Daddy of the Patch hounds"...Patch

Slaux · Post by **Slaux** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 12:43 am

I think it is a book any true houndsmen or nature lover should read. Not being a fan of most of "todays" patch hounds I read it starting out as a doubter and wound up having nothing but respect for Willet and his hounds.

wingpatch · Post by **wingpatch** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 1:32 am

Slaux, What part of the country do you live in.I was just wondering what line of dogs do you have. Do you know Jony lonhorse slaux he lives in Oregon state on the warm springs indian reservation,He hunts demoss bred plott bear dogs& has bluetick beagles?.....wingpatch

harvhounds · Post by **harvhounds** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 5:50 pm

Say Patch ,
What has become of the patch hounds?Is the line still intact?How long did Mr Randall live I know he was around 90 when the book was published.Does hounds and hunting have an archive of his writings I know some where used for the book.Remarkable man.
Heck Bob I thought that you used to run with him :lol
Sean:

DG TX · Post by **DG TX** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 6:35 pm

Willet started writing for Hounds & Hunting Magazine in 1909. I don't know for how long back then. He wrote for them in the 60's & early 70's until his death. Hounds & Hunting had the original rights to Wilderness Patchwork.

There was a great reprint of a letter from Ralph Butts of PA in 1916 concerning a visit w/ Willet to hunt and look at the Patch hounds in the Jan 2003 issue of H & H, which is 100 years old this year.

Bob Graves · Post by **Bob Graves** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 7:54 pm

Sean, I would have loved to run with Willet Randall, but sadly that can never happen.

Can you imagine what that would be like?

I see advertisements in the magazines for Patch hounds, but I feel since Willet is no longer around to do the breeding, they cannot be true Patch hounds. They may be decended from them, but they may have been breedings that Willet himself would have never made for reasons of his own. Just my humble opinion.

Bob

wingpatch · Post by **wingpatch** » Wed Mar 19, 2003 8:00 am

Bob you might be right, but there are a select few people around that appreciated what Willet Randall did. and try to breed the patch dogs to his standard.It would be inpossable for anyone to breed them as he did. I have read a lot of old articles that he wrote in different magazines,[ the hunters horn, hare and hounds and others]he to me was the kind of man that was'nt satisfide in haveing a good pocket watch he wanted to take the back off to see what really made it tick

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 19, 2003 10:37 am

Good point wright idea

Bob Graves · Post by **Bob Graves** » Wed Mar 19, 2003 7:27 pm

wingpatch, I'm sure (and hope) your right about the select few that are trying to keep the strain pure and strong to the best of their abilities. But I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that there are probably a select few that are reaping the benefits of the Patch name for pesonal gain over quality hounds. (How many pups are sold w/ full registration that would have been a cull in Willet's eyes?) I know relatively little about the Patch hounds, and even less about the people breeding them now, so I'm not bashing anybody by any means, and I sincerely hope you folks that have these hounds are getting as close to or even better than what Mr. Randall was putting out there. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: When Willet Randall was alive, he was the only man to go to for a Patch hound, they were his work, and a huge part of his life. Today, there are a FEW breeders using the name, each with their own ideas or standards of what a hound should be. I hope you have honest to goodness Patches in your kennels, and I hope you can always get them. I really mean that

.

Just curious, how long have you kept Patch hounds, and are there any standout qualities that the hounds as a strain were/are known for? (line control, hunt and search, bad condition noses etc.)

Bob

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