National Plott Hound Association News

Howdy, folks. I hope you and yours are well. Come on intocamp, get comfortable and let’s talk Plott dogs!

It’s hard to believe it is June already, I can’t recall a milderwinter or a hotter spring, and the weather here continues toget stranger by the day. Snow in the mountains last week,hail storms and cool weather the rest of the week, 80 degreesand sunny yesterday, cool and cloudy with more thunderstorms today. It reminds me of what an old-timer once toldme – “If you don’t like the weather here, just stick around forabout 15 minutes, because it is sure to change.” That has cer-tainly been the case recently.

Before getting on with other topics, I am saddened to beginthe column with some bad news. Plott hound legend, Mr.Gene White of Knoxville, Tennessee, passed away on April18, 2012 after a long illness. Mr. White was survived by hisbeloved wife Helen and daughter Jean, as well as two stepchildren, and literally hundreds of friends and admirers inthe Plott dog world. He was 76 years old.

Mr. White leaves a legacy among modern day Plott huntersand breeders that will likely never be surpassed. His WhiteHollow Plott Kennels have sold dogs around the world anddeservedly share the reputation as being some of the premierbig game Plotts ever known –and they have continued thatreputation for over half a century!

There are too many illustrious White Hollow Plott dogs tolist them all, but a few deserve special mention. And forthose of you not familiar with Mr. White, these dogs shouldgive you an idea of just how important he was – and still is –to modern day Plott history.

White Hollow Little Junior was one of his most famousdogs. Mr. White hunted Junior all across North America –from the Gulf of Mexico to deep into Canada, and as far westas Washington state, and as far south and east as the Dismaland Okefenokee Swamps. Little Junior had over 300 bearskilled over him, and countless more that were treed andreleased.

Little Junior’s incredible lineage provides at least a partialexplanation of his success. Everette Weems’ Plott’s John,,Clyde Bounds’ Black River Bolly, Kermit Allison’s BearCreek Duke, as well as Mr.White’s own superb WhiteHollow Junior –among others—were just a few of the famousdogs that Little Junior descended from.

Another of his fine dogs was White Hollow Clyde, who Mr.White purchased from Bob Young. Like Little Junior, Clyde’spedigree reads like a who’s who of Plott dogs –EveretteWeems’ Plott’s Dan, Leroy Haug’s Swampland Star, ClydeBounds’ Black River Bolly, Steve Mohr’s Ursus Rowdy, anda host of Cascade dogs –including Cascade Big Timber – arejust a few iconic names behind this great hound.

Clyde treed or caught 33 hogs and 7 bears in less than sixmonths in 1979. During the course of his career Clyde ran infront of such iconic hunters as Willis Butolph, George Ricks,Bob Young, James Brown, Ray Brown, Ron West, RonnieCreasman, Arza Scott, Mike Beamis and Dick Freeman –most of who also hunted behind Little Junior.

And Mr. White was no slouch as a hunter himself. All ofthe above listed hunters –and many others –praised White forhis hunting skills and his ability to run with his dogs to beamong the first to the bear tree or hog bay. I talked with sev-eral hard-core Haywood County, N.C. bear hunters whooften hunted with Mr. White in the rugged area along theTennessee-North Carolina state lines known as “12 Mile.”They said that Mr. White was one of the toughest hunters

By Bob Plott, 146 Backcreek Lane, Statesville, NC 28677,beardogs1750@yahoo.com or bob@bobplott.com

they had ever been in the woods with –and these boys are notquick to praise anyone, so this is about the highest compli-ment a man could expect.

Not only was Mr. White a great hunter and dog breeder, buthe also played an integral part in helping Oliver Smith III getthe Cascade line firmly established on the east coast. DoyleDeMoss of course, is credited with starting the CascadePlotts in Washington State, where they were famous by theearly 1960s. Mr. Smith later bought Big Timber fromDeMoss and combined the Cascade line with his alreadyestablished pack that he had previously obtained from HackSmithdeal. The end result was some of the finest Plott dogsthe world has ever seen.

Mr. White and Mr. Smith hunted together often and regu-larly traded and bred dogs together, which led to the Cascadebloodlines being introduced to the White Hollow Kennels. Itwas also about this time that another of Mr. White’s closefriends and hunting buddies –Berry Tarlton – made a dogtrade that helped firmly establish two other renowned Plottlines –Tarlton’s Houston Valley Plotts and Homan and SteveFielder’s Bear Pen Plotts.

Tarlton traded his Jap gyp to Mr. White who intended to useJap for a brood dog. Tarlton later got a pup of his own fromMr White that was out of Jap. That pup was named Tarlton’sRoberta and she became the foundation of the HoustonValley line that is still producing top Plott bear dogs a half acentury later.

Roberta was later bred to Cascade Big Timber –this litter

Herbert "Hub" Plott, son of Robert Henry Plott and great-grandsonof Henry Plott along with one of his favorite Plott dog's -- Rattler.Hub and Gola Ferguson were best friends. Gola left most of hisPlott dogs to Hub when he died. Hub added them to his alreadyoutstanding pack of Plott hounds. He continued to raise Plott dogsuntil his own death in 1973.

Saturday Bench Show Grand ChampionFemale, Best Plott in UKC Show, Best PlottAll Plott Show: Gr. Ch. Melrose MountainJezebel Jett with Clint, Veronica and OwenPace.

Saturday Bench Show, Best Opposite SexAll Plott Show: Jenkins’ Carolina J Bullett,shown by James Jenkins.

First Place Three Dog Bear Bay: Pete-Pete, Blue and Rebel withKenny Shelton, Mike Cole, Brian Shelton, Jocassee Johnson, MattPhillips, Teresa Tuers, Kim Rinock and Kira Rinock.

First Place One Dog Bear Bay: Anerson’sWindy Gap Butch, shown by Bryan Smith,Lawrence Anderson and Rick Grunch.

Rick Jenkins at Plottfestin Maggie Valley, NC

Saturday Bench Show Champion of Cham-pions: Ch. Black Rock Ivy, shown by HenryKeefer.

Saturday Bench Show and Friday andSaturday UKC Night Hunt Winner, GrandChampion Winner and Best Opposite SexUKC Show Grand Nite Champ-ion Winnerboth Friday and Saturday and High ScoringPlott Overall: Ch., Gr. Nt. Ch. Cody’s andSmith’s Carolina Cody, shown by Tiffanyand Robbie Cody.

Saturday Bench Show and Bear Field TrialJunior Class Winner and Bear Field TrialLine Heat Winner: Allison’s Bear CreekAmos, shown by Amanda, Hunter andHayden Edwards.

produced Tarlton’s Big John and Bear Pen Plotts Bronco –bothrenowned bear dogs. Bronco was owned by former NPHApresident Steve Fielder and his father, the late HomanFielder. Bear Pen Bronco is now in the NPHA Hall of Fame.

I could go on and one –but my point is this: The dogs thatcame out of Gene White’s White Hollow Kennels are enoughto secure his place of honor in Plott hound history. And justthose contributions alone are more impressive than those ofmany better known breeders who will remain unnamed.

But when you factor that legacy in with Mr. White’s incred-ible hunting record, and the contributions he made to otherillustrious Plott kennels such as the Houston Valley and BearPen lines –among many others – it is easy to see why he

should be remembered and recognized as one of the greatmodern Plott legends of all-time.

Ironically, I mentioned last month that I missed Mr. Whiteat Breed Days this year, and that I enjoyed talking with himwhen he was there last year. Little did I know that he wouldnever return and that his name can now be added to the listof other legends that we have lost recently — such as FrankMethven and Lawrence Porterfield.

And just as I said last month, the good Lord broke the moldwhen he made men like that. No one will ever replace them.May they all rest in peace and may we all fondly rememberthem for what they did to perpetuate the Plott breed. We areforever in their debt.

Saturday Bench Show, Senior Male Class,Breed UKC Show: Plott Sam, shown byGene Wallin.

First Place Coon RollCage: Allison’s Bear CreekCricket, shown by HunterEdwards and Gary Cox

First Line Winner Bear Field Trial: Toby,shown by Amanda Edwards, CharlesMoore, Hayden Edwards, Marion Allison,Katie Croom and Hunter Edwards.

UKC Field Trial Line Heat Winner: Allison’sBear Creek Emma, shown by Amanda,Hunter and Hayden Edwards.

UKC Field Trial Winner and Best Field TrialWinner: Chip’s Nabek Sis, shown byCharles “Chip” Moore.

First Place BearTreeing Contest:Carolina J Bullet,

shown byJames Jenkins

Walker’s Pocahontas Gus II, out of Gus andChalk, is a fine, young bear dog and a greataddition to Gene Walker’s line.

One of Mike Mehaffey’s fine Laurel Moun-tain Plott dogs enjoying the music atPlottfest.

Richard Hope, Bob Plott, Moke Anderson and Eugene Walkerat the 2012 NPHA Big Game Nationals.

But as sad as Mr. White’s passing is, we can take some sol-ace in the fact that his “buddy,” his beloved daughter Jeanwill carry on his White Hollow Plott Kennels. I am sure hewould be proud of that. Please keep the White family in yourthoughts and prayers.

Let’s move on now to other NPHA news. I mentioned inour column last month that we’d have the results from the27th Annual North Carolina NPHA Plott Sectional put onby the WNC Houndsman Association Inc. in Asheville N.C.on March 30-31, 2012. Thanks to Gary Cox and GeraldChandler for sending the results to me.

By all accounts it was, as usual, a splendid event, greatlyenjoyed by all in attendance. Space limitations restrict mefrom listing and including photos of the top five winners inevery category – but rest assured that all of the winners andtheir photos will be included in the upcoming NPHA year-book. But in the meantime, here are a few of the results:

— Saturday Bench Show Grand Champion Female, BestPlott in UKC Show, Best Plott All Plott Show: GR CHMelrose Mountain Jezebel Jett, owned and handled by Clint,Veronica and Owen Pace.

— Saturday Bench Show Champion of Champions: CH PRBlack Rock Ivy, owned and handled by Henry Keefer.

— Saturday Bench Show and Friday and Saturday UKC NiteHunt winner, and Grand Champion Winner & Best OppositeSex UKC Show Grand Nite Champion Winner both Fridayand Saturday, and High Scoring Plott Overall: CH GR NTCH PR Cody’s & Smith’s Carolina Scout, owned and handledby Robbie and Tiffany Cody.

— 1st Place One Dog Bear Bay: Anderson’s Windy GapButch, owned and handled by Lawrence Anderson.

— 1st Place Three Dog Bear Bay: Pete, Blue and Rebel,owned by Mike Cole and Kenny Shelton.

— Saturday Bench Show, Best Opposite Sex All-Plott Show:PR Jenkins Carolina J Bullet, owned and handled by JamesJenkins.

— Saturday Bench Show and Bear Field Trial JR Class MaleWinner and Bear Field Trial Line Heat Winner: PR Allison’sBear Creek Amos, owned and handled by Amanda andHunter Edwards.

— Saturday Bench Show, SR Male Class, Breed UKC Show:PR S7W Plott Sam, owned by Cassie Wallin and KennyShelton, handled by Gene Wallin.

— UKC Field Trial Line Heat Winner: PR Allison’s BearCreek Emma, owned by Bryan and Hayden Edwards, andhandled by Hunter Edwards.

— UKC Field Trial Winner and Bear Field Trial Winner: PRChip’s Nabek Sis, owned and handled by Charles Moore.

— 1st Place Bear Treeing Contest: PR Carolina J Bullet,owned and handled by James Jenkins.

— 1st Place Coon Roll Cage: Allison’s Bear Creek Cricket,Owner Marion and Kaye Allison, handled by HunterEdwards.

— 1st Line Winner, Bear Field Trial: Toby, owned and han-dled by Katie Croom.

It should be duly noted that all big game competitionevents were not UKC or NPHA sanctioned events and wereheld on a separate site sponsored and coordinated by theMount Mitchell Hunting Club.

The NPHA Big Game Nationals were held in HickoryGrove, SC on April 20 and 21. The weather and location wereboth perfect and it was great not only seeing the events, buttalking with friends such as Gene and Ann Walker, KennyShelton, Richard Hope, Paul Wagner, Steve Bradley, Marionand Kaye Allison, Katie Croom, Mike Bertrand, Les and BillDaniel, Mike Mehaffey, Roy Clark, Moke Anderson, SteveFielder, Johnny Gibson, Kevin Lundholm, Chip Moore, GaryCox, Mike Cole, Scrubby and Delana Rogers, GeraldChandler, and too many other folks to mention them all.

But I’d like to make additional special mention of two cou-ples that attended the Nationals – Mr. and Mrs. Homer Paceand Mr. and Mrs. Dan Long. I had heard of Mr. Pace for years,but had never formally met the Pace’s until last year whenthey attended a program that I was doing in Rosman, N.C. Ireally enjoyed talking with them then, and it was truly apleasure to get to spend some quality time with them at theNationals.

It was also nice to see Mr. and Mrs. Dan Long again. I hadtalked with Dan—as I almost always do – at Breed Days thisyear, but his wife was unable to attend Breed Days due to aserious illness. She was greatly missed, as I always enjoy vis-iting with her as well.

I am happy to report that Mrs. Long is now recovering nice-ly and was a pleasant addition to the crowd at the Nationals.During her recuperation, Mrs. Long has been doing somebeautiful paintings of wildlife scenes including a stunningpainting of some Plott dogs baying a big bear. She had itframed and on display at the officers tent.

These two couples, as well as many other dynamic husbandand wife teams such as Marion and Kaye Allison, Gene andAnn Walker, Scrubby and Delana Rogers – and too manyothers to list them all here – are truly the backbone of theNPHA. Like the old saying goes, behind every successfulman is a good woman – and that is certainly often the case inthe Plott dog world. Again, it was great seeing all these folks— and many others – at the Nationals. Club officers are to becommended for doing a great job in putting this event togeth-er.

All winners and photos of same will be included in theNPHA yearbook, but in the meantime here are some of theNPHA Big Game National winners:

— 1st Place Open 1 Dog Bear Bay: Sam, owned and handledby Carroll Allen.

— 1st Place Open 3 Dog Bear Bay: Smoke and Red, ownedand handled by Dave Williams, Blue, owned and handled byChad Rhyne.

— 1st Place All-Plott 3 Dog Bear Bay: Butch and Rugerowned and handled by Lawrence Anderson, Sam, owned andhandled by Carroll Allen.

— 1st Line and First tree in Bear Field Trial: Clyde, ownedand handled by Logan Chambers.

— 1st Place Bear Treeing Contest: Misty, owned and han-dled by Gene Walker.

— 1st Place One Dog Open Hog Bay: Betty, owned and han-dled by Logan, Jessica and Bryson Chambers.

— 1st Place 2 Dog Open Hog Bay: May and Dusty, ownedand handled by Tony and Iszick Wynn.

— 1st Place Youth One Dog Bear Bay: Boss Man, owned andhandled by Brandon and Hayden Hooper.

— 1st Place Open One Dog Bear Bay: Boss Man, owned andhandled by Brandon Hooper.

— 1st Place All-Plott 3 Dog Bear Bay: Pete Pete, Blue andDusty, owned and handled by Kenny Shelton and IszickWynn.

— 1st Place 2 Dog Hog Bay: Dusty and May, owned byKenny Shelton, handled by Iszick Wynn.

— 1st Place 1 Dog Open Hog Bay: Buck, owned and handledby Mike Cole.

— 1st Place 3 Dog Open Bear Bay: Sam, Cash and Martha,owned and handled by Carroll Allen and Nick Redmond.

— 1st Line, 1st Tree Bear Field Trial: Maggie, owned andhandled by Dickie McCall.

The First Annual Plottfest was held in Maggie Valley, N.C.on the same weekend as the Big Game Nationals. But despitethe conflicting dates, the event got off to a great start withconcerts, arts and crafts, the WCU Plott Exhibit, and plentyof good food and great fellowship. Best of all, all the proceedswent to Haywood County Head Start program.

Several Plott family members were in attendance, such asShane Plott, his wife Carolyn, and their children Tyler andJessie, as well as Johnny Plott, his son Monte along withMonte’s wife and son. My wife Janice, our son Jacob and Iwere also there enjoying the festival.

Shane brought along his pretty Pocahontas Plott hound,Caty, NPHA stalwart and master bear hunter Mike Mehaffeycame by late in the day and had several of his fine LaurelMountain Plotts on display for the crowd—beautiful dogs!Mike is such a great guy and truly a wonderful advocate forthe Plott breed. And another real nice local family –whosename now escapes me –also had their nice Plott dogs therefor the crowd to see.

It was good to visit with my good friend Rick Jenkins, hislovely wife Tomi, and his brother Randy — what great peo-ple! And Rick is a die hard Plott man for sure. He has somenice Plotts from the Cascade line and just obtained a reallyfine Crockett gyp. I always enjoy spending time with Rick.

The promoters of Plottfest have assured me that they wantto grow this event and work with members of the local andnational Plott dog community to involve us more in thefuture. They would like to have a bench show, a kid’s show,and maybe a night hunt if clubs will assist and sanction it.

I don’t mean to get on my soap box here, but folks, we real-ly need to get behind this event. It is a wonderful chance toget our good names out in front of the general public to bet-ter represent us, our sport and our dogs.

This is a very unique opportunity – and one that we musttake advantage of. And best of all, it is in the cradle of Plottdog history with scores of famous landmarks – such as theState and Blue Ridge Parkway Historical Markers, the homesof Von, John, Mont, Amos, Robert and Hub Plott all nearby– not to mention, fantastic restaurants, shopping, the GreatSmoky Mountains National Park and many fun touristattractions. This could be a family vacation and a superbPlott dog event. But it is up to us to make it happen.

Don’t get me wrong, our NPHA and APA events are great –and we need to fight to keep them going. But when we aretogether at those events we are literally preaching to thechoir as like minded individuals. But here, we have a greatopportunity to not only enjoy our usual fellowship amongour family and friends, but more importantly we have thechance to expose and educate the general public as to whowe really are and what we really stand for.

The promoters intend to start planning for the 2013 eventin early May, and they are asking us to set the best date thatwon’t conflict with any of our events, and a date that willallow us to attend and support the event in large numbers. Iimplore the officers of both the NPHA and APA to contactme as soon as possible to get this done. If we miss out on thisopportunity we have no one to blame but ourselves.

And I don’t mean to be rude, but please don’t waste my

time or yours telling me why we should not do this –I knowwe can not have any big game competitions there, and I amNOT suggesting that we even try. That would be stupid. Butwe can do a lot of other positive things and best of all, be intotal control of how we are portrayed. We don’t get manychances like this anymore, so I hope we don’t blow it. Again,I sincerely hope you will get behind this event. I usually tendto keep most personal opinions to myself, but this is just tooimportant to ignore. Thanks for listening.

Now, on to the mail bag. As I have said many times before,I want this to be your column, so please keep those cards, let-ters, emails and calls coming. I still work a full time job, butI always do my best to respond to each of them, and makemention of them in the columns, so please send me yourfeedback, event results, opinions or anything else pertainingto the Plott dog world that you’d like to discuss.

Despite the efforts of Irv Corbin and other dedicatedCalifornia Plott people, it looks like we can add California tothe growing list of states that are outlawing hunting withdogs. We nevertheless want to thank Irv and many others fortheir efforts in fighting the passing of this law and for keep-ing us updated on their efforts.

Mike Mehaffery reports that all North Carolina bearhunters are asked to meet in Raleigh NC on May 2, 2012 at10:30 AM to meet with the state wildlife commission to dis-cuss their plans of considering the adoption of a black bearmanagement plan. Obviously this meeting date will havepassed before you read this, but it is just a reminder that weneed to stand together and fight for our rights. Please keep aneye out for further updates and attend any future meetingsthat you can to support our North Carolina hunters.

I continue to get a lot of support for my earlier commentsabout the breed standard and the buckskin color in particu-lar — though many have asked that your names not be used.I continue to be somewhat perplexed as to how this manyfolks – like me – are supposedly in favor of putting the buck-skin back in the NPHA and UKC breed standards, yet thevote to reinstate the buckskin failed. I must be missingsomething here. But that’s a topic for another day.

I got another nice letter from Orville Mansholt from out inIllinois. Mr. Orville writes that he continues to take youngfolks coon hunting and included a photo of some youngstersthat he started in the sport. Mr. Orville writes that youth arethe key to the future of our sport. I totally agree with himand commend him for his long time service to the breed. Ihope he will send me that photo of the coon with a whiteblaze; I’d love to see it.

It was, as always, nice hearing from Duane Smith up inVermont. His letters as usual, are entertaining and insight-ful. I never fail to learn something from him. His friendshipand insight is greatly appreciated.

I have not talked with Mr. Hoke Rawlins lately, but I final-ly did get to talk with his friend Dr. Richard Guill, who livesnot too far from me. Dr. Guill is a dedicated Treeing Walkerman and a true pleasure to talk to. He is almost 80 yearsyoung, still hunts, keeps dogs and enjoys spending time andtraveling with his lovely bride –I believe he said they hadbeen married for about 60 years and still going strong. I lookforward to visiting with him soon.

I enjoyed talking with Randy Roy of Fort Butler, Floridarecently. He is a former high school football coach and avidbear and hog hunter. Randy runs Plott dogs out of therenowned Kamphouse line and has enjoyed great successwith them. He also lives near, and is friends with Ellet Biasand Bobby Joe Houston — two legendary Florida Plott men.

Speaking of Floridians, it was great to hear from my buddyRusty Gill. Rusty and his wife will celebrate their 25thanniversary this month. Congratulations to them both!

I have not heard from Mr. Bud Lyon recently and missedhim at Breed days, but I hope he is well and I hope to talkwith him soon.

Glad to hear from David Williams who was just nominatedfor the presidency of the APA. The APA could not have nom-inated a better candidate; he will do a great job. And it isalways good to hear from Jess Howell, David Jerigan, ChrisCrotts, David Blanton, Jason Pounders, and Logan Sorrells –all dedicated and hard hunting Plott men.

I have not recently talked with my good friend APA chartermember and NPHA member John Jackson, but I plan to doso soon. I have a Taylor Crockett print that I think he willenjoy. Speaking of John, I wholeheartedly agree with hisrecent comments about the “mysterious” Jonathan Plottwho some people still mistakenly claim brought the Plottdog to America and later to Haywood County N.C. Folks,John is correct, that is simply not true.

I first explained this myth in my first book Strike and Staythe Story of the Plott Hound back in 2007 and I have sincewritten two other magazine articles further dispelling thisrumor. And in my latest book –Colorful Characters of theGreat Smoky Mountains – I explain my theory as to how thismyth got started. It’s too lengthy to get into here, but sufficeit to say, there was never anyone named Jonathan Plott thathad anything to do with the origination or perpetuation ofthe Plott breed. Enough said.

However, the last time I checked, I believe that the NPHAstill credits Jonathan Plott as breed founder on their website.I hope they will correct that in the near future.

I usually try and include a little Plott history in every col-umn, but I think we pretty much already covered that in ourbrief tribute to Mr. Gene White. However, I will add a photoof Herbert “Hub” Plott of Maggie Valley, N.C., and his Plotthound Rattler. Rattler was supposedly a very aggressive dogand notorious for being fiercely loyal to Hub.

Hub was born in 1893 and died in 1973. He was the son ofRobert Henry Plott –who was the last Confederate prisonerreleased in the Civil War – and the great grandson of HenryPlott who first brought the Plott dogs to Haywood County inabout 1800.

I visited Hub and his wife Nannie often when I was boy andgreatly enjoyed their company. My Uncle got his Plott dogsfrom Hub and they were some of the first that I ever remem-ber as a child, until later seeing Von Plott’s dogs in the mid-1960s. I profiled Hub and the entire Maggie Valley Plott clanin my third book – Legendary Hunters of the SouthernHighlands. I am happy to report that Hub’s grandson, ShanePlott, has joined me as one of the few Plott family membersstill raising Plott dogs.

I have rambled on long enough. As I said before, keep thosecomments coming –I want this to be your column. Untilnext time, may God richly bless you, your family and yourdogs. Good hunting!