Canines are our passion.
They are our addiction.
They are our way of life right down to the very core and without them we would be lost.
The canines of this world really are something to behold.
They assist us at work, they accompany us at home, and they perform for us in the field.
No matter where we go, they are by our side.
Canines really are a ride or die and for that we are grateful.
This podcast will showcase working canines of various breeds and disciplines as we search
for those canines and their handlers who are always striving to be the best at what they
do.
Those who are always grinding.
Those who are always pushing the limits.
Those who are always dogging.
Join us on our adventures as it is sure to be a wild ride.
I'm your host, Bryce Matthews.
And I'm your cohost, Stephen Basham.
And this, this is Semper Doggen.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Semper Doggen podcast guys.
I am your host, Bryce Matthews, and today I am joined by a multitude of guys.
We are doing a Semper Doggen first here.
We have five people on one podcast.
Now this is not easy to do.
So we are, we are pumped that we got everybody's schedules lined up, ready to go.
As always, we got Stephen Basham joining us on the cohost.
How are you today, Mr. Basham?
I'm doing pretty good.
How about yourself, bud?
Buddy, I can't complain.
It's a little chilly.
I guess that would be the only complaint if I had one just a little cold out, but we're
making do with what we got.
You got all the farm.
You got all the farm animals put up.
Yeah.
I mean, we got the barn opened up.
I got the shelters built for all the goats.
I got the calves where they need to be.
Chickens are good to go.
So just going out and busting a little bit of water a few times a day, but other than
that we're good.
So everybody's thriving on that front.
All right.
I'm just going to go clockwise around the computer screen here next to Mr. Basham.
We have the gentleman who is responsible for getting everybody together tonight.
You guys have heard him once here on this podcast before, but we are glad to welcome
back Mr. Brandon White with Next Level Premium Pet Food.
How are you, brother?
Man, I am living the dream.
Living the dream and glad to be here.
I say, shut up.
You're giving me the round of applause.
Yeah, I know.
It's been a great day.
I woke up this morning at 530 Bryce this time in Detroit, Michigan with about three inches
of snow on the ground and it's 15 degrees with 32 mile an hour winds.
So I'm glad to say I'm back home in Southwest Missouri where it's in the fifties and well,
it wasn't.
I got here, but no snow.
So, man, we've been getting that wind the last few days, man.
That wind just won't stop.
It's just roaring here.
I don't want to hear about wind until you come up here and live in the flattest ground
you've ever seen.
The wind doesn't stop.
It never stops.
That's my biggest complaint since I've lived here.
The wind doesn't stop blowing.
Peru and the end is a lot like Oklahoma where Mr. Eddie Green lives.
Yeah.
So, all right.
Well, we're going to switch up the order then because we've already talked about our next
guest, Mr. Eddie Green down in Oklahoma.
Just come off a big weekend with his dog Zeke.
Mr. Eddie, how are you?
I'm doing fine.
How are you guys?
We are doing well and super glad to have you here.
And we got your handler, Mr. Zach Boring joining us.
Mr. Zach, glad to have you on the Semper Doggen podcast.
I appreciate it, guys.
Thank you.
Yeah, absolutely.
All right.
Well, Brandon, let's go.
Let's do a little history of you, Zach, Mr. Eddie.
Let's go into the blue tick stuff.
You're the gentleman responsible for this.
So I'm going to let you take the lead here.
Tell us a little bit about the people who you've invited here on the Semper Doggen podcast.
Man, I have been great friends with, blessed to be great friends with Eddie and Zach for
many, many years.
I think the first time I met Eddie, Eddie correct me if I'm wrong, we drew each other
in a hunt and he was something, a walker dog.
And I was something my old dog Ben.
And Eddie and I, we didn't see quite eye to eye the very first time.
We kind of got a little ugly, but we made it through it.
And Eddie, I think Eddie ended up whipping my ass that night, but he got it done.
And we just kind of moved forward.
And then his uncle Richard, Richard Green, some of the blue tick folks who know him,
just a super great guy through Richard and Eddie become friends.
And then Eddie's got a son.
Some of you folks may or may not know Eddie.
I hope I'm not wrong for saying this, but his son Brandon called him Moose played football
at the University of Oklahoma when they beat Alabama in the sugar bowl in 2013.
Become a great friend with Moose and my youngest son called him little Moose because of that
met Zach back in the day with blue ticks and Zach had a blue tick that he got called Trashy.
And there's a little story about Trashy that Zach got and showed him and whatnot.
And Zach don't live too far from me.
So we just become friends and met each other.
And Zach's handled some dogs for me and showed some dogs and just kind of went from there.
But that's kind of how I know these guys, but two great, great men and great dog men,
great houndsmen and they know what to do to win.
So yeah, that's awesome.
So Eddie, why don't you tell us, you know, that's kind of interesting here.
Brandon said first time he met you, you were hunting a walker dog and now you're pushing
this blue tick.
How did you transition into the blue tick breed?
Well, I've always had a blue ticks, but I had a walker female that I called Martha,
probably the first real coon dog I ever owned and I don't even know what year that was,
but I sold her at that time for what I thought was a ton of money.
And I just told her I want all this replaced her.
Well, I probably haven't replaced her to this day, but my uncle Richard's always hunted blue
ticks and I just always go back to hunting a blue dog if I can.
Yeah.
I mean, it's hard to get away from what you started with, you know, and I think like the
only reason I'm a walker guys, that's the first dog that I ever had was a walker, you
know, if it would have been a red bone, it probably would have been a red bone man.
But Basham, we know he's a black and tan man at heart.
He's a little bit of a leopard hound guy at heart.
You know, Basham likes that kind of stuff.
So Basham, you and Zach have a little bit of history.
You said you've known Zach for a long time.
Give us a little bit of background on that one.
Yeah, it just, with his stepdad, you know, Terry Bennett, you know.
So I used to hunt dogs for Darren and Terry back in the day and so I've been over there
a few times and me and Zach have had our rounds and definitely, definitely seen him come up
in the coon hunting world since he was a young kid.
So it's definitely a proud moment to see everything that he's accomplished and not just the coon
hunting world, but you know, his business side and stuff like that.
So Zach has come a long, long ways.
I'm very proud of Zach and his coon hunting and you know, handling abilities and professionally
in his business with his family and personally Zach is, he's first class.
He's done a great job.
Man, well let's hear it from the man himself.
Zach, we're glad you're here, buddy.
And first off, we just want to congratulate you on your big win here this last weekend
down in Missouri.
It looked like you guys had a heck of a time over there.
So we're going to get into that in a little bit.
Why don't you give us a little bit of background here on who Zach Boren is, where you come
from and where you're headed.
Well, not too far from Brandon, 25, Southwest Missouri.
I've been coon hunting now for, I'll bet you I've been coon hunting now for about 14 years,
15 years.
We grew up in Texas, moved to Missouri, family farm.
And ever since we've been up here, I've been coon hunting.
I know Brandon basically ever since I've been up here, really, he's helped me a long ways
into this coon hunting stuff, helped me meet a lot of new people.
And he just showed me a lot of pointers on a lot of stuff, same as Basham and Eddie also.
I've known Eddie now for, I'd say, four or five years and I've known Basham for, shoot,
I've probably known Basham for nine, 10 years now, unfortunately.
Yeah, that's a rough, rough run of ho.
Here we go.
That'd be a good cast to be on right there, I promise you.
Well you've had to put up with Basham, so you've come out the other side of that.
It has to make you a better person knowing him for that long and still being able to
do what you do.
You just learned a lot of hard lessons that way and what not to do whenever you hang out
with Basham, you know what I mean?
That's why he's hunting a blue dog now.
I give Basham a hard time, but honestly, he has helped me a lot with dog knowledge and
everything.
He knows what it takes to win with a dog.
He knows how to make a dog.
Steven's helped me a lot in this coon hunting stuff.
Yeah, he's an alright guy to have in your corner.
He's an alright guy.
Well, Zach, okay, so when did, I don't know anything about you, Zach.
This is the first time you and I have talked, and that's what I love about this podcast,
is getting to meet new people, getting to hear new stories.
Give me the background.
When did you, you said you've been hunting for 14 years now.
How did you get into the coon hunting and when did you start taking the competition
world seriously?
So, when we moved up here, we built houses down in the woods and everything and some
neighbors actually were hunting, got on our property, and dad grew up here.
So, they called dad and said, hey, coon hunting dogs got over there.
Do you care if we go get them?
Dad said, no, go ahead and go get them.
And he looked at me and said, you want to go down there?
Because I mean, we grew up in Texas, so I had no idea what coon hunting was, where we
were living at, just a little suburb of Dallas.
I was like, sure, I'll go down there.
Went down there and they had a coon tree.
The next day I asked my buddy, I said, hey, do you care if I start going with you a little
bit?
He said, yeah, that's fine.
I started hunting, pleasure hunting with them for a little bit.
I probably pleasure hunted with them for, I'd say a year, two years.
And then I started going to a few local events and stuff around the house.
And then I'd say I was probably 17, 18, and I started hitting the competition hunts pretty
hard.
I was going to CHKC World hunt.
I was going to Battle Breeze.
I met Brandon down there at Battle Breeze a few times.
I was starting to run up and down the road pretty hard then.
Yeah, man, that's always a fun time.
I wish I would have got into it seriously about that age.
I didn't get into hunting until I was 20, so I'm right at 10 years now doing the coon
hunting thing.
But I probably didn't get serious into the competition until I was 23, 24.
Man, if I had been 18 when I got into it, oh Lord, it could have been bad.
It could have been out of control.
I think for somebody, even Brandon can attest, and Mr. Ed can too, is coming from my perspective,
I've got two guys here that I knew at a very, very young age in the coon hunting world with
Zach and Bryce both.
And being able to help mentor them, seeing where Bryce has come and all of his success
and everything that he's won.
And Zach, the same way.
You look back on your coon hunting career and a lot of guys look at what they've won.
And for the most part, that's some of the highest moments that they have.
But I think some of my highest moments were seeing some of these young guys that I've
helped teach and mentor and what they win.
I feel like when they win, I win.
And so that's pretty neat coming from my side of it.
Yeah.
No, that's good.
Brandon, so you said Zach used to show some dogs for you and stuff.
Is that how you guys got hooked up with, like, was through the blue tick breed?
Yeah.
We just met Zach through showing dogs and he was just a little, little, you know, podunk
kid.
I'm like, here he is, you know, looking for a dog.
And I have my dogs go back to the old Rambo blood and through Amy, you know, Amy and then
Whitney Killow.
And there was a puppy called Crashy.
And Zach somehow ended up with this dog called Trashy.
And the story was that the female that had had a C-section and that this pup was dead
and the vet, you know, thought the puppy was dead, but it was not.
And they'd already thrown the dog in the trash.
So they called the dog named Trashy.
Oh, wow.
Zach got the dog and the dog started.
Yeah.
So the dog started winning some mid shows and Zach had it.
And that's kind of how we met.
And he just wanted to win.
He wanted to compete and wanted to win, wanted to show something, want to do something with
coon hounds.
He was a coon hound guy.
And we just go back.
Zach, Zach, didn't you work for a while at a Fourth of July or a firecracker place over
there around Seymour?
What was that place?
Yes.
Dynamite Fireworks.
Yeah, Dynamite Fireworks.
And so I went over there and talked to Zach.
You know, I've always peddled a little dog food and pushing something to him.
And then I bought a dog during COVID.
I bought a little female that probably shouldn't have hunted a few more times before I bought
her.
But I bought her and bought her and nothing else to do during COVID.
Right.
The world was shut down.
So I bought the female and I said, man, I want Zach to hunt this female because she's
a dynamite.
Well, she was a dynamite on the first one or two coons.
Better than that, she's going to go through on anything she can find.
You know, give her a telephone pole.
She's going to log up on it.
And so it didn't quite work.
But Zach knows what a coon dog is and Zach is his competitor.
And I think that's why Eddie and Zach kind of hooked up.
You know, Eddie calls Zach son from time to time.
Eddie and I are, you know, we're up there in age and we don't want to go climb and fight
all that trees and fences and stuff.
So you need guys like Zach that can get out there and can hustle.
And that's what they did with this dog Zeke.
You know, Eddie, Eddie, how long have you had Zeke?
I've had him four years.
Four years.
He was just turning two when I got him.
Yeah.
And that dog's come along a long ways.
And that's just a natural fit with Zach and Zeke.
You know, the two Z's go after it and go out and win 20 grand.
That's an accomplishment, no matter what color the dog is.
So he's a little bit older of a dog.
How old is he?
He's six.
Six years old.
Yeah.
Okay.
If you would have done a little math there, two plus four is six.
Just so you know, a little bit of math.
Saying he's from Kentucky, man.
They can't, don't hold that against him.
They're saying, sorry, Mr. Eddie.
Well, I gotta get my dog when I can.
Yeah.
Um, giant coming.
You guys have all heard of him.
He was, he was telling me about a blue dog that Ronnie Smith had just purchased from
Illinois, he said, you need to get older and buy this dog.
And I hadn't been staying at a casino there by Ronnie's house guiding the cast of, uh,
for a big hunt at downstream.
And I went over to Ronnie's house next morning, looked at him and I said, that's on the broadcast
there down.
I know people probably don't believe me, but about halfway that Kim, I looked at that dog
and I said, I'm going to buy that dog.
And I just, I don't, you guys haven't seen these good looking though, big dog door and
then Ronnie Smith had him and he kept us, we got talking and I ended up buying the dog
from him.
He just had him about two weeks.
He bought him from a young boy in Illinois.
Yeah.
Cheyenne's top notch, uh, been around him quite a bit, you know, different hunts and
stuff like that.
And he's definitely a pop notch guy.
Yeah.
You can't find anyone to say a bad word about Cheyenne Cummings.
So here you bought Zeke and, uh, did you bring him home with the thoughts that you're going
to just pleasure hunting or did you already know you were going to start pushing him in
the hunts and how did that come about?
Well, I didn't know much about the dog.
You know, Ronnie had him for two weeks and he put him in one cast, then pleasure hunt
him in and he, and he said he got beat by 25, the dog treated him like he got third
strike or something.
But I brought him home and the first night I hunted him, he went in there 400 yards and
got treated on dentury.
And I walked 30 yards and recast the dog and he wouldn't be looked at me.
I walked in there yards and he looked at me and I thought, oh Lord.
So I just, I just walked off and left him.
I thought, well, he's going to go hunting.
He followed me all the way back to the truck and this went on for about two months.
And I called that kid who owned him an elephant 14 year old kid.
And I said, what can you tell me about recasting this dog?
And he said, Mr. Green said, what are you talking about?
Recast and I told him that I've never recast that doggy trees.
It came, we go the truck.
So it took me a while to get him over that.
And one night I was hunting and, and I walked back to the truck.
He followed me to the truck and I moved my truck 10 feet.
I lay him out of the box and he shot in there and got treated.
I did it two or three more times the next week.
And I'm talking to start my truck and backing it up and he'd leave.
But it took me forever to get him to recast and you recast him now anywhere.
But he was a long way from being ready for the hunt when I got him.
So here, here we have a dog that you bought, you know, thinking that he was going to be
ready to go to the hunts or that it was something that you wanted.
And it took a little bit of time.
It took a little bit of patience, you know, especially since you're hunting a blue dog.
It took a little bit of patience to get him ready, you know, to go to these hunts.
Yeah.
Well, and anyone can tell you patience is one thing I don't have with a dog.
But there was just something about this dog that I really liked.
And for pleasure, I love to pleasure hunt.
I like the competition hunt too.
But my main deal is I like to go out and pleasure hunt by myself and see what I can get out
of a dog.
And you never put a lead on the dog pleasure hunt.
I don't care where he's at.
I don't care if he's treed across the river with the letter of Cain's.
He's coming to you.
He just is a pleasure to hunt.
And and I just kept putting the boot leather into him and he turned out to be a pretty
nice animal.
Good deal.
Good.
Now.
So when did when did you and Zach end up coming together on this dog and how did you know
Zach from before or how did that happen?
Yeah, I met that.
He didn't remember.
I met Zach when he's a little boy.
He turned in a scholarship application to our BB stage.
He was actually in.
And I met he met a hunt, talked to him.
He was selling equipment for someone.
But we really, you know, we got serious about him hunting a walker dog of mine, basically.
And he took him over and he didn't work out.
And I do.
You know, it's hard to explain, but I just don't trust sending this dog with anybody,
you know.
I mean, I'm not back with my life, but he called me and said, hey, let's split this
entry this twenty five hundred dollar hunt.
And I said, well, I can't go.
It's on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
So I'm hunting.
And that's how it kind of started up, you know, and and taking me where he wants to
go.
No.
Good deal.
Man, that's awesome.
It's a thing.
And I got two things here.
Number one, I want to go back a minute here.
You know, when Cheyenne called you and said, hey, there's a dog you need to go look at.
And then you went and looked at the dog and he wasn't exactly what you were thinking.
Like how did this dog get turned on to his radar and your radar?
You know, saying that he just come from a kid like like, what are the odds that a dog
that is this caliber now was turned on to the radar back then?
If that makes any sense.
Well, Ronnie Smith actually bought the dog from that young boy in Illinois and he lived
by Ronnie's brother-in-law and and Ronnie Bodeman, as you all know, Ronnie Smith, a full-blooded
Walker dog guy, and he bought the dog.
And I'm sure he bought him to sell, you know, office looks, his mouth, his handle.
And you know, when I go over Ronnie watches, he opened up the kennel door and he run about
40 yards and jumped in on his on his tailgate and got the dog box.
And he just said, I heard something like this dog, you know, and I'm sure he's like all
of us.
He bought him trying to make a dollar, you know.
OK, that makes more sense.
Or Cheyenne lives by Ronnie and their partners on the Stokie dog, things like that.
So he knew about him and was I like boutiques and gotcha gotcha.
That makes more sense.
If you go back and you think about some of the the big name dogs in, you know, in the
coon hunting world, some of your best dogs and your biggest winning dogs were dogs that
were given up on at one time and two that come to mind real quick is Mr. Clean.
So I was in the Marine Corps out at Camp Lejeune and no joke, Mr. Clean, the year that he
won the world, the year that he won the world the first time he was in North Carolina, he
was on the UK.
This is back when the UKC boards used to be a big deal.
He was on the UKC board for eighteen hundred dollars.
He went and doubled up at the zones and then he couldn't be bought from then on.
Another one, if you talk to Bill Stokes, oh, well, while Bill, he was he was a big coyote
dog when he was younger and he didn't really turn on until he was probably like two, two
and a half years old.
And so a lot of the dogs, a lot of your big winners, you know, at an early age, somebody's
given up on them and it's just taking that right pairing, that right dog man to be able
to get the most out of them.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
And well, I just think talk about the right dog man.
And that's where I think Getty's got it from his Uncle Richard.
And those of you don't know, Uncle Richard, haven't been blessed with meeting him.
He is a dog man.
And talk about patience, man.
That guy's got so much patience.
But I'd like to know two things.
I like the pedigree of Zeke.
And then I'd like to talk about this twenty thousand dollar hunt.
You know, I don't think we've ever really mentioned yet, you know, the hunt that he
won.
And so maybe Eddie and Zeke or Zach, if you could tell us, you know, tell us about Zeke's
pedigree and then tell us about the hunt, you know, up there in La Plata, Missouri,
that you won and all that kind of stuff.
Well, I'll tell you, you know, talk about giving up on dogs.
I want to touch on that real quick.
I bought that dog at a real good price.
And and these guys know the story and everyone does.
But would you take your money back today?
No, no.
OK, no.
I'll get out there.
But I had started about a year and a half ago on trying to buy this dog.
And he offered me a very large sum of money for him.
And I said no.
And he called back.
Five thousand.
No, one of the five thousand.
This goes on for a month and a half.
And I finally caved and I sold I sold the dog for a large sum of money, large sum of
money.
The guy calls me about a week or two later and says, hey, this deal is not going to work.
This dog's not performing.
And I said, deals off, bring him back.
He said, Mr. Eddie, no one will do that.
I said, I will.
I didn't want to sell the dog again.
I gave him his money back and I got the dog back.
I took him to the vet and he was full of our like it, which I thank God every day I got
him back in his brand and said, now I say that someone's going to call me tomorrow,
but money can't buy the dog.
I mean, he's not for sale or someone's not get real stupid buying.
But the dogs, he's not a dog called Lonesome Two that John Steber owned.
OK, which we all know, John Steber about his Lonesome Dogs and a nice, nice blue dogs.
Yeah, which Lonesome Two is a hammer and jet bread.
And he's have a theme on the bottom side called Blue Willow and she goes back to Smokey River's
Blue Chief, which is one of the best reproducers ever in the blue tick world.
He's bread.
Oh, yeah, he's not.
I mean, he's like all of them.
There's great dogs and pedigrees and they're just decent dogs and pedigree.
But, you know, we all get wrapped up on what they out of, you know, and all that.
And I'll tell you, Mr. Steber's put you talk about putting the effort into making the breed
better.
He's done it.
And I think last year on the PKC top 16 in the breed for five dollars and two.
Now real quick, Mr. Eddie, do you know, did John own Zeke when he was a young dog?
He sold him as a puppy to this poor, tenured boy, eight week old puppy.
OK, nevermind.
Yeah, he had another one.
I thought now that you started talking about it, he had another one, a buddy of mine, Dale
Shad right here by where I lived at, hunted a young dog for John.
And I for some reason, I thought his name was Zeke, but he had him up until he was probably
15, 16 months old.
So I went up last winter and hunted over Christmas break with Dale and John.
Yeah.
OK.
So I've seen I've known Dale since I was five or six years old.
I mean, Dale, you Dale used to carry me on his back through the winters, through the
snows, through the creeks.
Mr. Dale Shad and me go way back.
Yeah.
Zach, let's get into this 25 or this twenty thousand dollar win this weekend over at La
Plata, Missouri.
And Mr. Eddie said earlier that you called him and said, hey, like, let's split this
entry.
Let's go to this hunt.
Were you were you was it were you interested in something because it was close to home?
It was in Missouri.
Was it something that was on your radar for several months?
Like like let's walk through the very beginning whenever you decide to go to this hunt and
then take us through your weekend over there in Missouri.
There's a very few people that I mean, everybody knows, too, hunters and they can fit a little
bit live, stretch truth, stuff like that.
But there's very few people.
And when they say something, I mean, you can take it to the bank.
Eddie's one of them.
I mean, when when Eddie's tell me he's got the dog power, I'm listening to him.
And I've hunted Zeke before I had Zeke at the house probably two or three years ago.
And I told Eddie back then the dog was going to make a nice dog.
I had him.
I think I got him when Eddie just got the dog.
He didn't have him very long.
And I was actually I was down there at his house for a different hunt.
I was hunting his walker dog.
I said, hey, there's this point five hundred dollars.
Let's go to it.
They said, I just don't know about it.
I said, I'll split the entry with you.
I mean, the Zeke dog is just he's one that you can count on.
He's going to give you a shot at it for sure.
And I told him, I'll split the entry with you if you want to go.
He said, yeah.
If you want to do that, we'll go up there.
I said, sweet.
And I was actually you guys.
I was talking to my wife about three or four days before the hunt.
I said, man, I almost called Eddie.
I just I don't know if I want to go right now.
And luckily we did.
It turned out good for us.
One twenty thousand dollars as a deal.
But I just the Zeke dog is going to give you a shot at it.
It was it was a good hunt to go to.
I was glad we went.
Yeah.
Well, let's let's walk us through it.
Like, did you get what night did you get in?
Because you had multiple nights to have a chance to get in.
What night did you get in?
Had your cast look.
So it was a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, not qualify Wednesday night.
We go up there first night of it and the dog looked good.
We treated a few kids, but it was just a rough night hunting.
Anybody knows North Missouri is cold already.
It was cold, very for him on our wins.
It was bad.
It was rough hunting.
And I got beat early, so I didn't get shot.
Hunt late and go on Thursday night.
Kind of the same deal is real cold night.
It was a I think it was twelve, thirteen degrees that night.
And Zeke didn't look the best, but he didn't look the worst either.
He'll he can tree log coons real fast and he can be a blue tick too.
I mean, he can take old track, work it up and it may take a minute, but he'll tree
it.
And that's what we did early Thursday night.
He treated one coon and that's what one of the cast and that's what guys do late round.
Then late round, he looked real good.
He treated three coons by himself.
They did one patch timber hunted out.
I mean, just I think Josh Kalis, he was our late round judge and me and Josh are talking.
I don't think Zeke got more than five, six hundred yards from the first tree he made
and just three down there and just stayed in the same patch.
And I mean, look good on it.
I was glad to get in Thursday, give him a little bit of a break Friday night, rest up
and everything.
And then Saturday, I'm going into this hunt.
This is the biggest amount I've heard for.
I've got some dogs in at some hunts before, but to be in the top 12 of a twenty thousand
dollar hunt, I'm one cast win away.
I'm sweating bullets a little bit because I mean, you go these hunts, you're not going
Joe Blow.
Right.
You got Bernd and I mean, Robert Burns, you got some, you got some big name dogs here
and anglers.
Twenty thousand dollars.
It's a lot.
Yeah.
And I'm pretty confident in the dog.
Like I said, I mean, the Zeke dog, he's a when he trees, he's a type he's going to make
you use the whole shine time.
I mean, he's usually pretty accurate.
Got to if he's slick.
I mean, it's as bad as slick as you can get.
It'll be a telephone pole flick.
But we're going into this cast and shooting.
He started out looking a little rough early Saturday night.
He he backed on a coon out of the truck.
Shoot this.
This ain't like him.
But I mean, you know, they're all dogs.
They went on to the two kids by himself.
He trees a coon.
It's a he was probably five, six hundred off that first coon he treed.
We recut him.
He gets in there about half a mile.
Sweet.
I'm feeling pretty good.
I drew Jack Bingham, Robert Burr and Mike Fields Saturday.
And Jack and Robert, they both take a little bit minus right out of the truck.
Jack actually trees no slick.
So he withdraws.
He's I think four, four fifty minus.
I say, OK, I'm I'm starting to feel a little bit better about myself.
Zeke's treated coon now.
So I've got Mike Fields beat by a quarter at the moment.
Robert Burns, he's still in the minus.
I'm feeling pretty good about myself.
And then Zeke kind of blows the country a little bit.
They get treated again.
Shoot.
We got an hour and twenty, hour and fifteen left probably.
And there's still a lot of time left to hunt this hunt.
We they go and handle their dogs.
I go and handle Zeke.
They come popping over this hill and I'm expecting to see three lights.
Robert Burns, Mike Fields and Josh McCallis.
I only see two lights.
Shoot.
That makes me feel a little bit better.
I go up there, Josh.
I said, what was it?
Slick or what?
Mike, he peeps up.
He said, it was slick.
If you got a coon, I'm withdrawing and you win.
I said, shoot, there's 42 minutes left.
But I put Mike, he's in negative now.
He's 200, I think, minus.
I'm sitting at 450 plus.
If I've got a coon here, OK.
We go and shine and I see my coon within a matter of seconds.
Josh and Mike, they both congratulate me.
Boys, I guess I've never seen it, but that's a twenty thousand dollar coon sitting up there
like that.
I can't ask the dog look better.
It was a lesson for sure.
What was the feeling looking up there knowing this is the biggest hunt you've ever hunted
in and seeing that coon, which I mean, we won't incriminate you here on the Simper Dog
and podcast, but we all knew you knew that coon was there before they got there.
Yes.
If you went back to my text messages with my wife, she's probably got a 10 paragraph
text message from me saying, I think I've just won twenty thousand dollars, but there's
a lot of time left in this.
My redneck, my redneck would want to mount that twenty thousand dollar coon.
So it's just, you know, that's just how I am.
That's over.
OK, good.
Boom.
You know, I don't want to mount that.
I agree with you.
I agree with you, Brandon.
Now, yeah, with the twenty thousand was split for the final three, was there an option to
hunt it off and everybody decided to split or was it a mandatory split?
I wasn't sure on the rules.
No, it was an option.
We could have hunted off the bear creek, though the payout.
It was kind of, in my opinion, a little bit dumb to hunt it off because it went from twenty
five because it was a final three.
So you had your top twelve.
It went from twenty five thousand to first, twenty thousand to second and fifteen thousand
to third.
Hmm.
So Chad Dunn, he got in and he was pretty we were all pretty open.
Nobody really just peeped up, said they want to hunt it off.
But Jason Daugherty and Zach Burden, they got in.
I text Jason, so you guys want to hunt it off or you guys want to split it?
He said, man, I'm eight hours from the house.
I'd like to head home.
But I got to talk to Zach.
Well, he talked to Zach Burden.
He said, we'll split that sucker.
Shoot.
Yeah, let's let's take the twenty thousand head to the house.
And he was eight hours and I was four hours and said, I'll be home for daylight with twenty
thousand in my pocket.
Man, like what's the feeling like that?
You know, you've you've worked hard and I want to get to Mr. Eddie after this, too.
So don't interrupt me here, Basham.
But what's the feeling like that?
You just won that kind of money.
You're going home and you're like you're on cloud nine.
You're driving home.
Like what are we what are we jamming to on the radio going home at, you know, two in
the morning with twenty twenty G's in our pocket?
Man, I was speechless.
You could even ask Eddie out.
I mean, I was just all over that phone call.
I just I couldn't believe myself.
You know, you're jamming a kid rock.
I've got to give Eddie credit.
I mean, I don't with my work.
I don't hardly have time to pleasure.
Eddie's done all the training on this dog and made the dog.
He is.
I was just able to get the opportunity to take him up there.
And I'm glad he let me do it.
But I mean, I was.
Shoot.
I don't think Eddie believed me when I called him.
Yeah, that's what I want to know.
Mr. Eddie is like, what's going through your head as an owner?
And Brandon, we'll get right back to you here.
But what's going through your head as an owner?
You've got a hired gun out here.
You've got somebody else with your pride and joy, your your the dog of your dreams.
And then everything rides in their hands like what's going through your head?
Yeah.
Well, you know, it's kind of like Brandon said earlier, I still love to go to competition
as an honest competitive as anyone in the world.
But, you know, as I get older, you draw 24 year old, 25 year old.
It's easier to send him to someone else.
But I'd like to have been there.
But I'll tell you, I'm tickled.
That's Zach stepped up and took him and he called me.
I don't know.
I'm going to say it was seven forty.
I was pleasure hunting.
And I didn't want to go early.
I thought, oh, man, something's happened, you know.
And and I was afraid Zach was going to mess with me anyhow and text me or call me and
say, well, we got beaten.
We won it.
But anyhow, he said Pops, he said, we're twenty thousand dollars richer.
And I just sat down and tell gay to my side by side.
I was about to pass out.
Yeah, it's good.
Yeah.
Brandon, what do you got to add to that, buddy?
I don't remember where I wanted to add to it.
But talking about competitive Eddie, we haven't talked about Eddie.
Eddie is a, you know, retired and still doing high school.
He's a teacher, coach, coach, high school football and his son.
I've talked about her play football and played at University of Oklahoma.
So he's competitive, very competitive.
And we do have our limits.
But I watched that hunt going on and I was in touch with Zach and Eddie.
And when they when they wanted, you know, twenty grand, man, that is that is huge.
Twenty grand.
And then also to be a blue tick.
I mean, Lord have mercy.
I have twenty five acres with a blue tick.
I had it all night long with my blue tick.
So to go do that blue tick, that's huge.
And just very blessed that, you know, I hate you kind of a shameless plug here.
But I got Eddie talking to feed next level dog food and that he's feeding the food.
It worked great for him.
But Eddie's worked his butt off for several years.
And he just he just he just he pounds it out.
You know, one time, Eddie, I think, you know, I went hunting over there in Kansas.
And wasn't there a an ammo dump or an ammo thing or something over there used to live
and army?
And yeah, we were unfortunately beyond it, but we kind of ended up on it.
Yeah.
Eddie, Eddie hunts.
Eddie's a hunter, you know, five nights a week, six nights a week.
He's going to hunt in the Zach same way going to hunt.
And I'm just I feel blessed to have Eddie and Zach as friends, number one, and then
to have those guys trust me enough to to feed our dog food, number two.
But even if they didn't, we're always going to be friends, number one.
But those guys, man, they're they're houndsmen.
They're going to go pound it out.
They're going to grind it out and to win 20 grand for a blue tick breed, which I'm a blue
tick guy.
Man, that is awesome.
You know, hands, hats off to those guys is perfect.
That's what you got, Mr. Eddie.
Well, I want to add something when Brandon's talking about that feed, you know, I've known
Brandon for a long time and there used to be a feed that they called native and Brandon
was pushing the native feed.
And at that time, it was forty dollars a bag.
Well, there is no way any of us houndsmen was going to pay forty dollars a bag for native
dog food.
And he could not get us convinced, you know, to try it.
And I've just I've stuck with him in every single time I've had a dog food question.
I call Brandon and I had Zeke on a feed that he wasn't doing great on.
He was getting real hot on.
And I told asked Brandon, I said, what do I need to feed this dog?
And I truly believe Brandon would if it's some other brand, he would have told me, and
he told me about this this feed, the next level made.
And I am sold 100 percent.
It's the best feed I've ever put in the hound.
So which blender you find out which blender you feed that hero salute.
Oh, gotcha.
It's a fish base.
And I think, you know, it's if I could go on and on and on.
And it's a deal you just have to try to believe it, you know, but he's just been so good to
us on the feed and brand knows I've had other brands of feed.
He wasn't pushed to the time.
We feel friends.
And that's, you know, that's what makes it so good.
But I think that that feed, that blend is really raised to the top.
You know, Brandon, for you guys, you know, obviously coming from that side of it, the,
you know, the business side of it, I believe you're getting a very well received from all
of the dog men and women out there on that blend.
Right.
Yes, it is.
Yes, it's the formula we all feed, you know, in the company.
We all feed here.
And I think that's the thing about the hero salute and there's a little bit something
about the hero salute.
It was made Scott and Scott and Antoine, the owners, Scott is very patriotic, but he wanted
to do something a little different.
Right.
You know, let's do something for the heroes.
You know, the hero salute.
What can we do for that?
So for every bag that we sell, two dollars, that goes to an organization called Tunnels
to Towers.
If you don't know what that is, I suggest you look it up.
Let's just say that, Bryce, you are a first responder there in Peru or National Guard,
something whatever you're working your first responder, police officer, National Guard.
And something happened to you and you passed away tomorrow.
They would go pay off your wife's mortgage or let's say Shane was coming to become a
homeless veteran.
He's a veteran.
Let's say he became homeless, wandered around the streets of Kentucky.
They would go put him up in a hotel and they would pay for that.
So how do they fund that?
They fund it from donations and we are so happy to be a part of that organization.
So every bag of heroes that we sell, two bucks go towards that organization.
And that's just a side note for us hounds, guys, that product is amazing.
It's a 26 protein, 18 fat, 850 milligrams of glucose for hips and joint.
It just hits all the buttons.
And when Eddie called me and goes, man, the food on feeds is not working.
What do you recommend?
I said, I'm trying with my old dog Spot.
With Spot, we all know Spot.
He's not a coon hound.
I mean, he's a coon hound, but he won at Orlando and New York.
He's not a coon dog, coon hunter.
He don't go hunt.
And I said, man, it really works for me.
He's 16 years old and he gets long good, he looks good.
And so Eddie tried it and Eddie's like, man, this stuff works.
And I'm like, okay, well, here's a free hat.
But he's like, no, it really works.
And I couldn't be prouder to be a part of the $20,000 hunt.
Lucky for us, right?
So it worked really well.
That's awesome.
And I can attest to it too.
And this isn't a next level podcast because if you guys want to hear more about it, you
can go back to our episode that we did with Brandon.
But this is just a happy customer talking to you.
I can attest to what Mr. Eddie and what Brandon are saying is that the next level feed is
what I've got wheels on.
And I'm feeding the high energy 2420 because I tried the hero salute.
Wheels is not, he will not eat anything with fish in it, whatever it is.
I've tried a couple of different blends of feed.
He will not eat fish.
So the 2420 is where I've landed with him and man, Basham, you know, you know, and people
who've listened to this podcast for a long time, they know the struggle that I went through
with wheels trying to get that dog to eat food.
There was a, there was a period of time where Nikki cooked for him every night because he
would not eat dog food.
He wouldn't touch it.
It didn't matter what you threw at him.
You know, he was looking poor and now we found out part of that was, was a health issue.
You know, um, he had some, uh, ulcers and stuff in his stomach and his esophagus.
We got that taken care of, but even once that was taken care of, finding a dog food he would
eat was like pulling teeth until we found this high energy 2420 next level feed.
And I put that food in the bowl now and I mean, he is knocking you out of the way to
get into that stuff.
He looks good.
He's filled out.
He's only a 49 pound dog.
He's a small frame, but man, he looks filled out.
He looks good.
His energy level is, it's crazy right now.
I almost wish he didn't have as much right now.
Cause if I don't hunt him for two or three nights, he's going driving me crazy.
But you know, I'm, I'm a very satisfied customer.
Nikki actually just last week, Brandon, she put both of her big show dogs on the next
level.
And we've now got, we've got four dogs in the kennel that are, we're being fed the next
level.
Those are the four that we're hunting.
I got two that I'm hunting and two that we're pushing to show.
So those jobs that have jobs and are actively competing now, we're all, we're on the next
level train right now and hopefully we'll be making some noise.
That is an excess.
Get those Elbring girls on a dog food that you're doing something.
But that's a fee.
What'd you got to say, Zach?
I was going to say when he was talking about picky eaters, that almost sounds like Duke
Basham.
I remember when I was on the road with Duke, I would, I messaged Basham.
We that's more my fault.
Me and Terry bought a dog off of Basham and his name is Stylus Duke.
We did a lot of winning with and Steven did a lot of winning with him also, but that sucker,
I could not get him to eat on the road.
I just started texting Basham like, what do I need to do to the sucker?
He was a pig.
Feed him Big Macs.
And chicken tenders.
Hey, there's, you know, everybody knows that I've sold a couple of different dog foods
in the world and I've been blessed to be a part of Scott and Lover and Antoine Alvin.
Those guys are geniuses in pet nutrition, but they're just rednecks like the five of
us, right?
And man, it doesn't always work for everybody and for every dog.
I remember being at a CHKC world hunt there in the Lambertuna Lakes with a guy and I don't
remember his name, but he's like, my dog won't eat.
So we stopped at a convenience store.
He just bought some canned dog food, just like tuna or whatever, and the dog ate it.
He's like, I just, I just need the dog to eat.
So, dogs are like humans.
We're all different.
It does not always work for everybody, but most of the time it will.
But anyways, fun times and fun groups and couldn't be after to be a part of it.
So, yeah, absolutely.
Well, you know, we appreciate Brandon, you setting this up.
Zach, Eddie, I know you guys have been busy after you win.
You guys have done a couple other podcasts too.
So we appreciate you taking time to join us here on Semper Doggin.
One thing that we do want to do here though, is we want to give away a bag of hero salute
here to one of you listeners.
And I personally did not mention this at the beginning of the podcast because I don't,
I want people to listen to this stuff.
So all right, I'm going to let Brandon choose the question.
Okay.
Brandon's going to choose the question and whoever is the first person to email the correct
answer to SemperDoggin at gmail.com is going to get a free bag of next level hero salute
and Brandon's going to toss in a hat with it.
So yeah, we're going to toss in a hat and a t-shirt with the free bag of dog food.
So I have one question.
Who is Mr. Eddie's uncle that is the foundation of Eddie's honey in the blue tick breed?
Who is Eddie's uncle?
All right.
So I hope you guys have it.
That is the question to receive a one bag hero salute.
Basham, what do you got buddy?
Speaking on that something, and it's kind of the foundation and me and if you've listened
to this podcast, it's something that me and Bryce really hang our hat on and something
that I think in the future, we're really going to push even more.
We got Mr. Eddie on here today.
And one of the biggest things that I like doing is telling the stories that are not
told, getting them recorded.
I tell Bryce all the time, people's kind of heard my story as far as my dad and I haven't
done it and I keep kicking myself in the butt, but I need to get over there one day and just
get some of his stories down recorded so that I have them for the future.
And so Mr. Eddie, if you would just grace us with a good story, either from when you
were a kid or whenever your uncle and how he inspired you, just give us a good story
to kind of end this podcast with.
Well, man, I don't start on stories.
I tell stories all day long, but the greatest thing for me about Kuhnhund and my Uncle Richard
is brand new to that, he's my hero, just like the dog food.
I salute him with everything, but just going to hunt with him and we can drive, I don't
care if it's Batesville, Mississippi or Peru, Indiana or where it might be, he tells Kuhnhund
stories the whole way and rattles pedigrees off the whole way and the whole way home.
And he's the first one waiting on me when I get back in, sitting over there sipping
a cup of coffee and I'm telling you, the knowledge that that man has in the blue tick world is
unbelievable.
You could write a book on it.
And you know, I think one of the biggest things that hurts the blue tick guys is we don't
listen to enough of those guys.
We want to do it our way.
And he's never told me how to handle a dog and he's never told me how to train a dog,
but he has told me in his way.
And I listened to everything he says.
And you know, it's kind of like you said, Steven, it's, I need to sit down and record
the stories, but I love pleasure hunting with him.
And you know, I hope I can continue to get plenty more hunts in with him.
He's turned, I believe he's 80 now he's slowed down some, he's still Kuhnhunds, but not like
he used to, but it's, but I could, I mean, I could tell Kuhnhund the stories.
Well, let's get a, let's get a good story, a good story of you and him Kuhnhunting.
Tell us one Eddie.
Well, not so much Kuhnhunt, but we were going to hunt blue tick days in Michigan one year.
And I just bought a brand new truck and it's an old five Nissan Titan and it had the arm
in it.
I always pick up Richard up in Little Town called Chautauqua, Kansas.
And we no more get going down the road and he flips that Atlas open.
And I made it be 10 miles from town.
He's got that looking for our exit, you know, and about day two into this trip, he said,
Eddie, I hate to ask you this, but he said, is that the same gal that was talking to you
yesterday on your radio?
I had my garment on and he could believe it's the same lady giving me directions.
But I mean, I'll just buy a cell phone a year or two ago, but any, I'll never forget him
saying, is that the same lady who just talked to you?
You're on the directions.
Oh boy.
That's over Richard.
Yeah, he's just as calm as they get.
And I just, I just hope one day I can feel half of his boots.
Well, I'll tell you what.
Me too.
We'll get together with you and maybe, maybe me and Bryce can, and Brandon can take a trip
out there and we can sit down with Mr. Richard and we can, we can get some of it.
We can get some of these stories, uh, recorded.
I'm telling you, it'd be a blessing for you.
These are, you can't, you can't find a man in the United States of America say a bad
word about Richard Green.
No, not going to happen.
Just don't get lost.
Cause I remember the last time he showed up in a Missouri bathroom and I spent 30 minutes
on a floor.
They're trying to find you.
Hey, that's that Kentucky math, man.
They didn't give directions.
They did a pin drop and this was back when Samsung and iPhone first started doing the
pin drop stuff.
And I think they had a Samsung and I had an iPhone and they did the old pin drop and
I at that time, I didn't know anything about electronics.
So here I am trying to figure it out and I'm going around the hillside trying to find them.
And yeah, it was, it was, it was a crap shoot.
Don't make me sound like I'm old.
I'm not very old.
I'm not like you guys.
No, it's exactly just a baby, but I just kind of wrap it up.
If we could ever get, get a, you know, trip out with you guys, come out here to, uh, to
God's country where Zach, Eddie and I live.
And, uh, but going to, you know, go on a little hunt with, with Uncle Richard and, uh, maybe,
maybe even throwing a couple of old legends like Dennis Albrecht or Jim Combs, man, that
would be an amazing hunt and a podcast.
Uh, you talk about three legends, Jim Combs, Dennis Albrecht and Uncle Richard.
Lord have mercy.
That'd be a great time.
And I'm all in and I'll pay for every bit of it.
Just let me know.
All right guys, well, we should go ahead and Mr. Eddie, go ahead.
No, I said, there you go.
Yep.
It's cheeseburgers and biscuit and gravy Eddie.
Come on.
Yeah, bingo.
I'm in.
You know, I'm in.
Yeah.
All right guys.
Well, this has been super fun.
Once again, we appreciate everybody tuning in here to the Semper Dog and podcast.
You know, we, we have never had this many people on one before, and I think it was a
lot of fun to get this many perspectives on different stories, the hunts.
Um, you know, we appreciate Mr. Eddie telling us a good story there.
Zach, congratulations once again, man, for your, your big win out there in Missouri this
last weekend.
Brandon, thanks for, for getting everybody together here.
We know we've been a good friend of mine and you've helped us out a lot here.
Uh, you know, with froggy bottom outdoors and pushing this feed, uh, you got Mr. Eddie
straightened out on feed.
You've got wheels straightened out on feed.
We appreciate, you know, what you do just from a friend standpoint, not just from a
business standpoint.
Um, everybody has had a chance now about 20 times to hear the correct answer for the free
bag of dog food since we announced it.
You know, if you guys don't get this, then we're never going to be able to help you.
So first person to email Semper dogging at gmail.com, the correct answer to who was Mr.
Eddie Green's uncle.
Um, you're going to get a free hat, a free t-shirt and a free bag of hero salute.
So guys, with that, we appreciate you guys joining us gentlemen.
Thanks again for having us, uh, or for letting us have you on our podcast.
Basham, are you good?
You got anything else you want to close us out with?
Hey, I just want to say a big thank you to Brandon.
I mean, he's kind of, he's kind of, um, helped us, promoted us.
I mean, you know, every time we turn around, he's jumping on there.
Uh, I remember a few months ago, the Virginia state youth hunt was looking for, um, was
looking for somebody to help with some prizes.
And all I did was tag mr.
Brandon.
And next thing I know, I see the big flyer that said Virginia state youth hunt sponsored
by next level.
And so I can't, I can't even begin to tell Brandon how much it means to the coon hunters,
to the, to the people out there to see next level, putting interest back into the coon
hound world and how much we appreciate it, how much me and Bryce appreciate his friendship
here on simple dog and podcasts and, you know, going forward.
Yep.
Go ahead, Zach.
Yeah.
I'm going off of what bash and said.
I mean, I, I heard a percent agree with everything that you said.
I mean, Brandon's been a, a standup guy.
He's helped me with a lot of different deals.
And, uh, when he told me about this next level food, I mean, my dogs are looking better than
they ever have.
Uh, Brandon has been the type of guy, he tells me something.
I mean, he's going to shoot me straight on it.
He's helped me out since day one when he didn't know me and he's helped me out now since I've
known him for 10 plus years.
He's been a standup guy on everything that he's done.
Yep.
All right guys.
Well, like I said, appreciate you guys for tuning in here at simple dog and podcasts.
We've kept you late enough tonight where everybody's got to work in the morning except for bash
them.
You know, that guy doesn't work.
So get you to do whatever.
I work every night.
I work every night while y'all are sleeping.
Hey, I'm out there.
We're in the corners.
Don't count.
Okay.
That don't count.
Hey guys, make sure you join us Tuesday for the next episode of simple dog and for dog
and Tuesday.
So make sure you join us next Tuesday for dog and Tuesday.
Yep.
That's over on the Facebook group.
So, all right guys, I'm done rambling.
I'm signing off here.
We'll see you guys.
Thank you.
I'm out of here.