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 co -host, Stephen
Basham. And this, this is Semper Doggo. Welcome,
welcome, welcome to another episode of the Simper
Doggin' Podcast, guys. I am your host, Bryce
Matthews, and tonight we are joined by Mr. Stephen
Basham, and he has recruited a fine young gentleman
here to join us on the podcast today, Mr. Braxton
Wills. So, Mr. Basham, how are you, brother?
Doing all right. Long time no hear, buddy. I
know it's been a hot minute since we've been
together here on the podcast. We have been slacking.
Yeah. Like we told you guys, sometimes... Things
just take precedence. We've got some things going
on in our lives. Bryce taking on new endeavors
and everything like that. We're going to get
it figured out. I'm in the process of helping
him out a little bit and downloading the program
so that I can maybe launch some podcasts by myself
if I have to to try to help out guys. Just stick
with us. Bear with us. We'll get this figured
out, and we'll get some more content to you guys.
Yeah, for sure, man. It's been just absolutely
busy with the daggone farm and work and hunting.
And it's just a whirlwind right now. In other
news, the farm. We finally got into a grocery
store here in Kokomo. So we have a grocery store
now carrying our beef and our goat products.
Which one did you get? The Sunspot Natural Market.
So they have a store there, like a holistic health
food store. They've got a store here in Kokomo,
and they've got one over in West Lafayette as
well. We're in Kokomo right now. We're going
to see how things go and see how well it's received
by the public. If it all goes well, then we'll
be expanding over to the West Lafayette store,
servicing the Purdue area. Big things happening
for After E, man. We're starting to see some
work pay off. Good deal, buddy. Congratulations.
Yeah, it's been fun. Picked up a new dog. Been
hunting him for about a month now. And finally
got somebody that wants to push a dog. So we've
just been flying under the radar, trying to fly
by night. And we'll break him out here in a few
weeks. But I think I got a nice one to pack around
here. Not that old wheels ain't nice, but finally
got somebody else that wants to push one. So
we'll see what we can do. Oh, yeah. You know,
it's always good to have a nice one. you know,
in your back pocket. But talking about nice ones,
you know, we got a young fellow on here today
that has kind of hit a lick at a hunt. And I'll
let him kind of tell us about it. But if I'm
not mistaken, he's the youngest person to ever
get in the top three. Is that correct, Braxton?
Yes, sir. Yes, he is. Look out, look out. So
I'll let you take over, Bryce. Yeah, yeah. I
mean, so we got Braxton Wills here. Most of y
'all are going to know him from the 2024 UKC
World Championship. Braxton, like I said, he
was the youngest person to make the final three
there. hunting, hunting a really nice dog there
that he didn't have for too long before the hunt
there. But let's just rewind it. Let's go back
to it. And Braxton, why don't you tell us a little
bit about how you come up, how you started hunting,
what got you into it, where you're from. And
then we'll kind of work into how Bashman and
I met you. And we'll end on the world hunt. So
yeah, that's a good story. That's a good story
how we met you. But yeah, Braxton, why don't
you give us a little bit of background on yourself,
buddy? All right. Well, I was probably about
eight years old. My mom and my stepdad, James
Jones, they got, They got together, and they
got married. My dad, he always came hunting,
done his whole life, and he's the one that kind
of got me into it. I walked along with him in
the hunts forever, just kind of getting, you
know, no grounds and all that. And I finally,
I think I hunted my first calf when I was 10
years old, and it just kind of kicked off from
there. I'm from Wyandotte, Oklahoma. Where is
that geographically located in the state? It
is kind of in the northeast corner. I can be
in Kansas in 20 minutes, and I'm in the four
-state corner, really. I'm 20 minutes from Joplin.
I'm sure most people know where that is. Yeah.
Yep. Absolutely. So you started starting around
eight years old, and how old are you now? 16.
God bless him. Just got his truck. Just got his
license. Watch out, folks. This kid's about to
tear down the world. You know that's true. Dang
it. Look out, boys. He'll be at every hunt. It
ain't nowhere safe. No. No. No, absolutely not.
So what kind of dogs did you start out running
there whenever you first were getting into it?
And has that changed any over the years? No,
not really. My dad, he always hunted Walker dogs.
It's just we kind of stuck with it. It's about
the only thing I kind of like. No offense to
off -color boys, but it's kind of something I've
always stuck with. Now, I really want to give
a big shout -out, and I will let you go into
how you two met and what he has meant to you
in your coon hunting career. But that is your
little chauffeur that always takes you everywhere.
Talk about him and what he's meant to you. All
right. Oh, man, I'll tell you, Vic, he's a mess.
I love him to death. I'd do anything for him.
i've known him my whole life and we have a little
club up here in seneca missouri and he's always
hunting it and be truthfully honest he's kind
of well when i was but i'll put it this way when
i was 12 yeah i was 12 years old i was always
out hunting and cast by myself and all that and
i got in some trouble for hunting under a guardian
or without a guardian or someone walking in the
cast that's over 18 and pkc And as soon as that
happened, Vic, he found out. And every time I
needed somebody to welcome me on a cast, he had
always been there. And it just kind of started
off from there. So that's Vic Hurley we're talking
about, correct? Yes, Vic Hurley. Now, aren't
you guys partners on some dogs now? No, not no
more. Really, the only dog we ever partnered
on was Joe. Gotcha. We'll get into Joe in a little
bit. But now, tell us here. You know, you're
16, but you hunt harder than most people that
I know. How in the world do you hunt as hard
as you do and still maintain everything you got
going on? Oh, man, I'll tell you, really, I just
think it's me being young and dumb. To be truthfully
honest, I mean, it gets dark, and I'm one of
them persons that can't sit around for too long.
It gets dark, I'm outside putting my boots on,
getting ready to go. I can't stand staying in
one spot for too long. Yeah, but coon hunting's
not the only thing you do, right? Now, you're
homeschooled, correct? Yes, sir. So how does
that work? What's a day in the life of Braxton
look like? Well, I work a full -time job. I work
up in Fayetteville. It's between Bella Vista,
Arkansas, and Fayetteville. I work a full -time
job. I work for some boys that own an excavation
company. We do septic tanks and clear a lot of
lots. I do that, and I do most of my schoolwork
when I get home in the evening. I usually finish
that up around 6, 6 .30, and sometimes I take
a nap, and most of the time, six, seven nights
a week, I go hunting. Yeah, that's what I thought.
I thought you had a few different irons in the
fire there. Yes, sir. Go ahead. Yes, sir. I keep
busy, that's for sure. Absolutely, absolutely.
All right, so. You know, you started hunting
when you were around eight years old. You got
hooked up with Vic. And where has that led you
here? Have you kind of just always been around
the local hunts? Or, you know, how did you get
to the point where you were making a name for
yourself at events like Autumn Oaks and the World
Hunt? Like, were you always just, like I said,
toting around to these local hunts? Or let's
just talk about that a little bit. Oh, man, yes.
Yes, pretty much. I had that old, old Jif of
mine, Neosho River Queen Bee. She's really what
got me started. I just kind of pushed her around
most of the little hunts and won quite a bit
of state money the first couple years. I got
her when I was probably 12, 13, and she was eight
months old when I got her. I take that back.
I was 10 years old when I got her. Bob Noble,
an old boy that lives over here in Novo, He gave
her to me, and she was good, well, and started.
She was trading cone when I got her. And I kept
her, and that's just up until the last two years.
That's what I hunted just pretty much forever,
just her. That's what she's the dog that really
gave me the name I have today. Yep, absolutely.
Now, is she still around? You still got her in
the pleasure hunter? Yes, sir. Yeah, she's eight
coming nine. She'll be nine, I want to say, October.
I don't hunt her as much as I used to, but I
still hunt her a couple times a month. And speak
of the fact, Seneca, Missouri, had an RQE this
past weekend, and a buddy of mine wanted something
to hunt. He took her, and boy, she's foul. I
bet she couldn't even probably fit in a 55 -gallon
drum. He got her qualified. He got her qualified.
Yeah. Isn't that how it works? Hey, did you go
to it? No, sir. No, sir. I was up at a buddy
of mine, Bo Kelly's house. I was going to say,
you know how that normally works? You bust your
tail hunting every single night. Your dog's looking
good. You've got him in shape. You take that
dog, you get your butt whooped, and the dog has
been sitting in the kennel for three months,
ain't been touched, goes out there and wins.
Man, I'll tell you, you ought to see her. She
couldn't fit in the dog box if she wanted to.
She's probably been hunting. 10 times in the
last year well i'll tell you what and we'll get
on this a little bit later but uh that might
actually bode well with her you know to stay
out of them holes you know you won't be bad about
her you won't have to pull her out with no cheeseburger
no no that cheeseburger it won't push her out
that's for sure well uh we've already went down
the rabbit hole bash and you might as well just
open this can of worms Not yet. Not yet. We'll
get there in just a minute. But obviously, you
know, we brought you on the Semper Doggin podcast.
And one thing that we always like to do on the
Semper Doggin podcast is talk about the evolution
of us as dog men. And you got started as an early,
early age. So would you just talk about, you
know, obviously you're out there night in and
night out in the work. What does a night? and
Braxton Willis training look like? I mean, are
you going out there? Do you have multiple dogs
that you're cutting loose? What are some traits
for a dog that Braxton just can't let go, meaning
babbling or backing? Just talk to us about your
training efforts. Oh, man, I'll be honest with
you. Most of the time, I just have one dog. I'm
hunting. I usually hunt just one dog about every
night, but just like now, we bought another dog
from us last Saturday, so I'll be hunting two.
As far as what I like in a dog, I like them to
get struck pretty quick, and I like more of a
trailing type dog. As far as an ambush, I like
them to move around good. That's one thing I
can't stand is covering them. I like them to
be both still. Now, what kind of territory are
you hunting in over there? What's the topography
look like? Man, it's one of them deals. Like
right here, probably 10 miles around my house,
around Wyandotte, it's straight up and down.
It's big hill country, but I can drive 40 minutes
into Kansas and be in just crop fields, and I
can drive probably an hour from me and be in
just river bottoms and pecan bottoms. So it's
really one of them deals you can do. hunt whatever
you want. It's kind of nice as far as depending
where you're going way off to hunt, you can kind
of get them prepared for whatever terrain is
where you're going. Yeah, man, I feel that. Man,
I bet you got some coons up there. Yes, sir.
It just really depends on the time of year, but
yeah, in certain spots, you can truly hit the
fire out of them. Basham, ain't you ever heard
Lane Denny talk about treeing them coons in the
pecan orchards or pecan groves, whatever you
want to call them? We hunt them all the time,
that's for sure. How far do you live from laying
in them? I'd say I probably live 25 minutes from
laying. We don't live far at all. Oh, good Lord.
He lives in the next town over south of me. That's
nice to have that caliber of dog that you can
get a hold of somebody and go hunting and make
sure that whatever you're packing around is towing
up to the line and can hang with the dogs that
are winning. Yes, sir. It sure is. It's nice
to, as far as using it for a measuring stick,
it's nice to have. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.
It is. So, um, do you like that Basham? Absolutely.
Three times. It's like I was on stuck on repeat.
It was a glitch. We'll blame it on the internet.
Dude, I'm telling you, Hey, this is, this is,
I know this is a side note. This is a rabbit
hole, but. So, you know, this new job, I spend
a lot of time on the phone talking with people
and I have found myself getting to the point
where I will just be sitting there talking and
it's like my brain shuts up and my mouth just
keeps going. And I'm like, what is what are these
words coming out that are not even forming a
sentence on the other end of this phone? And
I'll have to sit there and take a deep breath
and tell the customer on the other end of the
line. I'm like, hey, I apologize about that.
Like, let me regroup and retry here. Don't turn
into a salesman on it. It's something else. Braxton,
that's always been Bryce. If his eyes are open,
his mouth is moving. That's true. All you got
to do is bat them baby blue eyes. Most of the
time, it gets you what you want. It worked up
until I got married. Now, it doesn't work as
well anymore. That's about the truth. But let's
roll right into it. You know, me and Bryce and
Braxton kind of have a unique way that we all
met. So I drew Braxton. Oh, what year was it,
Bryce? It should have been about 2022, I think.
2022. Yeah, it was either 21 or 22. I drew Braxton
at the duel Thursday night at Autumn Oaks. And,
um, you know, we, we drew out and, uh, we went,
I guided to a spot over by Brookville Lake and,
uh, Oh, uh, Oh, Boudreaux put on a clinic and,
uh, Oh, Braxton's dog. We couldn't find her.
And we walked around these woods for, ever in
a day trying to find this dog. He kept saying,
man, she's right here. I said, man, she must
have got in that darn lake and swam across the
lake because there's nowhere around here that
she could be. Braxton, why don't you fill us
in on where we found this dog? Well, man, that's
just a nightmare even thinking about it. Well,
she was on the side of whatever lake that was,
Brookville Lake. She's in a big old, what do
y 'all call them down there? Drain towels or
towels or whatever. It was a big old hole. That
was just a straight up creek bank hole. It was
a big old creek bank hole. When I'm telling you,
you could fit a semi in it. You could probably
fit two of them in it. This thing was massive.
It was probably, I'll ever bid a 20 -foot long
on this dumb son of a buck I was hunting. Her
dumb butt had to go to the very end of it. And,
boy, we dug and dug and dug. That phrase they
use, you can dig to China. I bet if you could,
we tried. Yeah. So I'm sitting here at Autumn
Oaks. I won my cast, and I'm sitting there, and
I'm waiting on – With no Jed. Yeah, I was hunting
Jed. With no Jed. Yeah, that's your Jed and I
made a run at the world. It all started right
there at Autumn Oaks. Well, no, so that would
have been – yeah, 2022. I'm sitting here waiting
on a call from Bash. I'm like trying to figure
out how his cast went or what, what went down
or whatever. And I just wasn't getting nothing
from him. Like what in the world is going on?
Like I should have heard from him by now. And
he finally calls me and he's like, Hey, are you
in bed yet? And I'm like, no, not yet. I've been
waiting around to figure out what happened to
you. And at this point it's gotta be what it's
gotta be pushing one in the morning. Something
like that. One or two. No, it was every, yeah,
it was every bit to almost three probably at
that point. So Basham calls me and he's like,
Hey, I got this young kid down here. I think,
Braxton, you were probably, what, 13 at the time.
If you're 16 now, you're probably 13. Yeah, I've
been 13. Yeah. And he's a bachelor. He's like,
I got this young kid down here. He said, and
his dog's in a hole. He's like, can you bring
me a shovel? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I can probably
scrounge one up and do that. And so I'm like,
well, send me a pen. They were 40 minutes from
me. A mile. A mile from the road. It was every
bit of 30, 40 -minute drive to get there. And
then they're a mile from the road. And I'm like,
oh, Lord, here we go. So, you know, being the
good friend that I am, strapped up my boots that
I'd already took off. And if you all know me,
I don't like to do that. Once I'm comfortable,
I don't want to get uncomfortable. Strapped up
them boots, and I hike across this daggone bean
field, down the edge, through a woods, finally
get to them. Or a cut over. Oh, my God. It was
just miserable. And when I tell y 'all, Braxton
is not exaggerating. This dog was on the absolute
side of the lake up in this hole. And you could
fit your whole body. I mean, at one point, Basham's
whole body was in this hole trying to find this
dog and hear this dog. And you could see her
right there at the very end of it. But she would
not come out of there. I mean, we did everything.
Like Braxton said, we tried to dig to China twice.
We come from the top. We come from the side.
We come from every daggone which angle you could
think of and could not get that dog out of that
hole. And then Basham had a great idea. Well,
I think this whole thing is how Bryce explains
this next part and how we flag some people down.
Yeah. So, like I said, y 'all, at this point,
it's 3 o 'clock in the morning at least. At this
point, it's every bit 4 or 5 probably. I don't
know. Yeah, it's probably closer to 4 or 5 this
time. It's close enough that old boy was fishing.
Yeah. Yeah, these old boys, they come out there.
They got their boat, and they're just trolling
around real slow. I'm assuming, like Braxton
said, trying to get on that morning bite. And
by golly, if we don't freaking. Basham's like,
well, let's see if they have anything in that
boat. So we take our coon mites and we start
flicking them on and off and on and off and on
and off, trying to get their attention until
finally this boat kind of trolls over to us.
And we kind of explain to them what's going on.
We're like, hey, y 'all got any hot dogs or any
bait or anything on there that we can use to
get this dog out of this hole? And this old boy,
he looks at us and he goes, buddy, the only thing
I got left here is about a half -eaten Wendy's
cheeseburger. And Basham said, great, I'll take
it. Basham finds a stick that's got a fork on
the end of it, and he stabs it through this half
-eaten Wendy's cheeseburger, and he crawls up
in this hole, and he's trying to get this dog
to come out and lure her out with a cheeseburger,
and she was not having it, dude. She was done.
She was laying right there at the end of the
hole, and I tell you, I think it would have made
us feel better if she was stuck. Yeah, it would
have made me feel better. That's for dang sure.
Yeah, that's the thing. She wasn't stuck. She
was sitting there just staring at us. And she
could look at us. I mean, she was probably 18
inches from the end of Basham's arm, probably
another 18 inches where we needed to get to to
get our hands on her and just could not do it.
And there were some big roots because we were
in the side of the bank and there's some huge
roots and we just could not get to her. No, you
just couldn't. And she's sitting there staring
at us and we're looking at Braxton and we're
like, can, what can you do here? And he's like,
man, I don't know. I've tried everything. And
he's like, I mean, he's sitting there being nice
to her and then he's yelling at her and then
we're doing everything we can think of to get
this dog to crawl to us 18 inches. And she just
won't do it. So. Braxton, why don't you take
it from there? Yeah, Braxton makes an adult decision
at this point being 13 years old. Absolutely.
Go ahead, Bra. Well, first, I'll start off. I'll
tell you what made me the maddest. We got that
cheeseburger. We put it on a stick. Boy, we jacked
her and jacked her. We couldn't get her to budge.
But, boy, man, as soon as that cheeseburger fell
off the stick about halfway through that hole,
that son of a buck came and ate that cheeseburger.
She went right back to the end of it. Boy, talk
about make a fella mad. But, no, we jacked around.
We tried getting her out. I mean, she wasn't
budging one bit. I don't know if she was just
stupid, dumb, or what, but she wouldn't come
one foot. That's all she had to come. It was
12, like Bryce said, probably 18 inches. But
it got to about daybreak when we finally quit
trying, and I finally just decided, said, ah,
just screw her. She'll either come out or she'll
die in that hole. So me and Vic, let's see who
went with her. With me and Vic that year. Me
and Vic and Connor Dury. Oh, was there someone
else in the truck? Yes or yeah. Me, Vic, and
Connor Dury went that year. We went out there
about noon that next day. And Vic has one of
them big antennas you can hook a garment up to.
We're just driving around all the back roads
on that public ground, you know. And we pick
her up. She is, when I say she's ever been, probably
five miles from where that hole was. She finally
got hot, boys, when she got. She went to get
out of that hole. She punched her ticket. Now
she's just running down the side of that lake,
you know. And we pull up. We finally get close
to her. We had her picked up. She's probably
500 yards off the closest road. And we pull up
to this old man's house. And me and that Connor
boy, we hop out of the truck, and we're going
to go get her. Well, we're walking down this
road to go get her. Talk about creepy. this old
man has baby dolls and just all kinds of stuff
hanging from trees just on this road we're walking
down and we walk we get down the lake and there
she is just boy she's just sitting down there
sitting all pretty and thinking welcome boy it's
about finally time i seen you and i we got back
to the truck and i guess that old boy that we
stopped this house and vic was talking to boy
i guess he gave old vic earful he said boy this
place is a dangerous place he's telling us and
All kinds of stuff. So let's get her in here
and get the heck out of Dodge. Baby dolls hanging
from the tree. Oh, I'm telling you. I bet in
probably a 500 -yard walk on that road, I bet
we've seen every bit of just old, creepy baby
dolls. It's crazy. If it is not, you just see
me on the way out of there. Yeah, but that's
how Bash and Braxton and I all got to kind of
know each other real well. We spent several hours
with each other taking turns inside this hole
trying to get this dog out that eventually just
told us all to kick rocks and pound sand. She
wasn't coming out of that hole while we were
standing there. That's for dang sure. We did
get good quality time. Hey, I tell you what.
Hey, at least I can say this. We seen a dog put
on one hell of a clinic that night, didn't we,
Braxton? Yeah, we did. At that point, I was just
along for the ride. I think everybody was. They
just wanted to see what he could put up. Yeah,
he put on a clinic that night. Remember, we was
just along for the ride. There wasn't no coming
back, that's for sure. If I was smart enough,
I'd have just kept mine on leave when I knew
I was beat. Yeah, but, man, you get in those
hunts and... especially ukc you know this ukc
it's harder it's harder to get out in those big
hunts because i mean all it takes it takes one
bad tree where everybody else is on that tree
and it's old slick tail and boom you're the winner
and so and it's hard it's hard to get out of
the way it really is yes it is that's for dang
sure it just takes one tree Nope. But that rolls
us right into, obviously, the big win that you
had. Obviously, it starts out, for those of you
that don't know, to even get qualified to go
to the UKC World, you have to go to a regional
qualifying event. Tell us about the dog. Let's
start off back at the beginning. Tell us what
dog you hunted at the World Hunt. And where you
got him qualified at? Well, it was a dog called
Spring River Joe that we mentioned about taking
me to Autumn Oaks, Vic Hurley. I got him. Me
and Vic was going player hunting one night. Vic
bought Joe when he was about 18 months old, and,
you know, I kind of handled him for him just
throughout some hunts. He always owned him. Man,
I've always liked that dog. It was about... At
the beginning of June, me and Vic was going pleasure
hunting. And Vic, that old fart, he getting up
there in age. You got to love Vic. He couldn't
ask for a better guy. Guys, you cannot beat Mr.
Vic. Mr. Vic is top notch. If you've never met
him, you're missing out. Mr. Vic's a top notch
guy. Yes, sir. But we was going pleasure hunting
one night in June. I was looking at my female,
my queen female. She was in heat, and I was wanting
to go with PKC Youth Nationals. I didn't have
nothing to hunt, so I asked Vic if I could hunt
Joe up at Youth Nationals, and we kind of worked
the deal out, and he pretty much just gave me
half that dog if I just hunt him, you know, and
put him in hunts. I went to youth nationals,
and we won a couple early rounds, but we didn't
just do a whole lot of good. Then we went, let's
see, where did I get him qualified at? It was
Clint, Missouri. It was actually the last RQE
of the year. That's the God's honest truth. We
went to Clint, Missouri, the last RQE of the
year, and that's where I got him qualified at,
Clint, Missouri. I was high -scoring dog. 675
plus. That sounds like old Jed. I got him qualified
the very last RQE. Yep. That year that you took
him. Yep. Sometimes you just got to get in there.
Oh, yeah. Go ahead. 625? 75. 675. Oh, 675. Okay.
So what happened after that? So you get him in
there at the RQE, and then you got to go to the
zones. Which zone did you go to? I went to, what
zone was that? It was Sedalia. I couldn't remember
if it was at Kirksville or Sedalia. They had
it at Sedalia that year. Friday night, I didn't
do no good. Boy, he looked good. It was just
one of those deals that came down. If I could
have caught a break or not, and the break's just
what my look wasn't on my side. Saturday night,
he was one of them dogs. He liked to field edge.
He was a hot -nosed dog. He had a field edge.
He was usually going to look pretty good. And
that's just about all we was hunting on Saturday
night. And I treated a cone for 225 right out
of the truck. And I treated, I think, four singles
that cast. I made it in with a single high score
of, I want to say, 850 that night. And that's
just kind of how I got to the top 100. Or a single
cast win. Heck yeah, you can't ask much more
for that. So before we get into the top 100 in
your big run there, fill us in a little bit more
about Joe. What was his pedigree? What was his
age? Where did he come from? Let's learn a little
bit more about the dog. All right. Well, Joe
was out of Cheyenne Cummings' Redneck Backwoods
Shack dog. And to be the God's honest truth,
I couldn't tell you what the female was. I know
she was bone collector bred. But Vic bought Joe
when he was 18 months old from a guy that lived
about an hour and a half south of me in a little
town called Little Kansas named Eric Stanley.
He raised him from a puppy. And Vic had him.
And between me and that Connor Dury boy I mentioned
earlier, we just kind of swapped hunting for
Vic and just, you know, a couple of little UKC
hunts and go to Winter Classic and Autumn Oaks
and just stuff like that. And then nobody really
hunted him for about a year. And he was four
when I got him. Yeah, it had been four come of
five. And, you know, Joe was a coon treer. He
was one of them you had to stay on top of. But
he was a hot -nosed dog. He liked just wanting
one certain coon. He liked treering. And he was
good about staying by himself. And he was just
one of those dogs he made. Look like crap pleasure
hunting, but boy, as soon as you put him in a
cast, it's like if it came down to it, he found
a way to win. You can't beat that. Yes, sir.
I'll tell you what that dog was. He's just one
of the dogs that knew he was in a cast and just
got real competitive. Yeah, Buddy, I'm going
to be honest. Buddy's that way. You take him
pleasure hunting, he's just typical. He's about
average. He'll go out, tree a coon, nothing special.
A lot of times, heck, he'll meet you at the truck.
But you put that damn dog in a freaking competition
hunt and it's just like something clicks in his
head and he knows what he's doing. You know,
he just seems to bring out the best in him. Yeah,
Joe's the same way. He was a country just all
around, but he was just mediocre pleasure hunting.
But, boy, that dog knew as soon as you tied him
up at a hunt. As soon as you caught him up at
a hunt, you could tell that dog boy, he got where
he was wired. 440 is acting like a one -year
-old again. Absolutely, man. Those are fun ones
to hunt. Whenever you can just see it come out,
and they just get that competitive edge, and
you can see it in their eyes. Those are fun for
me. I like those dogs that they know when to
shine. Let's see here. The top 100 this year
was over in Illinois. What town was that even
in this year? Marshall. Right? Yes. Marshall,
Illinois. Marshall, Illinois. So walk us through
your run there at the top 100 there. How did
you make it to the top 20? Was it top 28? I think
that's what it is. I think that's how it worked.
I'd be honest with you. I couldn't even remember.
So how did your cast go the first night? Well,
the first night, what would that have been? On
Thursday? Yeah, Thursday night. We cut loose.
And the bad thing is, about two nights before
we was going to the top 100, I was pleasure hunting
Joe. Boy, he ran probably the biggest locust
thorn I've ever seen right up his front right
foot. He's about half crippled going out there.
It's just one of them things. Already in for
it. You might as well go try it. Yep. Thursday
night, let's see. I couldn't even tell you who
I drew. It's been so long ago. I have the world's
worst memory. You're young. You're supposed to
have a good memory. I don't know about that saying.
I'm the world's worst, I'm telling you. I forget
my name half the time. But I want to say I treated
Cone right out of the truck. Joe was pretty good
about getting struck. He was an honest strike
dog, but he was just one of them deals. He's
pretty good. about getting struck, but I treated
a cone right out of the truck for 225. Boy, I
can't remember one person I drew that night.
Boy, who did I draw? But besides the point, I
want to say I treated a cone and treated a den,
and I think that's all I got done come Thursday
night. But it got you through. Sure. Yeah, it
got me through. Yes, sir. Not a lot of action.
No, no. I think we made three trees that whole
two -hour cast. Yeah. It may have been 90 minutes
or two hours, whatever one it was. Yeah, it's
two hours. We had a pretty eventful night that
night. Wheels looked pretty good. Wheels jammed
three of them on them and punished his ticket
to the top. I think it was top 28. Isn't that
what it is, Basham? Yeah, it was. Yeah, that's
what it was, top 28. Yeah, so wheels punched
his ticket. So Braxton and I are sitting there.
We got the handlers meeting the next day. And
what's that feeling like, you know, knowing that
you're the youngest guy there? You're sitting.
They got everybody put together in a little square.
And you got Alan Gingrich and Trevor Wade kind
of going over the rules and the formalities.
And they give you your new light. And what kind
of emotions are going through your head there?
Man, I'll tell you. I mean, I was real excited.
I don't know if I was just more nervous or excited.
It's just one of them deals. It's kind of a combination
of both, but I can tell you I was nervous. Get
dark, I was pretty dang nervous. I can promise
you, Braxton, that you are not more nervous than
Mr. Bryce Matthews. Shoot, come on now. Man,
I'm going to tell you how this man gets before
a competition hunt. I mean, he gets to shaking
and nervous in his boots. And, I mean, he almost
needs a little prescription medicine just to
kind of calm him down. No, I ain't that bad.
Yeah, I mean, I knew as soon as I got to the
top 28, it was just one of those deals. Win,
lose, or draw, I was just glad to have a chance
to get that far. Yep, absolutely. Hey, let me
go in a rabbit hole right here. This is funny
how you talk about that, Basham. I get like that
way. Anything competitive, right? I mean, anything
competitive, like when it comes down to the brass
tacks and gets to the finals, I'm like just wound
up, wound for sound. So this new job, every day
is a competition, right? I mean, we don't get
paid unless we're selling campers. It's a commission
-based job. Every day is a competition. And we
got six salesmen in the room, and every one of
us wants to be top dog in that room, right? And,
of course, me, I come in there, and I like to
have fun, and I'm just a little exuberant and
over the top. And I've been giving this one guy
a lot of crap. His name's Cam. He's been there
for three years. I keep telling him, I said,
Cam, I'm coming for you. So last month, he beat
me by one half of the camper. And I know you
ask, how can you sell half a camper, split deals,
blah, blah, blah. He beats me by one half, right?
So I told him this month, I'm like, May. May
is my month. Today, I got this lady. I've been
working with her for a month and a half, darn
near since I started there, on trying to find
the right camper for her and get it down. And
it comes down to the brass tacks today. And I'm
waiting on her to send her deposit. And I am
not joking when I tell you, I'm sitting there
in the chair and my leg's going about a million
miles an hour. And I start sweating almost a
little bit. And I got all jittery. And I was
right in the middle of trying to eat lunch. And
I got where I couldn't even eat. I couldn't eat
one more bite. I just had to put it away. Dude,
I'm telling you, until that lady, and it was
taking her forever. It took her like 40 minutes
to send over that deposit. Until she sent that
deposit over, dude, I was a daggone nervous wreck.
I bet you was up in that room just pacing back
and forth, man. Oh, my gosh. It's like, I'm telling
you, anything that has to do with a competition.
You get me down to the finals, and I just fall
apart, man. It's bad. but it ain't even just
the finals you know since we're already down
this rabbit hole i remember a certain legacy
hunt down at freaking morgantown where me and
bryce were on the road for like two or three
days all the way down to arkansas and we had
this thing where we were going to make it all
the way back for this legacy hunt and we're in
the first round of the legacy hunt And he's hunting
old Rebel. And Braxton, we walk up this little
road and we cut the dogs. And old Rebel goes
in there and he barks nothing. He barks nothing.
He barks again. And the judge is like, is somebody
going to make a call? And Bryce is just sitting
there not doing nothing. And he barks again.
He barks again, and finally Bryce strikes him.
I go, Bryce, what the heck are you doing? He
goes, be quiet. I'm nervous. I was too. Hey,
we ended up winning that whole daggone thing.
Yes, you did. Yes, you did. But he was like,
I'm nervous. I couldn't even get the words out
of my mouth. That's when I first started hunting
PKC, man. It was a $100 entry fee, man. I was
like, oh, you're sweating bullets. Yeah, it was
those $100 legacy hunts. Yep. Oh, man. All right,
back out of the rabbit hole. So, top 22, we're
going into Friday night. 28. Yeah, top 28. You're
right. We're going into Friday night here. Can
you recall your Friday night events? Nah, same
thing. I couldn't tell you who I drew. I may
be able to go and look real quick. Just give
me one second. Oh, Lord. I'm telling you, I'm
terrible at it. now you're good go just kind
of give us a little synopsis you know if you
can remember what the you know what the dog did
because we got to hunt an early round in the
late round friday night it'd been early round
uh well i remember i drew it would did it go
top 28 then top nine yep all right yeah early
round it was me nikki hale downtime Who else
was in that cast? I mean, there's a lot. Yeah.
But anyway, well, we cut loose. Joe and down
are down. Yeah, does he call him down or down
Tom? He calls him Tom, don't he? I think it's
Tom, yeah. Tom. Yeah, it's Tom. Anyway, Joe and
Tom, they scorched a cone across his bean field.
Tom strikes for 100. I strike for 75. I couldn't
tell you how the mother boy struck. But anyway,
then Joe and Tom slam the cone right out of the
truck, probably five minutes in the cast. Tom
has 200 plus. I have 175. No, I had 150. I take
that back. I covered on it. I had 150. And we
recut off that. Joe and Tom, they get split up.
I treated Joe, and boy, he was way left -handed.
Joe gets treated on another cone for 150. And
I want to say it was a black dog in the cast.
That black dog gets treated, has a cone. And
then Ty gets treated and has a den. And then
we got to where we crossed a major highway down
there. I can't remember what highway it was,
but we ended up calling timeout. We went to another
spot, and I think there's 10 minutes left. And
it come down to if, I can't remember the God's
honest score, but if Tom had a cone, if I didn't
get treed, Tom had a cone, he won. But we cut
loose. Joe trees a cone, another cone about 300
yards in front of us. And after that, it was
just one of them deals that kind of just sewed
up the cast. Heck, yeah. So, I mean, you just
beat Nicky Hale with downtime. And another dog
who ain't no slouch. You know, obviously, they've
made it to the, you know, let's see, it'd be
the semifinals at that point. So, I mean, like,
downtime this weekend, he just won $35 ,000.
You know, this weekend. You know, that dog is
a nice dog. But, man, like, what kind of emotions
are you feeling at this point? Like, top nine's
a big deal. Man, I'll tell you, as soon as I
got in that truck with Vic, talk about a nervous
breakdown. I got so nervous, I pulled one of
them Bryce Matthews moments. I started shaking,
pacing. You would have thought I was trying to
sell a camper. I tell you what, Braxton, you
want to see it done right, go back and look at
Bryce. I believe it's on Bryce's Facebook page,
the year that me and him got in with Spot. And
we're coming out of the woods. You know, we had
drawn – Kurt Aaron. No, that was early round.
I'm talking about whenever we drew Henry Kidd
in the final 28. And, man, the hype man was on
point. I mean, he was hitting those rap tunes
and going Facebook Live. And he was all – there
was some pep in his step. Yeah, man. I get amped
up, like one way or the other. It's highs and
lows. There's just no middle ground. He says
we got to get hyped up now. That's right. Yeah.
So here we are. You're headed back. You know,
you win your cast. Who was the first phone call
that you made to tell them that you were in the
final nine of the UKC World? Man, it was my mom
and dad. Just me and Vic went out there, and
they was up waiting on me. I think they was as
nervous as I was just waiting. They didn't have
no play -by -play or anything yet on the top
28, you know. So I made that phone call, and
you'd have thought somebody got shot. They all
started jumping, hollering, screaming. I think
they was just as excited as I was. That's awesome,
man. You got a nice support system, you know.
I mean, you got people pulling for you in your
corner. So we go to the top. Absolutely. Absolutely.
And you got to say that way. So you're going
into the top nine at this point. I mean, we're
racking up the dollar signs, you know, house
money, house money at this point. That's right.
Yes. Do you remember, do you remember your late
round on Friday night? Oh, no, not really. Oh,
it's been so long. I've been in pride. I've been
in so many casts since then. I couldn't even
tell you what my. I was in two or three hunts
this past week, and I couldn't even tell you
what happened to them. But I couldn't even tell
you who I drew. Did the dog look good? Did what?
Did the dog look good? No, he looked horrible.
I do remember that. He looked like straight dog
crap, that cast. He looked horrible. So how did
you pull off a win? Dang it. uh he still treat
a cone i want to say i treat a cone i just i
think i made one tree that whole cast that yeah
i made one tree that whole cast i remember that
one old boy the boy from louisiana i don't remember
his name or what he was hunting but he he treated
a cone and then he ended up training a slick
i mean it was one of the deals i treated a cone
about 15 minutes that left in the hunt And that
boy was winning. I had 200 -plus. I do remember
that. And that boy treated Cameron for 225. And
I think probably eight minutes left, his dog
came to read. And they started the stationary
on him. And it was one of them deals. If he had
a cone, it didn't really matter. If he had a
slick, that's really the only way I could have
won. I was so far out of pocket at the time.
And we got in there. Boy, I was talking about
lucky. That tree was slicker than a gut. That's
what made me advance to the top three. Oh, man.
That is luck at that time of year. That's called
catching the breaks because the leaves are still
on the trees. Leaves still on. Yeah, that's called
catching the breaks, and that's what it takes
to. I don't care what anybody says. You can have
the best dog in the world. You can have the best
handler backing them, but if you don't catch
a break now and then in these big hunts, you
ain't going to win it. It's just not going to
happen. There's too many rounds to go through.
to not catch a break somewhere. Yep. So, Friday
night, you just advanced to the top three. Did
you sleep at all going into Saturday? I don't
think I slept five minutes between Friday night
and come Saturday. I don't think I slept one
time. And poor old big boy, I kept him up. I
don't think he slept at all either. Eyes bouncing
off the walls. I was so excited. What do you
do? What do you do in the downtime? So you hunt
Friday night, late round, and you've got to wait
around until all day Saturday until they come
in and they kind of do a little press conference
type deal with you guys in the top three, sit
you down, do a little recording in the podcast
with UKC and Allen and all them. How do you kill
the time? How do you stay calm in that time?
Man, I'll tell you, I wasn't staying calm. It
was just one of them deals. I laid down crying.
It was real late that morning. I don't think
me and Vic made it back to the motel room until
like 7 .30 that morning. It was real late. And
we got back, and it was just kind of one of them
deals. You're so tired, you want to go to bed,
but in the same chance, you're so excited. I
laid down, and boy, I kept on Vic up all day.
I was just laying there talking, talking, talking,
talking. And that's hard for you to do because
you're not a man of very many words. Nope. Definitely
not. So, that's what I'm saying. For you to keep
him up talking, I mean, you must have been jacked
up. Oh, I'm telling you. Yeah, I was pretty jacked
up. It was just like you said. I ain't wanting
to talk a whole bunch. I was like an old babbling
dog. I didn't shut up that whole day. You know,
here you are. That's for sure. Here you are.
You're what? at this time, 15? Yes, sir, that's
15. 15. Going into the final three of the UKC
world. You know, I think we've been very vocal,
Bryce and I, about just wanting to win that big
one. You know, just that one, that one big one
to basically kind of hang your hat on and say,
hey, I did it. And Braxton's 15 years old. And
he's one cast away from being crowned. And this
is just my opinion, especially if you're talking
about breeding rights. The UKC world is the crown
jewel of all this coon hunting. It's a big one.
It's the biggest. There's more prestige with
that than anything else. And that's what I'm
getting at. You know, if you talk to some of
the bigger guys, you know, J .R. Gray, you know,
ask him where he got his big start. It was winning
the world with Willie. And so, you know, I think
when you're talking about the prestige of it,
yes, there's hunts out there, you know, Tournament
of Champions, PKC World that pay more. But I
think the prestige of the UKC World, there's
none of them that hold that weight. Just because
the amount of people afterwards that want that
world championship title on that pedigree. Yep,
I agree. I agree. So you're going in there. You're
already locked in. The worst you can finish is
third. Man, I got the pleasure of walking along
on that cast. Unfortunately, Trevor Wade, his
grandmother had passed away there earlier in
the week, and he had to go attend her funeral.
So I was very honored when Trevor came up to
me whenever he had to leave and asked me to go
up there and kind of fill in as the infield reporter
back there for the live show. So I got the pleasure
of going out there on the cast and getting to
hang out with yourself. You know, just watch
those dogs work and see what it's like and what
it feels like to be on a final cast. And Casey
Maggard, and I forget the other gentleman's name,
but super nice guy. Randy Fickens. That's it.
That's it, Randy Fickens. Randy Fickens. Yep,
because he used to be a Redbone man, I think,
if everybody was telling me about it. Yeah, he
used to be a diehard Redbone guy. Yeah, and he
was hunting a walker dog. Yep, that's right.
So, it was just really cool to go out there on
that cast. And I will say that, you know, For
as big of a hunt as it was and a big moment,
all three of you guys conducted yourselves just
in an utmost top -tier fashion way. I mean, y
'all called your dogs for what they were doing.
There wasn't arguing. There wasn't no griping.
There wasn't no questioning the judge on anything.
It was just call your dog for what you do and
let the cards fall where they may. Yes, sir.
You get to that point, it's just kind of one
of them deals. You just kind of let the cards
fall, and you just kind of go with the flow.
What happens at that point happens. Yeah, and,
you know, old Joe, I mean, he, at one point,
you know, he got out of, almost out of pocket,
you know, and I was a little worried for the,
you weren't going to get him. I was lucky to
hear that. Yeah, I was a little worried that
you weren't going to get him treed in there,
because he, like you said earlier, he likes to
run them edges, and boy, did he find one, and
he took her on. He packed his bags and hit the
road. Yeah, I think when I treat him in, he's
a good mile and a half when I treat him in. I
don't think we ever heard him when I got on top
of that hill. Yeah, it was interesting. So, I
mean, now let's see here. Him and that Randy's
dog, they were together right out of the truck,
if I remember right. Because Casey's dog treated
Coon by herself. Casey was split about 100 yards.
He had a cone. Yep. And me and Randy's dog was
split left -handed on a big old oak tree. Big
dentry. Yep. Yep. So Casey's up and I think he
took first tracks. I think he's up two and a
quarter. Yes. I threw up for 75. I had 220 or
200 on a den and Randy had 150. I had 200 circle.
He had 150 circle. Yep. And then didn't she go
missing after that? No. Oh. Randy's dog did.
What? No, no, no. No, Casey. She didn't really
go missing. Lacey did. Yeah. Lacey. She did.
Lacey went to MIA. She did. She kind of pulled
a deal like Braxton's dog pulled at Autumn Oaks.
Yeah. But it wasn't really the dog's fault. Casey
was having a garment antenna issue. Oh, gotcha,
gotcha. I knew there was something. Casey didn't
have her on his garment whatsoever. Yeah, he
was having an antenna and a collar issue. It's
not that she blew out a pocket. So what had happened
kind of is Braxton, like you said, Joe got treed
in. And I don't want to be stealing your thunder
here, Braxton, so you can cut me off at any time.
But, you know, Joe got treed in, like Braxton
said, over a mile and a quarter in one direction.
And Lacey went the opposite direction. So by
the time we get to Joe, she's over two miles
away. So she didn't really get out of pocket
from where she was at. It's just we took the
cast away from her. We just walked her out of
here. Correct, correct. And we go in there, and
Braxton, why don't you tell us about that tree
we walked all the way in there to? Well, we got
in there. He was treed on a big old tree. It
had vines going everywhere. We shined and shined
and shined. I think that when I found that cone,
it was probably, I bet we didn't have probably
30 seconds left on shine time. It was actually,
Braxton found it in his thermal. He found him.
Boy, as soon as everybody got over there and
seen him, I bet there's probably 10 seconds left
on shine time. It was right there. It was a nail
biter. It wasn't much time left. No. It was either
do or die. That's for sure. And that was one
of those situations where had UKC not passed
the rule where you could use a thermal, you weren't
finding that coon. Uh -uh. I mean, he was tucked
away and he wasn't looking for nothing. Dang
it. Dang it. Yeah, it was tough. So we pull off
there, and then at that point, I believe, we
had to go back to the last place that we heard
dogs because we walked out of here. Am I right
there, Braxton, or am I missing something? No.
If I remember right, didn't Randy just tree his
dog? Didn't Randy tree what was her name? Yes.
Yes. You're right. He tree his female walking
into Joe's because I remember she was up that
creek bank about 500 behind Joe. Yep. Fergie.
Fergie dog. The dog was called Fergie. Yeah,
Fergie. Yeah, so that's right. So he got treed
in on the way to Joe. We pull off Joe. We got
to go to Fergie. And Fergie, I believe, took
a minus there. I think. Yes, sir. Yeah, she was.
No. She may have. I can't. No, she didn't. Was
it? It was. She didn't tree a coon. It was either
a circle or a minus. No, she was on a big old
sycamore tree. I remember shining it in that
bottom. She was in a big old sycamore tree. Gotcha.
Gotcha. Yeah, and then... That's when Casey heard
Lacey way through yonder. As soon as we pulled
off that tree. Yeah, because... Okay, yeah, yeah.
You're right. You're right. So, Fergie was up
on a hill. We had to climb a big old hill to
get up to her. And that's where we kind of did
a live update. We pulled off that tree, and as
soon as Fergie shut up, we were on top of the
hill. That's when Casey could hear Lacey treed
in there. And that was right. Lacey. But Joe
was treed again, too, whenever we got to the
top of that hill, wasn't he, Braxton? Yeah, Casey
treed Lacey, and as soon as he treed Lacey, Joe
was only about 100 yards. deeper where he treated
that first cone i treated him back in so this
this is where and braxton we haven't had a chance
to talk about this and and don't anything that
i say here don't take it wrong but i was questioning
what you did in this in this situation oh boy
here we go well because when we're shining fergie's
tree you could not hear lacy very well but you
could hear joe hammering in there. He's got a
big booming mouth. So you know that dog is treed.
Now Braxton is down because Lacey treated Coon
right out of the truck at 225. He treated, you
know, Joe wasted his strike points on the circle
tree at the very beginning of the hunt. So he's
struck back in for what, a quarter? Yes. I think
struck back in for a quarter and a Coon. So he's
at 150 plus. And Braxton, you can tell me if
I'm thinking wrong here and why you did what
you did. But you can hear Joe in there treeing.
So what I thought was going to play out was we
pull off the tree. Braxton trees Joe. We go to
Joe. And then if Lacey is heard, then Casey trees
her. But that's not what happened. Yeah. We pull
off and you can hear Joe and you can hear Lacey.
And this is where I believe, in my opinion. Just
a little bit of experience got Casey. He was
two steps ahead of you. He was already playing
out in his head exactly what had to happen. He
knew he had to get to his dog and get treated
in there or run the risk of walking away from
her again. Because if we walk away from her and
you've got a coon, you're going up. Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. That was just one of those moments.
I was kind of like you. I was so nervous. I really
didn't know what was going on. I wasn't using
my head. Yep. As soon as we pull off. Old freaking
Casey Maggard, trees are in. And it wasn't 20
seconds after that, Braxton trees Joe. So now
we've got to go to Casey first, Casey and Lacey.
We've got to go to them. And yet Braxton took
off to Joe. So it's all – well, it doesn't really
all depend on Casey's tree because if she's got
a circle and he's got a circle, then she still
wins. But we've got to go to Casey's tree. And
I walk in there with him. And, boy, you talk
about nervous wreck too. Casey was – he was huffing.
And Puffin getting in there, I mean, we were
moving. We were cutting brush trying to get in
there to that tree. And we get in there, and
we start the shine time, and it didn't take 10
seconds. We got out into a field edge, and we
looked up there, and that coon looked at us double
-barreled, buddy. I mean, he's just looking at
us two eyes down. And Casey, you know, he just,
I mean, come apart. You know, he just won the
world hunt. At that point, it didn't matter.
We didn't need to walk to Braxton, you know,
because he couldn't catch him. But Braxton, looking
back at it, would you have done anything different
there? Yeah, I'd have done exactly what you said.
I'd have treated Joe while we were shining that
tree and just hoping we'd have pulled off that
tree. I could have started walking towards Joe
quick enough and just kept Casey out of here
in a lacy. Yep, that's how it played out in my
head too. But I wasn't a handler in there. I
was just a fly on the wall. Bashamukha, you've
got a confused look on your face. What's going
through your head here? So what place did Braxton
place? Second. Oh, he placed second. Oh, so he
did get reserved. Yeah. See, this whole time,
I started off by saying he got third. No, I didn't.
I think you said he was in the top three. I said
that he got third at the UKC World. Yeah, I was
wrong. He got reserved world champion. I got
second world champion now. Yep. Yep. Wow. But
like I said, had the cards played out just a
smidge bit differently, we might have a different
tone to this podcast. But I was just curious.
Like I said, I haven't got a chance to talk to
you since all that went down. I was just curious
what was going through your brain. Because I
know the cards that I had in my head, and they
just didn't go the way that I would have done
it. Now, had I been in your shoes, I might have
done something different. Yeah, it's one of them
deals you would have cut it. But now that I look
at it. Just one of them deals. I would have done
exactly how you played it out. I would have got
Joe treated while we were shining Randy's tree
and just tried to walk Lacey out of here. Got
recut. Or at least just kept him out of here.
And I don't remember if there was enough time
for me to get recut or not. Yeah, it would have
been close. It would have been close for sure.
But, man, nonetheless, I mean, you go out there
with you and your old partner, Vic. You guys
make the trip up from your home state all the
way up to Illinois. 15 years old, reserve world
champion, world champion male. I mean, what an
accomplishment. Like, what an accomplishment.
Definitely. I think we're all striving to even
hit a lick like that. Now, I don't want to. Yes,
sir. Yes, sir, it is. I don't want to end this
podcast on a sad note, but there's just something
I just got to talk about because. It seems to
be a curse to go back. You'll know what I'm talking
about with this. It seems to be a curse to win
the world hunt or come daggone close to winning
the world hunt. A lot of these dogs, there's
a high percentage of them that once they win
that world, for some reason, they get, they hit
a streak of bad luck after that. And a lot of
times they don't live much longer after that
for whatever reason it is. Joe, he struck up.
Pretty bad dose of bad luck. I think he died
probably two months later of the world hunt.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, it wasn't
very long afterwards, and I see you posting,
you know, rest in peace to Joe. So, what happened?
Well, it's just one of them deals. I truly don't
know what happened. I laid him up for a little
bit. I did hunt him for probably about two months
after the world hunt, and then I got him out.
I hunted him three or four nights. I went to
just a PKC $30 hunt in Girard, Kansas. That's
right when I got my license. It was December
when I went up there. I think I didn't have my
license for a week. And I drove up to Girard,
Kansas. It's about an hour from me. And I hunted
him in that hunt. I bet there's every bit of
it. Snow was on the ground. It was in the negatives.
It was every bit of negative eight or nine. We
hunted. Joe never made a tree. I don't even think
I got struck in that whole cast. I took him back
to Vic's. Well, Vic, he leaves for work about
every morning, about 5, 6 o 'clock that morning.
Vic went out there, and Joe was perfectly fine.
The pen just wired 440 like he is every day,
you know. And Vic called me as soon as he got
home from work, and he said, Braxton, this dog
ain't going to make it very long. He was laying
in his pen just coughing up blood. Vic made that
call, and Joe, he died before I even got off
the phone. Really? That's just one of them deals.
I really don't know what happened, but... I just
don't get it, because you can go back through
the history books, and I've only been around
this sport for about 10 years, and just in my
time of being around, it just seems like, man,
if you win the World Hunter, you get real close.
there's a lightning bolt getting ready to strike
somewhere, and I don't know why that is. It's
like it's a curse. Yes, it is. You know, it's
just, I don't know what it is, but I hated to
hear that. So, man, we sure appreciate you taking
the time here to join us today, and we just want
to congratulate you again on your run. Thank
you, sir. And I appreciate y 'all giving me the
chance to come on. Absolutely. Absolutely. Bastion,
you got any closing thoughts here for Mr. Braxton?
Just, you know, obviously, always, always a pleasure
to talk to Mr. Braxton and Mr. Vic. We won't
go into details, but Mr. Vick definitely helped
me out in a big way and a top -notch guy. And
always a pleasure to see Mr. Braxton definitely
raised right, as respectful as a young man as
you'd ever hope to meet. And that's in the woods
and out of the woods and definitely a pleasure
to call you a friend. And congratulations on
your big win, buddy. Thank you, sir. I dang sure
appreciate it. Yep. All right, guys. Well, I
think we're getting ready to sign off here. Once
again, just thanks to Braxton for joining us
here on the Semper Dogum podcast. And thank you
to you guys for bearing with us while Basham
and I navigate through this crazy thing called
life. And, you know, we do this just to have
fun. We've said it a hundred times. But we sure
do appreciate you guys supporting the podcast
any way that you can. And we appreciate you guys
listening to us. So, Basham, Braxton, if you
all ain't got nothing else, I'm going to sign
off here tonight. If you need a camper, see Bryce
Matthews. That's right. RVDynasty .com. We can
get you hooked up. Wait a minute. I think we
need a little singing jingle from Bryce. No,
I ain't got one of them. Nope. Nope. Give me
a holler. We ship them nationwide, coast to coast,
north to south, east to west. You're never too
far from a good deal. How do you like that? Oh,
yeah. We can. $2 .85 a loaded mile. That's the
delivery fee. So, all right, guys. Hey, we're
going to sign off here. So, once again, thanks
for listening to the Semper Dog podcast. Thanks
again to Braxton for joining us. Basham, it's
always a pleasure, brother. And we'll see you
guys on the next one. All right. Thanks, boys.
Yeah, take it easy. See ya.