I owned a Blue tick female (Bess) in the 70's. One of the nicest dogs I ever owned. I got coons and bobcat with her, fun times. I would like tell a little tale about her. I was living near the Columbia River at Ringold at the time. I found that Bess would hunt pheasants and was quite good at it. If the rooster ran she would open like she was on a coon. One day I walked out of the house andß
scared up a rooster pheasant, I watched him fly about a quarter mile and land unseen right behind two bird hunters who were working a draw and almost to the road. I got Bess on the lead and walked up the road. The two hunters were at their pickup and started laughing at my hound. What are you going to do with a dog like that, hurt my feelings. I told them that I was going to get a rooster for diner. They proceeded to tell me how they had worked that patch and there were no birds in it and about all the field trials their dogs had won. These guys were very serious bird hunters, expensive shot guns, diamond plate dog boxes and a new pickup. I started into the patch, turned Bess loose and in a loud voice said find a rooster. As they watched us go no more than a 100 yards a rooster flushed I shot it and said come on Bess ones enough for diner. They begin to cuss there dogs, tossed them into the dog box and took off. I have never forgot that or old Bess. I had to have her put down in 1980 when she was 13. She had cancerous growth in her hip where a bobcat had bit her years earlier. She was about to die and the vet did the job, a very sad day.
