This photo is a legacy of our affair with cover dogs (read “Of Grouse Trials and Grouse Hunters” blog entry from 7/1/18). Pictured there is a dog named Hoss, posed alongside a grouse and Herb Stapleton’s Winchester Model 59.
Hoss was by a Tomoka/Bobby Joe bred son mated to a royal heiress, one Silky Meg (Silky Sullivan x Macjackie)…and he was a great one.
But Hoss wasn’t even the litter pick. Steve Narramore claimed the first male as stud fee. That pup, JoJo, Steve said, was the best he ever walked behind. By far the best. Hoss made the second standout from that Bob x Silky Meg mating.
Eric raised him, then made a gift of the dog to Herb Stapleton, one of Eric’s close friends and regular hunting partners. Whenever Herb couldn’t go along, Eric would hunt Hoss for him. It was then all that cover dog blood kicked in. He needed every drop, because those were Awbonnies Bull’s salad days, and for many years he and Hoss tore into those mountain coverts with a vengeance.
Eric writes, “He and Bull were a force. They pushed one another, wide and fast. They were always high-headed, gathering scent. They just didn’t miss birds.”