We’re Called the Treeing Walker Coonhound

This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, October 2010 issue.

We’re Called the Treeing Walker Coonhound

In 1922 on a central Indiana farm, a ten-year-old boy was given a small Fox Terrier named Bootsie. The two became almost inseparable, and even slept together. As Bootsie and the boy grew, they spent many happy hours in the woods hunting squirrels. Bottsie was often found sitting up and barking at the base of a tree with a squirrel on the first limb barking back. This young man provided many of squirrels for the family table with a Winchester .22 his father had given him for graduating from the eighth grade. In the mid-20’s, raccoon were scarce in this part of the nation. Therefore fox hunting was very popular with many of the houndsmen. This same young man could often be found listening to the houndsmen talk and brag as they stood by a fire and listened to the music. The boy could go fox hunting with Uncle Charley and his beloved Foxhound Ben, as long as he gathered wood for the fire and kept it going.

They tried hunting raccoon on a few occasions, but always ended the night by treeing a couple of opossums and running but never catching some mink. About one night out of four they would actually hit a coon track; but by this boy’s 14th birthday they had not made a successful hunt. One night the dogs treed on a large oak, the hunters set their kerosene lanterns on the top of their head and hanged the bails, but no coon eyes seen. They built a large fire and looked for two hours, but a coon was not to be found. Things began to change, however, when one day in 1926 the boy came riding home from town with his father. Coming the opposite direction down a country road was a horse-drawn wagon with a Bluetick hound named Queen sitting on the spring seat.

The reputation of Queen and her owner Glen Newby was surpassed by no one in the state for their ability to catch a coon. After a brief conversation, the boy was delighted to hear that Queen would be coming to his house that very night to hunt the 200-acre timber that lay across the road. Several hours later this young man’s stomach was tired in a knot as the hunters gathered in his father’s yard. It was after dark before Queen arrived, and no time was wasted in turning her loose. She had hardly gotten through the rail fence when her deep bawl broke the silence of the crisp air. The Bluetick female was soon “treed”, but to the boy’s dismay, on a big den. Some of the hunters found fresh coon tracks in the mud coming to the big tree, but nothing was found on the outside and it was too big to climb. When taken off the tree however, Queen instantly headed back into the cornfield from which she had come.

Five minutes later, she was opening going the opposite direction and soon crossed the road. Again the hunters found a fresh coon track near the edge of the road, and true to form, Queen had known there were two all along. Opening only three or four times, she was soon into the timber 80 rods to the East. None of the other hounds they had been hunting on those previous nights for the past couple of years had said a word, or shown any indication they knew what the blue female was up to. She bawled again and turned to the north. Soon she had entered another timber and sent word through the cool air that she was “treed”. Upon arrival at the scene, they found Queen on a Beech with the top broken out. One of the men took off his coat and was up the tree before the excited boy knew what had happened. He pronounced that the coon was laying about three feet down in the snag portion, and soon punched him out with the air of a two-cell flashlight. The coon looked as big as a shepherd dog to the 14-year-old who’s heart was pounding faster than ever before. At this very instant, the coon hunting bug had bitten young Lester Nance, and at the same moment he realized that not all hounds were created equal. This night in the timber near the small settlement called Walnut Grove in central Indiana, the seed was planted that would take 20 years to germinate, but the fruits of which are still harvested 80 plus years later, with no sign of reduction in yield.

The experience of the night gave Lester the desire to hunt with Queen as often as her owner, Glen Newby, would allow. After a couple more hunts, Lester knew there was a great difference between the abilities of dogs and set a goal to someday own a hound that could be determined Queen’s equal. During the 20’s, other things were happening within a 30 mile radius of this same timber that later affected Lester’s now heart set goal. A traveling salesman by the name of Shell, had a regular stop in a small town in southern Ohio. Having made friends with a couple of local hunters, he was very impressed by the performance of a Walker Foxhound they called Ring. It was commonly accepted that if you could find a Walker that would tree, you could catch some coon. Mr. Shell asked about buying the dog, and learned that he had no real owner. All the hunters in town used him and saw that he was cared for. Since no one would accept his offer after two to three years of trying, Shell took the dog to the next town and had him shipped to his brother in Indiana. Ring was a large, black, saddle-back, with a white ring around his neck. He earned the title “straight cooner”, because he was never known to open on anything but a coon track. After his first year in Hoosierland, he was bred to another fine Walker female and from this litter came a well-known female called Spottie. Spottie was bred to a black and tan-colored male called Frank. Frank was purchased for 100 bushel of corn, at a time when few farmers had cash to spare.

In 1929, Frank treed 11 coon on the outside, at six years of age. This was an unheard of number, as most hunters pent the whole season getting four or five. These 11 coon were sold for $11 each, which much more than made up for the 100 bushel of corn in those pre-depression days. From the litter of Frank and Spottie, came a female known as Foland’s Queen. Foland’s Queen was of the true Walker style in that she was a hunting and strike dog deluxe, and soon became a natural tree dog. Queen was a trim-built dog that was primarily black and tan in color, and fell into a ringing chop when announcing to all that a coon was treed. In November of 1927, Herman Bray of Elwood, Indiana, purchased a Walker Foxhound named Speed. Speed was pure Walker Foxhound breeding, but had been outcast by the fox hunters because he would stop a fox chase to tree a coon when he got a chance. Speed was an open trailer, had a loud tree voice, and was a true tri-color. Bray paid the unheard of price of $75 cash for him at four years of age, when a good dog could be bought for $35. The first season that Foland’s Queen and Speed were hunted together, a diary was kept of all their hunts.

They struck 29 coon tracks and treed 27y. This was quite a good season for the times and the number of coon to be found in that area. In January of 1932, Foland’s Queen and Speed were mated. Lester was well aware of this cross and made a trip to see the litter of 12 when they were about a week old. He made arrangements with Bray to get two females from the litter. Bray kept all five of the males, since he wanted to hunt them some before making a decision which he wanted to keep. At five months of age, Lester and Bray took these seven pups hunting with Speed. That night, no coon tracks were struck, but one of the pups went hunting with Speed while the rest stayed near the lantern. This blanket-backed male which had been named King, finally began to bark lost when Speed left him behind, but found his way back. A few days later, they took the same seven pups down on the White River to see how they would take to water. King and Lester’s female were the only two that took right to the river like ducks. A short time later, Lester lost both his females, one to a car and one to distemper. Bray agreed to let him hunt Speed, Queen and the five males, so they would get some experience. After several shake-out races, and going in to trees with the two old dogs and only one of the pups, King, up on the wood; Lester knew that he needed to own King in order to reach his dream!

Finally, in late October of 1932, Herman priced the pup to Lester for $25. Lester had only $13 cash to his name and the depression was in full swing. Lester told Bray he would give the cash and two 100-pound bags of “Peet’s” pig mineral for the then unproven seven-month-old pup, King. Since Bray fed that brand of feed, he knew they cost $7 each to buy and agreed to the deal. Lester had secured for $27 the hound that would be the first-ever advertised as “Treeing Walker” and the foundation of the breed which would not get recognition by the United Kennel Club, Inc. (UKC) for another 13 years. White River King became Lester’s constant companion. He went with Lester as he graded roads for the county. King rode in the truck seat, and if a squirrel or groundhog crossed the road, the door would open and the chase would be on. Three nights before the season officially opened, Lester slipped in to the same woods where he had seen his first coon in a tree. At eight months old, White River King opened on a track in the corn and was soon in the timber. For the next 14 years, a familiar voice would tell Lester in the night air that the coon was up the tree. Lester found King on a big cottonwood, and backed up a little to shine the tree with his lantern. The eyes of that coon shown in the night like Times Square on New Year’s Eve to the excited 20-year-old man. He knew the pup had treed a raccoon, and now the Coonhound world was headed into a different direction than ever before. Fourteen years later, Lester returned to this same tree with King wrapped in his hunting coat. On that day in December 1946 Lester had the sad chore of laying in his final resting place, not only his personal friend, but the foundation of a new breed, and the beginning of a new era. This hound had always given his best, was always dependable. He was a coon hunter’s coon dog! Twenty-three years after his death, he would be among the first half-dozen to enter the Treeing Walker Hall of Fame held with the Treeing Walker Breeders & Fanciers, Association (UKC).

That first year King soon developed a hatred for the masked bandits, but more importantly, he improved his talents for catching them. In the decade of the 30’s Lester and King became very well-known in Indiana as the most dedicated hunter and hound in the sport of coonhunting. Their catches were well documented all over the state, not only for catching coon, but also for the fact that Lester broke him to run fox in the daylight. King proved just as apt at catching fox as coon, but at night would not open on a fox even when put with the Foxhounds, a feat that Lester had to prove on several occasions to those who did not believe. By the end of the decade, Lester tried to find a female he felt worthy of breeding to King to begin a breeding program. The best female he knew of was King’s littermate, Peggie. No breed was at this time formed, nor organizations issuing pedigrees on Walker-type coonhounds, so Lester Nance was breeding for ability and only ability. He selected what he felt were the two best cooners in Indiana besides King, and bred Peggie to one of them. This litter was born in 1941, and his pick was a female called Gin. She showed enough promise before her first birthday that she was bred to the other male he had selected and this litter was born in January of 1942. From this litter came N & K Sparkie, the female he wanted to breed to White River King. In July of 1944, Lester ran an ad in Full Cry magazine that the litter by White River King and N & K Sparkie were for sale at $35. This litter was line bred to King, who at the same time was at stud for $25. This was a milestone to the coonhound world, as it was the first time the words “TREEING WALKER” were ever seen in print as a strain of breed of hound.

Lester stated in this ad that he “did not breed for length of ear, but payed special attention to what was between the ears!” This statement was the basic premise of his entire career as a breeder, and I believe the major reason that the Treeing Walker Dog has become a dominant force of the coonhound world. Sparkie would become one of the most important parts of Lester’s breeding program, and a very top cooner. Sparkie, at the age of 13 years and in failing health, was entered and came home the winner of the National Treeing Walker Days in Bloomington, Illinois. Also in 1942, Carl Sloan of Atlanta, Indiana bred his fine Star female to King. From this litter came White River Rowdy, and White River King II. Rowdy would become in later years the backbone of the females in the White River Kennels, then and now. She was in Lester’s opinion the greatest trail hound he ever followed. She was a dog with personality and the brains to make a tough coon track look easy. In 1950 a pup out of Rowdy called Nance’s Ring would win Best Male of Breed in what was then one of the most prestigious coonhound events – Leafy Oak. Ring was to become the sire of Little Topper, one of the early titled dogs in night hunt competitions and the sire of Nance’s Little Topper, which later sired many top big fame and coonhounds. In 1983, 41 years after her birth, Rowdy was voted into the Hall of fame, another of Lester’s proudest moments in the Treeing Walker breed. Beginning about 1942, Lester was looking for somewhere to register his line of hounds and made contact with several organizations. Since he had been involved with the purebred livestock business, he realized the value of having a proven and known pedigree that could be shared with others. Both AKC and UKC showed no interest, so he turned to Full Cry magazine, which had started a registry in 1940 under the direction of Bill Harshman.

In 1943, White River King became the first Treeing Walker registered in this group; very fitting since he was first advertised within this new breed. Two years later, after much discussion and negotiating, Dr. Furhman, then owner of the United Kennel Club (UKC) agreed to meet with a group of breeders at the home of F. C. Reeder in Loagansport, Indiana. Small groups of avid, dedicated coonhunting houndsmen were able to convince Furhman to accept these spotted dogs, but as a part of the English breed which he already recorded. They had to accept the name English Coonhound (Walker Treeing) or nothing at all, so the new breed started off as a strain of the English breed. Within a few years the breeds were completely separated with the breed registered as Walker Treeing. It wasn’t until the late Mr. Fred Miller took ownership in UKC that the English was dropped and they were actually called Treeing Walkers on the official pedigree. The first meeting of the (UKC) National Treeing Walker Association was held at Lester’s home in 1946, where he was elected president. The first National Treeing Walker Days was held in 1951 at Arcadia, Indiana. A son of White River Boone won the hunt-making the dreams of a 14-year-old boy and the goals of a breeding program a reality. In 1946, Lester was impressed by a hound owned by Bernard Hole of Indiana called White River Boone. This dog had been bred by Carl Sloan and was one of the best coon catchers Lester had ever seen. He made sure to breed White River Boone back to a female out of his Sparkie and Rowdy lines, and the resulting pup would be one of the biggest named hounds ever to come out of Lester’s kennel. In 1951, Lester’s lifelong dedication to the Treeing Walker breed was forever cemented when he held the first National Treeing Walker Days event at Arcadia, Indiana. A son of White River Boone won the hunt, making the dreams of that excited 14-year-old boy a reality.