Horse Trading with Hounds
by
Shannon Hollon
Coon hunting and hound trading has had a long tradition in Alabama history. We got to experience it one Mayday.
Son won some awards
My son Jake coon hunted for years as a youngster winning some awards on competition hunts and catching a number of coons with a blue tick hound he raised from a pup by the name of “Ole Dan”. Jake received “Ole Dan” as a gift from a prominent coon hunting family from Montevallo during my deployment to Afghanistan, but as with boys as they get older their love changes from chasing coons through the woods all night too fast muscle cars and girls.
Ole Dan – Ready to Hunt
Hound trading is complex
One day we got to meet a prominent hound man from Marion Alabama he showed us the complexity of the art of hound trading.
It starts with laying out the certificates of lineage and proof of the pedigree from both the sire(father) and dam(mother) sides going back 8 to 10 generations. The health, color and even the hounds bawl are taken in consideration. Many times the lineages can the traced to past hounds as far away as Missouri and Wisconsin.
Jake and “Ole Dan” after one of their Roupes Valley hunts.
We learned a lot that spring day sitting on my back deck with the Marion houndman. We also realized that the tradition of horse trading with hounds is alive and well in Alabama rural culture.
Once Alabama was admitted as a state of the United States of America on December 4, 1819, a great wave of immigrants from other states and countries came by flat-boats, pack-horses, covered wagons and ships to become the first citizens of the state. ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Statehood presents the times and conditions Alabama first citizens faced in lost & forgotten stories which include:
- Who Controlled And Organized The New State of Alabama?
- Tuscaloosa Had Three Other Names
- Chandelier Falls & Capitol Burns
- Alabama Throws Parties For General LaFayette
- Francis Scott Key Was Sent to Alabama To Solve Problems
- General Jackson’s Visit to Huntsville For A Horse Race Created Discord At Constitutional Convention
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