*The following information originates from the Rabbit Hunter magazine. The article (not in it's entirety) is written by Rev. John Parks , A.R.H.A Hall of Fame. High Rock Beagles takes no credit in the information provided. For your information only.
WHERE DID THE WEIR CREEKS COME FROM?
The Weir Creek Kennel owned by a man named Jack Stutz who was a contemporary of Clarence Jones who had the Fish Creek hounds in New York state. These were hounds that had been run on both hare and cottontail, and they were exceptionally hard workers in the field.
The first hound that I know of with the name Weir Creek on her was a bitch named Weir Creek Sue. She was sired by Field Champion Travelon Autumn Frost and was out of a Field Champion Travelon Autumn Frost bitch. Sue in turn was bred to Field Champion Fish Creek Little Red to produce a bitch named Weir Creek Trudy. Then to keep the pattern of mating a bitch back to her sire going, Jack Stutz bred Trudy back to her sire. Incidentally one of the pups from this cross became Field Champion Weir Creek Ruff.
Mario Santoro (Clarence "Fish Creek" Jones' handler) once told me that the Weir Creek hounds were very dependable in the field and they always accounted for their rabbit, no matter what the weather or scenting conditions were like. They would drive when they could, but would also work a hard check very carefully to keep the run going.
Before I tell you more about the Weir Creeks, I would like to back up a bit and tell you about Mr. W.P. Land of Memphis, TN so you can get an idea about what part his hounds played in this story. Mr. Land worked for the fire department, but he ran hounds every spare moment he could. Over time, he became very skilled in judging a hound's running ability. Mr. Land had a partner named Mr. Bohn in the Bohnland Kennels. Evidently Bohn provided the finances for the operation and Land did the work of running, breeding and raising the hounds.
W.P. Land was a "straight-shooter" who was very outspoken about his hounds and their qualities ( I know from first hand experience because I had dealings with him in the late 1950's). He was also rather outspoken. If he saw a fault in someone's hound, he wasn't a bit bashful about pointing that out too! Because of this, W.P. Land wasn't a favorite of everybody on the competition circuit! He had made too many people mad along the way.
Now, according to my sources, Jack Stutz of the Weir Creek Kennel contacted W.P. Land, and journeyed down to visit Land and run hounds with him. While he was there he was impressed with the hound work he saw. Evidently Mr. Land also decided that the Weir Creeks had something to offer him in his own breeding program, so Jack Stutz and W.P. Land cultivated a beagling relationship with each other. Following that meeting, Jack Stutz sent Weir Creek Ruff to Land for awhile. Up to that point, Ruff had not had a whole lot of experience, but under Land's training program Land could see that Ruff had possibilities. After some field trials under Land's tutelage, Ruff began to win and eventually became a field champion.
When the opportunity presented itself, Land bred one of his best bitches, Bohnland Jenks to Field Champion Weir Creek Ruff. Some of my sources have told me that Jenks might have used her mouth just a little too much at times or she would have been a field champion. Be that as it may, the cross of Ruff and Jenks produced a hound named Field Champion Weir Creek Buzz.
Although this is not a "close" mating by any means, it should be noted that the hound on both sides of the pedigree trace back to the same "roots"namely Yellow Creek Sport mainly through Fd. Ch. Sammy R. Maybe that us why the Weir Creek hounds are somewhat "different" from other bloodlines, and they are treasured by many--because they did not come to us via the conventional routes of Fd. Ch. Gray's Linesman, or Fd. Ch. Wilcliffe Boogie.
W.P. Land described Fd. Ch. Weir Creek Buzz as follows:
"Now as to Buzz. He was one of the greatest hounds I ever bred or owned, and he lived to a ripe old age of fourteen before he passed away. He was a great searcher, and he could move his game well and hold his line well. We gunned him regularly until he was ten years of age, and he would still go well, but was getting too slow for the pack and would get behind on all day hunts. His dam, Jenks, was a good one, but had too much fire for trials as they were. She and Sinbad came out of a litter of eight, and in that litter there were three field champions and two others that only needed one win to finish. They were all great rabbit hounds...Buzz was a good looking hound,l with good features such as straight legs, good body conformation and lovely ears. He had a heavy, short bawl voice that was used very freely, but very correctly, and a nose second to none. He was a great hound any way you look at him. He was a red hound or a dark chocolate color. Very pretty...he looked a lot like Ruff except he had a fuller blanket and was red while Ruff was black, white and tan."
Happy Beagling,
W.P. Land Sr.