LEB CITY LUCY   She was born in 1976 and was sired by the famous F.C. DFJ MURPHY WHITE out of a bitch by the name of DFJ STRETCH. I was up to the Mohawk Beagle Club in New York to judge a trial and the first day of my assignment the little male class that I judged got done by mid afternoon. With nothing to do that evening I decided to go see Ray Slawiak owner of the DFJ's run some hounds for a buyer to look at. Ray had about 6-8 hounds down to run that night at a place situated in the center of a place they called "the railroad tracks", right in the heart of downtown Rome N.Y. There was a cement making facility there and behind that operation was about 20 acres of prime bunny cover.  Dennis Ayers was the buyer and the hounds quickly had a rabbit going and they ran real well. Ray didn't keep junk and he didn't sell junk. You got a DFJ hound then you bought a pretty good dog. I asked Jimmy Martin my friend who hosted my stay there what Dennis was looking for, and Jimmy replied a male. They ran about another hour and Ray came in to sit with us while Dennis was looking over the hounds. I asked Ray what hound had the fast chop mouth in the group that was nailing check after check. He said that was a young pup named Lucy. Then I asked which of the dogs in there did he have for sale, and he replies all of them. Boy in a twinkling of an eye I was on my feet heading for the pack to check them out. The rest is history. I bought Lucy and she developed into a top notch hunting dog and went on to make her championship in short order. She had the fastest machine gun chop mouth I have ever heard on a beagle. A moment I dearly recall from time to time, was the day she won our clubs winter trial in 1981. This trial was judged by Jeri Blair and the owner of Better Beagling magazine Bob Baker. Man what a trial. They took 'em down to a brace in them days and the hounds ran a long time in nip and tuck fashion. The other hound belonged to my good friend Jim Hooper who was dying of cancer and he knew it. But even in the pain he was living with he stayed out there in the cold to watch his dog compete. Oddly enough she was sired by F.C. DFJ MURPHY WHITE also. They ran and they ran, back and fourth the two dogs exchanged moments of glory. First one had it then the other, one picked a check only to have the other come back and nail a check of her own. Before it was called Jim came over and shook my hand with tears running down his face "congratulations he said, you won". I replied "it wasn't over yet Jim". They called it and I did win, but boy was Jim proud of his dog's performance and rightfully so, she ran great. I might add too that the judges did an excellent job as they ran 'em long and hard.

IMPERIAL JADE OF SUGAR RIVER    Jade was born 01-02-1976 and was a litter sister to F.C. Duffy Moon of Sugar River. Sired by F.C. Theisen's Den Rod Smoky and out of a FAMOUS hound by the name of F.C. SUGAR RIVER'S SWEET MAGNOLIA. By my standards I considered Jade slow. However she was a great pack hound and knew how to move with the pack when the drives picked up. She had a win and a number of places in Large pack but went on to finish with wins at Klipnockie and Pittstown SP on rabbit. Could write alot of stories about Jade but one of the best was when I took her to Pittstown to a trial while she was still nursing a litter of pups. She was tough as nails and had alot of desire. With 3 week old pups in the crate nursing off her we traveled west three and a half hours to Bennington VT. In first series Jade ran well and I figured she turned in the best performance of that cast. After I caught her, back she went into the truck to nurse her pups. Second series was called and out of the crate and into the field she went with tail up high straining to get it on. After another good run she was returned to her puppies to do the "mother" thing with them. Winners pack was called and she was equally as eager to hunt and run then as she was early in the day. A long run ensued as it usually does in a winners pack mixed with good hounds and watched by good judges. Had to go down to a brace and when that happened Jade was just glued to that rabbit and won the class easily. The following year I returned with her under the same circumstances and she placed second. As I recall KEN BURBANK from the Glendale area judged this class. a nice man who went on into the ministry I'm told.   That same year I put her in our Snow trial SP on hare where they ran on a hard crust in zero degree temperatures. She made her way down to the brace portion of the winners pack and her bracemate was F.C. PIKE RIVER ARGO TINY owned by the late JACK STANLEY of Enosburgh Falls VT.. Tiny was a first class rabbit dog, small in stature but tall in greatness. She and Jade put it on for quite a long time and Tiny beat her in the end. But not until after a great competition. Jeri Blair was one of the judges and he runs 'em long and hard. Great memories of this hound.

LEB CITY MAGDALENE    "Mag" was borm May 26, 1979. Her sire was F.C. Mountaineer Sonny and her dam was the FAMOUS  F.C. SUGAR RIVER'S SWEET MAGNOLIA. "Maggie" was one of the best hounds I ever owned and surely the smartest. On 5-17-1980 she was entered in her first licensed Large pack trial at The Southern Maine Beagle club several weeks before she turned a year old. There was a class of 33 little bitches that day and "MAGGIE" won the event. I never typically did that with such a young hound but she was special. On 8-30-1980 I entered her in her second licensed trial at Palmer in Massachusettes while bred to F.C. Duffy Moon of Sugar River. Maggie won this too in a class of 29 little bitches. On 10-10-1980 she gave birth to her first litter of pups. Before she was 18 months of age she had won two licensed trials and gave birth to a litter of puppies. Maggie was medium speed and a tireless all day hunter. She had a great nose and always knew where the end of the line was. She was a Lady in every fashion, never barked in the kennel, a great starter, naturally deer proof, easy to handle, ran real well on snow and lost very few rabbits in her lifetime. When she went on a hunt it was never a question of "do you think we'll shoot this rabbit", it was always a matter of how long will it take before we shoot this rabbit! Once started, a hare that got away was just lucky that darkness set in. She had five other siblings that made their championships too. Great bloodline.

SUGAR RIVER's SWEET MERCY   Mercy was born 5-24-79. Her sire was F.C. Duffy Moon of Sugar River and her dam was Spruce Swamp Fanny. Mercy is one of my all time favorites. She was small, weighing but 16 pounds of pure energy. What she lacked in size she made up for in hunt, nose, brains, and desire. She never ran a deer and was a dream to handle in a hunt. Her forte was the ability to run on snow. Like "MAG", Mercy rarely lost a rabbit. She grew up as a youngster where she was born in the town of Lyndonville VT. She ran loose behind Bob Hubbards house with the rest of the clan up there self training until the day I bought her. I came to know Mercy when I judged our Snow trial in February of 1980. It was a tough cold day as it usually is that time of year and she did some stuff that caught my eye. She didn't place but after I found out she was only 8 months old at the time I got pretty interested in buying her. That I did and she grew up to be one of the top three hounds I ever owned. Her last win came at our licensed trial on 10-24-81 under Jeri Blair and Bruce Sunnerberg on a cold wet rainy autumn day. There was alot of water in our swamp and hounds that never ran much in that situation were at a disadvantage. Mercy despite her size led that group of hounds a good part of the time going hummock to hummock. Blair said he never saw such a small dog dominate as well as she did that day. Mercy was equally good on tough running too and could handle the hard below zero temperatures. She had a hard time on the deeper soft snow but often was able to perform better than her pack mates in some situations by staying on top of a thin crust when the other hounds fell through. A noteable oddity that surfaced early in her life was when we killed a hare one day and she got into a dog fight over it. She was a fiesty little critter and won the battle over that dead rabbit, then proceeded to carry it back to me. After that incidence she retrieved every hare we shot. Mercy for sure has never been forgotten and still claims a soft spot in my heart.

LEB CITY MARTHA   Martha was born 10-10-1980. Her sire was F.C. Duffy Moon of Sugar River and her dam was F.C. Leb City Magdalene. Martha was a good searcher with a big nose but lacked some foot. Her wins in Large pack came on hot, dry, tough scenting days where patience and determination was required. She won the tough hot and dry Spacetown trials of August of 1982 with temperatures in the nineties and won there again the following year under similar conditions. She finished at Palmer on 9-03-83 in 93 degree heat. The Palmer running grounds is a very tough place to run when it's hot and dry. Mostly all oak trees with mountain laurel for cover. Her mother won that trial a few years previous under similar conditions. Martha could run on snow and was a great contributor to my hunting pack, especially under tough crusty conditions. Also she never ran a deer. Like her mother was naturally deer proof. We ran a hare one day into a deer yard were deer scattered all over the place. The hare ran down a deer trail a foot and a half deep that the deer used to cross a nearby road. About 20 yards from the road the hare cut left and went on to start circling. Forty five minutes later we shot the hare.

FAM'S MOUNTAIN VIEW SUE   Sue was born on 11-12-98 and was sired by F.C. John's Buck VII out a great little female by the name of F.C. Fam's Wanna-Win Sue. Her sire was F.C. Jerry's Little Charlie from the Terry Ward bloodline of the DEEP SOUTH. I purchased Sue from Tony famiano her breeder in the summer of 2001, then trained and trialed her to her championship finishing at Eastern Conn. in May of 2003. She was very consistent at the trials and never failed to run well missing winners pack only twice in her career. Once being at an event where the judging was bad as the fast, wild, over running, reckless hounds were favored. She has a great fast squawl mouth used alot and can run a cottontail equally as well as she can a hare. Sue is a nice running medium speed hound who gets alot done and is rarely out of place. She's had two litters of pups thus far and her first crop of puppies are just over a year old and doing well. This photo was taken on 8-18-03 and at this point in time is six weeks pregnant, with pups due 9-12-03. Sue is a nice hunting dog and last year did well on some extremely tough hunting conditions. She is also naturally deer proof a trait that is very much appreciated by the hunter.