the originator of this bloodline, Mr. Frank B. Reese of Taylorsville, North Carolina. While
much has been written about Mr. Reese and some of the many great hounds he has bred,
it hasn't but scratched the surface of the vast amount of " hound knowledge" that reaches
deep within the sole of this great houndsman. In his early years with hounds, Mr. Reese
also ran foxhounds, judged, and wrote for the better foxhound publications. His articles on
beagles have also appeared in beagle publications including Better Beagling. While he no
longer does much writing or breeding, Mr. Reese still loves nothing more than the sound of
a pack of good hounds in full pursuit of their quarry, be it fox or rabbit. What prompted us
to reprint this article was a letter we received a few weeks ago from a new beagler asking
who originated the Gay hounds. It surprised me at first as I thought "everybody must know
that". As I thought about however, I realized that someone new to the sport, might very well
not know. Over the last few years a number of Gay hounds have been offered at stud by a
number of different owners. The names of numerous others appear in pedigrees of many
top hounds of today in all areas of the country. One thing Mr. Reese has always insisted
on in his hounds is excellent conformation as well as excellent running qualities. The photo
of Gay Baker and those of his sons and grandsons will testify to that fact. Article Reprint
July 1984 Better Beagling By Frank Reese Our first beagle came to us registered Gay
Belle. In order to use any name we continued to use the word "Gay". Belle's family carried
the Amawalk-Burrfied lines. Next came Gay Rose (Dumbarton Dix x Dry Creek Primrose).
From this cross came Shaws Clipper and Rose O Dix (Futurity). Belle and Rose would
leave for the hills with young Walker Foxhounds and run rabbits for three days before
returning home. Both were fast and dead game, but would hold a check and walk if
necessary. They never gave false bark and never ran one step backtrack. Starting with
these two, for more than half a century, our bitches have gone out to what we thought were
the best sires, with some of our better early crosses on Young's Ringer, Rolcap Smokey,
Contentnea Jack and Charmac Gay Boy. The show blood has been a great help in type,
intelligence, line control and positive nose. It has been a struggle to keep some of the good
traits of this foundation blood. Schooled the hard way by training for leading kennels during
the Dual Champion Age and running the Old Tar Heel with its first licensed trial running a
record class of 98 13" bitches, we gained an early demand for excellence. (Those 98
bitches, by-the-way, came with handlers from Maine to Texas.) Three times our breeding
program was completely stopped due to ill health, but each time we kept our bitch line
which now runs eight to ten generations without a break. Crossing back on our lines we
produced Gay Slide, that we consider the greatest running hound ever hunted here. Bred
to Patterson's Little King, she produced seven good ones that would not run deer. All the
locals used the King X Slide males. Gay Charm produced well on Dumpy and High Rock
Ranger, and Gay Fury, bred to FC William's Pointline Buddy, produced 15 goodones,
including Gay Baker.
Baker was a tremendous hound in a large pack and no hound could beat him as a jump
dog. He ran up front and you could pick him up any time in a hard fast run. Few males and
no bitch ever finished a race with him if the running ran all day or all night. Hunters came
from far and near to pit packs with him. We never ran him at trials as the modern brace was
upon us and we had not yet entered the pack trials. However, he was braced with a small
pack winner and the results set our future course. With better health we tried for a
comeback at the brace trials, using top rated sires, but the "all red pedigrees" were a
complete failure for us. Gay Cindy had failed on a couple of crosses for us and more or
less in disgust we bred her to Gay Baker, saying they would be no good anyway. From this
cross came Gay Flag and Gay Flash and others of note. Cindy went on to produce eight
litters by Baker and when these hounds hit the pack trials (SPO), They put Baker on the
map. Cindy is due her part with this cross. Braced with her sire, FC Wilson's Timmy II, she
had line control and always turned right at the turns and checks. In a trio, Cindy, Black, and
Charm made the best trio ever run at this kennel. However, Cindy was not overpowering
like Nell, Fury and Slide. By 1950 we had had enough of the problems of a public stud, but
by the time Baker was born, more than twenty years later, we became inspired by efforts
being made to reclaim the AKC beagle as a hunting dog. It was a tough decision to offer a
hound with no trial record after so many years of breeding only to field and bench
champions. With bitches coming a thousand miles from both North and South, Baker
exploded the theory that a stud could stand in the wrong area. Most of the locals were
using him, but one man drove 300 miles, ran all night and bred a bitch and when we
arrived home from church the following Sunday, he was back, waiting with three bitches. At
one point Baker had eight bitches waiting. After the great rush on Baker came, in order to
get some relief from public pressure we leased Baker to Don Riley (Country Road Beagles)
in Virginia, for a year. Gay Baker hounds have gone out to complete favorably from
Canada to the Deep South, in large pack and small pack option; on hare, cottontail, and
swampers". Many hounds of the future will carry Baker in their pedigree. Many of these
hounds compare favorably with the best of the Dual Champion age. This kennel has never
quoted anyone in an advertisement on our hounds, but since Mr. Howard Stamey is such a
booster of Gay Baker, having hunted him in many all day hunts, mostly in eight couple
pack, I will make an exception. Mr. Stamey has been running hounds for more than half a
century. His Dream Girl won the Upper Hudson (LPH) 13" bitch class with 57 starters. She
is by Gay Baker and this is what Mr. Stamey says, "Gay Baker was the greatest hound I
ever had the pleasure of hunting." This article is from Better Beagling July 1984.
Mr. Reese passed away in 1995 But will always be remembered.
A very detailed account of Mr. Reeces work will be published soon
it will be about 20 pages with every hound from the beginning named
with pictures of all hounds , check back often and read the updates