Yadkin River Mattie - Bear Dog
Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009
HEY PETE- I hunted bear last fall in Eastern North Carolina with a friend of yours, Justin King. I believe he has a dog from your sire Geoff named Mattie. I’ve been hunting bear in North Carolina for about 8-9 years now and this was my second year along side Mattie. I can honestly tell you she’s one of the best, if not the best bear dog I hunted behind. I’ve been behind a lot of walkers, plots, and red bones chasing bear and Mattie has got the best nose and one of the sweetest mouths you’ll ever hear. It’s a helluva long drive down there from Iowa each year, but I won’t pass up the chance at one of the ‘big bear’ down here with Justin and Mattie. Just thought you’d like to know about one of your pups.
Ted Grenis - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Ted Grenis and Justin King of Kings Ketchen Kennels of Washington, NC
Joseph Brown, Justin King and Mattie with one of many bears that Mattie has treed.
Yadkin River Buck (Geoff x Minnie), Yadkin River Mattie (Geoff x River Bottom Suzie) and Yadkin River Country (Geoff x Baby)
Monday, June 8, 2009
Hey Pete and Tina, Was just checking out your website and saw a pic of Justin King and his Mattie dog. I had the pleasure of going down to Washington Co. and bear hunting with both back in late April and wanted to say that Mattie is turning into a great bear dog. We went out one morning and split up with I and my rig dog going one way and he and Mattie going another to cover more area. It was about ½ hour later Justin called and said come on Mattie had struck from the rig and when I arrived she was letting the world know it. She also did well trailing with a good mouth that you have no problem hearing and equally as well treeing on the wood with lots of barks close together just the way we like it.
Anyway I thought I would just let you know that she may have been a coon dog, but she hasn’t had any trouble switching to a bear dog.
Enjoyed the website,
Dennis Brinkley
Jordan Run Walkers
Millboro, Va. 24460
Date: Sat., 29 Nov 2008
Pete / Tina:
Hello you guys from the east coast! I hope that your family is having as good a Thanksgiving as mine. Pete I want to take a few minutes of your time to publicly give you an update of what the Geoff pups are doing in the big game world. As everybody knows Geoff is throwing some real nice pups from just about every bitch that he has been bred to. Some have went on to make some real coon dogs. He is doing the same in the big game arena even though it is not in the public eye like the night hunts. I can speak so boldly because I own three Geoff pups that are all supper nice bear dogs all by different dams. I didn't really think about it like that until the other day when I had a sow that I estimated weighing between 350 and 400 lbs caught on the ground and her two 100 pound yearlings up a small tree. This bear to say the least was very ill. I had jumped her in her bed and she did not like the thought of these hounds getting to her yearlings. She was rough but I had all three of these Geoff pups baying for every breath just like they are supposed to. My lead dog Mattie which is out of Geoff and River Bottom Susie had three deep punctures on her rear ham and one cut that went between her eyes to the end of here nose because like normal she tried to catch the bear on the business end beside his head. Cowboy which is out of Geoff and Baby had not been caught yet which was good and then Wyatt (he is out of Geoff and Hannah) was standing beside Cowboy. To me this is the true test of a bear dog. There are a lot of dogs that will do good on the small bear running and treeing but there are few that will stand and fight a bear that is that big when the bear is running the dogs down trying to kill them especially in the thick bays of eastern NC were the dogs can't see the bear until he is one top of them. Pete once again I would like to thank you for breeding Geoff and adding some dogs to the walker line that know how to do more then tree. It is nice to own dogs that can bay and fight as well a cold trail and tree. There is not many lines of walkers that you can buy multiple pups and make bear dogs out of them all.
Thanks Justin King
Kings Ketchen Kennels
252-944-3857
Yadkin River Country (Geoff x Baby) and Yadkin River Buck (Geoff x Minnie)
Vilena Hunt's frame is dwarfed by the massive 742-pound black bear she killed Dec. 23 in Beaufort County. (Courtesy Myran Hunt ) Photo and caption as it appears in North Carolina Sportsmen.
http://www.northcarolinasportsman.com/details.php?id=2279
Justin King and Yadkin River Mattie make the news in North Carolina Sportsmen. Click on the link above to read the online article Jan.-Feb. 2012.