Where to start??
I started my day this morning around 5:45am at my house in Gallant Alabama. I got my little boy off to school and me and my dad worked most the day up at our dairy goat barn and then i quit about 1:30pm to eat lunch and take a shower to get ready for this big hunt I am at now.

So to start you off I left my house about 5:30 yesterday evening and went over to the kennel to load hounds. After loading up all hounds and 4 pups to get started I was headed south to meet up with my brother Jonathan Blakeley at the Ridge Grove Fox Pen.
We met there around 8:30 and then begin to unload pups and swap over hounds to be run here tonight. After all was done we left there about 9:30 and arrived here at the pen right outside the little town of Lumpkin Ga about 10:45pm.
We cast and it has been on every since we dropped the gate. We built us up a fire and mind you it feels pretty good as I sit here by it listening to these hounds. I will not brag on any of them yet but I must say that big Jon D has got us some younger hounds that are trying to become True Grit quality.
I realize that most of you will think we are crazy for hunting this hounds at night but this is what we live for, this hour in the day just about an hour before light and they are all ganged up on one and got the knife drawn. I am getting to hear some young hounds around a year old try with all they got to run as hard as they can. I really wished each one of you could just hear what I am hearing as the go through the swamp. I am not telling you that they will be field Ch, I am not even telling you that they will be good enough for us to think that we will get to take them over to see our friends at the Big Rock Pen in SC but I know this right this very moment in time they sure do sound good running this ol yote.
As we sit hear awaiting the ol Sun to break in the east I can't help but think of some the greats this sport has had as far as hounds men goes. How dedicated they were to trying to making this sport better for future generations and the hours they spent by a fire barrel jus like we are right now. I do realize it has become a field trial world and no doubt about it I love to go when I have the opportunity. But there is just something about sitting at this time of day and listening to hounds act like WALKER HOUNDS are supposed to act. Hopefully we will be able to get out of here by 7:30/8 range so that I can go North. I must say this has been in my opinion an ol timey hunt. We have worked and drove long ways but just these few hours enjoyed is something I take lightly to many times. Guess I will let you go as we are thinking that we will need to breakfast here shortly which will be fresh smoked sausage with yards fresh eggs.
God has been good to poor ol Blakeley Boys from Alabama, and I thank him for all that he has done and all that he will do.

Lord Bless,
True Grit Kennel
Etowah County
Kyle Blakeley

Very good post. Reminds me of the good old days!!!

That's a nice post. It sounds like my Friday nights at Utica, MS.I usually cast around 8:00 and run till around 8:00 the next morning. I grew up hunting that way and I guess it just kind of stuck with me. It's a lot of fun to sit up all night and listen to a good pack of hounds do what they are bred and trained to do. I've been very fortunate to be around some good hound men all my life that knew good hounds and had good hounds. I'm 69 years old now and getting to be "an older hunter" and I feel very blessed to have been able to enjoy this sport for so many years. I would like to think that I have owned and bred some pretty good hounds that can pack up and run a fox or coyote. To me, that's just a lot of fun. Lamar Currie.

Boys, I was so busy and tired yesterday that I hadn't been on the computer until now. But Big Kyle has told it just like it was, what a great hunt we had and great fellowship. I had been looking forward to Monday night 04/25/2016 for several days. I was so looking forward to getting to be with my brother once again, and getting to take him down to the Pig Jig in Lumpkin, GA for his first trip. We need to thank Drayton Stillwell for having the pen right!!!!


I couldn't add anything to brother's post and want even try.

People look forward to a lot of things in this life for example this is the week of the Talladega Race here in Alabama and a lot of folks will gather up there just off I-20 and they will party for several days and brag and boast about how great their favorite drive is and then they will watch cars go around the track at a high rate of speed for several hours which is fine, that's what they like, but as brother said earlier this morning I wouldn't trade 18 seasons worth of tickets for what we had Monday night-Tuesday morning at all.

The hounds run like we like and the breakfast cooked was really good.

Boys, as I think back on it I have tears in my eyes thinking how good the Lord has been to us. I too thought about all the ole time fox hunters we were trained by through the years and thankful for the ones left today such as our grandfather Conn, uncle Earl Dunn, Johnnie P Gray of Little Bean Hollow, TN, Wallace Shipley of Sale Creek, TN, and many others who still try and keep ole time fox hounds that will run the dark out of the night with good mouths that you listen to not for.

I think about the ones gone before that we loved to be around and hunt with for so many years. I thought about ole Brother HOF member Joe Gibson of Dadeville, AL Tuesday morning as the sun begin to come up I know this he would have put his stamp of approval on our hunt and I can promise you this he would have sat right there by that fire barrel all night and never batted an eye.


All I can say is THANK you LORD for all you have done for US!

To HIM be the glory and we will not forget to give THEE the praise!

True Grit,
Elmore County, AL
Jonathan Blakeley

I sure would like to get you boys home a little bit earlier come on over to Stilwells other pen an me an Black Jack will get you home an loaded up a little earlier,I will show you the good old days,only got 4 dogs but as ole prince albert always said the proof is in the puffin.may God bless an like to see you again. your friend Buddy