My Dad called me this morning to tell me my 9 year old Black Mouthed Cur passed away sometime during the night. Losing a dog is hard enough but having to be on the opposite side of the country when it happens makes it worse. I had wanted a Cur Dog ever since I read Ol’ Yeller by Fred Gipson. My Dad got her for me when I was 14 for Christmas. I named her Bell. She wasn’t only a coon hunter but a general purpose cur dog. Bell helped me work cattle on my Girlfriend’s farm. One summer I taught her to flush quail. She naturally treed squirrel and also kept our garden free of varmints.
On top of that she turned out to be a great coon hunter. She was very aggressive while hunting raccoons and sometimes killed them on the ground. I’ve never seen dog that loved to fight raccoons as much she did. She truly hated them and was definitely not a dog for a pelt hunter.Her only bad habit was that she was lazy when hunting raccoons with other dogs. She treed a few doubles in her life and turned out to be a good solo hunter.
One night while hunting in West Virginia Bell got in a scrap with a bobcat. She lost a chunk of her left ear in the fight. We had to use a stick to break the two of them up. She was fearless and I’m sure she would have killed the bobcat if we hadn’t stopped her.
My Dad said he would bury her near the house under a big walnut tree. It was under this tree that I introduced to a caged coon for the first time. I can’t help but to think about coon hunting in Southern Ohio today. I can still hear the ringing chop of her voice when she called treed in my head.When I was in high school the two of us would often hunt late into the night and sleep in the woods. I would get back to the house just in time to go to school the next morning. We had a lot of great memories and she will hold a special place in my heart. She lived a hard, fast life, and I’ll miss her.
I am 18 in this picture.
I took this picture while squirrel hunting.
Bell looking for quail.
These are the last pictures I took of her while I was home on leave in March. She was starting to turn a little gray around the mouth.
Bell
Aug 2003-April 30th, 2012
tree dog, coon hunter
Cold nosed and hard headed
just waiting for the dark
tree dog, coon hunter
Lindelow on her collier
Showcasing her blood line
She’s a tree dog; She’s a coon hunter
running those ridges at night
On top of that she turned out to be a great coon hunter. She was very aggressive while hunting raccoons and sometimes killed them on the ground. I’ve never seen dog that loved to fight raccoons as much she did. She truly hated them and was definitely not a dog for a pelt hunter.Her only bad habit was that she was lazy when hunting raccoons with other dogs. She treed a few doubles in her life and turned out to be a good solo hunter.
One night while hunting in West Virginia Bell got in a scrap with a bobcat. She lost a chunk of her left ear in the fight. We had to use a stick to break the two of them up. She was fearless and I’m sure she would have killed the bobcat if we hadn’t stopped her.
My Dad said he would bury her near the house under a big walnut tree. It was under this tree that I introduced to a caged coon for the first time. I can’t help but to think about coon hunting in Southern Ohio today. I can still hear the ringing chop of her voice when she called treed in my head.When I was in high school the two of us would often hunt late into the night and sleep in the woods. I would get back to the house just in time to go to school the next morning. We had a lot of great memories and she will hold a special place in my heart. She lived a hard, fast life, and I’ll miss her.
I am 18 in this picture.
I took this picture while squirrel hunting.
Bell looking for quail.
These are the last pictures I took of her while I was home on leave in March. She was starting to turn a little gray around the mouth.
Bell
Aug 2003-April 30th, 2012
tree dog, coon hunter
Cold nosed and hard headed
just waiting for the dark
tree dog, coon hunter
Lindelow on her collier
Showcasing her blood line
She’s a tree dog; She’s a coon hunter
running those ridges at night
Last edited:
