Country World Archives 2001-2008
Lamar County coonhunter takes first place at Paris event
By LORI COPE | Country World East Texas
May 10, 2001 -- Lamar County coonhunter Randy Stevens and his Treeing Walker hound "The Real Slim Shady" recently captured the top win at the American Heritage Hunt in Paris.
Winning, and competing, are nothing new to Stevens - he's a 20-year veteran of the sport.
"Coonhunting is just relaxing to me," he said. "It's great to be out in the woods, with no stresses. ... And I get a charge out of watching my dogs improve."
Stevens competes in United Kennel Club and Professional Kennel Club hunts.
"I hunt in both clubs," he related. "I hunt a young dog, one that's 2-years-old or less." The PKC events offer prize money, where UKC events offer trophies to their winners.
Besides Stevens' recent win at the American Heritage Hunt, which was a UKC event, he also won at the Cystic Fibrosis Benefit Hunt in Atlanta.
In both wins, Stevens and "Shady" worked well to earn the highest scores.
"I bought Shady when he was 10-months-old from a man in Sweeny," Stevens related. Now, nearing the age of 2, Shady's prospects as a good stud dog are growing because of his wins.
Shady is a keeper for Stevens, even though when his dogs reach this age they are usually sold to "someone who comes along and offers me" a fair price. And besides the wins, Stevens' attachment to the dog could be that his 4-year-old son Kristopher named the dog.
Stevens also has two female Treeing Walkers. He hunts with his dogs about two or three times a week, but reserves at least one day of the weekend to spend with his wife Cheryl and their son.
"We are all supportive of Randy's hunting because he enjoys it so much," Cheryl said. "We like to travel with him to big hunts when we can, especially out of state."
As a teenager, Stevens began coonhunting with the Lamar County Coonhunters, a club formed by Leon Alexander. "The club really got the youth involved and always made sure there were trophies for the youth as well," he said.
Now, at 35, Stevens is involved with some of the local high school kids who are interested in coonhunting. There's classroom instruction for the kids, and of course a viewing of "Where the Red Fern Grows," plus an actual hunt.
One memorable experience came on one of these hunts. Stevens relates that he and a few more experienced coonhunters took a group to an area ranch. Since it had been raining for several days, the creeks were full and running.
"The dogs treed on the other side of the creek," he said. "This 17-year-old kid and another hunter took off their boots and lights, threw them over the creek, and then they swam across" to get to the action. When it was time to swim back, the 17-year-old chose not to take off his boots.
"Well, his boots started to fill up with water and they were pulling him down. Then he started washing down the creek," he remembered. Stevens said he ran down the creek bank, getting ahead of the teen, and looking for an opportunity to catch him.
"I saw a willow tree that was out over the creek about 10 feet, so I jumped out there. But the kid was bobbing, waving his arms, and hollering. I didn't know where I was going to grab him; but I caught his collar. But the kid knocked me loose and I went in the water."
After getting the scared teen off of him, Stevens was able to swing the teen to the bank where the other hunters pulled him in. Stevens, still being carried by the creek's current, had a dog lead (rope) on him which he threw to those on the bank.
"The kid's father was waiting for us at the ranch's front gate. He told his father what had happened and the father got out of his pickup and hugged my neck. I got a blessing out of that," Stevens said.