By Cora Parker
My name is Cora Parker. Welcome to my new column Hunt with Hounds. It has been my passion to bring awareness to the thrill of hunting with hounds. It is an age old tradition of our hunting history that has been passed down from generation to generation. I aspire to help preserve these traditions that we do not often see today. It is my goal to show people how exhilarating this style of hunting can be. The bond we create with the dogs that we train is like no other! It's not about the kill or the trophies. It is about the chills that run down your spine every time you unclip your dog and turn them loose. It is about watching them grow and mature and using their knowledge and instinct about the game they are pursuing. I am over joyed to be running this column and hopefully teaching even more people of the love of this hunting with hounds! I will feature a different person that has inspired me in each edition. I hope you enjoy this first column about a Family who loves to hunt together and instill in their children a love for the outdoors. Hope y'all enjoy! God bless!
Hunting as a family is not all fun and games, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Dustin was first introduced to hunting with hounds shortly before he and I got married and let’s just say it took me a few years before I fully jumped on board! Dustin was introduced to hound hunting through buddies that he worked with at the metal shop years ago. One time on that mountain and he was hooked. I remember not too long before our wedding I drove to Tremonton with him to pick up our first dog, Holly.
Hunting quickly became a sore spot in our marriage at first because he wanted to go every weekend and I had other plans. We were young newly weds with a baby on the way and it was not quite what I had planned for life. After a few seasons of struggle, we had to make a compromise. He could go every other weekend! Let’s fast-forward about nine years and introduce Jack. He was our first boy and after he went hunting with dad for the first time, he too was hooked. I’m talking eat, sleep, and breathe hunting kind of hooked! Shortly after our girls became more interested and no matter how hard I tried to resist, there’s just something about being on the mountain and still having the ability to do what I love most that I could not deny. Spending time with the family and documenting our legacy lights a fire under me. Last year was our first time hunting as a family full-time during bear season and we had a blast. Don’t get me wrong, the kids do fight some and we had been squeezing all of us into our little Toyota Tacoma. This year, I think it’s safe to say I couldn’t be more excited to hunt out of a bigger truck and Dustin is excited to finally have the dog box of his dreams. The kids will have some room to spread out and not be on top of each other in the back seat as we bounce around the mountain and I will be happy to spend some time together with the people that mean the most. We hunt bear as a family every summer and do as much as we can during lion season in the winter, but the cold weather and having two younger kids that don’t tolerate the snowy hikes as well makes it difficult. Our ultimate goal when hunting with hounds is to get the family to as many bear trees as possible and teach others to do the same while conserving the animals and leaving every place we visit better than we found it.
Our objective is to educate others about hunting with hounds and show people why we are so passionate about this style of hunting. We are not perfect by any means and we still have a lot to learn. What we do know is that our dogs are a part of our family and we raise our children with the knowledge that we have acquired to continue on in the hound world so they can educate others. It is not easy to plan a hunting weekend camping with four kids. It has been a lot of work of preparation and patience. When hiking a hill with a four and six year old, you have to be willing to mentally prepare yourself to be at a much slower pace than you would like while heading to a tree. There is still some resistance because after all, they are still kids. But they are learning and they are finding their groove. We know that their interest will grow as they get older. Dustin is involved with the Utah Houndsmen Association running their social media. He was offered the position this past April and is looking forward to cultivate awareness. He is very ambitious about preserving the future of hound hunting. There will always be nay sayers but we do our best to educate and lead by example. Hunting is a tradition that we have learned to love together. It allows Dustin to teach our children about his passion on the mountain, the thrill of seeing that bear or lion in the tree, and I get to preserve it all behind a camera. What matters most is that we are creating a family tradition.
For more adventures please visit www.GirlswithHounds.com