AWTHDA 2006 Turkey Dog of the Year Cedar Creek Keena

Cedar Creek Keena descends from Mountain Cur, Treeing Walker, Black Labrador, and Tri-color Rough Collie ancestors. The Mountain Cur is known to listen so well they can be called off a track. The Treeing Walker hound supplies her keen cold-nosed trailing ability. The Black Labrador provides the 'birdiness', her flushing and retrieving expertise, and the love of water. And the Tri-Color Rough Collie is seen in her beauty and brains. She's the epitome of a good 'mongrel' hunting dog. The key was in her training. She always suprising me, one time by finding half of a 12 point buck shed and bringing it to me when we went for a short walk in the woods. What a companion! Her Veterinarian told me we're lucky to have one really good dog in our lives, and she thinks Keena is mine. I agree. Keena made the November 20, 2008 U.S. Armed Forces Stars and Stripes Europe Edition (p.17) and the Mideast Edition (p.16). Note: these are large pdf files.

Read 'Turkey hunt going to the dogs' in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - pictures.
Read about Keena - a Wisconsin Turkey Dog - scroll down Column Archives to Turkey Dog (2/2/09).
Turkey dogs in Wisconsin featured on the Big Wild Radio Show. Click here to listen (use RealPlayer).
Below she's wearing her camoflouge boonie hat with headnet to disguise her white markings.
She tolerates it just fine as long as the brim doesn't fall down in front of her eyes. Her ears stick out of the face mask
and alert me to the turkeys approach. The hat has a drawstring that cinches under her neck to keep it on.
She's getting so well trained I almost don't have to tie the leash to my leg any more. She'll lay down on command and stay still.
We're getting to be a real team. She tells me if they're hens or gobblers by her body language. And I can tell if they ran off, flew up in the trees, or flew away, by the intensity of her barking, long before I reach her.
Keena was wearing her camo hat when we hunted Monroe County, WI with the outdoor writer Jim Lee in October 2007.
His story about that hunt was in the September 2008 issue of the Wisconsin Outdoor Journal (pdf).

turkey dog wears boonie hat with drawstring

dog wearing camoflouge hat for wild turkey hunting

Acting like a Terrier! Her personality really shows, when she's digging just for the sake of digging!

Dark colored dogs are harder for the turkeys to see, but they get hotter on warm days. Click on Keena in the mud!

About the time our last dog died, I read about dogs that hunt turkey in the fall, and figured now there's a good reason to get a puppy. I looked for eight months for a puppy with no eye, heart, hip or other health problems,about 50 lbs, and a 'mutt' seemed to be the answer. After a 16 hour drive, a cheap motel, and 950 miles later, I finally had my 'free' turkey dog puppy home. By ten months old Keena was everything I expected in a turkey dog. Some of her biddability I credit to her ancestry. The rest I attribute to all the time I spent training her for turkeys when she was young, and her being with me all the time. As this wise old hunter says: "the puppy which received the most time and attention would make the best dog." Keena hunts squirrels, chipmunks, and all birds, because she likes to. But I think she hunts turkeys because she knows I want her to.

Keena likes turkeys, and hates the raccoons, skunks, and possums that steal 'her' hens eggs in the spring.

Keena from 3 to 6 months. She's a natural at finding turkey eggs (like her mother, who'd gently pick up the eggs
and carry them home!). Keena was #10 in a litter of 12 (all survived). Born Dec. 14, 2003 near Big
Cedar Creek, Iowa. Mother Emmy is a black lab and registered purebred tri-color rough collie cross, 5 years old.
(she's really thin in these pictures from nursing 12 puppies), her first litter (she was from a litter of 11 and all survived).

Mountain Cur and Treeing Walker cross turkey dog

Black Labrador Rough Collie cross turkey hunting dog

Keena's Dad is Jamie, 6 y.o., half mountain cur, half treeing walker, natural bobtail, and a reputation for siring good puppies.
Mountain Curs are an interesting breed. Here's a link that explains the types. Keena resembles a cur dog from 1790.
"At Jamestown in 1608, the only domestic animals kept by the Indians were curs such as the keepers have in England. They were used for hunting turkey and other game." The Wild Turkey - Its History and Domestication; A.W. Schorger, Univ. of OK Press.
In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a Mountain Cur (like Old Yeller) was trapped for 16 days.
More pictures of father Jamie, bonding with me at 14 weeks, showing good treeing form, in the field at 5 months, and swimming at 20 months. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Keena's father Jamie is a tremendous stud.

By 6 months old, when she discovered a gobblers fantail & beard high on my wall, she went crazy until I got it down for her!
Now after scattering the flock (video), she comes right back and lays her head on my lap, and naps while I call.
She loves people and other dogs, and is a great companion.
Especially to hunt turkeys with.

The great state of Tennessee allows hunters the use of their dog to hunt turkey during the spring season,
so we scouted it in 2009. In that big country, calling is only heard by the turkeys in that hollow.
Having a dog along to confirm if they smell a turkey is a big help, when the next hollow is a mile or two walk.

daniel boone national forest kentucky spring turkey

spring turkey hunt in the big south fork, tn

spring turkey dog cooling off in the mountain stream

Trolling or tramming of dogs is prohibited along some roads within the Big South Fork.
Keena tells me when she smells one, riding down the jeep trails with the windows open.

spring turkey in the big south fork with a turkey dog

camoflouge spring turkey hunt in tennessee

If you can join us for a TN hunt in the spring of 2010, email Jon Freis or call 715/758-6557 Bonduel, WI