Fort Leavenworth Vixen, Grand Champion of Show, handled by Stephanie Wilcox Carter, MFH and huntsman. Judge Vincent Tartaglia is standing (middle). / Angela Fain photo
Last year was the boys’ year. This year the Crossbred female, Fort Leavenworth Vixen 2013, evened the score with her littermate Valor by winning the Grand Championship at the Central States Hound Show.
Vixen is a speckled, mostly white tricolor by Brazos Valley Baxter ‘08 out of Fort Leavenworth Piper ‘07. American and Crossbred bloodlines are predominantly from Fort Leavenworth Hunt (KS), Brazos Valley Hounds (TX), and the Piedmont Fox Hounds (VA). The most recent contribution of pure English blood to this lovely Crossbred was from the Arapahoe Hunt kennels (CO), three generations back.
Stephanie Wilcox Carter, MFH and huntsman of the Fort Leavenworth pack describes Vixen as conformationally correct, happy, and unflappable.
“Where Valor is intense in his hunting and showing Vixen is more relaxed in everything she does,” said Carter. “She’s like her mother—quiet and methodical. In the field, Valor could be described as hunting in overdrive. On a hot scent he might miss a quick jink in the line and have to come back to it, where Vixen will be right where she should be—under control, calm, relaxed.
“She entered enthusiastically along with her littermates a few years ago, and just a short way through her first season she had it all figured out. At the end of a long run, I never have to go looking for her. She’s always there, right where she’s supposed to be.
“And she had a nice litter of puppies as well,” added Carter. “She’ll be going to the Virginia Foxhound Show along with Valor [a two-time Grand Champion of Show last year] and another littermate, Victor, this year.
Organized in 1926 by the U.S. Tenth Cavalry Regiment, the Fort Leavenworth Hunt kennels are on the Fort. Vixen, Valor, Victor, and their kennel mates hunt primarily coyote mostly on Fort Leavenworth lands in the region where the Santa Fe Trail begins. Hunt subscribers are military personnel, their families, as well as civilians.
Exhibiting at Central States this year in addition to the Fort Leavenworth Hunt were Brazos Valley Hounds (TX), Mission Valley Hunt (KS), North Hills Hunt (NE), Bridlespur Hunt (MO), and Mill Creek Hunt (IL). Hounds were judged this year by retired huntsman Vincent Tartaglia. Click for complete results.
Posted May 20, 2016