Randy Waterman, MFH, (foreground) hunts the Piedmont pack in the 1991 Piedmont-Midlang Hound Match. Farnham Collins, MFH, Millbrook Hunt (NY), (behind) is a judge. Watchman would surely have been with the pack this day but is unidentified. / Douglas Lees photo
Watchman is a popular name for dog hounds around the foxhunting world. ‘Watchman’ appears in at least fifty different hunts in the North American Studbook, not to mention the studbooks of England and Ireland. Nevertheless, whenever you hear the name Watchman in a foxhunting conversation, you can bet they’re talking about Piedmont Watchman 1989.
That Watchman was a famous stallion hound of American bloodlines, bred and whelped by Jim Atkins during his time as huntsman of the Piedmont Fox Hounds (VA). Entered into the pack two years later, Watchman was hunted in the field by Randy Waterman, MFH, who was then carrying the horn at Piedmont.
Watchman soon became recognized for his outstanding hunting ability, and subsequently for his prepotency—his ability to pass on those superior genes to his get. As a result, he is found in the pedigrees of an exceptional number of foxhounds across North America, and in England and Ireland as well.
Lt. Col. Dennis Foster, retired Executive Secretary of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America, knew Watchman well. He often whipped-in to Waterman during Watchman’s hunting days in the field and had numerous opportunities to observe the hound in action. Here are Foster’s comments on Watchman’s work as published in The Hound Intelligence Series edited by Deidre Hanna and published by Hounds magazine (UK):
[Watchman] was a special hound with a great voice and super nose. He was a steady (never ran trash) hound, always in the first five. Although he was seldom first in a chase, except when he found, which he did often when other hounds could not. He’d stay on the line in second or third place.
He was [used extensively as a stallion hound] and really threw some great hounds, always putting his stamp on them. (There is a picture of him in my book, Whipper-In, as an old dog.) He was one of those rare hounds that would never run heel and had a nose to die for when others lost. Randy took him with him when he left Piedmont and he became Randy’s house dog. He had a great retirement once he was too old to hunt. He’d sleep on the sofa by the fire. Even in his old age, he’d hunt foxes around the cabin Randy lived in and you’d hear him boo-wooing. He had one of the best, and deepest voices I’ve ever heard in a hound. He died in Randy Waterman’s home. There was a lot of his get that were really good hounds.
A Few Examples of Watchman’s Get
From a recent Hunt Report by huntsman Erin McKenney, Millbrook Hunt (NY)
The radio crackled. It’s former Master John Ike telling me he’s viewed a coyote heading east. I hack back to where John had viewed, hunting along a corn stubble field, when behind me Harvest ’15 opens with her booming voice. Ah, we have a chance. Stump works diligently ahead, not having opened yet but he’s on the right track. Sure enough, here comes Harvest, Batman, Gizmo, Caeser, and Profit all speaking—these being the cold nose hounds of the day—working across the corn stubble with all hounds on, working hard to the wood line. I knew they had stepped on him when the chorus erupted from the woods…. Off we were heading back west to the first swamp, out the west side. Batman and Gizmo not missing a beat, with all fourteen couple under a blanket….
Ok, good. Now the cry is getting louder and louder so I know they’re close to him. Out he pops again, hounds all together close behind, heading back east. By this point I’ve got no field left, hounds are getting tired, but they press on. I follow along. They don’t need my help…. They’re tired and at this point getting a little strung out. At that moment the coyote comes back out in front of me across the corn with Gizmo in his tracks and the others not far behind….
They had run this fourth coyote for an hour and twenty minutes. We hack back to the waiting truck as the sun starts to set…. GPS tells us they’ve run twenty-six miles over the past four-and-a-half hours….
The ‘G’ hounds—Gator, Gizmo, Gracie, and Guinness—go back to Fox River Valley Gala ’09. Gala goes back to Piedmont Watchman ’89, a prepotent bloodline that runs throughout our kennel.
From a New England Hound Show report spotlighting the Grand Champion of Show, Myopia Gammel 2012
Gammell was bred by now-retired huntsman Larry Pitts at the Potomac Hunt (MD) and drafted unentered to huntsman Tony Gammell at the Keswick Hunt (VA) in exchange for another breeding. Tony in turn drafted the still unentered pup to his pal, Brian Kiely, then huntsman at the Myopia Hunt (MA), who named the hound for Tony….
Gammell is by Potomac Jefferson 2005 ex Potomac Thimble 2009—a powerful pedigree, top and bottom. Gammell’s sire Jefferson was Grand Champion at both the Virginia Foxhound Show and the Bryn Mawr Hound Show in 2007, winning the title of MFHA Centennial Foxhound in that MFHA hundredth anniversary year. Jefferson was knockout handsome, hands down the Clarke Gable of the American foxhound world in his day.
Gammell’s dam Thimble goes back three generations to Piedmont Watchman 1989 on both her top and bottom lines—sire and dam. Watchman is one of the legendary American sires of hounds known for their outstanding performance in the field.
“Gammell has it from both of them,” said Kim Brady Cutler, MFH and honorary whipper-in. “He’s handsome to look at, and, though we only hunt drag, he’s really good at it.”
“[Gammell] was Reserve Grand Champion at last year’s New England Hound Show,” continued Cutler. “He was picked as Best American hound last year after being allowed to show off-lead, but in the Grand Championship Class, he had to show on the lead. That was a disadvantage for him. This year’s judge, Colonel Foster, preferred to see the hounds moving off-lead. Gammell, a very good mover, perks up for the biscuit. He loves to show off.”
From a Bryn Mawr Hound Show report spotlighting the Grand Champion of Show, New Market-Middletown Valley Widget 2014
Huntsman Alasdair Storer is banking on this beautiful tri-colored Crossbred foxhound and her sister to be the foundations of important female bloodlines for this Maryland pack to build upon. As Storer’s father—an experienced breeder of hounds in England—commented, “You couldn’t ask for a better pedigree.”
Widget’s grand-sire is Duke of Beaufort’s Bailey 2003, a famous and prepotent stallion hound in England with numerous get here in the States. Widget’s female line goes back through her dam, Olive 2009, to the famous and prepotent Piedmont Watchman 1989, making her the happy recipient of powerful genes both top and bottom in her pedigree. “The whole O-litter was phenomenal,” says Storer.
Posted March 8, 2021