started some 34 years ago. Credit for these tough little hounds
stems from my Father, Franklin P. Hatton, who from my birth instilled
into my head what a hound should be.
I was born in Chesapeake Virginia growing up on the north
end of Dismal Swamp, hence DISMAL SWAMP BEAGLES. My Mother is a
full blooded Nansemond Indian & her family has lived there since
the beginning. As a young boy, I grew up chasing rabbit & hounds
through this beautiful swamp. The swamp really made a hound tough,
if they did not like the water, they did not like it at my house
Running rabbits meant running rabbits in the water,period.
In the year of 1986, due to work, I moved to Franklinville,
New Jersey & this is where i live now. It was there that I learned
you could get an AKC Registered Beagle that was worthy
as a hunting hound. Thanks to a good friend name Lou Gambale, I
I was able to find such a hound. Lou had some fine hounds he
purchased from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These hounds
were fast & tough & could really hold onto a rabbit. Once Lou
began breeding these hounds, I knew that I had to have some.
From these breedings I received a hounds & named him DISMAL
SWAMP STALEY. That was 13 years ago & after alot of Hunting,
Trials & Breeding STALEY is what makes up the DISMAL SWAMP HOUNDS
of today.
SPENCER WITH DISMAL SWAMP RED SUGAR& LOU WITH BACKYARDS GOLDIE
After figuring out that STALEY was the type of hound I
wanted to own, I needed to find a worthy bitch line to use on him.
I found such a line in the hounds of Red Rock Beagles, owned by
Mr. Roy Tompkins of Parkton North Carolina. From roy I began to
purchase a number of bitches, one of them being named DISMAL
SWAMP RED SUGAR. SUGAR could run a rabbit at anytime & could run
a rabbit as long as you wanted to watch her run it. She had an
uncanny ability to be able to circle a rabbit continually. Just
like her Father FC Red Rock Alabama, she had all the natural
tools to be a great hound.
From breeding these 2 fine hounds, I was able to breed the
the type of hounds anyone would be glad to call thier own. As of
this writing, I still own 12 hounds from these 2 fine hunting
hounds.
In the year 1991, I met a fine ""Hound Person"" named
Marget Addis. Miki as she is known is as knowledgable a hound
person as you will ever meet. From the first time I met Miki,
I knew that I found a life long beagle friend. She also had
hounds from Roy, making the same type of hounds that I owned.
To this day Miki & I still breed hounds together to improve
each others packs.(Anyone that would like to see Miki's hounds
in action can do so at the National Beagle Club, where she
competes twice a year at the National Pack Trials). Let me
warn you though, she & her hounds are as tough as they come.
They both show up to compete tough.
And now in the Y2K year of 2000, I own 22 hounds,all of
ready to hunt at the first sign of my Browning Citori White
Lightening 20 guage. So if you ever want to do some hunting
together, Email me, you won't be disappointed at the hound work.
