Hunt'em Up Kennels

05/13/2026

Shelby spent a little over a year with us before she went home last fall. While she was here we fixed several bad habits that were developed due to a lack of foundational training and worked on turning a black heart soft again. When she arrived she was a extremely talented dog with no real direction. She wanted to do things her way. We fixed those issues and got her to buy into working as a team. She learned doing things our way made her life more enjoyable and a bond was built. She could trust us and we could trust her. She finished her AKC MH title and came within one retrieving credit of finishing her AKC FC title while she was here.

To be completely honest, I was worried she’d revert back to her old ways when she went home but both of her owners have done a wonderful job of continuing to work with her. They listened to our advice and some pretty harsh constructive criticism. Something that’s not easy to do but I’m proud of them for doing it! As a result, they have grown immensely themselves and are getting to enjoy the fruits of their commitment to Shelby!

I couldn’t be more excited to announce, pending AKC approval, Shelby finished her AKC Field Champion title over the weekend! She placed second in a three point major OLGD retrieving stake giving her that final retrieve credit! I’m so happy for Carl and Stephanie and proud of their commitment to giving Shelby the structure she needed to succeed. Keep up the good work my friends and enjoy that dog of yours! Strive for excellence because you have a dog capable of anything you try to challenge her with! She’s one of the rare truly special ones! FC Hunt’em Up’s Bullit GT MH has a nice ring to it!

A little fun fact, Shelby makes the 7th FC from the two Mason X Pearl breedings. Pearl produced 11 puppies from different litters who have went on to finish upper level AKC and NAVHDA titles. To date those 11 pups have earned 10 MH’s, 3 MH12’s, 3 MHA’s, 7 FC’s, 1 GFC, 2 AFC’s, 1 RFC, 2 NWGDC’s, 1 NWGDC 2nd place finisher, 1 NWGDC 3rd place finisher, 3 NWGDC JAM’s, 4 NAVHDA UT Prize 1’s, 1 NAVHDA UT Prize 2, and 2 NAVHDA VC’s.

04/30/2026

Bl**er received official mail over the weekend!

She’s now an AKC National Walking Gun Dog Champion and Grand Field Champion. Her win at the AKC pointing Breed Walking National Championship also finished her Grand Field Championship! Two special accomplishments for one heck of a special dog!

Bl**er is officially NWGDC GFC FC Hunt’em Up’s Aim To Impress!

04/29/2026

We loaded up and headed to Minnesota this weekend for the GSP Club of Minnesota’s spring walking field trial. It was a fun weekend of running dogs, watching dogs, reuniting with friends I hadn’t seen in way too long, and meeting some wonderful new people.

I was very pleased with how my crew of dogs preformed all weekend. The juvenile dogs all showed nice signs of growth and improvement in their runs and the broke dogs got around clean every run. My number one goal going to a trial is for my dogs to get thru clean. Clean gives you a chance to win and be in the discussion for placements.

Cooper won the OGD retrieving stake for a 3 point major win in only his second field trial! Cooper is owned by Belle Mattingly and Randy Mogor. Cooper also placed 4th in the non retrieving OGD stake.

Grace, a Sitka daughter, placed third in Open Derby. Grace was bred by and is owned by Katy and Michael Maxwell of .

Karen placed second in Open Puppy. She also had one hell of a run in Open Derby, but unfortunately didn’t make placements. She wasn’t what they were looking for but I couldn’t be happier with how she ran. I left knowing she’s got a lot of winning ahead of her with performances like that.

Boss also had a solid weekend. He placed 4th in OLGD, 2nd in the OGD retrieving stake, and 2nd in the non retrieving OGD stake.

A huge thank you goes out to all of the club volunteers and judges. Your time and effort is very much appreciated. Also, thanks to my friend Robert for voluntarily holding the fort down at home so Chasyn could get away for the weekend and I could make the event!

03/25/2026

When a person chases lofty goals, you find yourself on the side of failure more often than not. Failure in the sense that you just weren’t quite good enough which isn’t something to be ashamed of as long as you gave your all. But, it leaves you wanting more. You want to prove to yourself that you were right for believing your goals were possible.

When Bl**er was a pup I could tell there was something different about her. She was special and she carried herself like she knew it. I wanted to win a National Championship with her. The more she developed the more I believed that could become a reality. We were awfully close at 2025’s AKC Pointing Breed Gun Dog Championships but fell short. Bl**er placed 2nd in the walking and blew an honor 53 minutes into a smoking good run in the horseback. Then came Eureka and the GSPCA Open Gun Dog Championship. Bl**er earned a Judges Award of Merit. She had 6 covey finds in a downpour but lacked a quality finish due to being cold from the nasty conditions. We made the best of poor conditions but it just wasn’t good enough.

When I saw the weather forecast for this year’s AKC Pointing Breed Walking Gun Dog Championship, I thought to myself, “Here we go again.” She was last brace of the day. It was supposed to be in the upper to mid 90’s when she ran.

Sunday came and I tried to remain positive. I kept reminding myself Bl**er has always tolerated the heat really well and a strong showing in tough conditions might just be the break we’ve been looking for. I told myself if there’s a dog that can do it, it’s her. It was 91 degrees when our brace kicked off and Bl**er preceded to put on a show that I won’t ever forget. She had 5 finds and applied herself like a seasoned gun dog should. She was stylish, fast, fluid in her movement, and powerful. When she got to an edge she stuck to it like glue until she found a bird. She handled her birds beautifully and was still was going strong when time was called despite blowing a front pad. Her run gathered a ton of compliments and I couldn’t help but be extremely proud of Bl**er after her run.

Monday arrived, the trial ended, and placements were announced. Bl**er was announced as Best of Breed and the 2026 AKC Pointing Breed Walking Gun Dog Champion! We had done it! Bl**er had earned a National Championship! The day was made even more special when it was announced her littermate brother, Murphey, had placed third and a younger full sister, Oakley, earned a Judges Award of Merit! Murphey is owned, trained, and handled by Tim Owens. Oakley is owned, trained, and handled by Bailey Mudd.

With Bl**er’s win the two Pearl X Mason breedings have produced 2 NWGDC’s, a 2nd place NWGDC, a 3rd place NWGDC, and 3 Judges Award of Merit winners since 2023. God willing that’s a list that’s not done growing yet!

I’d like to take a moment to thank the SAWC, numerous other volunteers, Trish James, and Wayne Yamash*ta for all of their work putting on this trial! To the judges, Mark Calder and Kevin Donohue, thank you for watching all of our dogs! You two were awesome in your efforts to try to help keep dogs safe. I can’t thank you enough for that! To my scout, Kelli Aitken-Thompson, thank you for always giving it your best. Your sportsmanship and effort is top notch! To Tim Owens and Bailey Mudd, thank you for helping to take care of dogs and horses throughout the trip and for all your dedication developing your Hunt’em Up Kennels pups into winners! To Chasyn Vogan, thank you for taking care of and continuing on with training dogs while I was gone. I couldn’t have accomplished this without your help! Last but not least thank you to Barry Bollinger. This one is both of ours. You deserve as much credit, if not more credit, than I do for your development of Bl**er when she was young. I’m pretty sure if Bl**er could talk a big part of her heart still resides in Maryland. Thank you my friend!

03/12/2026

Hunt’em Up’s Living The Dream “Jimmy” looking sharp down in Oklahoma at our friend Jason Campbell’s place. We had a day off from running in the AKC National Gun Dog Championships and Jason was kind enough to let us come work some dogs on his property right down the road. Jimmy is out of our 2024 breeding with Brandon Blum’s Hewey and Bl**er. We are super excited about his future!

02/27/2026

On February 13 & 14, we traveled to the Southern Kansas Brittany Club’s first annual spring walking field trial at the beautiful Oliver Ranch by Eureka, KS. Despite muddy, wet conditions the weekend went wonderful and I can’t thank all of the volunteers enough for putting on an excellent event.

The dogs of Hunt’em Up put together a strong showing. Fenix placed second in a 4 point major OGD stake. I couldn’t be happier with her development and I’m excited for her future! A few of the Sitka X Bl**er pups made their field trial debut. Miller took home first in Open Puppy. Miller is owned by Stephanie and Thomas Hardage. Dolly took home second in Open Puppy. Dolly was handled by Thomas Hardage and owned by Mark Morten. Karen took home fourth in Open Puppy and third in Open Derby. Morgan, a R***r X Citori pup, took home fourth in Open Derby.

Thanks again to all of the folks who made this weekend go off without a hitch! A special thank you goes out to the owners of Miller and Dolly for allowing them the opportunity to reach and prove their full potential! Folks like you are so valuable to a breeding program’s success and future!

02/26/2026

“Why’s him still looking at that bird?” - dog training with the nephew. Woodrow took to the added distractions quite well.

02/23/2026

SUMMER INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES!!!

We have enrolled in the Nex-Generation Round Up for Youth summer internship program. This is a program providing internship opportunities for high school and college aged kids from rural Kansas. We currently have 3 internships opportunities available and hope to fill them soon! The deadline to apply is March 8th (extended from March 1st). Please follow the attached link for more details on applying, job description details, and the requirements to be eligible. This is a great opportunity for area youth to learn new skills. Interns will be involved with daily activities training dogs and the operation of a state licensed boarding and training facility. Feel free to PM with questions or reach out on my cell at 785-820-6451.

Ready to gain real-world experience and make an impact?

Apply now for the Nex-Generation Summer 2026 Internship Program!
Open to high school and college students—applications are open January 1–March 1.

How to Apply:
Apply through the Nex-Gen Portal:
https://nex-generation.secure-platform.com/site

Learn more about the program here:
https://www.nex-generation.org/internships

02/12/2026

Last night I received an email informing me that Reign won the 2025 Open Gun Dog of the year award thru GSPCA! I couldn’t be happier for Reign and how she has developed throughout her field trial career. She had a slow start to her career due to developing Parvo as a puppy. And then she lost out on a lot of development/training at a young age due to me having to shut down the kennel to keep the family farm & ranch going while dad recovered from severe illness. She really came on strong in 2025 by starting out the year with a 4th place finish at the horseback AKC Gun Dog Championship and continued to follow that up with 3 major wins and 6 top 2 placements throughout the year. She also finished her AKC FC title in 2025. She’s a story of resilience and I love that about her!

Reign is out of Little Hunter’s Kennel’s breeding between Sitka and Dutchess. A breeding that produced a lot of really solid dogs.

02/02/2026

Bl**er

If I could clone a dog I wouldn’t think twice about having another dog exactly like her.