MONTICELLO- The prestigious Southern Hound Show hosted by Marty and Daphne Wood, Joint Masters of the Live Oak Hounds in Monticello, Fla. was held on April 12, 2025, where Live Oak Warrior ’23 was named Grand Champion of Show.

With eight exhibitors in attendance, including the Fox River Valley Hunt of Illinois, the Goodwin Hounds of North Carolina, the Hillsboro Hounds of Tennessee, the Iroquois Hunt of Kentucky, the Massback Hounds of Illinois, the Midland Fox Hounds of Georgia, and the Mooreland Hunt of Alabama, and the Live Oak Hounds, winning Grand Champion was quite the honor.

Judging the prize-winning hounds was Andrew Osborne, Chairman of the United Kingdom Master of Foxhounds Association & Vice Chairman of the British Hound Sports Association, Penny Denegre, MFH Middleburg Hunt & President of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America, and Apprentice Judge Knox van Nagell Pfister of the MFH Iroquois Hunt.

“It was an honor to judge the Southern Hound Show, but it turned into a real pleasure when I saw the depth of quality of the hounds brought forward to be judged by myself, Penny, and Knox,” Osborne said.

Osborne noted that the quality was found in the movement of the hounds throughout all classes.

“Again and again, we commented on the effortless flowing smooth, and rapid chase of the elusive biscuit across the ring,” he said. “A credit to not only the breeding but also the excellent showing by the staff bringing them before us.”

As showing and judging is all about conformation leading to drive and stamina in the hunting field, Osborne said he felt that the hounds shown will all hunt to the best of their breed’s ability, making good for the sport.

The morning’s standout hounds were the two entered single dog hounds in their respective open and restricted classes being Live Oak Warrior ’23 and Iroquois Freestone ’22.

“They would be worthy of inclusion in any pack, but unfortunately would not fit in my luggage for a trip across the pond back to the U.K.,” Osborne joked.

The afternoon portion of the show was dominated early on by the progeny of last year’s winning Stallion hound Hillsboro Ringo ’19, who produced two lovely winning unentered bitches in the open and restricted in Hillsboro Cobweb and Mooreland Ripple.

“As a judge, the standout winner of the afternoon was the winning Brood bitch, Live Oak Silver ’17, having completed her 8th season hunting,” Osborne said. “To have hunted this hard whilst also producing many puppies and yet still have the quality and grace to win a class is a testament to her breeding and is an illustration of the essence of what we should strive for.”

The Grand Champion of the Show was a stiff contest between the entered Live Oak dog hound and the unentered Hillsboro bitch with the older more mature and complete hound taking the ribbon.

“It will be very interesting to see how the young bitch fares in future years,” Osborne said.

The Grand Champion Live Oak Warrior ’23 is a tail male to the famous Blencathra Gilder, said by Newton Rycroft to be the greatest hunting hound of a 50 year period.

Other winning hounds included the Hillsboro Cobweb Crossbred, the Reserve Grand Champion of Show, and Iroquois VWF Freestone ’22, the Reserve Champion Dog Hound.

Live Oak Frigate English was the Champion Unentered Hound, while Iroquois Rascal was the winner of single unentered dog-restricted.

Live Oak Wingman ’23, Warcry ’23, Norseman ’20, and Maestro ’22 were the Champion Two Couple, while Like Oak Warcry ’23 was the winner of Stallion Hound with Three of Get.

Hillsboro Pigtail ’24 Crossbred was the winner of single entered bitch and Like Oak Keepsake and Kerchief Crossbred were the winners of a couple of bitches unentered.

Live Oak Silver ’17 Crossbred was the winner of Brood Bitch, while Mooreland Diamond ’22 Crossbred was the winner of Single Entered Bitch- Restricted.