Just a Tad...

MECHAM FAMILY TREED

I feel very blessed in this life, and I am so grateful to god that I live where I get in the outdoors and hunt almost everyday and anytime I want. I can walk out any of my doors and get a breath of clean air, hear the birds singing, and watch the cotton tails and an occasional muley grazing on our lawn.. Awww ..then all hell breaks loose as our pack of hounds also spot them. The hounds..our passion! 

I was told to write about something I love, the first thing that came to mind was Hunting with our hounds. Our hounds are their own legend, almost 70 years and 4 generations in the making. They have been bred to track Mountain Lion, bear and bobcats, in all conditions, in snow or on dry land. They are cold nosed hunting machines, but they are also our companions, part of our family’s and we love them.

Grandpa Elmo Bushnell got the first hounds in the late 1940’s. It all started with 2 Black/Tans named Slim and Bess. As his pack of dogs grew so did his love for hunting with them. He lived in Henrieville, Utah and his daily hunting became a way of life for his family. He caught many lions in his years of hunting and bred many good dogs.

In 1956 Elmo’s daughter Koye, started dating a handsome young man by the name of Stan Mecham, from Tropic, Utah. Stan also had 2 hounds and the bug, and by the time they were married in 1957 Stan had bought 2 more Black/Tans from Jack Butler. These hounds were registered on one side and pack bred on the other. This union was not only was the beginning of a new family, but the beginning of the “Mecham Line” Hounds. Over the following years Elmo and Stan bought, bred, and sold dogs. They both hunted every day and became well know as great Lion Hunters and Houndsmen. They had the privilege to hunt and learn from the best Lion Hunters in the country such as: Jack Butler, Burt Emmett, Monte Willis. And Sears Willis.

At one point Stan had 53 hounds he was hunting!

Elmo passed away in 1985, Stan is 76 now and still saddles his horse and goes hunting every day. Although he has trimmed the numbers, He still has a big pack of hounds and raises and sells pups. 
I asked Stan what his all-time favorite hunt was, “One in Escalante that I had been killing livestock He was the biggest Tom I have every seen”. This was in July,1967. No measurements were taken but it was the same size as a skinned out steer. When I asked him what his 4 all- time favorite dogs were, he named 9..Jack, Tant, Lady 1, Lady11, Kite, Moke, Arkey, and Topper. His favorite Color is Walker, with a little bloodhound and blue tick mixed in. He likes Walkers because they are fast, Blood Hounds for their nose and voice and blue ticks because he thinks they are “goodlooking”.

I am married to Stan’s 1st son Clint. He and his brother Mclain are both great Houndsman and Lion Hunters. They both raise dogs and both keep the Mecham Line alive and growing.. Stan likes Walkers, Clint likes the Red ticks and Mclain likes Bluetick. All so different, but yet the same.
There is nothing like seeing these 3 men run their dogs together on a track! It is the finest parade of hounds you will ever see. The following picture shows Mclain, Stan, Hunter and Clint Mecham. Hunter is the 4th generation.

  

Happy Hunting, until we meet at the tree…

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