Wipeout Hellbilly killed in Alabama
3/16/2010 3:29:41 PM
Ozark, AL - The State of Alabama would provide both the thrill of victory and the agony of ultimate defeat for one of the most popular hounds in the world of competitive coon hunting, the reigning AKC Black Gold - Gold Medal Champion CGN Wipeout Hellbilly. Hellbilly won the Black Gold Championship in Eufaula, Ala., in January of this year and ironically, was killed in action while participating in a Nite Hunt in nearby Ozark, Alabama last Friday night.
The popular AKC Grand Nite Champion was co-owned by Barry Kiddy of Adamsville, Tennessee and Sumner Collum of Wilson, Arkansas. Collum was hunting Hellbilly in a PKC Pro event in Ozark, Alabama when he was killed. I spoke with Barry Kiddy who gave this account:
From all indications Billy was killed by a wild hog. It caught him on the inner back thigh and ripped a good sized hole and the dog apparently bled to death. It appeared that the hog threw him, Kiddy said. I asked about the circumstances surrounding Billys death and he related the following:
They cut loose and Billy struck for 75. The rest of the dogs went right and Billy went left. Someone on the cast said they heard a little ruckus in the direction of Billy. The others got treed behind them and they went to them. They never did hear Billy again, Barry told me. He also said there was some hog sign around where Billy was killed.
Barry said that Billy was proving himself as a stud dog and that he bred four females to him the week before his death and that he bred two females to his Zeb Again dog, now ten year old that week as well. He said that he was breeding more females to Billy than to Zeb lately.
Barry is a long time competitor and creator of the Wip out line of Treeing Walkers. He will bounce back but this has to be a terrible blow to he and Sumner Collum. Barry has the Hellbilly Deluxe pup and a pup that he calls Hellbilly the Kid that will hunt as a one year old soon.
The entire AKC Coonhound Events Management Team and the staff at Black Gold Dog Food send our sincere condolences to Barry and Sumner. Barry told me in closing that they probably shouldnt have been hunting Billy considering how he was in demand as a stud dog but in Barrys words, Im a coon hunter and he was just so much fun to hunt that I felt like I could win every time I went.
CGN 2010 Black Gold Gold Medal Champion Wipeout Hellbilly was five years old. May he rest in peace.
.Wipeout Zeb
.M/Fs Wipeout Zack
.McQueen & Fergys Polly
.Wipeout Zeb Again
.Zebs Wipeout Koy
.Kiddys Wipeout Ruby
.Kiddys Easy Queen
CGN Wipeout Hellbilly
Rock River Sackett
.Rock River Sackett, Jr.
Skeans Dolly
Fergys Moss Ck Dana
.Bellars Pac Man
..Awsome Annie
.Bellars Indiana Dusty
Upper photo: Barry Kiddy of Adamsville, TN with CGN Wipeout Hellbilly.
Lower photo, left to right: Steve Fielder, Jonathan Warrington, Barry Kiddy, and Eddy Parker the night that Hellbilly won the 2010 AKC Black Gold - Gold Medal Championship.
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