I LOVE being able to meet and photograph such a variety of dog breeds! This is the first Black Mouth Cur I’ve had the pleasure of photographing. His name is Raylan, and is he equal parts of a lovable, snuggle bug and a fiercely confident hunter.

Black Mouth Curs are an American dog breed, originating from the South as a hunting dog, that has the ability to tree or kill game on the ground. They are larger dogs, made of pure muscle, with a short fawn coat and black points, and being purpose bred, they have the athleticism and stamina to be hunting all day, every day!

Raylan’s owner wanted to focus our time photographing the progression of Raylan hunting throughout their wooded property in Twin Lake, Michigan. Upon arrival, Raylan can bursting out of the garage in a protective manner, but quickly realizing I was there to play, he reverted to bunny ears, tail wagging, and a determination for me to hold one of his paws, while he sat in my lap.

After a few minutes of chatting with his owner, and being sat on by a cheesing Raylan, we headed out to the woods. Now - capturing a variety of quality photographs during an actual hunt, would have been a challenge, and required more time than we had allotted for this photoshoot. Raylan’s owner had already laid a blood trail, has squirrel tails on strings hung throughout the woods, and had squirrel distress calls ready to play on her phone. This allowed me to pick and choose locations that has best lighting, color tones, and a depth of field that matched my style of photography.

We allowed Raylan to track, and once he was on his way, his owner will would play the distress calls and pull the strings of the squirrel tails, making the tails mimic the flickering behavior of an angry squirrel. Raylan’s natural instinct would kick in, and I was able to photograph it unfolding. He was having the time of his life!

After a few squirrel hunts, we lowered the hanging tail to be within his reach. Hyping him up one last time to “hunt it up,” he catapulted his way up the tree, bark and twigs breaking from his force, and grabbed the prized tail. We hooted and hollered, praising him for being the best hunter, which only made him smile as he did drive-bys, proud of his hard work.

These were a handful of photographs from our mock hunt!