My name is Gayle Staffiere-Caron. I have worked as a commercial and graphic artist proffesionally for the past 25+ years. I am the owner of RavenGraphix.com and CoonhoundCalendar.com. I am married to a wonderful man named Jim Caron (aka Bubba or BubbasBBQ) that loves to hunt and is the owner of RavenGunsmith.com. This is the story of how the first Coonhound Calendar™ came to be.

In June 2002 after looking for a dog that would satisfy both of us... I wanted a small dog, Bubba wanted a hound so we thought about a dachshund (imagine). I found a lady that had a dog ready to have puppies. Her dogs name was Raven! I thought "Wow, it's meant to be" My handle has been Ladeeraven for more than 25 years, going back to the old days on the CB radio. My freelance business has been Raven Graphix for nearly as long. Anyway, I waited and waited for the pups. When it went past time for them to be born I called to find out if they had a male pup available and was told the dog had a false pregnancy. I was so disappointed we had wasted all that time waiting, but everything happens for a reason.

Jim (Bubba) wanted a coonhound, his uncle Dud had all kinds of hounds when Jim was kid. They used to hunt together all the time and Jim loved those hounds. He went looking on the various web sites and posted for a Bluetick. Raven was sort of a rescue, he has a bad leg. Long story, but thankfully his owner, Wayne knew he was a good dog so he answered Jim's post. We could have Raven as long as Jim wasn't planning to hunt him hard. Wayne just wanted a good home for Raven. Jim loved to hunt but didn't care if he couldn't hunt with Raven. Originally we just wanted a pet so we took him. So much for a small dog, Raven is 107 pounds of muscle! ;-) Jim has worked with him and now they walk a good 6 miles a day, they hunt rabbits and game birds. Raven has a good nose and a loud bawl that every kid in the neighborhood adores. He is the joy of our lives. Kicker is, Raven was 10 months old and already named when we got him... LadeeRaven got her Eastern Music Midnight Blue Raven, it was meant to be. Everything really does happen for a reason.

I got the idea of making the calendar when that first Christmas when Jim went looking for a coonhound calendar for me and couldn't find one. They have every dog known to man except coonhounds, well there was a B&T calendar but if you got a Bluetick that aint gonna cut the mustard. :) I thought about it for 30 seconds and figured, I have the ability, I have the technology I just don't have the pictures. Thats how I got good at begging for pictures. >grin< The rest will hopefully be history!

Now we have a new addition to our family. Miss Dakota Moonshine is a beautiful Majestic Tree Hound ( B&T and Bloodhound) out of Salt Lick Kennels in Virginia.

Visit our message board and sign our guest book. But most of all be part of Coonhound history and send me high resolution, clear photos of your hounds hunting and around the house and yard. (see, I'm always begging for photos LOL). Everyone makes the calendar in one way or another. I try to take one photo from everyone that sends photos and put them on the collage pages. Look for your hounds there. That is the only place I will happily put people photos. Go to the Photo Spec page for more infor on what I need from you to put you in running for a feature page.