Branko Owners Step Up

[Fleetwood]

Good morning everyone! I'm still new around here but have been reading and researching all I can. One thing I have noticed is that there is a lot of Branko owners around here. My question to you is, why should I consider a Branko bred dog? What are they know for? Are they typically pretty fast? How about foot and hunt? I guess my main question though is, why are they so popular? Thanks!

[TrlBustinBeagle]

I own nothing but branko hounds and from my experience they all typically have plenty of foot, hunt,desire, and intelligence. Out of the 9 I have owned only one was not naturally trash proof. All but one male was a gentleman in the kennel and he only didnt like males when the females in the next kennel were in heat. Mine all seem to have a smaller check areas on the point of loss, but that might be due to the fact that I only run cottontail. As for hunt mine will hunt close by hardly will they roam out 40 yds from where I am at and that is how I like them. I do not like roamers. I am not saying Branko hounds are the best out there, but they work for me. There is good an bad in every bloodline.

[sanfordssj]

Once you own one...you will see why. Branko breeding just gies you something that always seems to be missing in most dogs. The thing i liked the most is speed and power. Size isn't an issue with Branko's. They have the heart to run, and I mean run!
Now on the flip side you have alot of branko breed lines out there. I like Turbo, Hurry Up, Logan Elm, just to name a few who have taken the "old Branko" blood and turned it up a notch. Stick with Jack of All Trades, Ali-Baba and you can't go wrong. There are a lot of great ones coming from those two males.

[Lee Cockman]

I run alot of full Branko dogs. Most come direct from Branko's Kennel. Open invite come run you make your on mind up. Bring your own measuing stick. ENDLESS HUNT! 8 hours of hard gun hunting they will give you the same at the end of the day. Then load them back up can hunt them again all day. Again ENDLESS BOTTOM / HUNT. Foot well there are faster dogs. JMO. Depends on what you like. That is why they are different breeds. Like I said come and look! Nothin to hide. I own 4 out of One Tuff Ombra, 1 out of Lumberjack, 3 out of Warlock and two out of Baba Cowboy.

OPEN INVITE! 919-369-6151

[J.C. Blair]

I own one full blooded Branko male, when I say this, I mean Branko Krpan is the breeder. He is straight off IFC Branko's Ali-baba X FTC Branko's Sweet Magnolia. One of the best I have ever owned. What I like the best about him is that he is consistent everytime you let him off the tailgate. He is extremely smart and has a lot of rabbit sense. He's not wild and over competitive, keeps a level head and runs clean. He is one of the few direct males out of ali-baba still out there today. I really think he throws his likeness in his pups so far from what I have seen, and those that have bred to him and have pups from him, have nothing but good things to say about them.

[sanfordssj]

I own one full blooded Branko male, when I say this, I mean Branko Krpan is the breeder. He is straight off IFC Branko's Ali-baba X FTC Branko's Sweet Magnolia. One of the best I have ever owned. What I like the best about him is that he is consistent everytime you let him off the tailgate. He is extremely smart and has a lot of rabbit sense. He's not wild and over competitive, keeps a level head and runs clean. He is one of the few direct males out of ali-baba still out there today. I really think he throws his likeness in his pups so far from what I have seen, and those that have bred to him and have pups from him, have nothing but good things to say about them.

Boogie:
here is a perfect male to go watch run! Ali-Baba males are super tough! if you like him, get a pup out of him, or buy one from branko.

[rabbitsmoker]

I own a couple of branko hounds and the rest are linebred gay I like branko dogs but they are a little fast for me nothing wrong just to fast But what i like is they cross good with the gay breed which the gay are a little to slow and by making the branko/ gay cross makes a good med speeed with line controll

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Everybody that knows me and my dogs always says"oh,you have Branko dogs".Truth is I have never bought a dog from the Krpans or ever bred to one of the studs they own.
I do keep line bred hounds from I.F.C. Maravics Blue Ninja who was out of Branko's Jack of all Trades x Greenbriar Branko's Tootsie.A friend of mine had a nice male out of Branko's Magnum Force that he bought as a pup and I did breed a female to him with good results.
All of the beagles I've kept over the past 18 years will show a lot of Branko dogs in their background and all will show Jack of all Trades multiple times along with Ninja's sister Branko's Conna,I.F.C. Branko's Sassy Sally,Branko's Silvertone Belle, Branko's Phantom of the Opera and Branko's Great Nada.If you study Branko's breeding you will see these hounds are what I call foundation stock.
Branko has basically kept three strains of beagles in his kennel over the years and bred them with good results back and forth to each other. He started with the super reproducing bitch Anna's Ann and bred her to Dingus McCrae and got the super nice female Branko's Close Call Girl who was then bred to Able's East Coast Trimmer who produced Jack of all Trades who produced Ninja,Conna,Heli-Prop and many,many other top hounds.He also got Branko's City Streaker from the Ann x Dingus cross and Streaker when bred to the top female Branko's Great Nada produced Branko's Copper boy who produced Branko's outstanding hound Ali-Baba. He also bred Ann to Winterborne Boomerang who produced Branko's Conman and then bred Ann to Muskie Lake Levi who produced Branko's Dutch Wiefke. Branko's Heli-Prop and Ali-Baba became probably the best know of Branko's hounds at the time both for what they achieved in competition [both became International Field Champions and for the dogs they sired ].If you look back at the pedigrees of most of Branko's dogs you see that he was regularly breeding the Jack dogs to Copper Boy dogs and then their decendants [Prop and Ali-Baba].
I like hounds bred this way for several reasons; they have good looks and athletic builds,they have a ton of bottom to go all day every day,they are intelligent hounds with good personalities that want to please,they make good mother dogs,they've got all the go power and foot I like and when bred within the line reproduce with a high degree of consistancy.
You asked why Branko dogs are so popular? Well most beaglers maybe keep half a dozen or so hounds,I've got a couple of friends that keep a dozen or so and I've met guys who kept 25.Branko is a breeder and competitor on a national scale and is a big kennel keeping maybe a 100 or more.He has a well earned reputation made over the years with many dogs that have won most every major competition event in this country and often more than once.He regularly has multiple U.S. and Canadian Field Champions and International Field Champions standing at stud in his kennel.There is a demand for the hounds he produces.
Are they for everybody? Absolutely not as there are many on this board that will tell you they don't like them.All I can say is that i use mine on all three types of rabbits;cottontails here in Tn.,swamp rabbits in the swamps of the deep south and snowshoe hare in northern Maine and feel they perform above average on all of them.

[Fleetwood]

Thanks for all the info guys. It is much appreciated.

[sanfordssj]

Nice post Shady Grove!

Jack, Copper Boy, Ali-Baba, Lumber Jack, Heli-Prop are all of my favorites.

[thornie]

Fleetwood, here is Branko's site, it might help some also.
http://www.brankosbeagles.com/

[fast tracker]

Which branko dogs throws most hunt. Which branko dogs throw most speed.

[blueridgemtn]

Fleetwood we live not to far from you up in the Creston area. We have a kennel full of Branko dogs give me a call sometime and you are more than welcome to come and watch them run and see for yourself what makes Branko the top line of dog JMO.
Ronnie
336-385-1971

[dingo]

fleetwood

Here is a post I had on a different site. Branko and Freida were great people to be with. Someone else posted a link to their website. Check it out and give them a call.
His dogs are not for everyone but they are definitely what I am looking for as a hunter. I have never been to a trial but I hunt hard and need above average dogs to be satisfied. I am sure not every dog he produces is a super dog but he has consistently produced good ones for many years. I got a female that never barked once in the year I owned her and he did not hesitate to replace her. When I bought her and another female as pups I never inquired about replacements and never had to ask he just said I am giving you another puppy. I live in Saskatchewan and the conditions here are brutal during winter. I needed dogs that could run on snow and in adverse conditions. I make my living hunting whitetails and have hunted/trapped all my life and know a good dog when I see one. Hope this helps you.



I just got back from Branko's place with 2 new male puppies. I had a blast and from what I seen anyone that bad mouths him or his dogs just flat doesn't have a clue what their talking about. He volunteered to replace the no-barker within a few minutes after I turned her loose. He doesn't miss anything when it comes to beagles and instantly recognized something was wrong with her. I watched 2 litter-mates go that did excellent. I will be getting a replacement pup in the future as I did not want 3 to train at the same time. I am sure not every single dog he produces are world beaters but he positively is one of the greatest if not the greatest breeder I have ever met.

We ran dogs everyday and and most of it is a blur but I honestly did not see a dog I would not want to feed. We ran dogs from 6 month old puppies to an 11 year old 2 time world champion male named One Tuff Hombre which happens to be Aggies sire. Branko and Freida are HONEST, HARD WORKING, FRIENDLY PEOPLE! My attitude about Frieda has completely changed and I was wrong in my thoughts about her before. She is extremely knowledgeable and was a a very gracious host to me and my wife. Both of them have dedicated their lives to trying to improve the breed and I really think they have succeeded. I had the chance to meet their son Marko and he is a good man as well.

I know I might catch some poop about this next statement but trust me I was more skeptical than anyone of you. The dogs caught hare daily and just flat ran them down to exhaustion and caught them. The first day we ran I put down my Aggie and he turned out 9 females about the same age as her. She will be 1 `year old at the end of April. They jumped and ran like a deer race and in fact I honestly thought they had a deer going for awhile. After about 45 minutes of absolutely one of the best races I have ever witnessed it went dead silent instantly. I never actually seen them catch it but after several minutes dogs starting coming out on the trail by us with blood on them and one of his dogs came out and she looked like she had ate a 55 gallon drum. She could hardly walk she was so full. Now it was bare ground and white bunnies with some hard running dogs and I do think that helped the dogs. He told me he has a hard time keeping the running grounds stocked with bunnies during bare ground and I now believe him after what I witnessed. The bloated dog was put in the trailer and we instantly started 2 rabbits and had a split pack right away. The pack Aggie was in caught their bunny after about an hour and half of hard pounding without any losses. It was just a roar the whole time. There was 5 females in that pack and every time I seen them you could have thrown a blanket over the pack and covered them. That bunny made the mistake of trying to go down the road with 5 screaming beagles about 15 feet behind it. I had brought my video camera but was too dumb to carry it that day. Branko had to go back home for chores so he missed out on that one.

Branko has the perfect place to run in. He has 2 different 1 mile sections fenced plus a couple of 40 acre pens and has lanes cut about every 2 hundreds yard all through them. He has worked super hard to get what he has and it has taken him a lifetime to do it all. We would run in different parts in the mornings and afternoons just to give the bunnies a break. I really think those bunnies would be much better off with coyotes after them than what they face daily!

I watched 5, 15inch males go and his Hammer dog is the absolute best beagle I have ever witnessed. He caught an exhausted hare all by himself. He flat ran off and left the other males after a while and never missed a stroke. He is a chop mouthed dog and barks about 125 barks per minute and never misses a breath. Every time I seen them he was 50 feet to 150 yards in front and the other males were not slouches. Like I said earlier EVERY dog we put down was a good dog. We never ran the same dogs and we ran all day every day I was there. It was dry and windy but Branko knows those 1 mile squares and we would be in on the dogs all the time. I watched about 25-30 different dogs go while I was there and every single day the dogs caught at least 1 bunny that I know of. Branko told me conditions get worse during winter but he will not keep or breed a dog that cant run on snow.

Branko and Freida get up early work all day and go to bed late. They take great pride in the dogs and their accomplishments. The only time either one of them stops is when they eat. They were getting ready to ship out puppies and I never seen a runt or sick dog or puppy. All were fat and sassy. He told me Lumberjack threw one man type dogs but they were not nuts or anything just a little standoffish towards me being a stranger. They do not have a single trophy or ribbon displayed in the house. They have won so many they would probably need a stadium to display all of them. Branko is a very humble man and did not bad mouth anyone or their dogs to me. He is interested in other dogs and stories but his main interest is his own dogs. If he told me the dogs ran a pink elephant I would believe him! He is from Europe and is very stoic and serious and is honest as the day is long.

Even though we ran in enclosures Branko uses tracking collars on every dog. The dogs know the routine and handled excellent. He gets them out of the pen, stands them on his trailer, then puts on the tracking collar. The dogs all stood like show dogs while being collared up. They were excited but handled perfectly. Branko doesn't put up with much so they better behave or be ready to get corrected.

The 2 male puppies I got are out of HammerxMaya and if Branko would have said to me "Come over and pick 2 dogs just by looks to breed" that is the two I would have chosen. Hammer is a big raw boned male and looks like a miniature walker. Maya is a big strong looking female and beautiful to look at. She had just come off the pups so I never got to watch her go but Branko told me all about her. I will get some photos on here soon of my puppies. They are bold, aggressive, beautiful puppies and I have high hopes for both of them.


If any of you ever get the chance to run with him at home jump at the chance you will never be sorry. Everything they do has a method and they are very efficient at what they do. I had a great time, learned a few things, and it was a super good experience. I was invited back and I guarantee you I will be back at the first chance I can go back.

Thanks for reading,
Dingo

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Super post Dingo and thanks for sharing it! You are the third person I know that has been to Branko's and spent time running with him and you echo the same impressions the others shared with me.They both had a super time and came back impressed with the hounds they saw.
I met Branko and Frieda at the 2003 Large Pack Nationals where One Tough Hombre won for the second time and was impressed with them and their hound.