Huckleberry Hound

**Huckleberry Hound** is a bluetick coonhound hailing from North Carolina. Originally moving westward in search of land, he accidentally ends up as sheriff of the small settlement of Two-Bit, a job that he nevertheless takes seriously. He took up the Dalton Gang case after their reign of terror reaches Two-Bit, and the case becomes personal upon learning that they murdered his brother and sold his nephews and nieces into slavery. He enlisted the help of Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-Long Coyote, of whom the latter was sent in Ricochet’s place. Droop-a-Long’s work during the case impressed Huck, so much so that when he left the role as sheriff, he personally recommended the coyote for the role, entrusting Two-Bit in his care. He is an ally of both Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-Long Coyote, and is a good friend and a mentor of the latter.

Originally making unnamed cameos in the first series, Huckleberry Hound was officially elevated to a guest star status in the series’ remake, *Blazin’ Trails Redux*, and is an integral character from the third season onwards.

## Personality

If a single word were to describe Huckleberry Hound, it would be “laidback”. Cheerful, kindhearted and friendly to a fault, Huck’s easygoing nature allows him to keep cool in the worst of storms, and in spite of the tragedies the Daltons have inflicted upon his family, still remains as kind as ever. His nephew, Armani Hound, describes him as a kind gentle soul, and can’t even remember him speaking a harsh word. Similar to Droop-a-Long, his personality bounces off larger than life personalities such as Ricochet and Yogi pretty well, the latter of whom is his best friend in the whole world. Though he’s hardly what one would call a genius, he does display a surprising cunning that one would hardly expect from him, coming up with creative ways to subdue his opponents. When handed a task or ordered to capture someone, he can be surprisingly stubborn, showing a relentless single-mindedness that has unnerved both friends and foes alike. His friendliness often makes him a target for people who assume that he’s a doormat, which is far from the truth. He possesses a very long fuse, but when finally riled up, he’s known to quickly retaliate. Anything happening to his loved ones immediately sets him off, and he has a low tolerance for cowards, specifically people who have the power to do something but refuse to, as Hokey Wolf learned. Though not as bad as Ricochet, Touché or Punkin’ Puss, he can hold onto grudges and won’t forgive those who hurt the people he loves; this was reflected in his last bit of advice to Droop-a-Long, telling him that should Stinky or Finky break out of jail, he had his personal blessing to bring both of them in, “dead or un alive”.

Huck also has a love of music, and can often be seen strumming away on a guitar and banjo, as well as singing his favorite ballad of all time, “Oh My Darling Clementine”. Being completely tone deaf, however, his music often drives people away in droves, which leaves him in confusion. His closest friends and family often sit through his performances, however, in spite of their misgivings.

## Trivia

* Along with Baba Looey, Hokey Wolf, Ding-a-Ling, and Yogi Bear, Huck had the least changes to his personality and overall portrayal in Blazin’ Trails. A lot of his background is lifted (or outright retconned) from the canon proper, however, as well as bits of voice actor trivia:
	+ The main source for his portrayal here is from his featured movie, where he’s often referred to as a “mysterious, steely-eyed and silent-type stranger” by numerous characters, but Huck is simply his good—natured self through the movie. In BT, while his personality has remained the same, he does have a higher sense of duty and takes his role as sheriff more seriously, and has a personal grudge against the Daltons for what they did to his family (although unlike his nephew, he wasn’t wholly consumed by anger and revenge). He also expresses a wider range of emotions here, from openly mourning the loss of his brother and nephew (whom, unbeknownst to him, is actually alive), to becoming wrathful when his best friend, Yogi Bear, is left for dead, almost strangling the mayor over it.
	+ In his own cartoons, Huck held a variety of positions, either through actual hiring, or by accident. This aspect of his character was used in Blazin’ Trails, with his election as sheriff (where he literally walked into the city hall right after Hokey said “we need someone crazy—or stupid—enough to do this job”) being lifted from the movie.
	+ The term “huckleberry” could be used as a term of endearment, but is often used as slang for a rube or an amateur, as well as a mild sign of disapproval. Indeed, in Huck’s own cartoons, the hound didn’t have much knowledge about the job he had to do, but through dumb luck always got his job done. This is referenced in BT, with a few people using him as a sign of how not to do a job—Huck being Huck, though, ignores this.
		- The idiom “I’m your huckleberry”, which gained popularity due to the Western film Tombstone, is also associated with Huckleberry Hound. The idiom has two different meanings, however. While in some cases, it can be used as a term of endearment, in the movie itself it was used as a response to a challenge. In this context, “huckleberry” was used to refer to the right man for the job—meaning that if someone was looking for trouble, then the speaker is just the person to give it to them. In a reference to Tombstone, Huck says this exact idiom right before the fateful firefight with the Dalton gang in the season finale.
		- Regarding this line, some people theorized that rather than “huckleberry”, what Doc Holiday meant to say was hucklebearer, which was a term used in the South to refer to a pallbearer. Doc Holiday’s actor, Val Kilmer, denied this, and historical evidence does back this up. This meaning was also referenced in season 3’s finale, where Droop-a-Long initially thinks Huck said this, and reacted with utter disbelief until Roxanne corrected him.
	+ In *Yogi’s Space Race*, it’s mentioned that Huck was born in Memphis, Tennessee, hinting that he’s a native of that state—Tennessee is also known as the “Birthplace of Rock ‘n Roll”, hence why Huck also has a love of music. BT (and much of the material that the author has written) ignores this part of the canon, outright referring to him as a North Carolinian who hailed from Albemarle. This was inspired by Daws Butler’s own accounts on how he came up with Huck’s voice, which was inspired by a neighbor of his wife’s when he’d visit her and her family in Albemarle. Contrary to popular belief, his voice was not inspired by Andy Griffith, as Butler had used the voice a decade before Griffith became famous.
	+ Bluetick coonhounds are known for their friendly, laidback personality and charm, but possess a powerful prey drive—when in pursuit, they are relentless and single-minded. This trait is often seen in Huck’s cartoons: friendly and calm he may be, but when handed a task, absolutely nothing will keep him from it. Similar to much of the Hanna-Barbera characters in the series, some of Huck’s (and Armani’s) traits are species-related.
		- Coonhounds are also known for their loud baying, often done at night, which can sound cacophonous to neighbors. One of Huck’s other trademarks was his horrible singing voice and butchering of “Oh My Darling Clementine”, and in the original cartoons, he was also known for his “Huckleberry Howler” (where he’d greet the audience with “And a hooouunnd-dog howdy to ya!”), which were references to this trait.
	+ In The Huckleberry Hound Show proper, Huck’s main occupation (as shown in the interstitials) was a showman, and this was reflected in his speech, where he’s much more energetic. This gets referenced in season 3 of Redux, when Droop-a-Long asked what he did before he was a sheriff, and Huck explained that his main goal was to become the world’s greatest showman. In fact, he was successful enough to where he earned enough money to purchase land for a circus, but decided to focus on buying a farm and settling down after his brother’s murder. He does get a chance to show off his showman skills later on in season 4, where he and Yogi put on a show for the Falconeri family.
* Huckleberry Hound was alluded to in several Blazin’ Trails shorts, but never made any true appearances outside of a small mention in Game On, where it’s mentioned that he and Top Cat are good friends of Ricochet and Droop-a-Long. He was revealed to be the sheriff of Two-Bit that Droop-a-Long eventually takes over for, although in the final chapter of the original *Blazin’ Trails*, it’s unclear as to why he leaves. *Redux* makes it clear that after the Dalton Gang case, he decides to pursue his original ideal of running a farm, and settles down and marries Desert Flower.
* Although Touché Turtle was a childhood favorite of hers, Huckleberry Hound is iheartgod175’s favorite Hanna-Barbera character, and notes that he still is, as watching his cartoons was instrumental in her getting into the Hanna-Barbera fandom. She has written fics for him the most, with Ricochet and Droop-a-Long being second.
	+ She had plans to include him earlier, but decided to have him make Alfred Hitchcock-like appearances throughout the series in various roles without naming him outright. The practice came to an end in Redux, as Huck has been elevated to guest role status with his role in season 3.
	+ A running gag that the author pointed out in a recent post is that although Huck is her favorite, she always puts Huckleberry Hound through the ringer in any fic where he’s featured. Said events range from him getting beat up, and even being presumed dead, to outright being killed. In an ironic twist, the story that kicked off the author’s beginning of writing Westerns, The Ghost of Huckleberry Hound, kills him off permanently, with Quick Draw and Ricochet taking up the main character mantles. The author joked that this time, the story is going to be “The Ghost of Huckleberry Hound, minus the ghost part”.
* Huck is the second oldest of the Hanna-Barbera cast featured, with Touché being the oldest and Baba Looey being the youngest. Due to being a few years older than Droop-a-Long, he is the coyote’s “mentor”, so to speak. Droop even playfully calls him “old man” on occasion.