Coons That Cant Be Scored, Other Coonhound News

Coonhound Advisor

May 19, 2016

Source: Allen Gingerich

As published in the April 2016 Coonhound Bloodlines

This months column is dedicated to UKC event or hunt-related policies that may not be written in the Coonhound Rulebook. The first subject is a new policy, while the rest were taken from the archives to serve as a refresher course.

Notice to all Clubs - Confirming Events After the Deadline

Until recently, UKC always had a very strict policy when it comes to clubs confirming their events. If the event was not confirmed by the given deadline the club was not granted approval to hold the event. That meant that all events had to be published in COONHOUND BLOODLINES, otherwise, there was no event.

Considering more and more folks now having access to the internet and reference the Upcoming Events Listing on the website, UKC has lightened up on that policy. UKC has now been accepting confirmations after the magazine deadline, with the club understanding that the event cannot be listed in COONHOUND BLOODLINES. Under this policy, the club can still hold the event, and its a good thing for all involved.

It has quickly become evident, however, that late confirmations are getting out of control in terms of the extra manual work they create for the employees in Field Operations. After processing, on-time confirmations are computer-generated when it comes to the listing for COONHOUND BLOODLINES, the web listing, and generating Event Reports. Whereas, late confirmations require those three items to be done manually. Secondly, when the event is not published in COONHOUND BLOODLINES, the club stands to lose a few entries when it comes to those who might not have internet access and use that list only.

In an effort to continue accommodating clubs in this manner, and to keep them at a reasonable minimum, there will now be a $25 fee associated with all late event confirmations. This late fee policy will go into effect on May 1, 2016. Additionally, late event confirmations will not be accepted any later than 30 days prior to the event date. Please advise your club officers of this policy at your next club meeting.

Changing Your Mind/Vote at the Tree

Q: The following questions, although slightly different, have the same answer.

Cast A: All dogs were declared treed. The cast starts shining and in quick order one cast member announces that he sees eyes in the tree. All cast members take a look and agree, Yes, we see it. However, after they had all agreed they saw it, one member throws a bright spot light up there and sees it is a possum instead of what they initially thought were coon eyes. Since they all initially agreed they saw it as a coon, is it considered scored and over with regardless?

Cast B: Three-dog cast. Two dogs are left in the cast toward the end of the hunt. Both dogs fall treed but are split from each other on separate trees. The three members shine Dog As tree. After a little while, the judge says, Here-ee is. The second cast member comes over and says, Yep, I see it.
The third cast member comes over and throws a bright light up there and says, Thats nothing more than a limb, its not a coon. After taking another look, the second cast member agrees that it is simply a limb and not a coon. Can a cast member change his mind after initially having said he sees it?

A: Most who have hunted in nite hunts for a length of time have seen situations like those described, where at first glance your initial thought was, Yeah, I see it, and verbally say so. Upon further examination, you realize its not what you initially thought it was after all. The basic question in either situation is, can a handler change his initial scoring vote after having verbally said something to the affect that he or she saw it?

To be fair in scoring situations properly as they should be scored, like the situations described above, UKC maintains that a tree is not considered to be officially scored until majority of the cast members are satisfied with their vote. This doesnt mean you can vote one way at the tree and then vote another way at the clubhouse. You must obviously make your decision at the tree. If we were to allow plus points on off game or dark spots on tree limbs simply because of initial first reactions or petty technicalities, then something is terribly wrong.

Coon and Off Game in the Same Tree

Though it doesnt happen very often, it happens on occasion that dogs will tree a coon and off game in the same tree. This poses the question regarding whether the rules call to penalize or reward the dogs when this happens. Although the Nite Hunt Honor Rules make no reference to this situation, UKC does have a policy for ruling on this matter.

Rule 3 says that the points assigned to your dog will be plus if that dog strikes and trees and a coon is seen. Simple enough. However, Rule 4 says that your dog is going to get minus points if off game is seen in that dogs tree. Rule 6 says to scratch Nites and Grands if they tree off game. Which rule prevails in this situation? Whenever coon and off game are seen in the same tree, the benefit of the doubt goes to the dog and the points should be plussed.

Along these same lines, do not fall for the old handlers line that it was a coon that pushed that squirrel out on the limb and the dog should at least get circle points for treeing the coon thats hidden in the hole. Tell that handler youre giving him an A for effort, but the points are minus.

Coons That Cant Be Scored

A caller recently described a high scoring cast in which he recently participated. He made it a point to assure me that he personally saw every coon, even though he was not the cast winner. Following that, he told me that he wasnt sure if the way they had treed them was exactly right or not. Upon further questioning, he described one drop where the cast saw a coon cross the road and go up a tree. Allegedly, the cast, which is now down to one dog and two cast members, walked the dog up to the tree, unsnapped him, struck and treed him, and let him tree for five minutes. The reasoning this was thought acceptable was because the scorecard did not prohibit it.

Then, while working an event the next weekend, I was asked when it became permissible to score a coon in a live trap? I was thinking, youve got to be kidding me. Apparently this was done at a UKC licensed hunt recently. A live trap is not a place of refuge for a coon, and coon cannot be scored in live traps. This has been printed in the Advisor several times over the years. You have to delete those points. It would be convenient, though, to be able to place coons in live traps at all my hunting spots. You could rack up a really good score that way, couldnt you?

Scorecard historians will remember when the scorecard said in Rule 1 that hounds must be free cast in search of wild game. I cant remember when it was removed from the scorecard, or why. Maybe because its so darn obvious that cant turn your dog loose at a tree that you know is harboring a raccoon.

At any rate, preceding Rule 1 is a statement that refers to the Coonhound Advisor column as official interpretation of UKC rules and policies. So lets make this official right now. All hounds in UKC licensed events must be free cast in search of wild game. That means no enclosures, that means no turning loose as in the example above, that means you cant score coons in live traps or in a cage behind someones barn. It means you cant score dead coons, it means you cant turn coons loose for the dogs, it means that the coon must be seen in the tree the dog is treeing on, etc.

All this should go without saying, but, believe it or not, Ive had to deal with every one of the situations mentioned above in the last couple years because someone said it wasnt prohibited in the rules. Now it is.