Cross Outs and Your Conscience; Other Coonhound News

Coonhound Advisor

August 18, 2017

Source: Allen Gingerich

As published in Coonhound Bloodlines July 2017.

UKC Policy Change Notices
Officials and participants, please take notice of the following policy changes that will take effect on July 1, 2017. The following policy changes will be reflected in applicable rulebooks at the next opportunity when they are updated.

1) Application for Permanent Registration: Any dogs that are litter-registered with UKC receive what is commonly referred to as puppy papers. The breeder (usually the dam owner) will then receive a certain number of puppy papers that reflects the total number of males and females in the litter that was registered. These are the papers that the breeder would then give to the puppy owner/buyer to be completed with a registered name for the dog, along with owner information that would be reflected on the dogs Permanent Registration Certificate.

In the past, a dog that was litter registered, but not yet permanently registered, was not eligible to be entered in a UKC Licensed Event. If they were entered, they were considered as an ineligible entry. Keep in mind that a dog that has puppy papers-only does not have its own unique record at UKC. Effective July 1, 2017, a UKC policy change will make entering a dog on puppy papers eligible to earn points, under the following provisions.
A dog that was litter registered, but is not yet permanently registered (has puppy papers only), may be entered in an event with a non-registered fee of $5, in addition to the entry fee. If any such dog places in the event, the owner is given 60 days to get the dog permanently registered.

Any championship points earned will be processed and awarded to the dog if the dog is permanently registered within those 60 days.

Any championship points earned expire if the dog is not permanently registered within 60 days after the event. However, the owner may request the expired points be reinstated after the dog has been registered by submitting a copy of any win receipts along with a fee of $75 to UKC Field Operations.

It is the responsibility of the official to collect any non-registered dog fees, and include those fees along with the Event Report that is mailed to UKC.

2) Easy Entry™ Card Photos. Current rules do not allow for any copies of a dogs Registration Certificate to be used for event entry purposes. Photos of a dogs Easy Entry Card on a smart phone would fall under the umbrella of a copy, as well, and was not allowed. A change in policy will now allow participants to enter their dog(s) using a photo of the dogs Easy Entry Card on their phone. This policy change will also take effect on July 1, 2017.

Barred Individuals at the Event

Q: May a barred individual be present at a licensed event?

A: This question comes up frequently so it might be a good to cover in this article. The answer is yes. While they may be present at an event, a barred individual may not otherwise participate in any form. They may not be involved with taking entries, drawing casts, guiding a cast, judging a cast, spectate on a cast (sitting in the truck is considered spectating), or have anything to do with any portion of the event.

A barred individual may, however, be a member of a club and help work the kitchen, sell raffle tickets and things of that nature during an event. They may, at the clubs discretion, be involved with any non-licensed events at the grounds, such as treeing contests or dash races. They may also watch a bench show, but may not otherwise be involved in the show.

While clubs or participants should not knowingly allow a barred individual to participate as noted above, it is the barred individual who is responsible for their own terms while suspended. However, any participant knowingly allowing a barred individual to ride along with them to the woods during the hunt is subject to suspension. Anyone that is witness to any such violations should report the infraction to UKC.

Cross Outs and Your Conscience

This topic comes from the archives and has seen this column on a few different occasions. As we get into the leafiest part of the year, in most all parts of the country, its a good time and good topic to include again. Enjoy.

Its always been understood that if you see a coon in the tree next to the one your dog is treeing on, you could plus the dog, provided the coon could have legitimately crossed over. I do agree that is the way it should be, although its also my opinion that in most of those cases the dog missed the coon. Maybe the dog did do a nice job and is treeing a lay-up coon off the scent coon, which is several yards from the base of the tree that the coon is in. Or maybe it was a bad track, and the dog just missed the coon. At any rate, provided there are legitimate limbs that will allow a coon to cross, the dog is plussed, and I have no problem with that.

However, I do have a problem, as do many other hunters who have called in recently complaining of a new term and scoring practice that is showing up frequently in the hunts. A fairly new competition hunter contacted me for advice concerning the scoring of cross outs. Through the limited number of events that he had attended, he was already under the assumption that you could circle a dogs points, even if the coon was not in the tree the dogs were treed on, provided that there was another tree nearby where the coon could escape to, even if the coon was obviously not in the next tree. The theory being the coon could cross over, go down the next tree, and get away. His particular question to me was whether it was correct to base your decision regarding cross outs on how hard the dogs were treeing. In essence, if they were treeing hard and confident, then you could circle their points as most likely they had the right tree but the coon got away. On the other hand, if they were not hitting it like they should, they would be minused because they probably messed up.
This is just one example of many that I have heard where casts are circling minus trees because the coon could have crossed out. Another related problem is coons being scored two or more trees down the line. In Michigan, we hunt fence rows where the trees may touch for a couple hundred yards. How many trees down the line should we be able to score when the dogs tree and we find a coon somewhere in the fence row?

I really hoped for this column to get into some hard and specific interpretations regarding when you could and couldnt score cross-outs, but the more I thought about it, and the more people I contacted, it became apparent that you simply cant. There are too many variables involved. I guess Ill just have to leave it as a plea for everyone to buckle up and start scoring the situations the way you know they should be scored. Stop looking for loopholes. The benefit of the doubt to a dog is fine. Outright making excuses for one and giving him credit for something he doesnt deserve is not. Todays new hunters are going to be under the assumption that coon cross more frequently than squirrels, but, that they only do it on Nite Hunt casts.

Its funny that hide hunters know that coons dont cross out much. They dont care. If the dog trees and there is a coon in the vicinity, thats a coon for them and a good dog. They dont shoot the coon as a reward for the dog thinking it crossed out. You know who else knows that coons dont cross much? Those who are trying out dogs to buy and critically evaluating the performance of a particular dog. When they make three blank trees in a row, they dont talk themselves into the fact that each time the coon crossed over to that big leafy tree next to it. When you listen to as many accounts of Nite Hunts each week as I do, its amazing how many cross out trees are the result of a track that is breaking down and dogs just getting hooked as opposed to good tracks when they have the coon. It almost leads one to believe that coons who cross like squirrels dont smell as much like a coon as their cousins who dont cross.

On a personal note, I dont think coon should be scored more than one tree away. I dont think coon should be determined to have crossed out unless you have limbs the size of your wrist for them to cross on. I think 90 percent of the legitimate cross out trees are those that grow up into a larger tree, not stand next to one. I dont think coon ride trees into other trees or walk grapevines like tightropes. I think even the best of hounds miss the coon once in a while and, because they are not perfect, deserve minus points. I also feel that despite a few problems that come to my attention (the nature of the job), that the vast majority of competition hunters are still fair and knowledgeable individuals with the best interest of our hounds at heart.