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Whats Happened To The Hunts

I have been coon hunting since I was 11 and I am 44 now, but about 12 years ago I had to quit because my son and daughter were in sports heavy, plus I coached and it got to be to much. But now time has changed things and I have started back. I was shocked to see that the nite hunts had really fell off in attendance, when I quit a normal hunt might draw 50 or more dogs and more than that in people, and you could double that for a RQE. Here in my area of the south,Virginia, coon hunting has always been a way of life in the blue ridge where I live, so I was shocked to see this. I just wondered if it was that way everywhere and why yall think it happened, was it lack of land to hunt dogs on or the low price of hides or lack of interest or lack of time etc. I would just like for my almost 17 year old son to see it the way it was a few years back. I would like yalls thoughts on this subject please. The way things are now a club does good to have 15 to 20 dogs at a regular nite hunt around here. I would hate to see us lose our right to hunt hounds because there is power in numbers.

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HUNT HARD PRAY HARDER, VA.REB

I can only speak for myself. I was once a member of a coon club, held several offices and felt it was my responsibility to attend every workday or special event. The club participation at these events ran about 10% of the total membership. Infighting, backbiting and jealousy were rampant. It was like being with a bunch of children, not grown adults. I guess I just got tired of it all, I still coonhunt as much as I ever did and may attend a hunt occasionally and may someday rejoin a club, but right now I don't miss it.

Alot of hunts but thethree registries share an equall piece of the pie now.

Not to mention some of the people these days cant afford to go and if they do they choose one that will pay money for a cast win

The economy as really put a damper on things all around. Our club is fairly large and our attendance has been somewhat low for a while now.

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Some of us grew up with dogs, hunting ,field trails, water races . All kinds, birds , rabbits, squirrels, coon, etc.. Most people were a bit more tolerent of dogs and hunting. Many people grew up with what I call an agricultural back ground on a farm or had relatives who farmed and thus had a better understanding of birth and death and the balance of where things belonged in life. Now days a kid who thinks he'd like a hound but lives in the city finds a multitude of dog laws about kenneling, noise, sanitation. More than many want to contend with even if the law isn't banging on the door. This has even spread to the country with all the 5 acre land barons around to give you trouble. The farms are disappearing and video games, face book, twitter and instant communications around the world is a lot easier and you don't have to feed it and care for it 365 days a year and defend your desire to do it from people who think you're crazy and certainly up to no good running around in the dark with dogs and guns. I'll be 65 soon and my father's world as he knew is gone. The worlds changing and our way is fading away.

new hunters can be turned off with a few bad experianses.i have had a couple of hunts that my dog and everyone elses should have been mines but it turned out it was a three to one vote circle tree. if we were the only cast hunting it would not be that bad but another cast thats honest is at a disadvantage.every time i pay my entry fee that is in the back of my mind.

Poor sports

Up where I am from a couple bad apples are spoiling it for everyone. New people get bad experiences and never show up again,The older guys just continue to show up with dog power and these couple use the rules to get wins. It really sucks when this crap gets pulled on an inexperienced person just so these guys can try to finish thier 9-10 year old nite champions!

i know around here there is no incentive for the kids(and even ALOT of adults) to go and win because they dont get anything. yes you get a yellow slip of paper but what kid really cares about that. 5-10 years ago . you paids 5-10 bucks to enter the hunt and if you won, you got a trophy the size of your body and even the 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th got something(usually smaller trophies of plaques) which made it worth going to the hunts ... now you are paying 15-25 dollars and if your lucky, they might take a picture of your dog(which they prob have dozens of) and give it to you. i understand why some go, and that is to get that little yellow slip of paper, but to keep people comming back there has to be reason to show up other than that.
jmo

I always went and still do because I like it and it entertains me. Just like golfing, fishing, bowling and a lot of other stuff. I like dogs but they don't care if they win or lose ,get a trophy or just be there doing something. We care but by the time you get home it's history. Makes me happy as long as I keep it in perspective and don't get to serious about it and remember it's a game.

Hunts here in Maryland have fallen off also. For alot of the same reasons mentioned above. Jealousy and childish behavior are good ones. Gas prices have also played a roll in this. Around here at the clubs two to three coon could win a hunt. But with the feed bucket boom to keep coon around the guys are using them to score high. Now you can score on six or seven coon in one hunt. Well that can be good, but all guides do not have access to this. So I know hunters from out of our area that will not come here to hunt because if they do not draw a feed bucket hunter they have no chance of scoring high enough to win hunt. I have nothing against feed buckets for hunting and training your dogs, but not in the hunts. We have a hunter in this area who is retired and his family owns alot of property and he has access to other good property, they put feed buckets out and hunt over them every night. ( talk about home field advantage ). He has several handlers and from all the small clubs they can hunt his property, they win the casts and hunts over 70 % of time. This has taken away from our hunts. But I will admit I myself do not attend the hunts like I used to. Time will not allow it. My kids are very active in sports and such.

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My opinion is to many hunts. Take your bigger hunts for instance, the GA, Winter Classic, SETWD,AO, world...... thier entries are staying the same if not increasing. The smaller club hunts are hurting because there are so many. there's always one next weekend.

If you have good hunting and good people you'll draw the numbers.

youth

Here in Minnesota we have an amazing youth hunt very high turn out. But to go back to poor sports, I think that is what is discouraging youth hunters one bad experince with other cast members and many dont return. the youth enjoy agood hunt with no drama, just calling thier dog to the best of thier ability they dont need any bull rules it is supposed to be honor rules and people make mistakes they should not be scratched in the first drop mistakes need to be corrected in this sport not punished. Coon hunting should be a simple pleasure that all ages can enjoy!

Do these kids quit baseball, basketball, soccer, etc anytime there is some drama? Do they pack it in when they strike out or foul out of a basketball game. Do they give them 5 strikes because it's their first time at bat? Kids are so much tougher than some of you give them credit for.

I agree with what Kevin Self said.

Jim

Jim I agree kind of but if a kid loses in sports their parents encourage them if they get scratched in a minute and they drove an hour spent a 20.00 entry not so much encouragement next time.

I had a fifteen year old kid handling my dog in his first UKC hunt last fall and his dog was under a coon by herself. They walk in to score her, started the shinetime and he blew his squaller. Scratched right there on the spot, first drop of the night. He picked up his dog. Didn't cry, didn't whine or complain. He WAS extremely embarassed by what he had done. And he was right back at it with the same borrowed dog next weeked. Think he has made that mistake since? Take a guess.

jim

basketball.soccer and so on in sports they are more than 4 people in the crowed so go figer

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i tell the truth about my dogs good or bad

Jim

I am glad he licked his wounds and kept going we need more youth to keep this sport alive. Wish all kids were like that! Hope he has lots of success in the future.

THANKS YALL

Man, it was nice to here all of the input about this subject. Its true we dont have all the answers yet to fix this problem, but with some good ol manners, and treating people the way that you would want to be treated, that would be a good start. Something else that may help, if you see trouble starting in a club or hunt try to as Barney said NIP IT IN THE BUD quickly, it might keep it from getting any worse. We need to try if we like our sport, remember the kids are watching.

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HUNT HARD PRAY HARDER, VA.REB

Re: Poor sports

quote:

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Originally posted by Walker Girl19
Up where I am from a couple bad apples are spoiling it for everyone. New people get bad experiences and never show up again,The older guys just continue to show up with dog power and these couple use the rules to get wins. It really sucks when this crap gets pulled on an inexperienced person just so these guys can try to finish thier 9-10 year old nite champions!

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quote:

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Originally posted by T Felderman
My opinion is to many hunts. Take your bigger hunts for instance, the GA, Winter Classic, SETWD,AO, world...... thier entries are staying the same if not increasing. The smaller club hunts are hurting because there are so many. there's always one next weekend.

If you have good hunting and good people you'll draw the numbers.

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__________________
Member of the Keyboard Warrior Mafia

degrees

It is also funny in my opinion how the degrees dogs earned years ago got more respect. It is hard to earn degrees when there were 100 dogs in an RQE and more than 1 Nite Champ cast at a local club hunt! I wish some of the newer hunters could have experienced them days instead of getting a Nt Ch win with only one cast.

what has happened to the hunts

I will only try to list a few reasons that I feel have hurt the attendance of nite hunts and coonhunting in general. The cost of gasoline, dog food, entry fees, motel fees for starters. Next add the fact that the hunting grounds are fast disappearing in our area, deer hunting has just about ruined every other type of hunting there is. leased ground and posted signs on every tree. no place to hunt or train dogs equals less and less hunters and less entries at the hunts. enjjoy what you have now because it will soon be over. the outfitters will soon put a stop to every kind of hunting except big game. the only good deer is the one I just ran over./

Re: Whats Happened To The Hunts

quote:

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Originally posted by VA.REB
I have been coon hunting since I was 11 and I am 44 now, but about 12 years ago I had to quit because my son and daughter were in sports heavy, plus I coached and it got to be to much. But now time has changed things and I have started back. I was shocked to see that the nite hunts had really fell off in attendance, when I quit a normal hunt might draw 50 or more dogs and more than that in people, and you could double that for a RQE.

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Coon Hunters are a dying breed, we will be extint in 25 years!!

Everything about the hunts have gone down hill from when I was a kid. Im 26 years old now.I comp hunted from the time I was 9. There would be never less than 35 and at qualifiers you were hard pressed to find one under 80, now the regular hunts have 10 to 20 and a big rqe is 50 or more. Nowadays the guys are more cut throat, dogs are meaner, and the entry fees are higher.Back when I started, I hunted nt.ch and I remember going to several hunts and not entering my dog because all they gave were plaques. Now there are NO smaller hunts that give trophies or plaques. In the back of the bloodline they used to have "poor boy hunt" Id think man who would drive to a hunt pay money and hunt for 2 hours for a piece of paper. Now every hunt is a poor boy hunt and for a piece of paper. When I was younger I wanted the hardware, not no slip, to easy to lose. I would imagine many kids feel the same way I did back then. The rewards at the hunts are definately not going to excite any young kids to go to the hunts. The youth are the future of our sport. When you think of how much the numbers have went down in the last 15 years the future doesnt look very good.