Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Alexander City Alabama
Posts: 16

The UKC World Squirrel Hunt date has been changed. As bad as we wanted to have a World hunt in 2007 we made the decision to change it to 2008 to stop the conflict of being near or on the same weekend as another registry. It will be February 23, 2008 and it will still be hosted by the Red Hill Houndsman Assn. I know that the Pee Dee club was asked first if they were interested in hosting it and because of deer season they could not do it in 2007. That’s when the Red Hill Houndsman Assn. stepped up and volunteered to host it in December because of deer season closed on management areas in their zone at that time. Contrary to what some believe we didn’t know of the USDR hunt at that time. We already had a music band set up, hotel discounts and other things lined up for this hunt when we found out. I guess that is poor research on my part. With the number of registries available for the squirrel dog, trying to find a suitable date in November and December without conflict is near impossible. So we were left with no choice but to go into 2008. This will not change anything for those qualified. It just means you may have qualified in 2007 for the 2008 world hunt. It seems different looking at it this way for some of us former coonhound hunters, but deer season doesn’t affect coonhunting like it does squirrel hunting. We as small game hunters need to stick together, because our availability of hunting land is slowly diminishing. So we hope to see you at the 2008 UKC World Squirrel Hunt/ February 23-2008

We are also looking at making rule changes in 2008. One of the changes that I would like to see is, UKC now gives the club the option of splitting the dogs by weight (-30 0r 30+) or by breed (Cur/Feist). The way I look at it is, if a feist meets breed standards it should weigh less than 30 and a cur should weigh over 30. So I would like to see the weight rule gone and give the club the option of separating by breed or they could have (All) dogs hunt together, but split by category Registered, Champions, Grand Champions. Also I think the number of champion wins given away at a hunt is set up too high, as of now there has to be more than 20 champion dogs in order for 2 separate wins to be given away. I would like to see that lowered. Give us your opinions.
Thanks,
Eugene Hill

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Eugene Hill
UKC- Cur/Feist Field Representative
256-234-4694

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Michigan
Posts: 761

I think the date change of the hunt is fine by me. Drawing out by breed is probably easyer for the clubs than to do it by weight. I think to get credit for a 2nd champion win in the same hunt there should be at least 3 or more casts of Champions.

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L.H. & Curt Ladner Blackmouth Curs in Michigan

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: N.E. Arkansas
Posts: 1042

The date doesn't matter to me, I don't have a dog ready to hunt, but I am glad to see UKC change the date from where it was. It's good not to hold a major hunt in conflict with another registry.

The problem that I see is that UKC has so few squirrel hunts. Where are the squirrel hunts listed? Qualifying events?

I agree wholeheartedly with you on the weight issue. A dog is either a Mt. Cur or a Feist. This would clarify and define how to take entries.

U.K.C. has, in my opinion, the best registry in the hunting dog world. I long to see U.K.C. as dominant in squirrel hunting as they are in coon hunts.

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Pine Hill Kennels
Loyd McIntire

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