David McKee
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Feb 2004
Location: Whitmire,SC
Posts: 426 |
Read Allen's interpretation, this is what we are to go by. This one sentence answers your question as to when to go to the tree....
When the five is up, the cast will proceed to that tree.
Originally posted by Allen / UKC
Rule 6(q) Explained
All those years that we struggled with the cumbersome interpretation of how to handle the situations where dogs were treeing and the handlers had no intentions of declaring them treed. 6(q) is a basic and necessary requirement in accurately scoring hounds for their work on a nite hunt cast.
The rule reads as follows:
6. Dogs will be scratched
(q) if a handler fails to declare treed a dog obviously treeing (Judge’s decision) for a period of five minutes. Dog may be declared treed while the five is running but not after the five has expired. Judge must verify dog to be at a tree before it can be scratched.
Let’s break it down into its most basic components. First, the dog must obviously be treeing. That doesn’t mean tapping trees or trying to settle. The right to tree a dog should rest with the handler until it becomes obvious that the handler has no intention of treeing a dog that is treeing solid. This is the Judge’s decision.
Once 6(q) is applied, the dog in question must tree for five minutes. Judge this as you would if the dog had been declared treed.
• If you hear the dog bark off the tree, then the five is broken.
• If two minutes gets him, the five is broken.
• If another dog in the cast comes in and is declared treed, the five is broken
No penalty is assessed. The application of 6(q) is simply ended in each of the situations described above.
At any time while the five is running in accordance with 6(q), a handler may elect to declare the dog treed. If the dog is declared treed, 6(q) is ended and you would start a new five minutes on the dog just as you would any time a dog is declared treed. In the event where another dog in the cast is declared treed on that same tree, 6(q) would also be ended. Start the five on the dog that was declared treed and normal tree rules are applied.
Okay, let’s say a handler still refuses to tree the dog and the five minutes in accordance with 6(q) is running. When the five is up, the cast will proceed to that tree. If on the way in to the tree, the handler asks to declare the dog treed and the five is up, that request must be denied. The dog cannot be declared treed (at that particular tree) after the five minutes of 6(q) has expired. Also, the dog must be seen on a tree before it can be scratched. Not in a hole, bulldoze pile, old barn, or any other place of refuge. The thinking here is that sometimes those tree barks may sound different enough to the handler of the dog that they know the dog is not “right”. Someone who does not know the dog may assume the dog is treed solid, when the truth may be he is not on a tree at all. That’s why the dog must be seen on a tree. When you get in there and the dog is on a tree, then the dog is scratched. If you arrive to find the dog trailing around or on a fence or something, back on out and let the dog work. There would be no penalty. If the dog is in a hole or place of refuge the dog may be handled without being declared treed in accordance with rule 5(a).
It’s the handler’s responsibility to tell the Judge when the dog strikes and when the dog trees. Competition events are about scoring dogs and that means the good, bad and indifferent. Any opportunity to cut down on the number of “games” being played in between should be pursued. 6(q) is one of those opportunities.
-Allen Gingerich
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
__________________
Proud to be a coonhunter, even prouder to be a Christian !
www.sccoonhunters.com
Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged
|
10-06-2009 04:05 PM
