berger
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Lockridge Iowa
Posts: 2844 |
Re: While we’re talking about scores..
quote:
Originally posted by ClayBottom11
Personally, I’ve always liked the elimination format better than high scores.. for many reasons. But after the latest controversy, I decided to take 5 minutes and look into recent years at our beloved Autumn Oaks..
2023 Grand 16 CW scores
• 300+, 25+, 350+, 225+
Final cast winner 175+
2022 Grand 16 CW scores
•375+, 200+, 150+, 325+
Final Cast winner 225+
2021 Grand 16 CW scores
• dead, 200+, dead, 225+
Final cast winner 75+
This is far back as I could find scores posted along with results. The point - every Friday night it’s a shootout with, most often, scores coming in over 1,000+ and 700 to 800+ like nobody’s business..
Yet, come Saturday night it dries up and 1 or 2 coons is all that hits the card. Do the stars just align that Friday night is way better hunting every year? Just coincidence?
The Grand 16 is the cream of the crop.. but scores seem to plummet after the race to get in.
I am guessing this is no doubt related to the high score from winter classic. This will be a long read and informative.
Back in the 90"s a freind and I decided to go to the PKC nationals open event hunt add purse hunt. So we loaded up and headed out 6 hour drive. I got the privlege of drawing a hot dog winning everything at the time. 1st drop we cut dogs in a spot that had a creek but very few trees a bush here and there after 57minutes of the hunt gone we finally had scored are first tree or hole in this circumstance, all dogs were there and we called timeout. We get back to the truck and guide the handler handling the big name dogs ask the guide if he had some place to cut us loose with trees on it as we weren't just there to win our cast but we were trying to score enough points to get in the top 4, there were over 100 dogs being hunted so we needed some coons treed. Next spot guide said if we tree quickly to recut but if it takes sometime call time out if you can and we will go somewhere else. wasn't long we were treed walked in had a split tree about 4 feet apart, judge looks up trees were intertwined judge said we were scoring it as 1 tree. found coon in both trees scored as 1 and recut. Dogs got in restruck got in deep after a bit we were treed again. Had a split tree again coon scored in both trees called time out. went back guide took us to another spot cut em loose wasn't to long mine struck behind us to the left and slammed treed. Treed in the road ditch in a bush by the creek with a coon put me leading the cast but I was sure it wasn't enough to get in the final 4 needed another coon 9 minutes left. recut across the road few hundred yards restruck wasn't long treed again. hunt runs out walking to tree we start shining the handler with the that nationally recognized hound seen and eye we never could get him to look again or find the coon. We get back to the truck the guide and an older gentleman asked if it was plussed up we said no. they said the coon looked at them showed us where they saw him look and it was about in the same area as the handler had seen a eye. I needed that coon as I was 75 points shy of making the final 4. This cast taught me something about guiding.
quite a few years later I went to a hunt and had my own guide set up we hit a couple spots but didn't have much to show for it. the guide took us to a spot we cut dogs loose and they run all over in there and finally treed 1 coon. walking to tree we seen quite a few coons hunt was over after scoring tree and seen even more going back to truck. Guide was defiantly disappointed we didn't have much to show for it. We should have scored a ton of points.
A few years back I had the opportunity to guide for the UKC world zones. On Friday night we scored some coons had a lot of split trees walking back forth through hills and ditches scoring coon, circles and slicks we had a cast winner with a few hundred points. On Saturday night when my cast was drawn talking to the handlers no one had a cast win so I knew they needed a bigger score to get in. So instead of driving 25 to 30 miles to guide I decided to drive 60+ to get them in a big flat bottom so we could here them and get as many coon scored as possible. towards the end we had 3 split trees 1st dog treed way through the country walking towards that dog the hunt would be over. On are way another dog got treed behind us and wasn't long the last dog was split treed behind us also. Now even if all dogs had a coon no one thought it would give them a high enough score to get in. We were able to call time out between trees and after scoring the last tree we had 6 minutes left. We called timeout and moved, now we could have recut and probably treed another coon but could they have done it quick enough. the best opportunity to score was to call timeout and move. we drove out and back down into this bottom we were less then a 1/8 mile from where the last tree was made drove back to a grove of oak trees and cut dogs. Dogs struck almost immediately an less then 3 minutes all dogs were treed and we had a split tree. 1st tree couldn't find coon 2 trees together with a nest, 2nd tree had a coon and a new cast leader and winner. That last coon gave that dog enough points to advance on in the world hunt.
As a guide your job isn't to see if them dogs in the hunt are coon dogs. Your job is to give them the best chance of moving on in the hunt. Give them the best opportunity that presents it self to rack up points and move on. Cudos to the guide at winter classic even though he had a dog with over 1100 points he put them in new territory to rack up that score. That is the job of a guide and should always be the mind set of a guide give the dogs in the cast the best opportunity possible. Shame on you if you don't.
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02-27-2024 09:09 PM
