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Tonight, the 2019 Purina Nationals Championship moves into its final leg of competition, with some of the nation's top Coon-Hunters and Coonhounds vying for nearly $30,000 in prize money!

We will be bringing you all of the action LIVE starting approx. 12 AM EST, as the Final Four Cast of the Purina Nationals is assembled and sent back out to hunt for the Overall Title.


NOTE: Please DO NOT POST your comments to this thread. The actual Play By Play will be taking place on this thread. Another thread will be created for commentary purpose. All correspondence posted to this thread will be deleted IMMEDIATELY!

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Corey Gruver
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Just got word that we have three cast winners back and we are waiting for our fourth. All of the action will be coming to you in mere moments people!

Stay tuned...

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We are gathering the Final Four as we speak, three dogs are back at the grounds and we are still awaiting our fourth cast winner to roll in...

Comprising the Final Four of the 2019 Purina National Championship are as follows:

GRNITECH 'PR' Main Street Wild Crow, a four-year-old English Coonhound, owned by Asa Briggs Jr., Troy Schellhorn and Shane Cannon of Morley, MI, handled by Asa Briggs Jr.

NITECH 'PR' Wild Bill, a five-year-old Treeing Walker Coonhound, owned by Bryan Whitted and Michael Thomas of Huntington, IN, handled by Rick Stretch

GRNITECH 'PR' CoonValley Black Jack HTX, a four-year-old English Coonhound, owned by Chad Ballard of McMinnville, TN


Interestingly enough, Wild Crow and Black Jack are littermate brothers, from the breeding of GRNITECH 'PR' Main Street Jack X CoonValley Wild Skeeter.


Likewise, Wild Bill was the winner of the UKC Grand Masters Invitational event over Labor Day weekend in 2018. He is also sired by the 2x NATIONAL GRNITECH House's Mr. Clean.

Purina and UKC attract some of the biggest winning dogs in the country to compete at the annual Purina National Championship. With this cast of winning hounds, who will take home the top honors and be crowned the Overall Nite Hunt Champion for 2019?

NOTE: Information on the fourth dog participating in this cast will be added once their scorecard has been officially received back at the grounds by the MOH.

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Rounding off our Final Four Purina National Championship cast is GRCH GRNITECH (2) Ripley River's Lucky Luke, a seven-year-old American Leopard Hound, owned by Ralph Fussnecker and Greg Nusbaumer of Greenville, OH, handled by Greg Nusbaumer


Lucky Luke surely lives up to his name. This American Leopard Hound has made numerous appearances on main stage events in representation of his breed. Luke has won his breed days numerous times, as well as winning National Grand Nite Champion American Leopard Hound at Autumn Oaks on multiple occasions.

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Corey Gruver
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OFFICIAL 2019 PURINA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL FOUR

GRNITECH 'PR' Main Street Wild Crow, a four-year-old English Coonhound, owned by Asa Briggs Jr. and Shane Cannon of Morley, MI, handled by Asa Briggs Jr.

NITECH 'PR' Wild Bill, a five-year-old Treeing Walker Coonhound, owned by Bryan Whitted and Michael Thomas of Huntington, IN, handled by Rick Stretch

GRNITECH 'PR' CoonValley Black Jack HTX, a four-year-old English Coonhound, owned by Chad Ballard of McMinnville, TN

GRCH GRNITECH (2) Ripley River's Lucky Luke, a seven-year-old American Leopard Hound, owned by Ralph Fussnecker and Greg Nusbaumer of Greenville, OH, handled by Greg Nusbaumer

Our judges for this evening's festivities will be none other than Tyler Petitt as lead judge, and Jared Hutcheson as a backup judge.

Guiding our Final Four cast tonight will be Mike Commer.

We thank these individuals for their contributions and wish all of the men and hounds in the Final Four the best of luck!

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The valet is bringing around a caravan of pickups and the rumble of engines can be heard every which direction.

Things are getting ready to roll in Greencastle!

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Corey Gruver
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The Final Four Cast has officially left the building folks!

Our Final Four contestants will be hunting just East of Greencastle tonight. They shouldn't be too long in transit before things get going.

Greencastle has experienced some showers and thunderstorms over the course of the day. The sky still remains overcast in the absence of rainy weather. The storms from this evening seem to be well on their way West.

The current temperature in Greencastle is a balmy 48 degrees. Coon should be up and moving in these type of conditions.

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The Overall Nite Hunt Winner of the 2019 Purina National Championship will receive $4,500 for their victory and a year supply of Purina Pro Plan.

Breed Winners will receive $1,500 and a six month supply of Purina Pro Plan.

Additionally, all breed winners, who are active Purina Pro Club members will split a $10,000 pot. I have it on good authority that five of the seven breed winners are current members of the Purina Pro Club.

These active Pro Club members will add an additional $2,000 to their overall winnings from the event.

Quite the haul! All thanks to Nestle Purina

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The cast has arrived at their destination! That didn't take too long.

Reports indicate that a steady wind is blowing across the farmland these men intend to hunt.

I have it on good authority that the cast is waiting on Handler Rick Stretch to lace up his "big boy" boots back at the truck. We can all blame him for the delay of this epic Final Four finale I suppose

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The four males have been lined up for the race to begin!

Cut 'Em!!!!!!!!!

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In a typical "outlaw" fashion, Wild Bill swoops in to steal the first strike of the night! 100 for the Treeing Walker male.

Wild Bill is followed by Black Jack for 75, Luke for 50 and Wild Crow for 25.

All dogs are struck!

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All four hounds drive the track onward, a little left-handed of the cast. Our field reporter says the track sounds promising.

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Pump the brakes folks! Wild Crow slams down treed and is declared as such by Handler Asa Briggs for 125.

Not to be outdone by his littermate brother, Jack honors Crow for 75.

The cast makes up a short distance to the tree while the dogs do their thing. Time is running on the tree currently.

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Wild Bill declared treed for 50!

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Corey Gruver
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Time is up and the cast quickly handles three dogs on the same tree.

Let the shine time begin!!!

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Corey Gruver
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Lucky Luke is heard trailing off in the distance. This seasoned hound seems to want to escape the fray and tree a coon all on his lonesome.

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Wild Crow, Bill, and Jack have treed on a rather large poplar tree. The cast works tirelessly to locate the first scorable coon of the night...

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Final Four Cast Judge Tyler Petitt has seen eyeballs! Plus them up

Current Scores

Wild Crow - 150+

Wild Bill - 150+

Black Jack - 150+

Lucky Luke - 0

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Cast has gone back to the location Lucky Luke was last heard opening.

No sign of Luke upon the landscape. Judge Tyler Petitt begins the 8-minute clock on Luke.

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4 minutes gone on the 8...

The three leashed hounds are growing restless...

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A lonely Leopard makes his location known to the world!

Crow, Bill, and Jack are turned into the trailing hound.

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Wild Bill struck for 25, but a flag is thrown on the play!

The dog that had actually opened was Black Jack, judges confirm this call and minus Bill accordingly.


Jack struck for 25, Bill restruck for 25 and Crow follows up with 25 strike as well.

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Corey Gruver
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Lucky Luke rolls in deep to get treed! Handler Greg Nusbaumer calls him accordingly. 125 for Luke.

Meanwhile, Black Jack rolls off and gets split treed by himself! 125 for Black Jack as well.

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Wild Crow is the next hound to be declared treed, he is with his brother, Black Jack. 75 for Wild Crow.

Wild Bill, on the other hand, rolls out and gets hook with Lucky Luke for 75.

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The cast gets Crow and Jack handled and then moves out to go handle and score Luke and Bill's tree.

Sounds to me like they want to come back to the general area that Crow and Jack are treed in to continue their hunt. They'll go score the over yonder dogs first in an effort to save time and keep the hounds hunting where they want them.

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