John D
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Missouri
Posts: 4321 |
Re: Competition hunting. UKC, PKC, AKC
When its all said and done and you can't follow a hound through the woods anymore you better be able to look back and feel good about where you've been. Was it a good journey, or not?
If you were after trophies, wins, fame and money you will be disappointed. Your trophies will get chucked into the trash at some point. Your wins will get lost among the wins of many others. Fame only lasts until the next person wins and gets their picture taken. The money, no matter how much it was, was spent LONG before you won it. The obvious rewards are shallow and fleeting.
On the other hand if you conducted yourself as an honest sportsman, stood up to bullies, big mouths, and crooks you will have respect from the people who you want to respect you. The rest will hate you and want to tear you down. Thats ok and to be expected.
If you put your own blood, sweat and tears into a dog and get the dog to where it can go search for game, smell a raccoon's track, run it to a tree and let you know they have some meat and fur for you, then you've fulfilled a primal relationship between man and dog thats many thousands of years old. Deep down in our brains we believe our survival depends on what that hunting dog does for us.
If you put your dog out there for others to evaluate and took your losses with class and your wins with humility you have something to be proud of that has more substance than a trophy or a dollar.
If you contributed to the sport and helped build and support it from the bottom with a better coondog, then you probably won't go totally unnoticed. If you crook your way through nite hunts, deal in false papers, lie when it benefits you, run your mouth about subjects you know nothing about, get barred from message boards and kennel clubs, then you won't go totally unnoticed, either. So, which do you want to be noticed for?
If you have done some things right, then you will have made a positive difference. You can look back and say, "yes, it was worthwhile" and move on with head held high.
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Last edited by John D on 10-08-2012 at 05:14 PM
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