Fruit trees, vineyards, movie stars, sunshine, sandy beaches and beautiful sun-bleached ladies. California right? A few weeks ago I set out to my first ever trip to the Golden State of California. As we neared the City of Sacramento, I peered out the window from my birds eye view and noticed something I had not expected to see. Acres and acres of water fields. I soon realized they were rice fields. Something not common to most of us mid-western boys. On this trip I would learn there is a lot more to California then the obvious afore mentioned. After grabbing my luggage and signing a few autographs (ok, it was for my car rental) on Thursday around noon I headed north on State HWY 99 towards Gridley where I had hotel reservations for the weekend. My first stop was merely 20 minutes out of town where a few local senoritas tending a taco stand alongside the highway caught my eye. I had had a little breakfast earlier that morning at Mickey D's in KZoo but my ribs were starting to show again by this time of day. They had all the extra hot spicy's at this little Mexican lunch stand. I added a few more than normal hollow peniasto my tacos and even decided to test some of the local hot sauce setting their on the table. Wow!

Another 45 minutes or so later I arrived in the town of Gridley and checked into my room. I called Tiny Santana the President of the Nor-Cal Tree Hound Association to let him know I was in town. Tiny gave me directions over to the club which was only about five or six miles from the hotel. As I headed east to the club I noticed the beautiful mountain range known as the Sierra Nevada's in front of me. Driving down the long lane alongside an orchard back towards the club facilities I noticed a jack rabbit hopping across the lane. Something we don't get to see here in the mid-west. The whole landscape was simply beautiful and fascinating to me. The first person I met at the club was Tiny's lovely wife Chawn. After a little chat with her we went out back to meet Tiny who was wading belly deep in the pond making a few repairs getting ready for the weekends water races. We made plans to go eat that evening and then meet a few of the local club members for a hunt.

About dark thirty on Thursday Tiny loaded up 'Ole Blue and we met up with Bill McNeal and Brady Harper at a large piece of conservation hunting property littered with rice fields owned by the folks at Ducks Unlimited and world-renown investor Charles Schwab. Hunting along these rice fields bordered by native timber and hardwoods was something new for me. We cut two blues and walker female. It didn't take long before we had a coon struck but the first couple tracks ended in "pipes" as they are called by the local boys otherwise commonly reffered to as culverts or tiles back east. One thing for sure there is no shortage of "pipes" around all the rice fields in the area we were hunting. The dogs did get a coon cornered under one of the bridges for a little while but he managed to get away by way of the tall grasses known as "toolies". We did get a coon treed before it was all over but it was a whole different ballgame compared to the hunting I was used to for the most part. I found that the coon population is much greater than one might think but it's not hard to see that a hound that excells back east might need some serious acclimation before being able to hang under those conditions. A dog better be able to handle swimming water quite well for sure otherwise those California coon will have an easy edge. I also found that Brady Harper is one of the goofiest fellas you'll ever hunt with when it comes to cracking jokes and just having a good old time. It was nothing short of a blast to hunt with these guys and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The Nor-Cal Treehound Association was named as UKC #1 club when it comes to water races. Last year they averaged right at 18 dogs per event. On this weekend they had scheduled a Treeing Walker Sectional. I was really looking forward to meeting some of our western friends and getting to go out hunting on each night as well as taking in all of the weekends activities. On Friday night Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Santana fixed a dinner for all the hunters in attendance before they went to the woods. One of the guys I had the opportunity to meet was the clubs property owner and houndsman Bill Artamenko. Others in attendance included out -of-towners Roger Bilyeu and Travis and Bobby Stirek of Washington as well as the local hunters. Travis invited me to tag along on his cast that Friday night which I greatly appreciated and enjoyed. Ironically, he happened to be hunting a female that is owned by none other than one of my hometown club members in Columbia City, Indiana. Small world. The cast treed a coon right out of the box but that would be the only coon we saw for the night. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable hunt with a cast members Travis Stirek hunting Jennie, Craig Healy Jr. hunting Dutchess and Eric Ferguso hunting Jypsy. All Treeing Walker females. In the end it was Jennie named the Cast Winner.

On Saturday they had 19 entries for the Bench Show, 15 in the Field Trial and 21 in the Water Race. Pretty dog-gone good for anywhere in the country considering it was just a regular local club event. The Nite Hunt saw 15 dogs entered. On Saturday night there was a young man by the name of Jesse Cristofferson who had entered the only Grand Nite Champion in the hunt at that point. Tiny Santana had entered a dog in the Nite Champion category but after the Grand Nite entered he decided to pull out his Nite Champion and enter his Grand so Jesse would have someone to hunt with. I suggested to Tiny that if he didn't care about winning or losing I would consider handling "Ole Blue" if he wanted so that he could keep his other hound in the hunt. I had hunted with Blue on Thursday night and didn't think he would be tto difficult to call. Tiny was all for it and even set us up to hunt the same spot his wife Chawn had taken us to hunt the night before. Although we only had a two dog cast we had a ball. Jesse was hunting a dog he called Jr. and I had this 8 or 9 year old Rebel dog. Boy, we had a great time. For a little while we were thinking that we might not even get to see a coon but before it was over we had scored on two coon. It was a pleasure to meet and hunt with Jesse and think he had a good time as well. After our hunt was over Jesse and I waited alongside the road on Tiny's cast. After they showed up I think we sat there on the road with his cast and talked for what must have been over an hour. Brady Harper was in his cast so of course he was once again cracking the jokes and keeping us all rolling. Jesse's girlfriend Nikki Jackson was also on that cast. Anyone that knows her probably knows that she can hang with any of the guys out there when it comes to hunting hounds. She's also a pretty good cook I would say. That cold chicken tasted pretty good after the hunt. :) I'm sure the Master of Hounds would have been a little dissappointed to know he may have been able to get to bed a little sooner had we not spent all that time yackin' before heading back to the club. Sorry Mr. McNeal. I tried to get them to get the cards back sooner but Brady kept a yackin' away!

On Sunday I took some time to take a drive north of Gridley and then swung around to the east and took a trip up through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. What a scenic trip! It gave me a chance to reflect on the weekend and the opportunity I had to meet a lot of great folks we don't get to see at the events back east. Yes, it seems like they might almost be in another world being so far away from the mainstream of coonhunting but I found that the California houndsmen and women are no different than other hunters. They are passionate about their dogs and the love of the sport. I would like to thank each and every one of the folks I met to know I enjoyed my time with them on this trip immensly. It was no doubt one of the highlights of my travels working for the United Kennel Club. Yes, I enjoy going to many other different parts of the country also but this was an experience that will stay with me for a long time to come. I encourage you all to keep doing what you're doing. California might seem like a world away to a northeastern boy like me but when I look back on this trip I realize it really is a small world. And to all of our friends over on the other side of the Sierra Nevadas I say thank you for your hospitality and a most enjoyable weekend.

- Allen Gingerich






























My apologies for the bright pics. Guess my settings were off a little.