Hunting and Non-Hunting Judges Rule Clarification
Revised January 1, 1997

The Upcoming Events list will plainly indicate if Non-Hunting Judges are being used. Otherwise Hunting Judges will be used. One or the other must be used on all casts within a given division. For exceptions see Rule #10 of the Official Nite Hunt Honor Rules.

In casts with a Hunting Judge in which only one dog is left in cast, other cast members are encouraged to stay with cast. If Hunting Judge scratches his dog he can continue to judge the cast as a Hunting Judge, or pass the card to another member of the cast. Remaining cast members, though scratched, retain all voting privileges. If only one cast member remains, member must return to Master of Hounds for a Non-Hunting Judge to complete cast. Deadline may be extended if necessary for the cast involved.

The decision of the Non-Hunting Judge may be questioned in the field at the time the decision is made. It will be scored with a question mark (?) and taken to the Master of Hounds. The Non-Hunting Judge’s decision cannot be overturned in the field by a majority vote of cast members.

The following procedure must be followed when using Hunting Judges on a cast regardless of category:

1.The host club must designate a Hunting Judge for each cast from the entries received.

2. The Hunting Judge has complete authority and will be responsible for scoring all situations.

3. Should a situation arise where a handler questions a call that was made, or a call that should have been made but wasn’t , that handler may ask to have his question voted on by all cast members that remain with the cast at that time.

4. Majority of cast rules. Each handler must vote or their dog will be scratched. If majority decision is not reached, leave the call as it was scored by the Judge, place a question mark (?) on the card and check with the Master of Hounds. Any handler that is not satisfied with the majority of cast decision retains the right to place a question mark (?) on the card and present his question to the Master of Hounds.

5. If the matter has not been satisfactorily resolved by the decision of the Master of Hounds, a Formal Complaint may be filed by any owner or handler of a UKC registered dog entered in the UKC licensed event. If a Formal Complaint is made, request a UKC Formal Complaint form from the Master of Hounds and fill it out. It must be turned into the Master of Hounds not later than 30 minutes after the posted time of deadline for return of scorecards.