UKC Coonhound Weekly Bulletin, Edition 32
December 9, 2025
Source: Trevor Wade, Coonhound Program Manager
Email: twade@ukcdogs.com
Welcome back to the UKC Coonhound Weekly Bulletin! The temperatures are cold but the information in this bulletin is about to warm it up. Alright, I might be trying too hard. To be fair, with Grand American and Winter Classic knocking on the door, things are spicing up. Lets see what news we have today.
PAST EVENTS
It was a more action-packed weekend on the major event scene this weekend than weeks past, with three events taking place. As of today, I have results from one event in that I am typing up next. As we get reports in from the other events, their results will be added to the Coonhound Standings/Results page.
- Mississippi State Youth Championship Results
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Youth Coonhound Championship Schedule is done for the year. Those events will get back going in January. On the Major Events Schedule, there is one event left and it is this weekend. Both of those schedules have been updated on the website, just click the links on the names above to see them.
- Western English Days in Seneca, Missouri
WHATS HAPPENING?
1) The Hunting Ops team is still working on finalizing the Top Ten Bench Show Standings. Below are the reports that we are still working on getting in and processed. We will continue to send emails, letters, and make phone calls but any help would be appreciated.
CLUB NAME > DATE(S) MISSING
Alabama
TUSCALOOSA CO CHA > 10/25/2025
BLACK CREEK CHA > 10/18/2025
Georgia
POLK COUNTY COON CLUB > 5/30/2025
Illinois
SOUTHERN IL WILDLIFE ASSOC > 4/18/2025
Kentucky
LIVINGSTON CO HOUNDSMEN > 10/4/2025
MARTIN CO CC > 10/24 & 10/25/25
CERULEAN SPORTSMANS CLUB > 4/5/2025
Nebraska
TRI STATE CH > 10/3/2025
Oklahoma
ARBUCKLE CHA > 9/13 & 10/11/25
SPRING RIVER CHA > 10/18/2025
Pennsylvania
UNITED SPORTSMAN CLUB > 5/3 & 9/26/25
Texas
RIVER BOTTOM CHA > 4/5, 5/3/25
Virginia
BIG VALLEY COON CLUB > 9/26/2025
Wisconsin
WILTON ROD & GUN CLUB > 10/25/2025
West Virginia
ROCK LICK CHA > 6/20, 7/18/25
2) No new updates this week on the TOC Qualifier List. Just remember, you have to have the five cast wins on your hound, on December 31st. So my quick math tells me there are six days of hunts left to qualify. Take advantage of it. Good luck to each of you!
3) Tomorrow is the deadline to get pre-entered into the 2026 Grand American!
- I put the Grand American entry form here (click here).
- You can find a ton of other information on their Facebook page. They are really good about sharing information on there. Go to: Grand American Coon Hunt Official Event Page
- Check out the Grand American Web Page for more information.
- AND NEW THIS YEAR, they have online entry! You can enter for the Grand American right here: https://www.thegrandamericanhunt.com/
4) Speaking of Grand American, here is the entry list for the 2026 Grand American Pro Slam:
1) Kodi Cooper
2) Mikey Covington
3) David Lewis
4) Ashley Dalton
5) William Wilson
6) Zachary Turner
7) Alan Pinkston
8) Coey Watson
9) Tripp Anderson
10) Justin Allen
11) Coey Watson
12) James Brixey
13) Charlie McPherson
14) Rusty Arnett
15) Colt Perryman
16) Davin York
5) Last week I predicted that the event ad would be a go by the time this weeks bulletin was posted. Well you can find not only the event ad, but also get entered for the 2026 Winter Classic by visiting the web page here: UKC Winter Classic
6) On the event ad, you will see the Bench Show Judges for the 2026 Winter Classic and Top Ten Bench Show. You can see the formal announcement with bios of each right here, 2026 Winter Classic Bench Show Judge Announcement
7) And since we are talking about Winter Classic, be sure you get over to the UKC Shop and pre-order the new UKC Winter Classic event tee, long sleeve shirt, and online exclusive hat. They are on sale now through January 4th so get in while the gettin is good. Go here: Winter Classic Pre-Order
8) Last thing about Winter Classic for now, the event ad for the 2026 Winter Classic Pro Slam has been added to the UKC Pro Slam page. You can see ad here, 2026 UKC Winter Classic Pro Slam
9) Last but certainly not least, I want to take a moment to officially welcome Danielle Champ to UKCs Hunting Ops team! She has been helping us out a ton the past several months and as of today, she is officially a UKC Hunting Ops team member. I cant wait to see how she elevates our team.
DOG OF THE WEEK
At this point we have looked at the first hounds in the Black and Tan, Bluetick, English, and Plott breeds to make GRNITECHHOF. This week, we are going to look at not only the first Redbone Coonhound to achieve the Hall of Fame title, but the only one as of the latest update to the list. That hound is GRNITECHHOF 'PR' Jones Turnback Crk Crow Boy HTX. Lets find out a little more about him.
Name: GRNITECHHOF 'PR' Jones Turnback Crk Crow Boy HTX
Breed: Redbone Coonhound
Date of Birth: 2/1/2016
Owned by: Kim Jones of Everton, MO
Bred by: Scotty Stevens
Three-Generation Pedigree:
--- GRNITECH'PR'DELCAMP'S BARNYARD HORSE-HARRY
- GRCH GRNITECH'PR'STARK'S BARNYARD CROW
--- GRCH'PR'J&L RED ROSIE
GRNITECHHOF'PR'JONES TURNBACK CRK CROW BOY HTX
--- GRNITECH'PR'DAUGHERTY'S RED BUBBA
- NITECH'PR'RC'S YELLA RIVER DELLA
--- GRNITECH'PR'STEVE-O & CHILI'S RED FLOW
Kim didnt waste much time before hitting the competition circuit with Crow Boy. The duo achieved their first cast win in Greenfield, Missouri when Boy was only 20-months old. After a 10th Place Registered win at the 2018 Winter Classic, Crow Boy was finished to NITECH in May of 2018. 14 months later he finished to GRNITECH with wins in Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Over the next five years, Crow Boy was a model of consistency. He didn't rely on the big year where he won 25 casts, but instead he accrued cast wins in nine consecutive years. His grind for GRNITECHHOF was complete when he won his 37th Grand cast in October of 2024, making him the first Redbone Coonhound to achieve the honor worthy feat. That win is the last on his record.
Like I mentioned above, his consistency over the years is what stood out to me about his win record. He won one cast in 2017, seven in 2018, five in 2019, five in 2020, five in 2021, five in 2022, 12 in 2023, and nine in 2024. Hounds with his durability and reliability dont come around often and he will be remembered as being one heck of an impressive hound.
UKC HUNTING OPS PODCAST
This past week, part two of the Bench Show Top Reproducers dropped, with Allen and I covering the Plott Hounds, Redbone Coonhounds, and Treeing Walker Coonhounds that had sired or whelped the most Champion/Grand Champion hounds in the history of the registry. Give it a listen!
Next week on the bulletin, I will share some of the statistics I have from this series.
COONHOUND ADVISOR
One question that I seem to get more than I should is about determining if a dog has left a tree or not. Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the Rulebook that we try to apply certain situations to incorrect things when really, common sense would help a lot. This next article is one that has been posted several times over the past few decades, most recently in July of 2023. I hope it helps answer some questions for you all may have.
Legislating Tree Style
Q: What constitutes a dog leaving the tree? Ive seen judges minus dogs for dropping off the tree and daring to put their nose on the ground for a few seconds. Handlers will want it minused immediately for leaving the tree even though the dog got right back on the tree and continued treeing. My thoughts are as long they continue treeing and don't take a track and leave, there should be no minus. Is this the judges call or is there a standard to go by?
A: You are right, this is a judgement call and one that can vary depending on who the judge is on a given night. The only reference you will find in our current rulebook talking about a dogs tree style is in Rule 11(b) where it reads, Dog should not be minused tree points if he comes back a short distance to meet handler if dog goes back in and trees satisfactorily. Otherwise, it leaves it up to human interpretation. In conversations I have on the phone with people, I often tell them that a houndsman knows if a dog has left a tree or not. Let your experience be the guide. I dug up this old article that Todd Kellam wrote in 1999 that I thought you may like to look over.
I guess according to the UKC rules, the bare minimum requirement a dog must meet to be considered treed is to bark at least once every two minutes and not leave the tree.
Everyone applies the rules differently in regard to dogs leaving the tree. Many refer to the dogs nose being on the ground (implying that the dog is trailing). Some refer to being outside the umbrella of the tree. Rule 4(i) says that dogs will be minused when they have been declared treed and dog leaves tree. This is a judgement call but a dog that puts his nose to the ground at the base of the tree and then goes back to treeing will not be minused if I am judging the cast.
Whether a dogs nose is high on the bark, or on the ground has nothing to do with whether or not he has left the tree. It seems reasonable by very basic definitions that a dog can either be considered to be at the tree treeing, at the tree and not treeing, or to have left the tree altogether.
You cant put a time and a distance on every aspect of judging a cast. You could make this so impossible to judge that it couldnt be done. For example, how close (in feet) does a dog have to come to the cast and how many seconds must he stop before he can be minused for quitting a track? How many rods must dogs be away from the cast or how many decibels must their voices be down to before you can call time out for trailing out of hearing in different directions? Just two examples of the many issues that cannot be clarified with measurements. Im afraid that with some individuals, the desire to own a 130 bark per minute tree dog has caused them to place too much of an emphasis on tree style when judging a cast. The Nite Hunt rules do not legislate tree style."
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