Around here anticipation is building for the UKC Winter Classic. Last January, for the first time, Batesville hosted this mega event for coon hunters, with 1,000 purebred hounds, owners and handlers gathered at the Civic Center for two days of bench shows and two nights of hunting.
They’ll be back January 23-25.

Last year dogs and hunters came from as far away as Canada.

But those hounds have nothing on some of our own.

At last year’s event I met lots of local dogs entered in the hunt and the bench show.

Frank Wright of Pope and Chuck Henson of Batesville showed a pair of registered American Leopard Coonhounds. “Wright’s 4 Oak Deuce” won Best Male of Breed and “Wright’s 4 Oak Lil Ann” won her class.

In addition, Don Gregg of Batesville won fourth place in the nite hunt (that’s how coon hunters spell it) with his English/Blue Tick, “Main Street Blues Man.” The win made Gregg’s dog a Nite Champion, a big deal.

I also met Lady, a fine champion owned by Jerry McCullar, and Buster and Sally, Walker hounds owned by Tyler and Shelton Hawkins. Rubert Morgan’s Judy is a Bluetick. Rick Stevenson’s Boots has been a winner in local shows.

I feel I have only scratched the surface. I want to meet more Panola coonhounds. I’ve become a groupie.

If you have a Black and Tan, American Leopard, Bluetick, English Coonhound, Plott, Redbone or Treeing Walker, call me. Even if you’re not planning to participate in the hunt.

We just want to introduce some of these fine dogs in The Panolian, sort of dog-in-the-street interviews. We want to take their pictures, too.

Several of our more creative folks on the staff came up with a Coondog King and Queen Contest, but we don’t have any entrants. We’ll waive the entry fee. We just want to let you show off your dog.

A number of local folks bought puppies at last year’s Winter Classic. The outside barn was filled with purebred pups so cute that some of you couldn’t resist. You know who you are. I want to hear from you, too.

If you are a new convert to coonhunting as a result of exposure in last year’s Winter Classic, let me hear from you.

Having spent two days in and around the Civic Center, I can attest that it’s contagious.
Not that I’ve taken up coonhunting.

But we did buy one of those powerful lights. And I did love the sound of those hounds baying inside and outside the Civic Center.

I learned that in coon hunting, dogs earn points by the order in which they “strike” or find the scent of a coon on a trail and “tree,” or force the coon up a  tree and hold it there. The dogs have distinct vocal signals for both actions, usually a “bawl” for the strike and a shorter, persistent “chop” bark for the tree. So all that vocalizing is important.

Last year 100 “casts” or groups of four dogs were guided by volunteers to coon-hunting spots all over North Mississippi and as far as Marianna, Ark. In all, 885 dogs participated in the two nite hunts at last year’s Winter Classic.

The winner was a Black and Tan male from Ohio, “Bad to the Bones Black Hawk,” who scored 1,175 points, hunting in Tunica County.

The top dog in the bench show, where the dogs were judged on physical attributes and conformity to breed standards, was Midnight Brindle Bambi, a Plott from Pennsylvania.
“We drove 16 hours to get here,” Bambi’s owner, Connie Hogan, told me.

“Was it worth it?” I asked her.

“Yes!” she said.

Now, I know how crazy I am about my own mutts, and they have no championships to brag about. So those of you who own coondog champions or wannabees, call me. Let’s show them off!
563-4591.