By Rita Howell  and John Howell

They came. They barked. They went home with trophies.

About 1,000 registered coonhounds… and their owners, handlers and families… traveled to the Batesville Civic Center over the weekend for the United Kennel Club’s 26th annual Winter Classic coon hunt and bench show.

It was the first time the event, one of the UKC’s premier competitions, has been held in Batesville.

UKC President Wayne Cavanaugh of Kalamazoo, Mich., said that he estimated the Winter Classic to have brought an economic impact of $1 million into the Batesville area economy. He said that within five years, he expects the impact to grow to the $2.1 million experienced by Richmond, Indiana for UKC’s Autumn Oaks event during the Labor Day weekend.

The 2013 Winter Classic set a record for the event with the biggest bench show and the biggest night hunt ever.

“That’s the first year,” he said.

Cavanaugh said the Batesville location attracted many hunters from Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.

“They get to meet people from other areas,” Cavanaugh said. “They’ve known of each other and now they get to meet.”

License tags in the Civic Center parking lot gave evidence of just how far some of the participants came: New York State, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania. Two hunters came from Canada.

“I’ve met some incredible people,” Burns Barbecue owner Sidney Burns Jr. said. He said people from Indiana, Illinois and Canada were among diners who visited his restaurant during the Winter Classic weekend.

The winners

The overall winner of the hunt was a Black and Tan male from Ohio. “Bad to the Bones Black Hawk,” owned by Dean Miller and Timothy Waters of Berlin, Ohio, scored 1,175 points Saturday night, hunting in Tunica County.

A Batesville hunter, Don Gregg, came in fourth among registered (non-titled) dogs after Main Street Blues Man, his English/Blue Tick coon hound, earned 375 points.

“It made him a Nite Champion,” Gregg said.

About 100 casts (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 were registered for the nite (sic) hunts (held Friday and Saturday night.)

The guides were provided by seven UKC-affiliate coon hunting clubs, including the Tinside Club in Panola County.

The hounds were scored on tracking and treeing raccoons. The coons are left in the tree once the dogs have been scored.

Father and son Jim and Haydn Coleman of Leesville, LA hunted south of Coffeeville on Friday night. Haydn, 15, said that the dogs in his cast “treed in den trees” where coons had remained for much of the day during the rain. “My dog treed but got out of hearing and the eight minutes got him,” Haydn added, referring to the time period allowed to reach the treed coon.

“The venue is great; it’s better than the world hunt,” Jim Coleman said.

Jody Bray of Cabot, Arkansas, hunted in Panola County, about 17 miles distant from the Civic Center and reported a good hunt, scoring on six coons. When he returned from the hunt about midnight, his wife bathed their grand champion Blue Tick for an appearance in Saturday morning’s bench show.

There were 217 dogs entered in bench shows in the Civic Center arena Friday and Saturday.

The overall bench show champion was Midnight Brindle Bambi, a Plott owned by Scott and Connie Hogan of Windber, Pennsylvania.

“We drove 16 hours to get here,” Connie said.

Was it worth it?

“Yes!” she said.

The Plott is one of seven coonhound breeds eligible for the Winter Classic events. More prevalent are Treeing Walker Hounds, Blue Ticks and Black and Tans. Also entered were American Leopards, Redbones and English Coonhounds.

Sharing the arena floor were many vendors who offered lights, tracking devices, clothing and boots for the coon hunting sport.

If what you needed was a dog, there were plenty of registered hounds and puppies for sale in the barn located next to the civic center. Posters advertised the championships obtained by the pups’ ancestors.

“I think it’s going to turn more people around here into coon hunters,” Brad Clark observed. He served as a guide both nights.

“I had a friend who bought coon dog puppies and he’s never coon hunted.”

Mayor Jerry Autrey said Monday that determining just how many people came through the Civic Center over the weekend was difficult. Admission was free and spectators and participants–and dogs–were coming and going throughout the day Friday and Saturday.

Autrey said that UKC vice president for media Tanya Raab had estimated, judging from the Friday crowd, that 10,000 would come through by the end of the weekend.

The tally for the economic impact of the Winter Classic?

“We’ll probably have to wait for the sales tax report to determine that,” Autrey said.

The January sales tax report will be released in March, but the restaurant and tourism tax data will be released in February.