Registered: Sep 2012
Location:
Posts: 75

Question for competition hunters , if you could give a crash course in competition hunting , on rules , strategy etc . What would be 5-10 things you would tell a youth hunter or a new hunter they needed to do to give their dog a chance to win ?

Will be interesting to see the answers ... thanks !

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Indiana
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1. Know the rules
2. Bring a dog that’s ready
3. Know the rules

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Registered: May 2008
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 3145

Know the rules
Know the rules
Know the rules
Learn to lose with dignity and without excuses
Learn to win with even more dignity

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Registered: Sep 2020
Location: Tenn -> Mich
Posts: 2485

Two things I tell every young person or novice competition hunter:

Know your dog and know the rules. If you have those two things figured out, you will be set.

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Registered: Feb 2005
Location:
Posts: 1742

1. Study the rules.....u won't know them all....but u can study them.
2. Ask ?.... no ? asked is a dum ? .
3. Enter to learn ...not to win.
4. Don't get discouraged....u will encounter a " win at all " attitude .. stay away from those handlers.
5. U will reap what u sow.
6. Ur reputation will follow u where ever u go.....so leave a "Good" one.
7. Be honest.
8.Respect the game..../ fellow competitors , often times that's difficult .

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: north ala.
Posts: 917

Know your dog and the rules

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Registered: Dec 2010
Location:
Posts: 1202

Have a good concept for the rules.

Hers the only rule you need to go by.

Bring a hound that goes hunting good and doesn’t pay attention to other dogs. Does not tree off game. Or back dogs treed wrong. It can run fast game and fall off under coon. Gets treed and stays and has them eyes. Call it for what it does and you will winway more than you loose I promise that. Find that you don’t need to know the rules to win. That’s the best advice I can give you. Worry about finding that then learn the rules.

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Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Clarksville, AR
Posts: 1075

Good topic.

I absolutely hate it when a kid feels like they got cheated because they don't know the rules, or they don't know enough about dogs to realize that theirs wasn't the best in the cast.

I'd recommend learning rules (specifically what to do with tree points for showing up late, or on slick trees, or on off game). Most questions here make it pretty obvious that even "experienced" handlers mess up scoring trees.

Depending on the age of the youth, having an adult willing to walk along is important. Way too many dads send a kid with a cast so they can go hunt themselves, and that's a really big responsibility to put on other folks.

Maybe the most important thing to address with a youth hunter is not how to handle a loss, but how to handle another hunter that can't handle a loss. It's not as common as most people think, but sore losers and idiots happen. Having a youth prepared for that may be the most important thing they learn.

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: North MO
Posts: 2352

Don't read all the crazy talk in the interwebs from people that are hardly if ever at a hunt and then go into a cast with a chip on your shoulder thinking you are going to get cheated. Just go learn, have fun, and let the chips fall where they may.

And yes......know the rules.

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: East central Illinois.
Posts: 1701

Study the rules the best you can, but you'll learn some more rules as you go. Know your dogs voice real well, by himself and with a group of dogs. The more experience you get, the better you'll do.
Don't expect to win every cast.
Enjoy yourself and the time spent with other good people and their hounds. If you stick with it and enjoy yourself, you'll make some good friends for life. Trophy's, win slips, pictures taken, money and all that doesn't amount to much compared to the friends.
Let the dog be the winner or the looser (Not you), you'll have more fun that way. You'll make more friends that way too.

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Registered: Dec 2019
Location: Illinois
Posts: 71

Know the rules. Know your dog.Call your dog for what it's doing. Know the rules. Know the rules. Know the rules. Know the rules. Pay attention. Know the rules. Just because someone's friendly, dont mean they are your buddy, you chit chat before or after the hunt, during hunt time your not out there to make friends.

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Genoa WV
Posts: 3564

Know the rules and before you enter a hunt go to a few local clubs and see if you can spectate on some casts so you'll know what it likes before you try your luck in one.

Then whenever you do enter one make sure you know your dog really good know about every move and every bark your dog makes and just stay ready and focused on your dog so you make the right calls.

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Registered: Sep 2012
Location:
Posts: 75

Great answers guys and yes I agree knowing the rules is huge , but to a new hunter the rule book can be pretty intimidating trying to figure it all out , what would be the 5-6 rules you would tell someone to definitely know ?

Granted this person knows their dog , knows how to strike and tree one , what would be the most important thing to know rules wise ?

This is where I am coming from with this , I train roping horses , and help teach people how to rope or train their horses or improve them .. and while their is a 1000 things that go into it , I can give a new person 5-6 different things that they must absolutely be able to do before they can compete . As said earlier Rome wasnt built in a day .. but one brick at A time ..

I think this is critical in growing this sport to where new people feel like they have a fighting chance .

One more question to throw at you and then I will be done

You take a great dog and new or average handler , and you take a average dog or maybe even a sorry dog , but a great handler , who wins ??

Last edited by rockin12 on 01-16-2021 at 05:11 AM

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Registered: Jul 2012
Location: AR
Posts: 293

1) know how your dog operates when hunted with dogs that are strange to him and make your calls accordingly.

2) have the dog prepared and fix the little things that can draw you minus. Example meeting you off the tree and recast.

3) Don’t jump the gun and make a bad call and draw your dog minus he doesn’t deserve.

4) call your dog with confidence and don’t let another handler make you doubt your call.

5) try to learn the dogs you are hunting against. For example if they are loners then you don’t have to worry about them covering and stealing a tree ahead of you. If they slick tree often don’t get to eager to tree your dog if they tree ahead of you. Etc.

6) keep track of the scores and call your dog conservative if you are winning and more aggressive if you are behind.

7) be a good sport. Take your minus when you deserve it and find others coons when you can. Enjoy competing not just winning. Learn what you could have done differently and what you need to work on to make your dog better.

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location:
Posts: 1176

Just reading the rules won't teach you how they are applied. Most people have to see how it is used in the field to really understand it. Being a spectator on as many cast as you can is the best way to learn the rules, and how other handlers will try to twist them. When your a spectator you don't have to worry about calling or handling your dog. It allows you to really focus on the rules.
1) Study the rules
2) Spectate
3) Know your dogs every bark
4) Start with a sound dog. (one that stays treed all night, holds pressure).
5) Learn from your mistakes as well as others.

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Registered: Dec 2019
Location: Illinois
Posts: 71

Spectating has it's good and bad, know them rules before you spectate. I cant tell you how many guys have came and we hunt with the scorecard and have them ready for a hunt. The rules are just as good as the guys you spectate.lol Just like hunting a pup with a old dog, they'll learn the wrong stuff first. And who is gonna win between good and new or average and whatever there hunting, goes in favor of experienced handler in my opinion.

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Registered: Oct 2020
Location:
Posts: 61

Know your dog.
Know the rules.
Stand up for yourself when you are being wronged.

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Registered: Oct 2020
Location:
Posts: 61

quote:

---

Originally posted by Josh Michaelis
Don't read all the crazy talk in the interwebs from people that are hardly if ever at a hunt and then go into a cast with a chip on your shoulder thinking you are going to get cheated. Just go learn, have fun, and let the chips fall where they may.

And yes......know the rules.

---

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Be honest. Mistakes happen, but admit to them. I feel it has always been more important to be honest about your dog and let the dog speak for himself.

As far as handler/dog relationship. Know and learn your dog.

As far as rules. Reading them is important but nothing replaces experience and if you see right and wrong while your learning. Repeat the right and just shake your head at the wrong.

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Registered: Feb 2012
Location: airville,pa
Posts: 2075

There has been a lot of sound advice put on here. Learn how to apply the rules is just as important as knowing the rules. So experience is necessary. Like Bruce said be honest to yourself about your dog as well as the cast members. Way to many handlers just can't except there mistakes or there dogs mistakes therefore would rather claim to have been cheated.

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Registered: Aug 2013
Location: Seneca, Mo
Posts: 5898

quote:

---

Originally posted by pamjohnson
There has been a lot of sound advice put on here. Learn how to apply the rules is just as important as knowing the rules. So experience is necessary.

---

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location: Nichols Ny
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1 Read the rules
2 And read the rules for what they say and not what you want them to say
3 Call your dog for what it does( strike it when it strikes and tree when it trees.)
4 Don't think you got cheated because you didn't win. After the hunt read the rules again and see if you have a better understanding of how they're applied.

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 214

One of the biggest things is to have your dog ready and hunted up!! During the week is the time to get them ready to go on the weekend. A wise old guy told me this, " Hunts are won during the week, not on the weekends." You will have a much better chance of doing well if the dog is in the right mode!!

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 214

One of the biggest things is to have your dog ready and hunted up!! During the week is the time to get them ready to go on the weekend. A wise old guy told me this, " Hunts are won during the week, not on the weekends." You will have a much better chance of doing well if the dog is in the right mode!!

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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: wyandotte,ok
Posts: 2114

Like a couple have said:
1. learn the rules
2. be respectful
3. always help find someone else coon for them.
4. know your dog it's every bark
5. Like Redneck mafia said do some mock hunts in what ever reg. you want to hunt in.
6. if you have a question ask most guys will help you out.
7. always be respectful

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