New judges in Mid-West

[WELLS WOODS]

Young judges looking for a chance to get your name out there in the Mid-West, post your name & what you like & dislike in a hound. The Mid-West is always looking for new blood that understands the rulebook & hounds & enjoys judging. We need honest guys that can judge on foot if needed & are not in a big hurry to finish the trial as soon as possible. Win or lose, Mid-West beaglers want & deserve their hound to be looked at hard & given every chance to prove itself. With smaller entries, there should be no hurry to speed through packs. You can't make sound decisions without seeing a certain amount from each pack & hound. Men that respect the sport enough to want to be sure the best hounds place & win, will use just about every bit of daylight whether entries are small or large. Guys that would rather be somewhere else, let some of these younger guys with the desire to prove themselves have a chance. I saw a good young judge, Shawn White judge a couple weeks ago & thought he showed a lot of grit & did all he could to see every bit of the action possible. Let's hear of some other guys that believe they can help our Federation by judging. A lot of these older judges are tired & would & should welcome the next generation to come in & do their duty.

[pabstman]

Hey thanks for the compliment. These hounds have a big place in my heart and have for a long time. I really enjoy the sport and will be more than happy to judge more as my family/work schedule will allow. Thanks again!

[J.C. Blair]

I judged a derby a couple weeks ago and had a blast. Saw some really good young prospects. And I try to volunteer every chance I can get to Marshall with experienced judges to learn as much as I can. Thing I like about the midwest is that if you leave Em on the ground long enough they will separate themselves and the cream will rise to the top. I enjoy a dog that can lock on and roll. One that can turn one out of a hard driving pack, but has the patience to really stick it out in the hard checks too. Worst thing a dog can do is mess up my rabbit race over and over. I like an accountable dog, just like I am out rabbit hunting. I really am enjoying the midwest. Great bunch of guys. That's a condensed version lol. I hope to maybe get more opportunities to help out and maybe do some more judging cause I really enjoyed it.

[wildcatfan0309]

Mr blair done a fine job in the derby trial
My dogs wasnt ready but i took em anyway
And he picked one up and the other didnt make winners pack
which is exactly what needed to be done
Like to see him scheduled to judge in some up coming trials
He likes the kinda dog that midwest is meant to promote

[WELLS WOODS]

Keep them coming. Can you ditch the horse if needed & do what ever it takes to stay on the dogs ? Run them hard, every cast ,no matter how long it takes to get enough score to make the right decisions. Sign up.

[tom summers]

Greg
This a good post. Lots of guys out there claiming to look for judging jobs.here is thier chance.
Tom

[TrlBustinBeagle]

Greg this is a good way to get new judges names out there but there is one problem guys are over looking. If you look at the current judges that are being used, they are the guys that clubs know will be at the trials week in and week out cause they are running something that weekend. The newer judges have to want to show up week in and week out so that people can see that they truly want to help out. Just my opinion.

[WELLS WOODS]

That's right. We need judges that want to judge week after week whether they're running any dogs or not. Clubs should at least pay for their gas though. I guess it's A select few that really judge for the right reasons. I loved the houndwork & finding the best hound no matter how long it took or how many we had to bring back to the winners pack. I always brought back nine to a winners pack & had a couple on the bubble if something measured out. Why, because I wasn't smart enough to pick the best hounds without watching them run for a long time. And if I though I might have been wrong about a hound or didn't get to see enough of the running in every pack, I would load that winners pack with the hounds that ran a good rabbit & showed consistent checkwork & could possibly be a contender. Bringing more dogs back left less room for human error. The more I got to see every hound, the more sure I could be about it's ability. Seems like nowdays, dogs make a half circle & these professionals can tell which hounds need picked up & are ready for the next pack. If they have to get off the horse, they just go by the 5 minutes of running they saw & make decisions on that. I liked to get in right with the dogs & by the end of a pack feel like I've done everything possible to be able to make sound decisions. I might be bleeding from my face & ears but it will heal. If my only critera for selecting judges is that if they come they will bring a bunch of dogs, then we are bound for failure. I've heard guys tell club officials that if they get a certain judge, they wouldn't come & bring all their entries. Just because the judge while honest, didn't like their style of rough dogs & were too conservative for them. This is bad for our sport & Federartion. Clubs need to elect judges that are honest & able to be athletic enough to stay up with the dogs pretty well & the public will come. Judges that think they are so good that they don't have to see a lot of running to pick the best hounds or are so knowledgeable that they know hounds 7,8 &9 have no chance against their top 6 in their mind that they only need to call a 6 dog winners pack is ignorance at it's finest.

[TrlBustinBeagle]

It's not that the clubs only criteria for picking judges is the fact that they are bringing alot of hounds, it's the fact that the clubs know that those guys will show up when scheduled to judge simply because they will already be there with whatever they are trialing. If you are a new judge and don't show your face or make it a known point that you are reliable than how can you blame clubs for not using you as a judge?

[WELLS WOODS]

That's why I made this post. I'm looking for new young judges that know dogs & the rulebook to make it known they will show up. We need more reliable judges so we won't have to pick inferior judges just because they will show up. This is a chance for new guys to get in the judging circle & prove they have what it takes. There may be some of the best potential judges out there that could put our Association field trials on a new level of excellence. No one is coming back to run under a judge that isn't giving 100% & clearly isn't seeing most of the running or calls a pack after 15-20 minutes.

[WELLS WOODS]

Tony Eyers gives 100 %, Dallas Russell, Joe Clark, John Mullins, Ron Conroe, Tom Summers, Scott Music, Shawn Fetty, Rob Fuller, Earl Rice, Brandon Whitis, Steve Bailey ,Roy Noe, Jimmy Roark, Kevin Wethington,Matt Marple, Ronnie Robinson, Jamie Blair,Denny Dugan. etc.. They will give it their all from what I've seen, but they can't judge every trial & some don't judge anymore. I encourage clubs to look for some new young guys maybe from inside their own club. Chad Blair & Mike McGuffey want to judge; give them a try & Shawn White will definitely satisfy handlers with his effort & Davey Crocket seems like a good guy & looks like he could keep up. Call (606) 364-3929 or PM me & tell me how much you know about the rulebook & how you think a dog should run; good & bad , your health & athleticism , etc. & I'll send a list to every club if I think you deserve a chance.

[J.C. Blair]

I'll add to what has been brought up about attending a lot of trials. I don't get to travel a lot due to having two kids under 2 years old which limits my time. But I do try my best to attend local and help when I can. I am startin to run some more in midwest. I understand you have to show up to get recognized and I am close to a bunch of clubs here in Ky, which helps. But also understand that a lot of us work 50 plus hours a week and quite frankly I can't attend every trial comin n goin. I'd be doing good to go to half. It's not the fact I don't want to, but I can't do it because I just simply can't afford it really. Can't help that fact.

I appreciate the good words from Josh and Greg. And thanks to Mid KY for letting me be apart of things and givin me a chance. That's all anyone can ask for.

[Farm dog]

Greg, it's called small pack option. You can have 9 in the winners pack but nothing makes it mandatory

[WELLS WOODS]

Well I judged for twenty years & I've always found 9 dogs worthy of making the winners pack. Most dogs never run head to head at a trial until the winners pack. I want a hound to prove he can handle the pressure of a larger pack. These dogs come from hare country where they run 30 at one time, surely a FC quality hound can handle a pack as small as 9. Plus, it gives more people their money's worth. If you have a few hounds that are really close in second series, don't try to guess which one is the best, bring them all back if you have room so you can run them longer. Of course the handlers that make the winners pack, want as few as possible; it increases their odds of placing & judges want a smaller winners pack so the pack might run smoother & it makes them look better for the gallery. The best method to avoid human error as a judge is to thin them down as slowly as possible. I watched a trial at White Water one year; they brought back 9 to the winners pack & had IFC Stoney Hills Gator on the bubble if something measured out. Well, one measured out so Gator made the winners pack & ended up placing 3rd. We never had a winners pack that didn't have 9 dogs that I can remember for many years. I don't know who started the small winners pack theory, but I don't like it. There must have been a reason the AKC rulebook allows 9. I think it is to make sure all the good ones go head to head eventually & if you can't find 9 nice hounds at a Mid-West trial, you are not looking hard enough in my opinion. From my experience, 9 "good" dogs will gel just fine on a cottontail. Small winners packs makes me think the judges already know who the favorite is. All the previous score is supposed to be history when the winners pack begins. It's a fresh new ballgame from then on.

[Mapel Valley Kennels LLC.]

Greg great post but dont make judging any harder than they have its not only knowing dogs , its about knowing rules. Next thing somebodys gonna say is buddy judging before ya turn em loose..