This week on the UKC Hunting Ops Podcast, Allen flies solo once again, this time from this year's big beagle weekend: Clash of Champions and Hunting Beagle Nationals Finals!

Held in Zanesville, Ohio at the Muskingham CO Fairgrounds for the 4th year in a row, Clash of Champions had a total purse of $35,000 up for grabs. And the overall winner, 17-year-old Eli Watson and his beagle Opie owned by Joe Merrit, took home the big prize of $10,000!

The Hunting Beagle Nationals is an annual "Big Five" event established in 1992. Three degrees are awarded to Nationals winners -

1) Winner of the Grand Category in the hunt receives the distinguished degree of NATIONAL GRAND HUNTING BEAGLE

2) Winner of the Grand Category in the show receives the distinguished degree of NATIONAL GRAND SHOW CHAMPION

3)  Winner of the Junior Category in the hunt receives the distinguished degree of NATIONAL JUNIOR CHAMPION (UKC'S NEWEST DEGREE)

Every winner has an incredible story to tell, this is an episode not to be missed not by just beagle enthusiasts, but all dog enthusiasts!

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Today Trevor and Allen conclude their discussion on our updated running rules for our Hunting Beagle Program. In this episode, the guys are taking you through rules 9, 10, and 12 (General Information, Scorecards, and Questions, Panels, Appeals, Misconduct) in the final installment of our three-part series on the Hunting Beagles.

If you’re a hunting beagle fanatic, this series is surely one not to miss!

To learn more about our Hunting Beagle Program, visit: Beagles | United Kennel Club (UKC)

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Today, Trevor and Allen continue their series on the all-time top reproducers. In the final installment of this series, they are breaking down the top reproducing Redbones, Plotts, and English Coonhounds. 

Allen also discusses some of his experiences hunting with some of the top dogs discussed. 

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It's the episode you've been waiting for! Today Allen and Trevor interview the finalists from the 2025 Tournament of Champions! It started with over 1400 dogs and by the end of the weekend, we had a new champion. And her name is Little Ann.

Held in Greencastle, Indiana at the beautiful 3 Fat Labs Wedding and Event Barn, our finalists endured three days of intense competition against some of the top Coonhounds in the world! You'll hear from the owners, handlers, and family members of the 3 dogs who climbed (and barked) their way to the top: Maxed Out Dow Jones, Pine Bottom Electric Cowboy, and the eventual champ Willy's Little Ann.

So, settle in for great conversations, laughs, and memories from a tournament that will go down in the history books!

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Today Allen and Trevor continue their discussion on our updated running rules for our Hunting Beagle Program. In this episode, they are taking you through rules 5-8 and 11 (Scratching Offenses, Time Outs, Tie-Breakers, Cast Winner Criteria, and the Judges, Handlers, Spectators rules) in the second part of our three-part series on the Hunting Beagles. If you’re a hunting beagle fanatic, this series is surely one not to miss! It's also a great way to prepare for Clash of Champions and Hunting Beagle Nationals coming up this weekend! 

To learn more about our Hunting Beagle Program, visit: Beagles | United Kennel Club (UKC)

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Today Allen is flying solo recapping the Cur and Feist World Championship. You'll hear interviews from all of the big winners, sometimes taking place in his truck, and Allen takes you through all the major events from the weekend! You'll also get insight into just how hard these dogs and handlers work and what this event means to them! Spoiler alert: it's A LOT!

Other than the Dog of the Year program rivaling it, the World Championship is the most prestigious title sought for Curs and Feist. 

UKC's Feist program has seen a steady increase of interest and support in recent years. Held in Tell City, Indiana, for the third year in a row now, there are actually two separate World Championships held simultaneously: one for Curs and the other for Feist. Prior to 2017 Curs and Feist competed together in the same hunt but were separated due to their hunting styles are generally quite different. Curs tend to use their noses more and "hunt out" further while Feist tend to use their eyes and ears more and tree game via sight. 

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Today Trevor and Allen continue their series on the all-time top reproducers. In part two of this series, they are breaking down the top reproducing Treeing Walker Coonhounds and the relatively newer X Breeds.

You will also hear Allen tell of his experiences hunting with some of the top dogs discussed.

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In this week’s episode, Allen and Trevor are back in the studio together to discuss the upcoming Coonhound Tournament of Champions, which will be held on April 10-12, 2025, in Greencastle, Indiana.

We start by sharing what it takes to get an invitation to the big event. We had 1,491 total qualified dogs from 2024—a record high for us! Tune in to hear the breed, sex, and state breakdown for this year along with trends over the past few years.

Next, we outline the 922 regional entries across six regions and hit on the top cast winners of each breed for the year. We also dump heaps of need-to-know information for anyone getting ready for the big event.

We close the show by reflecting on the origin and history of this “new” TOC framework that we’ve been working on for the last five years.

We also want to thank our field reps and affiliate clubs for their time and all their help to make this event happen!

For the list of qualified dogs, tournament rules, FAQs, and more information about the 2025 TOC, visit: https://www.ukcdogs.com/ukc-tournament-of-champions

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In this week’s episode, Allen is reporting from Kentucky at the 2025 Dog of the Year National Runoff, and annual event that showcases the dogs with the most cast wins from the previous year, for both curs and feists. Allen walks us through the Top 7 cur and feists heading into the runoff and he walks us through the final results.

With interviews, first we hear from Doug Marlow and the dogs he keeps now and what he started with. He also shares his insights on his breeding program and talks about his participation in competition hunting with dogs, which started at age 13. We also learn why he moved from beagles and coonhounds to focusing on squirrel dogs.

Next up is Kevin Cable, fresh from winning the final cast of the cur running with Burley. Kevin shares how he spent a few years looking for a good squirrel dog before he picked up Burley, who won the DOY last year, too. We also hear from Kevin’s son who is a passionate young squirrel hunter.

For feist fanciers, Allen visits with brothers Mike and Marty Kelley. They talk about getting ready for the event and their experience at the running. They also mention their approach to their breeding program and reflect on some of their best dogs they’ve ever owned. Mike offers two very important tips for raising a squirrel dog pup. He then leaves us with the difference between a dog that will tree squirrels and a squirrel dog.

Last on the mic is Vance Plante who sits down with Allen right after his win with Robber to take home the DOY for the feist division. Vance talks about going to many hunts and steep competition along the way and coming up on top this time, after the second year coming into the event in the bye seat. He also mentions how he keeps his dogs in the woods and conditioned throughout the year.

See more about our squirrel dog program: https://www.ukcdogs.com/cur-feists

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In this week's episode, we're rerunning our most popular and most downloaded episode of all time. We're throwing it back to Ep. 67, recorded live at Autumn Oaks 2023, when Allen and Trevor sat down with very special guest Steve Fielder to discuss the history of UKC Nite Hunts. This is a fantastic episode that any student of the coonhound game should absolutely listen to!

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