Putnam County hosting first-ever UKC Tournament of Champions this weekend

Friday night, 64 of the top coonhounds in the nation are converging on Putnam County.

By early Sunday morning, one dog’s owners will be leaving 3 Fat Labs Wedding and Event Barn with $50,000 more in the bank.

The community is playing host to the first-ever United Kennel Club (UKC) Tournament of Champions, with a $200,000 purse to be split among the 64 entrants.

“This is the largest prize in UKC history,” Director of Hunting Operations Allen Gingerich said. “I can also say that $50,000 is the largest monetary prize for a licensed hunt in the history of the industry.

The event is truly a tournament of champions, as dogs had to have five wins at UKC-licensed events in 2020 to even qualify for the regional competitions, hosted at five sites around the country three weeks ago.

“All the dogs here are actually champions,” Gingerich said.

The top 64 performers from regionals were chosen to come to Greencastle for the elimination event.

The hunt will be performed in casts, or groups, of four dogs and their handlers, along with a judge and a local guide.

The guides will take their casts from 3 Fat Labs to various locations throughout the county — where owners have already approved their presence — for the two-hour hunts.

Once each of the 16 casts is done on Friday, 48 non-winners will be sent home, with a $1,000 prize each.

The remaining 16 dogs will hunt again, in four casts, on Saturday night, with 12 sent home with prizes of $3,500 each.

The top four dogs will hunt again late Saturday night, or more likely early Sunday morning, with the remaining $100,000 to split among them.

Fourth place is $10,0000, third is $20,000, second is $30,000 and the top prize is $50,0000.

Gingerich also emphasized that no raccoons will actually be shot during the two-night event.

Rather, the dogs are judged on how quickly they strike on a trail and then how quickly they have their game treed.

However, the speed factor can cut both ways, as Gingerich explained that those dogs that strike and tree their game more quickly stand to lose more points should the judge find no raccoon in the tree after three minutes.

While coon hunting is certainly not an in-person spectator sport, those who wish to follow the action this weekend may do so at the UKC YouTube page: www.youtube.com/user/ukcdogs.

Hailing from across the Midwest and South (with one outlier from Utah), the 64 dogs represent six of the seven coonhound breeds recognized by the UKC — treeing walker, English, bluetick, American black and tan, redbone and leopardhound.

While just six of the competitors are from Indiana, and none local, the fact that Putnam County is playing host to such a prestigious event is a credit to the area.

“We’ve selected this location based on the abundance of game in the area,” Gingerich said. “And second, it is considered a central location where you have good game.”