Jason Himes & Chad Spradlin: National Champs, Autumn Oaks, & Split Treein Trigger

This weeks episode is all about your 2024 PKC National Champions. Jason Himes (owner) and Chad Spradlin (handler) sit down with hosts Bryce Matthews & Steven Basham to recap the run they made with their hound Split Treein Trigger. This team has made quite an impression upon the competition coonhound circuit lately and have no plans of slowing down. Bryce & Steven wrap things up with recaps of this years UKC Youth Nationals event and preview the upcoming UKC Autumn Oaks event held in Richmond, IN. This is an episode jam packed with fellowship and information that you are not going to want to miss!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Canines are our passion.

(00:10):
They are our addiction.
They are our way of life right down to the very core and without them we would be lost.
The canines of this world really are something to behold.
They assist us at work, they accompany us at home, and they perform for us in the field.
No matter where we go, they are by our side.

(00:32):
Canines really are a ride or die and for that we are grateful.
This podcast will showcase working canines of various breeds and disciplines as we search
for those canines and their handlers who are always striving to be the best at what they
do.
Those who are always grinding.
Those who are always pushing the limits.

(00:52):
Those who are always dogging.
Join us on our adventures as it is sure to be a wild ride.
I'm your host, Bryce Matthews.
And I'm your co-host, Stephen Basham.
And this, this is Semper Doggin.

(01:23):
The Semper Doggin podcast is proudly presented to you by Froggy Bottom Outdoors.
Froggy Bottom Outdoors is the newest outdoor and hunting supply, habitat management, and
livestock feed provider in the Midwest.
With a wide variety of products, a unique business model, and a dedicated team of individuals
who are eager to provide their customers with an unparalleled shopping experience, you will

(01:45):
not have to search any further than Froggy Bottom Outdoors.
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has you covered from the farm to the woods.
Visit froggybottomoutdoors.com today and follow them on Facebook to see how they can help

(02:09):
you.
Not finding what you're looking for online?
No problem.
Feel free to give the store a call at 765-330-2098.
The team at Froggy Bottom Outdoors is excited to get to know you and will be glad to answer
any questions you may have.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Semper Doggin podcast.

(02:35):
Guys, tonight I am joined with a crew of people starting off none other than your co-host,
Mr. Steven Basham.
How are you, brother?
A little under the weather today.
I took a long nap.
You know, hopefully get through this, get back out into the woods, been hunting pretty hard.
Well, you must not feel any better than you look because you ain't looking very great

(02:56):
either.
Man, I look the part though.
I am the knowledge of this podcast.
Oh, gosh.
Oh, man.
Well, Basham, he recruited a couple other guys to join us today.
We got Jason Himes and Mr. Chad Spradlin with us tonight.
And guys, we are going to talk about the how they've been on a run with Mr. Split Tree
and Trigger.

(03:16):
So fellas, how are you tonight?
Welcome to the podcast.
Doing good.
How are you?
Fantastic.
Fantastic.
All right, guys.
Well, like I said, Basham recruited these guys and they're kind of down from his neck
of the woods down there in Kentucky, I do believe.
So we're going to let Basham take the reins on this race and see where we can go with
this.
Like I said, this podcast is going to be, you know, kind of just telling the story of

(03:38):
a dog and maybe a couple of guys that people might not be familiar with that they're not
the biggest names that you see every single weekend in and out in the winners list, but
they've got a hell of a story to tell.
So that's what we're here to do.
Talk about Mr. Jason Himes, his dog, Split Tree and Trigger and the man behind the reins,
Chad Spradlin.
So Basham, why don't you just take it on over, brother?
Yeah.
So me and Bryce, we're sitting here thinking of we were going to do a podcast.

(04:03):
And I know that, you know, I had been on social media and seen where nobody had really jumped
on and got Mr. Himes on here to talk about Trigger.
Trigger kind of came out of nowhere.
I think he ended up, you know, everybody that's going to listen to this podcast knowing because
he won the PKC Nationals and he comes from Eastern Kentucky.

(04:28):
He's owned by Mr. Jason Himes and we're just going to jump right into it.
Jason, why don't you just kind of go into what he is out of and, you know, what he was
like as a pup.
He's out of Willie and Wiley Marshall's ZZ Top Female.

(04:49):
I purchased him from Matthews Franco at 10 months old for my daughter, which was hunting
with me every night back in 21.
And then she got to dating and quit hunting.
I put him on the back burner.
It just took him every now and then.
January the 1st of 23 made his 40th night of ever being in the woods.

(05:14):
Yeah.
Wow.
So really, this dog was allowed the opportunity to just kind of sit and mature.
You know, you had him as a pup at 10 months old.
What was he doing?
The third night I took him out, he, the third night I took him out, he was a couple hundred

(05:37):
yards right handed, a couple hundred yards left handed.
I see a coon sitting up in a tree.
And I mean, the coon's been there for 30 minutes.
I tell my daughter, I said, he's coming through that field tracking, but he ain't saying a
word.
And he goes over and trees that coon that I know has been sitting there for 30 minutes.
I was like, this dog's got potential.
Yeah.

(05:58):
And then I just put him on the back burner when my daughter quit hunting because I had
too many other dogs I was fooling with.
And finally what I was getting at was one of the best dogs I've ever been in the woods
with was never in the woods this first night of his life till he was two year old.

(06:19):
And I was kind of hoping that would play a fix with him.
And it seems to be doing pretty good.
Hey, you might have just hit a wonderful magic trick of your own, allowing the dogs to mature
a little bit.
That's something that you don't see.
I know my experiences from that, my dad had an old blue dog that he didn't take until

(06:41):
he was about two years old and turned out to be one of the better dogs.
So early on he got put on the back burner until about 2023.
Then what happened with him?
Well, I started putting him in PKC hunts.
I won 14 out of 16 with him.

(07:02):
The two I lost was because I was afraid to strike him under the minute.
It was my fault.
He beat the dogs, but I beat him by not doing my part right.
And I said, dang, I may have something right here.
Just kept on laying him in there and he just kept on winning.
Took him to the tournament of champions last year, doubled up at the zones, high scoring

(07:25):
dog Thursday night of the top 96.
Friday night in the top 24 had first track, first three.
The second three was a denture.
And they minus me on a legit denture.
The hole in his sides was softball.

(07:46):
Those are the breaks that are hard to swallow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I want, I requested it.
Marked a three, want to bring a panel back out in the woods, but in that kennel club,
it don't happen.
Not going to happen in UKC.
You ain't getting that panel.
No, no, no, no.
So it was a bull crap break.

(08:07):
So when did Chad, did you, were you handling at the tournament champions or did you come
along just before the PKC nationals?
Let's get Chad introduced into this story somehow.
I was with him.
I was back up handler.
Okay.
So when did you take over the reins on this dog?
Cause you've been handling them for a while, right?

(08:28):
Actually it's tournament champions that year.
I was handling Trixie.
We had two dogs in it, his female that he owns and trigger.
And I got beat out early and then I back up handled for him with trigger.
And then after that, I think it was what a couple of months later I started handling
trigger for Jason.
I started pushing him hunts and stuff and running the PKC state race and stuff with

(08:52):
him.
We had him, what I believe was top three of the state race last year.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kentucky is a, yeah, it's a, it takes, it takes a dog to be number one, doesn't it?
Yeah.
For sure.

(09:12):
You can believe that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You sound like you got some experience down there, brother.
Yeah.
No, no.
I know.
If you look at the state race, I think the dog went in the state race right now has got
like 7,000 and open money.
No way.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(09:33):
All right.
Keep rolling.
I'm going to look up some statistics.
Keep going.
I ain't going to get into that.
Yeah.
That's another story.
Yeah.
All right.
So Jason, why don't you, why don't you take us through the very, from the very beginning
of your run at the PKC nationals?
Cause this is kind of where you and trigger, I guess, I don't want to say got put on the

(09:54):
map because you've been around this sport for a long, long time, but this is where you
guys signed, sealed, delivered and did it with style.
So let's start from the beginning and walk us through Chad and I want your input on how
things kind of went to.
All right.
Well, the first night of the qualifiers in Paducah, I handled and the dog looked good.

(10:17):
He, he made a tree that they asked me how to score it.
I told him, I said, there's no cone.
It's minus.
Little did I know that I was going to circle on their next tree that looked just like his,
but I mean, there's no cone.
So I minus my own.

(10:38):
You said, how you scored?
I said, minus there's no cone, but long story short, we get baits at night.
So I let Chad start handling the next night and you can walk them through from there.
Well, I started handling the next night.
We doubled up, uh, went to nationals one Friday night, doubled up Friday night.

(11:01):
And then walk us through Friday night.
Do you not remember who all you drew, what kind of cash you had?
Uh, Friday night to see here.
I believe Friday night early I draw a Spice girl.
No.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I draw a Spice girl and, uh, we battled back and forth.

(11:22):
It was between me and me and him, uh, come down to the last tree.
I had a den on the last.
Um, if he had a CUNY, he beat me, but if he had a den, I beat him.
So just look, have it.
Everybody knows Spice girl how she is.
Just look, have it.
She had a den, couldn't get the cone to look out of it.

(11:43):
So I won there and then like I would draw, wipe out Z and, uh, somebody else.
I can't remember.
Well, anyway, we turned loose right out of the truck, trigger slammed the cone for a
hundred, 125 at it.

(12:05):
Uh, wipe out Z, got tree.
Before we got to his tree, he left and we started back towards, I can't remember the
other guy we started with.
We started back towards his dog and wipe out Z's.
He blowed out.
He wound up withdrawing.
We go to this other guy's dog.

(12:26):
He was trade.
It was a circle tree.
Anyway, he pulled him off that tree, recut him.
It goes back to the tree.
He jerked him off of it again and he goes back to it again.

(12:47):
Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
Bad break.
So that was the end of that.
Yeah.
He's done that.
Bad break here.
And then the final round was, it was just, well, you say it is a good hunt.
Yeah.
We watched it on live or I did at least.
I don't know.
Basin did, but yeah, sure.
It did.

(13:07):
Yeah.
It was a clinic.
It was a clinic.
So Jason kind of go into that, you know, obviously trigger is a type of dog that if you put him
in cones, he can really put on a clinic.
What, what type of, what type of ability does he have?
Have to be able to do that.
Like what type of a dog is he?

(13:28):
He's just a live war.
It seems like the stepper competition he's in, the better he operates.
That's what I've been noticing here lately.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He, a lot of people think I'm joking when I say this, but he's got such a good and old

(13:49):
attack and bounce for me.
He laughed at me the first two or three times I told him this and I proved him wrong.
You can be driving down the road and if that dog bark at 70 mile an hour, if he barks in
the box, you stop, you back up to where he barked at and you let him loose.
But then a minute he'll have a red hot cone stroke.
Yeah.
I mean he's got that type of nose.

(14:12):
Yeah.
We was at Shelby County hunting and Chad told me, I told him, he said, once you make it
some buck hush.
I said, he's smelling cones.
Yeah.
He said, well back me up right here and I'll show you.
I proved him wrong three times in a row and he ain't laughed at me no more.
True story ain't it Chad?
Yeah.

(14:32):
I told him he's full of crap.
Just be honest with you.
I said, that dog ain't smelling no cone.
I'm running 75 mile an hour.
That dog ain't smelling no cone.
He said, well stop this truck and I'll show you.
I said, I ain't stopping this truck.
So we went on down the road and he started doing it again.
I said, won't you juice that sucker and tell him to shut up.
He said, I ain't doing it.
Stop his truck and I'll show you something.
I said, all right.
I backed up, stop.
It wasn't 45 seconds.
He struck run, trade it.

(14:53):
I was like, well, maybe I just look at it.
I don't know.
We went on down the road and he done it again.
I jerked him out and he done the same thing.
I said, I ain't making fun of him no more.
That's it.
Proof is in the pudding boys.
Proof is in the pudding.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that, that final four of the PKC nationals, I mean that, well, like you said, that was
an absolute clinic that he put on.

(15:18):
He did it right and he had his Coons.
We need to have him.
He had a whole crew out there.
I know Kane stream filled it.
Like you guys just did a good job.
Um, and the dog, the dog looked great.
So what was the emotions going through you guys?
Whenever you sealed the deal that hunts over the top watch goes off, Jason, I saw you in
the camera.
You was walking back and forth.
You was pacing like crazy.
How'd you, how'd it make you feel?

(15:38):
He smoked the pack of cigarettes during that hunt.
He couldn't sit still for nothing.
My mom said I come out running and I was not stopped yet.
And it was unreal.
The main thing that really touched me, my dad died three years ago and I told him, I

(16:00):
said, I don't want to win a big hunt one of these days.
And I dedicated it to my dad.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's special.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a, it hits different.
You know, tell us a little bit, you know, Hey, that's what we're on here for, Bob, you
know, to tell about the memories.
So tell us, tell us a fond memory of your father, you know, just for this podcast.

(16:25):
It, uh, he went hunting with me.
He went hunting with me back when I was 13 year old.
Uh, well, one of the two nights he went and he gets him a ticket.
He said, son, I'll never be back again.
Yeah.
We're shooting a cone out right now.

(16:46):
Shooting a cone out.
So, and somebody picks him on the shoulder and says, give me the gun.
He says, hold on a minute.
I'm shooting this code out.
He said, no, you ain't shooting this code out game.
Oh, man.
Jason takes his dad to hunt and gets him a shoot no code out.
So did he hold up to that?
Did he ever go hunting again?

(17:07):
Uh, he went with me one more time.
And that was it.
Yeah.
He, he wasn't much of a hunter.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it's those memories.
It's those memories.
And you know, it's pretty special to be able to, you accomplish something that everybody
tries, you know, to win a big hunt, you know, whether it's nationals or whether it's a super

(17:29):
stakes, you know, that's the one thing that I think that we take for granted nowadays
is you don't really remember who won the last big hunt because there's just so many of
them now, you know, back when we were kids, you know, back when we were younger, Chad
and Jason and all of us, you know, you really only had super stakes, PKC world, PKC nationals,

(17:56):
UKC world and all the moats, you know, that was pretty well, that was pretty well it.
Yeah.
That was all of them.
Yeah.
And you know, so you had five a year, you know, and even super stakes really, you know,
wasn't as big of a deal because there's three different, you know, age groups, but especially

(18:20):
like the UKC world, you know, I mean, even now, I think the tournament of champions overshadows
the UKC world.
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree with you.
It does.
There's a lot of them, but you know, one thing that I think is cool there, Jason, that you
said is, you know, your dad only went hunting with you twice, but you dedicated that hunt
to him because you told him you were going to win a big hunt.

(18:42):
And it just goes to show that, you know, you don't have to grow up in a hunting family
to get into this sport and your family don't have to be, you know, big time Coon hunters
to support the dream that you follow because I fall into that same bucket, you know, you
know, my dad and he doesn't Coon hunt and he's went with me a handful of times, but
he's, he's in my corner, you know, he's my biggest fan.

(19:02):
So yes, sir, you know, that I just love to hear that, you know, there's even though they're
not into it themselves, they see them kids doing it.
They see them kids enjoying it and they're going to support them and they know how much
it means to you.
So, you know, even though he wasn't a big time hunter, it still meant the world that
you dedicated that to him.
Yes.
Yes, it sure did.
Now another question.
Oh, sorry.

(19:23):
Go ahead.
I'm about the same boat as you, my dad, he don't go with me, but like you said, he's
in my corner and none of my family Coon hunted.
I was one that got my brother started.
He started Coon hunt.
He used to handle for Jason six, seven, eight years ago.
And that's the way it all starts for me.
I went to my ex father-in-law when I was about 12 year old, got me started and it went from

(19:49):
my and I'm still doing it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm a first generation Coon hunter myself.
You know, um, it doesn't, I know my, my granddaddy, he was a houndsman.
You know, he grew up running or I grew up running deer dogs down in North Carolina with
him, but Coon hunting just wasn't a thing.
And I didn't even get into it till I was in college.
You know, I've told that story in here a couple of times, but you know, it is just cool to
see that you'll have the support, you know, those people in your corner, they're always

(20:12):
there for you, you know, no matter what your interests are.
So Chad, as, as a guy who took over handling for the dog of that nationals and you know,
now here in the backstory of it, how did that feel as a handler knowing that, you know,
Jason is just as well capable to handle the dog, he owns a dog, but he trusted you enough
to take him and keep running with him.
You know, after you doubled him up, some owners would have been like, I hand the reins back

(20:34):
over, but he kept him in your hands and he knew he had a good thing going.
So how did that feel to you to be trusted as the handler for that dog?
Well, he's, he's always told me to give me the opportunity to, to win something big.
And like I said, I was handling Trixie and when he lost there that night, I took over
reins of trigger and we doubled up and he said, well, there you go.

(20:56):
He said, here's the reins, but he said, hold on tight and let her go.
We run with it from our Jason is as an owner.
How is that to make that decision?
Would that, was it just second nature?
Like you didn't even have to think about it or was it something that was kind of hard
for you to do to turn over them reins?
Well, it's a little of both, I'd like to, I'd like to handle him, but I'm not worried

(21:25):
about myself.
I'm going to do whatever I think's best for the dog.
That takes a lot of, that takes a lot of guts because Jason, you're not just an owner.
You're you're you're, I mean, you trained him, you hunt, you know, you hunt just as
hard.
I know me personally, you know, it's kind of like, it's kind of like me and Bryce.

(21:46):
I was hunting a dog named Jed and hunted him and hunted him and hunted him and hunted him.
I got buddy qualified for the world and Jed qualified for the world.
And so lo and behold, boom, you know, me and Bryce both went to the world and Jed ended
up getting further.
And I, as a person that normally runs the dog, it's hard to sit back.

(22:12):
It's hard to sit back knowing that, hey, that could be you because I mean, all intents and
purposes that your dog, you know, it takes, it takes a lot of guts to be able to stay
in the background, stay in the back seat and allow someone else to handle the dog.
It really does.
Yeah.

(22:32):
Yeah.
And I think, it's funny story.
You talked about Jed and you mentioned him, that whole run started at autumn Oaks, you
know, and listeners guys, whenever we're done here with Jason and Chad, after, after we
get done talking to them today, we're going to dive into a little bit of autumn Oaks coming
up for this year.
So make sure you stay tuned here to the end of the podcast.
But yeah, I, and I'm the same way.
And I'm actually, I'm not good at it.

(22:53):
I'll be very honest.
Whenever I let Nikki handle wheels or Colton, my boy, I struggle to sit there and be quiet
because sometimes like there's calls that I would make that they're not making.
And sometimes they make calls that ain't no way in the world.
I would have made that at that time.
But you know, that would have been hard for me, Jason, in your shoes, you're in the finals

(23:14):
of nationals and you just got to sit there and bite your tongue.
Like that would have been so hard for me.
I would not have been good.
Yeah.
Uh, and he, uh, he proved himself.
So he's doing, as long as he's doing all right, he's good.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, they're both doing good.

(23:36):
Yeah.
So, so the nationals, you know, that was, that was his ticket in, that was his entry.
That was his foot in the door.
Yeah.
I got trigger, you know, in the household names, but you guys went on to win a couple
of other, uh, big events since then.
So why don't you guys dive into those a little bit with us?
You know, talk to me.
Yeah.
I figured you was going to pour it on it.

(23:57):
Go ahead.
Yeah, we've, uh, last little bit, we've gotten the top four, uh, pro sport hunt up our Michigan
in a truck hunt.
Uh, see last, uh, last side by side hunt that pro sport had, we got in the top four vets.

(24:18):
Uh, last time I won RQE with him to get him qualified for the world.
So he's just, I mean, every given weekend triggers, triggers a force to be reckoned
with.
I mean, he's really started when you draw that dog, he's really started to become somebody
that, you know, the people that sit back, cause I know I do it too.

(24:43):
We sit back at the hunch or not at, and you look at the scorecards and you go, me and
Bryce to do it all the time.
In fact, we were, we were down on his bachelor party down at Cumberland river campground
park campground and we were, we were actually looking at the, um, we were looking at the

(25:03):
cards for pro sport for the side by side.
And we were sitting there going, me, him and Colton Britton were going, Oh, well this dog's
going that cast.
This dog's going that cast.
You know, we're, we're all sitting around, you know, talking and I'm going to tell you
trigger is starting to become a name where more and more people go, I got trigger when
in that cast.

(25:23):
So, you know, coming from what you come from Eastern Kentucky, nowhere, nobody knows you.
Nobody knew who Jason Himes was before nationals.
How does it feel?
And I know that recognition isn't something personal recognition isn't something that
you look for or that you strive to get, but, uh, Jason, how does it feel to know that Jason

(25:48):
Himes and trigger are now names that people, you know, that people talk about, Hey, that
dog was going to win that cast, you know, on a, on a normal basis.
Hey, it feels good.
It, it, it feels good.
It's, uh, um, I really don't know how to put it in the words.

(26:11):
What I want to say.
It's a lot of people let it go to their heads and some don't I'll fall into some don't category.
Yeah.
That's a good category to be in because I mean, we all, we all come from the same, you
know, love for how we got me and Bryce.

(26:33):
That's what got me and Bryce got started on this.
That's what Simper dogging is all about.
Always dogging, you know, whether it be squirrel dogs, you know, whatever we got some.
We got something to do with the dog.
You know, it's just a love for a man's best friend and you know, to take a dog from 10
months old to now being a household name.

(26:53):
I mean that right there, that right there is a, gotta be a pretty darn good feeling.
Yeah, man, it is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He, uh, like a young boy, uh, handled him up at the pro sport youth hunt that had only
been in the woods with him twice.
He won his task Thursday night, should have worn Friday night, but it was a, but like

(27:18):
I say, he'd only been in the woods with him twice.
You know, and something else that I've seen is that trigger seems to be, he puts up a
good score wherever you take him in the country from what I've, from what I've gathered, you
know, down there in Kentucky, where you live.
I think that youth pro sport thing was in Ohio, Jay or Chad just said that, you know,
he got into the final four of that truck hunt in Michigan.
So he's going all over the country, Trey and Koon.

(27:38):
To get a dog out of the box that can do that.
That's easier said than done, you know?
So that says a lot for him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of them can't handle the road, but he seems to be handling it real good.
Yeah.
So hypothetical question, um, and I always think about this, you know, so you've raised
this dog from a pup.
You do, you do this winning, you get some stuff on there.

(28:01):
You've got a handler who's, who's making the right calls, putting him in a position to
win.
Somebody walks up to you and says, price that dog.
Is he for sale or is he not for sale?
Jason?
No, there's a guy trying to buy him up.
Well, the first night of the qualifying of the national, they was calling my phone the
next day trying to buy him and I said he went for sale.

(28:23):
And then the night we won the nationals, there's a guy trying to buy him.
Uh, no, he's not for sale.
Yeah.
And, and I, I posed that question because some people listen to this podcast who aren't
into the coon hound world, you know, and
you're a better man than I am.
And they don't understand some of the money that can get thrown around at these dogs.

(28:45):
And I'm, I would never ask anybody to say how much was thrown around, but it's nothing
out of the ordinary for somebody to call and say, Hey, I got 20,000 is your dog for sale.
Hey, I got 40,000 is your dog for sale.
And you know, some guys, that dog means more to that to them.
And some of them, you know, it's down the road, like I'll take the cash and I'll go
train a new one.
So I always think it's interesting to get perspective on somebody who's, who's trained

(29:07):
them.
They've invested that much time and they are that emotionally attached to see, Hey, is
the dog for sale or is he not for sale?
It's just kind of interesting to me.
Yeah.
There's a guy back, uh, uh, when he listens to this, he knows who I'm talking about back
in November of 22 that tried to buy him.

(29:28):
And this was before I laid in on him the night that he tried him in November, it made his
32nd night in the woods.
And I told him, I said, you can have him for 10 if you want him.
Well, the guy that he had handling for him, come back to the truck.
He said, you better buy the dog.
He said, well, you take eight.
And I said, no, he said, I'm telling you, you better buy the dog.

(29:50):
And he said, well, can I hunt with it?
He said, I'm telling you, you don't need to hunt with the dog again.
He better buy the dog.
And he didn't buy.
So he called two weeks later wanting to buy.
And I told him 17, he said, you take 15.
I said, no, he's not for sale no more.
That's just like I told Wyatt Reimers to him.
He said, you ought to sell him.
I said, why?
He's going to win more than that.

(30:12):
Yeah.
But I'm on.
I always fall back.
So I've handled quite a few dogs and won my share of stuff.
But I always fall back to a dog that I sold, Nikki Hale.
And dog's name was Wild Style Molly.
She won the Reserve Nationals with Nikki.
And Nikki brought her back to my house.

(30:35):
And I think four or five months later, no, like three.
It would have been like three months later.
I walked outside and she was deader in a doorknob, had a brain aneurysm.
And right there is just, it just always replays in my head.

(30:56):
Whenever I get a dog clicking and someone calls me and says, hey,
look at, like with Spot, look at the run me and you made with Spot,
Bryce when he was a pup.
And I couldn't hold on to him.
I had to, he had to go.
I just, and now I got him back at my house.
But I mean, it's just, for me, it's just hard.

(31:17):
Because every time I say no, the picture of Wild Style Molly pops in my head.
And I'm just like, man, two months from now, if something happens to that dog,
and I turn down 20 or 30, I'm gonna be kicking myself in the rear.
Right.
Yeah, I understand where you're coming from.
Yeah.
It's just hard to find something that replaces it.

(31:40):
So I agree.
To be able to compete on that level.
So hey, my hat's off to you.
Not only are you giving up the reins of handling, but the more you win,
the more those buyers are gonna be knocking on the door.
And hey, my hat off to you for being able to keep your composure,
allow Chad to continue to win and not break up a team, a good team.

(32:04):
Because people don't realize, I mean, you go all the way back,
you'll know who I'm talking about, Jason.
You go all the way back to Joey Carver and Tank.
Once Joey sowed Tank, nobody won with him like Joey did.
Well, I'm gonna, while I was talking about previous,
you just said the names.

(32:25):
Joey Carver is the guy that told the other guy, he said,
I'm telling you, you better buy the dog.
He said, well, can I hunt with him one more night?
Joey said, you don't need to hunt with him one more night.
Buy the dog.
Yeah, he said, I know a dog when I see one.
He said, buy the dog.
Yeah.
I like Mr. Albert.
But yeah, I mean, Joey.
That's who it was.
Yeah.

(32:45):
But that right there is kind of who I point at.
I mean, I know Cody Mayne and then won,
they won the first Rochonier Classic.
I know they won that.
But as far as I'm talking consistently,
there's just when a handler and a dog get clicking,
the worst thing you can do is take them apart.

(33:07):
Yeah, sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And the worst thing you can do.
Yeah.
I agree with you.
Sometimes I think that a lot of times that people, I don't know.
I don't want to say that they get too big to remember that statement.
But I always feel like you can look around at some of the smaller guys
that aren't traveling.

(33:27):
They're not doing it for a living, I guess.
And look at some dogs that they do a bunch of winning with.
And then somebody who's got a deeper pocket comes and buys that dog.
And instead of taking the dog and maybe taking that same handler
for a cheaper price, just buy a package deal.
You can own the dog, but leave that dog in that guy's hands.
He might not have won everything.

(33:49):
He might not be the biggest name, but they're clicking.
And they'll take it and put it in one of their paid handlers' hands,
I guess.
And then the wheels just fall off.
It's a train wreck sometimes.
And then they're like, sometimes a dog gets blamed.
There's just a lot that goes on.
But I think there's a lot more that goes around than what people think,
is clicking between dogs.

(34:10):
Spot and Basham.
Basham can hunt Spot, and he can look great.
And I tried to take him down to Kentucky.
This is a legit deal.
I tried to take him down to Kentucky and help Basham out earlier this year.
Too bad you don't have the shirt handy.
Yeah, last year, whenever it was.
And Basham had two dogs in.
So I tried to help him out.
I handled Spot.

(34:30):
And that dog looked like a fool.
I mean, you wouldn't think that dog knew how to treat a coon.
He's back in dogs.
I got to him at the tree.
And that joker tried to rip my arm off.
And that is a God's honest truth.
I had a shirt to prove it.
He ripped it from the shoulder down to the wrist.
I look like the Heisman Trophy winner stiff arming this dog,
trying to keep him from eating my lunch.

(34:50):
Basham takes him the next night.
And dog's firing on all cylinders.
And he drew somebody that I drew the night before.
And they said, that ain't the same dog.
Joey Goforth.
Yeah, Joey Goforth.
He said, well, that ain't the same dog.
And Basham goes, yes, it is.
He said, there's just a different person behind the lead tonight.
You know?
That dog had the buffing on you.
He knows you wasn't going to do nothing.

(35:11):
He knows Basham will straighten him out.
Well, I think that was a problem.
I tried to straighten him out there for, for acting like a fool.
And he's going to see just how far he could get.
He tried to.
Yeah.
I mean, dogs just, I mean, throw out another one.
You remember all the winning I did with Wipeout 3B.
And then after I sold her, she never won another cast, pretty much.

(35:34):
By, that's a lie.
I won a few casts with her after you sold her.
You know what I mean, though?
I mean, consistently.
What I look at, the dog buddies up with you.
It's going to do better for you than it will somebody else.
Hell, even Buddy, you know this, Bryce.
I mean, he'll hunt for anybody.
But Chad, you know this.

(35:56):
There's a difference.
When a dog gives 75%, and then that dog gives you 100.
He just, you're like, oh, man, he ain't got a chance.
And then at the very last minute, boom, he just craps out a coon.
And it's just different.
You're like, wow, he really come through on that one.

(36:17):
And it's just, you can see the difference in a 75%.
And that's the way Buddy is.
Buddy will hunt for anybody.
But he's kind of mediocre.
He'll give you about 75%.
And then when I'm hunting, it's like he wants to give that extra 25.
And so that's kind of, to wrap it all up, that's what we talked about.

(36:37):
That's what we've been talking about is, hey, hats off to you, Jason,
for not only being an owner slash handler that hunts.
You've allowed Chad to take over the reins and keep the reins.
And then to be able to keep the wolves at bay,
and not cash in a cash cow, shall you say, and just start on another one.

(37:02):
I mean, and for us little guys that come from nothing, I mean, that's hard.
Because I'm gonna give a quick example.
So the guy that owns Buddy, when he started winning a lot,
we got offers from everywhere.
How much, how much, how much, how much?
And I looked at Bruce and I said, bud, I got a question.

(37:25):
I said, here's how I want you to answer this question.
I said, if 40,000 would greatly change your life, then sell him.
Sell him, sell him tomorrow.
But if 40,000 wouldn't even blink, you wouldn't even blink an eye at,
I said, there's a point in selling him.
And you see where he's still at.

(37:47):
He's still in the house because 40,000 ain't gonna greatly change his life.
Now me, someone offered me 40,000, that dog was gone because, man,
I could do a lot with 40,000.
Yeah, but how long is it gonna take you to train one back to that shape that he's in?
I don't know, depends on how many kennels I can build.
Yeah, you're gonna be a while doing it.

(38:10):
You're gonna be a while.
Same way of trigger.
How long would it take us to do another one the way he's right now?
I agree.
I agree, but then for me, this is just me, this is my personal opinion,
that snapshot, a wild style Molly pops up.
Well, I had one of the same situation years, Smash.

(38:31):
Well, it's been here recently, within the past year.
A guy called me and offered me a big lump sum for him.
I said, no, he ain't for sale.
Two weeks later, he dies.
I mean, I see where you're coming from.
That's always stuck in the back of your head.
Well, they're selling something might happen tomorrow.

(38:51):
Yeah.
So let's just roll on.
What is the next big thing for trigger?
We're gonna try to win the world.
Are you guys gonna be at Automobox?
Yeah, so I was gonna say Automobox.
Yeah, I think we're going to Automobox, too.
I ain't sure if it's a sure, that's up to Jason.
I'm gonna say, I mean, just kind of throwing it out there.

(39:17):
If anybody can document a path to take with dogs, it would be JR, Gray, and Willie.
I mean, look at them.
Nobody knew who JR was or who Willie was until they won the UKC World.
And man, I'd love to see that bank account that Willie's got that guy.

(39:38):
I mean, because I mean, he's just producing.
Both of them go down in the history books for many reasons.
Yeah, that's what I told him the other day.
Yep.
Definitely.
So, so Automobox, the world, you guys got any pro classics,
any pro sport hunts coming up, anything like that?
Yeah, we got side by side coming up this weekend in Springfield.

(40:03):
And then we got another.
I'm sure you guys are going to the truck hunt in Lebanon.
Yep.
The 26th, 27th will be there.
Well, that's 23rd, 24th.
Yeah, 23rd, 24th.
I think.
They've moved them now.
They're actually, they're not in Lebanon.
They're moving them to Springfield.
Oh, are they?
Yeah.
Well, I'll see you guys there.
I got an early end to wait.

(40:25):
I hope I don't grow you.
Friends now, enemies in the woods.
Enemies.
Exactly right.
Nah, well, shit, not me.
Not me.
I'll shake it.
Now, 10 years ago, yes, we would have been enemies, Chad.
But nowadays, I'm just, man, you see the gray hair.

(40:46):
I just.
I'm right with you.
Man, I just want to enjoy it.
I mean, even if I lose, I know the people paying the bills
don't want to hear this.
Actually, I take that back.
I hunt for the best three people.
I've got Buddy, who's owned by Bruce Bartz.
And I've got Spot and Star, who is owned by Jeffrey Davis

(41:07):
and Tiffany Davis.
And let me tell you, they are amazing.
They don't care.
As long as I'm having fun, as long as I'm enjoying it,
as long as that's where my heart is, that's all they care about.
And I couldn't ask for better friends
than those three people.
Yeah, and it seems like Jason, Chad,
seems like you guys are kind of rolling on that same deal

(41:29):
right now.
You guys are having fun doing it.
And that's what it's all about, just having fun,
hitting them hunts where you can, but enjoying the ride.
Yeah.
Just have fun when you can, because you never
know if you're going to be here tomorrow.
You might go have fun while you can.
Well, you never know whenever you introduce your partner
to somebody, and then they're just gone.

(41:51):
What are you talking about?
That ain't going to happen.
It happens, don't it, Steve?
Oh, it happens.
They move five hours away.
It takes a team man to go outside of state
and travel like we do.
One person can do it, but it takes a team to do it.
Yes, it does.
Yeah.

(42:11):
Yes, it does.
Yeah.
Yeah, we've got a friendship.
It takes a friendship.
It really does.
Yeah.
Yeah, we've got our truck girl.
She's got that big track and device in the truck.
She keeps up with him just in case he's in the road
or something.
And we withdraw, and she can go get him real quick.
So I mean, she's always there.

(42:32):
It helps out having her in the truck.
Then me and Jason, we take care of everything in the woods
and let her deal with the truck.
Sounds like you guys need a new logo.
Team Trigger.
It's coming.
There you go, Steve.
It's coming.
It's in the works.
It was born right here on.
Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do.
Dog in.

(42:53):
Yeah, it's in the works.
Steve is going to have to get us some of us.
The dickers to put in the back glass of the truck, Team Trigger.
Yeah.
All right, guys.
All right, guys.
Well, we're going to go ahead and wrap this up.
We appreciate you guys coming on here in short notice.
I messaged you guys freaking 15 minutes before this popped off

(43:14):
and asked if you'd be interested in coming on.
And I appreciate you guys being available and being able to jump on here
and kind of tell your story.
Yeah, absolutely, guys.
Well, best best luck to you guys in your upcoming events.
And congratulations on what you guys have accomplished so far.
So appreciate you guys joining us listeners.
Hey, stick around. We are not done yet.
We are going to be covering a little bit on the Indiana.

(43:38):
The excuse me, the autumn Oaks event coming up here in Richmond, Indiana,
as well as recapping the UKC Youth National.
So stick around here just a second.
We're going to get right back.
Bassman, I recap a couple of things, talk about some events going forward,
and then we will finish up this episode of Semper Dog and podcast.
But Chad, Jason, thank you guys.
We appreciate it.
Appreciate it. All right.
See you. Thank you, guys.

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(45:25):
Alright guys, we are back here and I just wanted to recap
the Youth Nationals that was held over in Downs, Iowa
as well as talk about the upcoming event of Autumn Oaks
which is going to be held in Richmond, Indiana
and even just throw in a little plug for the Indiana State Hunt
coming up here October 5th in Monticello.
So, Basham, I went through and compiled a little bit of information

(45:48):
from the Youth Nationals and just want to kind of review this here with you.
Yeah, go ahead because I know your kids had a very good showing up there.
Yeah, they did and it's not just about my kids,
it's about all those kids that were there.
And what I find interesting is that, let's see here,
three of the kids who won over there in Iowa are three of the kids
we had on a previous podcast at the Indiana State Youth Hunt.

(46:11):
So, it's interesting that we were able to almost pull the Babe Ruth,
call the shots on who was winning all that stuff.
So, guys, I know that over there in Downs, Iowa,
there were 49 kids that hunted Friday night.
So, Basham, I don't know about you, but for me thinking that
all the way over there in Iowa to have 49 entries from 13 different states,

(46:35):
that's pretty good for a Friday night hunt.
That is tremendous for a hunt in Iowa.
We're talking Iowa, not Indiana, not Ohio, not Kentucky.
We're talking Iowa to have that many kids.
That is pretty phenomenal.
Yeah, and you know, because Iowa, they got plenty of Coons,

(46:56):
but they're kind of out of the, what do you call it,
the competition belt, I guess, if you look at the country.
You know, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky.
That's kind of like where the majority of the events are held.
Iowa is kind of an outlier.
So, I think they had 13 different states represented over there.
49 of those kids hunted Friday night.

(47:16):
And then Saturday, there were 41 entries.
Now, that is not entries as in dogs.
That is 41 different kids showed up to show in the youth show on Saturday.
And for our listeners who aren't aware of how Youth Nationals works,
in the show, it is based upon age category.

(47:38):
So, you have your youth or your junior division, which is 5 to 12,
and you have your senior division, which is 13 to 17.
So, the five-year-olds show against five-year-olds.
The nine-year-olds show against nine-year-olds.
And once you get your winner out of that age division,
then they show for an overall for the junior and an overall for the senior.
So, that's how that kind of breaks down.

(47:58):
Okay?
Now, the hunt portion.
Go ahead.
Now, do the junior and senior ever show against each other?
They do not.
They do not.
I figured they would for an overall.
No, you have an overall junior and you have an overall senior.
And those are just your winners.
For the hunt portion, it is not broke down by age.
It is just broke down by class.

(48:19):
So, you have your juniors, your 5 to 12,
and then your seniors 13 to 17.
So, you could potentially have a five-year-old
hunting against a 12-year-old.
That's just kind of how that works.
You know, it takes a lot more land and a lot more places
to get those kids in the woods.
So, that's the breakdown of how the show and how the hunt work.
So, 49 kids hunted Friday, 41 kids showed on Saturday.

(48:41):
After the show on Saturday, 19 of those kids entered the water race.
They had a sanctioned water race out there.
I love those.
I love the...
How many times have I mentioned the all-day events?
Oh, a ton.
Man, it's just, it takes me back to when I was a kid.
I just love them.

(49:01):
Yeah, and they did a nice job there.
They had a real long pond.
I mean, that's probably the longest pond that I've seen dogs swim out of.
Some good competitive races.
I mean, it was a fun time to watch.
And then after the water race on Saturday,
this was another interesting statistic, I thought.
There were 52 dogs hunted Saturday night.

(49:22):
So, the entries actually went up on Saturday,
where most of the time they go down.
You would think just because it gives people...
Saturday's more of an opportunity for them to drive.
And the ones that want to be there for the show,
probably more apt to bring another dog and go ahead and hunt
since they're already there.
That is true.

(49:42):
But knowing that the way that the scoring is placed for the finals and the hunts,
it's double cast winners and then high score single dog.
But you have to hunt both nights in order to be eligible for those prizes.
So, it is interesting to me that the entries went up on Saturday.
But we did get some results from that event.

(50:02):
So, in the junior show, your overall winner was Colton Rorvik.
And Colton was handling Wabash River's Lost Highway, Redbone.
He went on and that is his second time winning the Youth Nationals
in the junior division.
So, congratulations to Colton.
I know he puts in a ton of time.

(50:23):
And I only know that because I see it out here in the driveway.
So, good job to him, buddy.
We're very, very, very proud of you.
We hope that you can continue that success on in the senior division.
In the senior show, this is another person that we had on the podcast here recently.
We had Hannah Cable take the overall top spot.
And she was handling her plot dog, Gambler.

(50:44):
And Hannah, forgive me, I don't remember his full name.
But I know that Gambler dog that she's had, you know, she's had him.
And I think she took him for a long time.
They have won their age division every year of Youth Nationals since the senior division,
I believe.
So, her and old Gambler, they've been on a roll.
And they picked up the overall title, their national champion.

(51:06):
Was this her last year?
It was, yes, sir.
In the HUNT portion, Jackson Cable was your junior HUNT national champion.
And he was handling less fame, more fortune.
A dog who has also been making some noise here recently that his dad.
Another Willie dog.
Another Willie dog.
His dad, Kevin Cable has been on a roll with here.

(51:27):
So, very, very big accomplishment for Jackson.
Congratulations.
You know, taking that picture with four up there as a national champion is a long, long
ways from taking pictures of Slink.
You know, we all know about Slink and Jackson's dog.
That was the famous Slink dog.
So we've come a long way since Slink.
And congratulations, buddy.
We're also very proud of you.

(51:47):
Love watching you succeed.
In your senior HUNT, there was a dog named No Name Epp was your national champion for
the second time.
A back to back champion.
Handled by Brooke Snead.
So congratulations to them.
They won last year and they come back for redemption and won again this year.

(52:10):
Where's she out of?
North Carolina, I do believe.
Wow.
Yep.
I do believe it was North Carolina.
And I think I heard on another podcast, I think it was the UKC podcast, that Trevor
had actually called her dad and said, hey, you know, we have your jacket or something,
a war they needed to give out.
And they said, are you guys going to give it to us or going to be there?
And they said, no, I don't think we're going to make it this year.

(52:32):
And lo and behold, they pulled up into Iowa and said, you know, Brooke was very adamant
that she was going to Youth Nationals and she was going to defend her title.
So that she did and congratulations to her and her dog Epp.
So you know, I want to say a big congratulations to all those kids who made the trip out there
to Youth Nationals.
Even if y'all didn't win anything, that is a huge event to go out there to be a part

(52:54):
of.
It gives them a taste of the bigger shows and the bigger hunts and what it's like to
be at a big event.
Cause there's some pressure whenever you go to those hunts, especially at that age, you
know.
And also want to say thank you to Autumn Bingham for judging that hunt.
I know she was out there in the heat and she's got a baby coming here pretty soon.
So thank you to Miss Autumn Bingham for judging that hunt to all the guys over there at Dads

(53:15):
Iowa who put on an awesome event, United Kennel Club.
They did a great job.
So just want to say thank you to everybody that was involved there at the Youth Nationals.
Now let's move on to Autumn Oaks.
The event where history is made.
2024.
It is 2024, Autumn Oaks.

(53:37):
And that is going to be held at the Richmond County Fairgrounds in Richmond, Indiana.
And the official dates for that are August 29th through September 1st.
Now I will let everybody know that if you have not been to Autumn Oaks, it is one of
the greatest weeks of the year.
It is one of my favorite weeks of the year.
There are more hound enthusiasts present in that one little fairground than anywhere

(54:01):
else in the country I do believe.
I think Grand American gives it a run for its money.
But I think Autumn Oaks is still the granddaddy of them all.
I've been to Grand American twice, but to me Autumn Oaks is just bigger.
I mean even whenever you go into the ceremonies on Saturday for the top 16, Autumn Oaks is

(54:27):
just that hunt.
It is.
It's the hunt to win.
It's the national championship for the United Kennel Club.
There's prestige in winning that hunt.
To me, this is just to me.
And my opinion don't matter.
I think Autumn Oaks as far as prestige.
I'm not talking about the world hunt probably financially is the biggest hunt you can win.

(54:54):
It's bigger than the PKC world.
To me it's bigger than a $100,000 hunt.
Because if you have the right dog, and I think Willie has proved it, if you have the right
dog with the right pedigree and the right owner, if you win the UKC world and you're
able to push them as a stud, the financial backing that comes behind that is just phenomenal.

(55:22):
But to me, the most prestigious for me just personally is Autumn Oaks is the national
championship.
Yeah, it's a great event.
It's not just about the hunt, but the camaraderie that has had there, people coming from all
over the country.
Like I said, the official dates are August 29th through September 1st, but Camping actually
opens up that Friday or that Sunday, August 25th.

(55:45):
So people will be there.
I will be one of those people lined up when the gates open August 25th, 11 a.m. ready
to get our camping spot ready to nail down fort for the week.
And I'm super pumped about it.
So it's almost like playing hot seats.
Like everybody lines up at the fence and they open that fence and it's like, no, go, go,
go, go, go, go.

(56:06):
You're not kidding.
So the very first time that I ever went with Nikki that I ever camped, I was like, it's
she was trying to explain this to me.
She's like, all right, when they open the gates, we got to drive in there.
We got to get our spot.
And you've got she gave me this roll of caution tape and some stakes and a sledgehammer.
She's like, go mark out a huge area enough for like five campers, nail it down, put the

(56:27):
caution tape out.
I'm like, OK, like it's not a big deal.
And so like we get we get in there and I just am like kind of moseying around trying to
get stuff done.
I look around and I see the urgency in everybody else.
And I think Mark and Tiffany were some of them, I mean, running to get spots marked
down and I'm like, what is the deal?
And then I look at the gate and here comes the campers and they're flooding in and I'm

(56:50):
like, oh, that's the deal because there is no marked spots.
It is first come first serve and you take what you need.
But man, it is it's a mad dash.
That first three hours of getting set up, it'll wear a guy out.
Yeah, it'll wear a guy out.
Well, it's really going to wear you out.
See me.
I'm a little bit more bougie.

(57:11):
So what I do is is I rent my camper and I pay somebody to come set it all up and make
it look all good and block it up.
And this year, Bryce has the.
I mean, he's just got the pleasure and the honor of setting up his own camper this year.

(57:32):
Yeah, I'm pumped.
We bought a camper this year.
I'm pumped, man.
I'm stoked.
I'm stoked.
So yeah.
So camping opens up August 25th.
There will be a fee to camp the first three nights there.
I believe camping is free Thursday through Saturday once you Casey takes over.
Now the most exciting day of the whole autumn oaks is going to be Tuesday, August 27th.

(57:54):
There's going to be one heck of a shindig thrown down over there.
Autumn Oaks right there in the fairgrounds in the open air building where Dan is usually
set up.
Basham, are you going to be there?
Nope.
I'm skipping that day.
All right.
Well, he's skipping cancel him and we'll find somebody to replace him.
Guys, we are having a wedding August 27th at autumn oaks and I am pumped about it.

(58:18):
So if you guys are going to be on the fairgrounds, swing by, have a good time, come hang out.
It's going to be a celebration.
So I am very, very much looking forward to this.
I know Steve Fielder coined the term the event where history is made years and years ago
and we're just going to make our own history there this year.
So Nikki and I are going to tie the knot at a coon hound event.

(58:39):
I'm pumped about it.
I think it's pretty, I think it's pretty cool just because it's not really so much your
history as it is her history.
It is her history.
Absolutely.
You know it and we've talked about it a few times, you know, on this podcast with the
picture of her and her sister, you know, in a stroller, you know, at autumn oaks and her

(58:59):
dad and her mom and you know, just the whole family and then now bringing it around full
circle, you know, she's actually getting married at autumn oaks.
I think it's, I think it's a pretty neat like family tradition, family history to carry
on.
So I think it's pretty neat.
It is because her dad, I believe holds the unofficial record for most consecutive autumn

(59:21):
oaks attended by a single person.
I know Nikki's been to 41 of them consecutively, never missed one.
How many, how many is Curtis been to?
I want to say Curtis is over 60.
I want to say still kicking, still ain't missed one.
Hasn't missed one.
Yeah.
And I know there was a couple of guys there a few years ago who were tallying up what

(59:43):
they had and like I said, it's the unofficial record, but I do believe it is held by Mr.
Curtis Elbron.
You know what you are to do secretly?
Well, this ain't so secretly is it?
I think you need to get a hold of Allen and Trevor and see if we can't somehow.
I mean, it'd be the honor system.
Yeah.
See if we can't figure out maybe this year, like who, who is that official?

(01:00:08):
Yeah, it'd be cool.
You know, be neat.
Yeah.
That would be neat.
You know, have, have like a plaque for, you know, 50, 60, you know, I think that would
be, I think that would be a pretty neat recognition at autumn oaks.
Yeah.
We'll see what we can do there.
So like I said, Tuesday, August 27th, we got a wedding going down seven o'clock.

(01:00:30):
It's going to be a banger.
Everybody show up, have fun, come enjoy as the camaraderie.
There's going to be food drinks.
It's going to be a good time.
So a little change of plans and on a most two, right?
Not for me.
Yeah, there is.
What are you hunting?
Oh, I'm hunting spot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wheels is out guys.
Wheels is out.
Wheels is down with the Ehrlichia right now.

(01:00:51):
So I'm going to step in and see if I can't handle a little spot for bash them and see
what we can do there.
So pretty excited about that.
Not speaking of that, we're going to start off Thursday night.
This is kind of how this event's going to go down.
Thursday night is when the dual grand championship kicks off.
So if anybody is showing up to this event and they haven't pre-entered, you can do that.

(01:01:12):
Pre-entries close August 12th.
That is the deadline.
They only take the first hundred doles.
Yep.
And to enter into the dual grand championship, your dog must be a champion on the bench and
a champion in the night hunt.
So night champion in a bench champion.
They will hunt against other dogs in their breed.
So plots hunting against plots, walkers against walkers, so on and so forth.

(01:01:36):
The winners of those casts will then show on Friday for, um, really showing the bench
show to determine who of that breed wins the best.
What are the words I'm looking for here?
Who exemplifies the breed standards the best for their breed on the bench?

(01:01:59):
So we already know they've won the hunt.
Now they're looking to see who, uh, who meets the breed standards.
And then it goes down to a regular show.
You know, you'll have all seven breeds lined up against each other and that will determine
your overall national dual grand champion.
Basham, do you know anything about being crowned a national dual grand champion?
Ah, just a little bit.
You know, we got, we got lucky enough.

(01:02:19):
Um, I was hunting buddy.
Uh, he put on a clinic Thursday night and then, uh, you know, me and him just stepped into
the ring and I kind of was, you know, I've watched my dad show dogs a little bit here
and there and I've grew up around the show ring.
Nothing like Nikki or any of them, you know, as far as competitively, but enough to know

(01:02:39):
my way around the show ring.
And so me, me and him just went in there and just kind of threw all our cards on the table
and he came out a year before last as the national dual champion.
So, uh, but Bart's high dollar whiskey.
Awesome.
So that's a, that's a great accomplishment.
You know, it's nice to see those dogs who are, who are built.
Well, they meet their breed standards as far as confirmation goes, but they're also doing

(01:03:02):
exactly what these dogs are bred to do, which is go out, treat real live raccoons.
And in order to win that championship, one must exemplify all of the above.
So that's it.
That's a very cool class to me.
Um, speaking of the hunts and stuff, guys, we are going to have, there are four hunting
locations for autumn Oaks.
Number one, you're going to have the opportunity to hunt off of the grounds right there at

(01:03:23):
the, uh, Richmond County fairgrounds.
Then you're going to have a few satellite clubs.
From what I found, it looks like limber loss, Coon hunters club in Bryant, Indiana will
be a satellite.
The Van Wert county Coon hunters club in convoy, Ohio will be a satellite and the bear Creek
Coon hunters club in Versailles, Indiana is the newest satellite club.

(01:03:45):
I believe they are new for this year.
Yep.
See, I'm really looking forward to this year.
Yep.
Really look probably more than any year prior.
Well, you have no pressure this year.
You just get to go hang out for a week.
I'm not running a what so ever truck man.
I am sitting back and just relaxing and being Mr. Truckman.

(01:04:11):
That is it.
Yeah.
So this is going to be a great year guys.
Um, when you do those pre-entries, make sure you do know that the dual championships, like
I said earlier on Thursday, all grand night champions must hunt Friday night.
So make sure you, when you were registering your grand night champion, you make sure you
enter in for Friday night.
And the reason they do that is if you have not attended this event, it will be the top

(01:04:34):
16 high scores from Friday night will advance to the grand 16 on Saturday.
And that is a production in itself to see those top 16 dogs drawn out.
You talk about prestige and honor and making somebody feel special that watching those
top 16 dogs get drawn out, their handlers come out, they parade them around the floor

(01:04:55):
there.
They do a really good job of making those dogs and the handlers feel special and give
them the spotlight that they deserve.
So the grand 16 will hunt Saturday forecast to four.
There will be a final cast and that will determine your national grand champion in the, in the
night hunt.
And I believe that is all for autumn.
Is there anything else that I missed?
Nope.
I think, I think it's pretty much it.

(01:05:17):
Just come up Tuesday, join in, join us in the celebration for you and Nikki, you know,
an old matchmaker here.
Oh yeah.
There's a, there's a good back story behind that.
Just call me hitch.
We're going to, uh, guys, if you, if you haven't been to this event, it doesn't matter where
you're from, make the trip out.

(01:05:39):
There are being more vendors there than you can shake a stick at.
You will find all of your dog hunting supply needs there.
All of your, the best dogs in the country in the show ring.
Some of the, some of the best in the country in far as going out in the woods, drawing
out against each other.
It's just, there's, there's nothing like it.
Autumn Oaks.
Bring your hip waiters, bring your hip waiters for the tall, tall tails.
I mean, you just, you don't get no better.

(01:06:01):
I mean, this is where, this is where it all happens.
This is the biggest event in most of the Coon hunting world.
This is the biggest event there is, you know, this is where the old age of Coon hunting
joins with the new age and we just sit around and, you know, tell stories, sit around a
campfire, have a good time and it's built on camaraderie.

(01:06:23):
Yep.
It absolutely is.
So the last event that I want to throw out here and just kind of get the ball rolling
on this one is the UKC Indiana state hunt, which will be held October 5th in Monticello,
Indiana.
So guys, I know it's a few months away, but those few months will close in on us quicker
than we think it will.
So make sure you mark your calendar for October 5th.

(01:06:44):
Come join us up here in Monticello, Indiana for the UKC Indiana state hunt.
That's all I've got for tonight.
Ooh, that was this.
This was a good one.
This was a long one.
It was, it was.
So guys, if you've stuck with us through the very end, we sure appreciate you.
We hope you enjoyed listening in there to Jason and Chad talk about a split train trigger,
some of the accomplishments that they've had.
And we were really fortunate to be able to grab them and bring somebody who doesn't get

(01:07:07):
the spotlight all the time onto this podcast and preserve those stories.
You know, hear Jason tell the story about his dad and how that winning that national
championship was dedicated to him.
So that's what it's all about here at Semper Dogg and Basherman.
Good job recruiting some people.
Hey, no problem.
And for anybody out there, I mean, if you've got to, you know, we've had plenty of people
on here, you know, Elizabeth Brown and you know, just so many people with a cool story.

(01:07:30):
Yeah.
If you've got a cool story, me and Bryce don't know everybody and we don't know all your
stories, but if you've got a cool story that you would like to document, go on ahead and
send an email to SemperDoggin at gmail.com and give a brief description of the story

(01:07:50):
and a number where me or Bryce can get a hold of you and we'll contact you, kind of go over
the story a little bit.
And you know, like I said, that's what we're here for.
We're here to preserve because I mean, once it's documented, once we put it out there
on the airwaves, you know, the the mythical social media world, I mean, it's there forever.
You know, you'll be a great grandfather, you know, showing your great grandson this podcast

(01:08:15):
that you did and it's all documented.
So if you've got a story and you think that you want to tell that story, go ahead and
send an email over to us at SemperDoggin and we will get you on the calendar and see if
we can fit you in.
Absolutely.
The other thing I want to throw a quick plug in for is the hometown here outdoors.
Guys, I know if you've been faithful listeners of the podcast, you heard there for a while

(01:08:37):
we were doing the hometown here outdoors here over the week and we haven't had one for a
while and that is not for lack of trying or we forgot about it.
We have simply just we have run out of people to spotlight that were emailed to us and who
were put on the list.
So guys, if you know anybody who was a first responder, veteran, military, police, firefighter,

(01:08:57):
EMT, anybody like I who falls into that hometown hero category and you want to give them just
a little bit of recognition, go ahead and send us an email to that same email.
SemperDoggin and gmail.com.
We want to spotlight them.
We want to say thank you to them.
You know, just give them a little bit of recognition.
So we're still looking for hometown heroes to fill in that hometown hero outdoors hero
of the week.

(01:09:19):
Still partnered with hometown heroes.
Actually went and hung out with Kyler Lynn the other day.
The other actually the other day with hometown heroes.
He's the Indiana representative and he and I had a good conversation.
There's some good things going on over there at that organization.
So want to continue to support them in any way that we can and show show our support
where we can.
And a big shout out to Joey go forth and Shane Smith, our sponsors here at SemperDoggin.

(01:09:42):
You know, we couldn't do what we do without them.
So thank you, Joey.
Thank you, Shane for continuing to support us and in our endeavors.
Absolutely.
All right, buddy.
Well, it's getting late.
I've got things to wrap up here.
So you good to go?
Good to go, buddy.
Hey, it's been a pleasure as always.
Thank you.
All right, guys.
Well, from everybody here at SemperDoggin podcast, we sure appreciate you.

(01:10:04):
We will catch you on the next one.
See ya.