P.M. from Florida writes; we had an interesting situation come up in a nite hunt last week. All four dogs were declared struck and treed, the dogs were all handled and we started the shining time. The tree was a big beech tree with holes; we knew it was a den tree, so we did not expect to see a coon on the outside. After shining for about five minutes I found a young possum hanging in one of the vines on the side of the tree. Do all four dogs receive minus strike and tree points?
Dear P.M. This is an interesting situation that does not happen much, but it does happen. In accordance with Chapter 7, Section 15.D. the strike and tree points of all four dogs would be deleted. In this type of situation we do not know if a coon is in the den hole or not, so we give the dogs the benefit of the doubt. Keep in mind there are two crucial points that must be present in order to delete dogs in this case. They must be treed on a tree and there must be a den (hole in the tree) large enough to conceal a raccoon. This rule DOES NOT apply to holes in the ground or other places of refuge.
|