Aaron Scott Kendall of Cascilla, coon dog handler extraordinaire, is competing in this week’s Professional Kennel Club Youth World Championship.
The 15-year-old, an 11th grader at Charleston High School, is one of eight qualifiers for the event from the state of Mississippi and 223 from across the United States.
Bud Smith of Cascilla said he would be accompanying Kendall to the championship, heading out Wednesday afternoon for Salem, Illinois, where the first round of qualifying was scheduled to get underway Thursday. The competition runs Sept. 21-23.
To put the event in perspective, Smith said the PKC Youth World Championship is to coon hunters ages 11-17, what the Little League World Series is to youth baseball.
Kendall will be the handler of Rosebloom resident Ronnie Davis’ 4-year-old American English coonhound, Crooked Snag, with hopes of advancing for a chance to win some hardware and cold, hard cash.
“It gives a $4,000 scholarship to any university or junior college anywhere in the United States, and we stand a good chance of winning this thing,” said Smith, who noted that the top four dog/handler teams will receive scholarship money.
For the past four years, Kendall has learned the art of raccoon hunting under the tutelage of Smith and Davis.
During the 2022-23 season, Kendall has participated in about 30 nighttime coon-hunting events across the state, earning awards and money for top finishes along the way, said Smith.
Aaron Kendall is pictured with Bud Smith's 8-year-old American English coonhound, Southern Red Dottie. (Photo special to The Sun-Sentinel)
“He’s won with two different dogs to get him in this position,” explained Smith.
Kendall began the season with Smith’s 8-year-old coon dog, Southern Red Dottie, then Crooked Snag.
He had success with both canines, accumulating points at the various hunts to earn his way into the championships.
At the United Kennel Club’s state championship in Rolling Fork last November, Team Kendall finished among the top four dogs, noted Smith.
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Competitive coon hunting is not “hunting” in the truest sense, as no raccoons are harmed. It is about the sport, the skill of the dog in detecting the ground trail of a raccoon, tracking it and then locating and chasing it up a tree, thus “treeing” it.
“It’s all about the dog’s speed of locating the coon and the dog’s speed on getting him treed,” noted Smith.
As Smith explained it, a handler and his dog will compete in a single timed heat against three other handlers and their dogs.
The dogs are turned loose, usually in a wooded area where raccoons are likely to be, and the hunt is on.
The first dog that “strikes,” that is, uses its sense of smell to lock onto the trail of a raccoon, signals with a long, distinct bay. It also sounds off when it has a coon treed.
The dog earns points for both accomplishments.
Smith said the handler participates by calling the dog when it strikes and trees.
“You’ve got to know what your dog sounds like,” said Smith.
A dog may strike and tree multiple coons during the course of the two-hour hunt, stacking points.
It is the accumulation of points over the course of the season that punched Kendall’s ticket to the Youth World Championship, Smith noted.
Even more impressive, he added, is that the circuit featured adult as well as youth hunters. Kendall more than held his own against the “grown men,” Smith said.
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Blackhawk Coon Hunters Association of Crowder is the home club of Smith, Davis and Kendall.
Smith has been a coon hunter for about 50 years, and Davis for about 40.
Both have shared their decades of knowledge and skill with Kendall, who Smith said has been eager to learn.
Smith said Kendall would not be commenting on his Youth World Championship trip, explaining, “He is about as bashful as he can be.”
Not so much in one respect.
“You hardly ever see him out doing anything but hunting and fishing,” said Smith. “He’s an outdoorsman.”
