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All about the Chase: Competing to send raccoons up a tree brings 'something different every night'
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Jody Jessup heads across a field at dusk to see where he will let Bodie loose for a hunt, as hunting partner Chas McFarland waits in the truck.
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Published: April 27, 2009
RURAL HALL - To do well hunting raccoons competitively, a lot of things have to come together.
You have to have a good dog.
"They have to be fast," said Jody Jessup. "They have to have a good nose -- good mouth."
You have to know your dog well.
You have to know the ins and outs of the rules, such as no killing of the raccoons.
"There's a big rule book," Jessup said. "There are hundreds of rules."
And fortune has to smile on you.
"There is a lot of luck involved," Jessup said.
For instance, before a raccoon treed by your dog can be scored, a witness has to see it. If it goes up a little tree, well, there you are, Jessup said. If it climbs high up into a tall tree, and no one can spot it, well, too bad.
The sport is in treeing the raccoons, not killing them.
"Some people think we're killing them, but you're not," Jessup said. "You've got to have 'coons to tree 'em."
At the head of the pack
In working with Sue, an American Black & Tan Coonhound, everything came together during a series of competitions held around the country over the course of a year. Sue and Jessup outscored more than 13,000 other coonhounds to be named the Purina Outstanding Nite Hunt Coonhound.
Jessup, who lives in Rural Hall, enjoys the competitive side of raccoon hunting so much that he competes not only with his own dogs but also as the handler for dogs owned by others. In this case, he was handling Sue for owner Clair Chenoweth of Bridgeport, W. Va. Until age caught up with him, Chenoweth competed himself. He has known and respected Jessup since they first competed against each other in 1994, so he hired Jessup to handle his dogs a couple of years ago.
"He's a good, honest man," Chenoweth said. "One thing is he knows the rules. And he's a good sport, and he's a good dog handler."
During the week, Jessup, 36, runs his own business -- Jessup Pump Concrete. If you need concrete poured somewhere that the concrete truck can't get to, he is your man. He brings his equipment out and pumps the concrete from the mixer to the place you need it.
During the week, he hunts locally for fun.
It's the weekends when he does most of his competitive hunting. Depending on how far he and the dogs have to go, he may leave on Thursday or Friday. The states where he has hunted competitively include Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, South Carolina and Georgia.
Plenty of trophies
His other major wins include the United Kennel Club World Hunt in 2003. He has won so many trophies over the years that he gave a bunch of them away.
"I'm pretty good at this," he said.
Jessup, 36, got into raccoon hunting through his father, Tom, who would take Jessup and his older brother, Terry, out hunting with him.
These days, he often goes out with Chas McFarland, who came down here from Illinois to play basketball for Wake Forest. McFarland enjoyed raccoon hunting at home and found out about Jessup after he got here.
"It's just a relaxing way to get away from everybody else," McFarland said. "I like being out in the woods."
As with many sports, you can spend as much as you want. Jessup knows of one dog that could have been had for $3,500 before a particular competition. After the dog won, someone paid $22,500 for it. If you want, you can buy a collar for a dog that tracks in using the GPS satellites.
If you are hunting locally, you might go out about dark. In competitions, groups gather at a central location earlier and then drive out to one place or another to begin the hunt. In competitions, competitors are assigned to groups, and members of the group serves as witnesses for scoring purposes.
Once the dogs are released, all sorts of factors come into play. One dog might stay relatively close. Another may head way out.
"Some hunts, you never hear your dog," Jessup said.
One thing that happens to dogs as they get older is they don't bark as loudly, and they can be harder to follow at a distance. In general, winter is a better time to hunt because raccoons are easier to spot when trees don't have leaves on them. Full-moon nights tend to be poor hunting nights.
"They don't like the light," he said.
One night, you might walk no more than a half-mile. Another night, you might walk 10 miles. One night, you might go home soaking wet without having seen a raccoon. Another night, you might tree three or four.
"It's something different every night," McFarland said.
■ Kim Underwood can be reached at 727-7389 or at kunderwood@wsjournal.com.
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