You can’t beat perfection.
For a coonhound, perfection is finding a coon up among the limbs every time he trees.
And that perfectly describes the performance turned in by a Treeing Walker with the unusual name of “Cell” at the 2024 Grand American Coon Hunt out of Orangeburg, SC, this past January.
The first night of the Grand American “was a perfect night,” said Shaun Welch of Bonneau, SC, owner/handler of Cell. “The coons were feeding.”
Cell treed five times that night, and a coon was in every tree.
“We had one in a hollow tree and we found the fifth coon with just a few minutes left in the hunt.”
Saturday night was a one-hour hunt. When the hounds were cast, they all went right. Cell went left.
“He had a coon in the first tree when we got to him,” Welch said. “Before the hour was up, Cell treed again. And he had the final coon of the hunt.”
Two nights. Three hunts. Eight trees. Eight coons. Perfection!
“He had a coon every time, and that’s what it takes to win these (super competitive) hunts,” Welch said. “To win one of these big hunts, you need a raccoon on every tree. Then they desereve to win when they are performing like that.”
Big winner
The Grand American championship is not the only major feather in Cell’s hunting cap. The 6-year-old Walker has won hunts in 10 different states, picking up more than $140,000 in winner’s purses along the way, and has been featured on the covers of five coon hunting magazines. His accomplishments include:
2024 UKC South Carolina Hall of Fame Overall Winner
South Carolina Youth State Champion
2021 PKC Super Stakes Champion
2021 Top 24 PKC World Hunt
2020-2021 PKC National Champion
His record is so strong that he commands an $800 stud fee. That figure might seem high, but one of his offspring has already won $40,000 in competition coon hunts.
A lot of hunting dog owners believe their dogs need to stay in the kennel to stay focused on what they were bred to hunt. They believe that making pets out of them diminishes their capabilities in the field and woods.
But Cell definitely does not fit in that category. In addition to reigning at the top of the competition coon hunting world, he is also perfectly content being the family dog.
“He goes on vacation with us, goes camping with us, rides in the back seat of my truck,” said Welch. “We take him fishing and hunting with us.”
Cell also sleeps in the garage, really a kind of “throne room” which Welch has transformed into a Hall of Fame featuring the champion coon hound.
“I have a whole wall of his accomplishments with all the magazine covers and the plaques from some of the trophies. My kids kept the trophies,” he said.
And when he is not taking Cell along on a fishing trip, or camping, or on vacation with the family, Welch likes to hit the local woods and swamps at night with a buddy and Cell and just go coon hunting with no competition or money on the line. Just the hunters and Cell and the coons.
“I just like to watch a dog work in God’s Country. Just hearing them run through there, I am amazed at how they can pick up a scent, stay on the track and have a coon at the end,” he said.
Now, about that name. Cell is short for “Jail Cell.”
“We were at a hunt and a buddy got into some trouble and was taken to jail. We went to pick him up out of jail and we made a joke about it. We said we will just call him Jail Cell,” Welch said.
Grand American
The 60th annual Grand American Coon Hunt will be held Jan. 3-4, 2025, out of the Orangbeburg County Fairgrounds in Orangeburg, SC. The Grand American is the kick-off to the United Kennel Club’s annual coonhound events calendar.
The Grand American is a nationally-known event that features skilled hounds from all over the country. The family-friendly event, which draws thousands of participants and spectators, is billed as a venue where attendees can shop at a variety of vendors, catch up with old friends, and make new ones.
Licensed by the UKC, it includes a two-hour hunt each night and a bench show each day.
Advance entries for the hunts are $50 each night, postmarked by Dec. 10. Send entries to David McKee, 314 Alexander Road, Whitmire, SC 29178. Entries taken on the grounds at the event, based on the availability of guides, are $75 cash.
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