Hunters escape winter with Orangeburg hunt

“The competition and the breeding and selling dogs” keeps him coming back, he said.

“We sell pups down here this time of year to bring some down to the Southern part of the country,” Bennett said. “We brought the original Stylish Coma down here. He was a Grand Nite dog that was a real nice dog. He throwed some good pups.”

Over the years, he has brought about 10 or 15 different stud dogs to the Grand American.

“It is a good atmosphere,” Bennett said. “It is always cold this time of year in our part of the country, so it is a good to get away to come down here to the South where it is warmer and still get to coon hunt a little bit and be with friends.”

Walter Koshko says this is his third year of coming to the Grand American. He’s looking to win the Grand American top prize, which includes dog boxes, trophies and hunting gear.

“The notoriety of winning it is a prize in itself,” Koshko said.

Outside of the Grand American, Koshko just likes something about Orangeburg.

“It has a different array of food than I’ve got at home,” he said. “At home we don’t have the seafood like they have here. We have barbecue. I am from Kansas City.”

“I enjoy the scenery,” Koshko continued. “I like the look of the swamps, but as far as me hunting the swamps, heck no. I don’t want no part of that.”

Koshko and Bennett are among the hundreds of dog owners and teams that are competing in this year’s Grand American. The event is held annually at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds.

The Grand American includes nightly competitive hunts in which coon hounds and their handlers earn points for treeing and identifying raccoons. The raccoons are not killed or attacked in the hunt.

Early arrivals Thursday hailed from states such as New York, Kansas and Texas.

Larry Hicks drove 15 hours from Illinois with his son Grant to participate in the hunt.

This is Hicks’ second Grand American, but he has been hunting for 45 years.

“We do a lot of pleasure hunting up at home and do a lot of the local clubs, but we just recently started coming to the bigger hunts,” Hicks said.

The men are hoping for the best.

“We are just country coon hound hunters. There are half-million dollar dogs over there,” he said.

Though the weather for the hunt looks good, Hicks said the challenge will be the water.

“We are not used to the water that you guys have down here,” Hicks said. “I don’t know what our dog will do in three feet of water for two hours. Up at home we have rolling hills and corn fields for thousands of acres.”

“I don’t know what he will do in the swamps down here,” he continued. “We will just find out, I guess. If nothing else, I will get to hunt with some of the top dogs in the country and see how their handlers work and see how their dogs work.”

Clint Shives from Greenville, Ohio, was selling 14 Walker coonhounds at the event. He has been coming to the Grand American since 2007 and came for six straight years before starting his family.

He has been away since 2012 and is happy to be back.

“I’ve got some old friends who have been down here,” he said. “Everybody is friendly. Everybody is easy to get along with. I just always enjoyed coming down here.”

“I have missed it,” Shives continued. “I wish I could have come back sooner, but life happens.”

He said with it being 20 degrees in Ohio, “50 degrees down here feels pretty good for us.”

The event is not only about the hunt. Nearly 100 vendors set up their wares at the fairgrounds.

At Millingport Hunting Supply’s booth, shirts featured phrases such as “My Wife says ‘Don’t Sell Me More Dogs’” and “I Wear the Camo in this House.”

Big Daddy’s Tees owner Imre Vali has been coming from Dalton, Georgia, to the Grand American for a decade.

“It is best coon dog show in the country,” Vali said. “People are great.”

Johnny Dalton, owner of Valley Creek Hunting Supply, has been coming to the Grand American since 1978. He has been selling supplies since 1986.

The Grand American has always been a favorite.

“It starts the whole year off,” Dalton said. “We go to a lot of them. This is the biggest hunt of the year. You have this in size and Autumn Oaks in size.”

The Autumn Oaks hunt in Richmond, Indiana brings in the largest amount of dogs but the Grand American brings in the largest number of visitors, he said.

At Ringtails and Tall Tales Hunting Dog Supply, owner Philip Baldwin is making his second appearance at the Grand American. The business also exhibited at the Grand American for several years under the previous ownership.

His favorite thing about coming to the Grand American is the amount of people.

“It is a really good community,” Baldwin said. “They are good people to deal with.”