22 PKC Youth Nationals Spotlight on Wed Semi-Finalists

[Amy Kovac-Thomas]

These young handlers have earned themselves a spot in the Semi-Finals of the first ever PKC Youth Nationals. Let's take a moment to get to learn more about them:

Parker Durham

Thirteen year old Parker Durham earned his double cast win to get into Saturday night on the first night of the first every PKC Youth Nationals held in Paducah, Kentucky. Parker lives in Jena, Louisiana. Parker earned his spot in the Semi-Finals by handling 2 B Outdoors Rok River Banjo II.

Parker is the son of Robbie and Danna Durham. He has been a part of our PKC Youth Program for about a year now. Parker shared that he joined the program due to the encouragement of his uncle. He said, “I got into it because my Uncle Derek Calk has been into PKC hunting for a while now.”

Parker discussed why he decided to attend the first every PKC Youth Nationals, “Brandon Bollinger offered it to me. We felt that I had a good chance at doing well at it with how my dog has been performing.”

Parker has been handling Banjo for about a month now. He shared why he brought him and what he likes about him, “He is doing better than anything else that I have access to right now. I like Banjo because if he trees, he is not going to leave the tree and is going to have a coon. He may not get first strike, but he is easy to call. He gives a few locates and then locks down.”

Getting two cast wins is never an easy feat, but Banjo and Parker pulled it off. Parker described how his cast went to get in for Saturday, “In the early round, Banjo went deep about 500 yards. I got second strike with him and I asked the judge if I could walk closer towards him. When I did that, another dog treed in. I treed Banjo in there. The dogs were split. My dog had a coon and the other did not. There was about 13 minutes left in the hunt. One of the dogs got caught by the fifteen. Another dog was out of hearing and so they withdrew it. I had kept my dog on the leash for the rest of the hunt since he had been treed in there for over 30 minutes.

In the late round, I got second strike with him. Then Banjo got out of hearing. I asked to walk closer. The dog that had gotten first strike had treed in, but left. Banjo was the only other dog struck in, so I asked if I could close the gap on my dog.. When we stopped, the other handler struck his dog in for 50 points. The dog with first strike got re-treed in, but it was a slick. He withdrew. I asked to walk toward my dog and another handler treed her dog in. I treed Banjo. They were split treed. Her dog did not have a coon. By the rules, we had to go where we last heard the dog. We went there and I heard Banjo. We could not get to my dog because of the river. By this point, the hunt was over. We walked back to the road. Banjo was 0.6 away and we could still hear him, so they could not run the two on me or call time out. He was three to four miles away when we heard him. We finally got to him and walked in. As long as he was at the tree, I won either way. It was 4 a.m., I did not feel like shining it and told the judge I was satisfied.”

Parker started off the event in great stride and was able to rest up until Saturday. He talked about what his impression of the event has been so far, “It has been fun. It is something I would definitely come back to!”


John-Marshall Bridges

Eighteen year old John-Marshall Bridges was one of the lucky handlers to get into the semi-finals on the first night of the 2022 PKC Youth Nationals. Though this is his last year in the PKC Youth Program, he was excited to be able to participate in this first ever Youth Nationals and it has started off going well for him and Han Solo, who he handled for his double cast wins.

John-Marshall is the son of Steve and Shelly Bridges and lives in Pikeville, Tennessee. He has been a part of the PKC Youth Program for a little over a year now. He shared how he became involved with the program, “I got started in it because my Pa, my dad, and my uncle competition hunted. I have always pleasure hunted, but then I went and spectated one a cast on night. After that, I started hunting my own dog and have loved it ever since.”

That love of competition coon hunting was part of the reason that John-Marshall decided to make the trip to Paducah, Kentucky. He shared what else factored into his decision to attend this first ever event, “My partner Hayden Burks and I talked it over and we decided for me to come up and try to win it. I want to thank the good Lord for allowing us to attend this.”

John-Marshall talked about Han Solo who he brought to handle for this event, “Han is off of Mr. Clean and an Insane Cane female. I brought him because he is just one of my favorite dogs that I have at home. I thought that me and him could have some good luck up here. What I like about Han is that he is my style of dog. He likes to get deep and lonely and has coons when he trees.”

The pressure was definitely taken off of John-Marshall and Han when they earned their double cast win on Wednesday night. John Marshall described how his casts went that night, “On the early cast, there were three dogs that split treed in front of us. One of them had a coon, one of them had a circle, and one was minused. Han treed a mile away from them and he had a coon. I recut Han with twelve minutes left. He got re-treed and had a coon.

In the late round, I struck Han for 100 points and another one of the dogs got treed 500 yards in there. As we were shining his tree, I could hear Han treed about 150 yards behind us, so I treed him in. We went to him and he had a coon. Another dog was treed in there with him. When I recut him, he went 600 yards and treed another coon. That sealed the deal.”

Han earned him and John-Marshall the chance to rest up from the hot summer heat and wait for Saturday to roll around to see what the future would hold. John-Marshall did share what he thought of the event so far, “I think it is a great event. I think PKC is doing a great job. Jed Finley has done a great job with his part in it. I know that there are a lot of people who are helping with it and I want to thank all those who are putting this event on for all of us.”

Austin Blackwell

The Blackwells are known as a Kentucky coon hunting family and fourteen year old Austin Blackwell is definitely doing his part to keep up that family tradition. This young man is from Owenton, Kentucky and is the son of Doug ‘Bub’ and Jane Blackwell. They were pretty proud to see Austin and Rackem Mike get in the first night of the first ever PKC Youth Nationals.

Austin has been a part of the PKC Youth Program for ten years now. It was a pretty easy decision for him to start competition hunting with all the coon hunting that goes on with his family. He shared, “I was born into coon hunting. My mom, dad, grandparents and great grandparents coon hunted as well.”

With their involvement with PKC, when the Youth Nationals was announced, there was no doubt that Austin would be a part of it and then for it to be held in his own home state just sealed the deal for him. He shared, “We decided to come down here because we like how the PKC youth events are run.”

The hound that earned Austin his double cast wins on Wednesday was Rackem Mike. Austin discussed why he made the choice to handle Mike at the event, “I decided to bring Mike is because he is the best dog we have. I like Mike because he is loud, independent, fast and good about having his coons.”

Austin described how the casts went for him and Mike on that first night, “My early round went great. We scored on four coons and Mike was on three of them with two of them being by himself. The late round went great as well. Mike was the only dog to get treed in the cast and he had his coon.”

Austin was happy that he and Mike could go back home and take it easy until Saturday’s Semi-Finals. He is looking forward to returning to see if their performances will take them to the end and bring them a $5,000 check. Austin has been to a lot of PKC events and has been very successful. He shared what he thought of this first ever PKC Youth Nationals, “I think that this event is one of the best youth events I have been to and is being ran very well.”