22 PKC Youth Nationals Spotlight on Fri Semi-Finalists

[Amy Kovac-Thomas]

We have rounded out the last of our semi-finalist participants for tonight! Congratulations on making it one step closer to the first ever PKC Youth National Championship title. Lets look closer at our last group to make it in for tonight!

Peyton Miller

Twelve year old Peyton Miller started off his trip from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Paducah with quite a few hiccups…such as having three flat tires and running out of gas. In fact, those things kept this young handler from getting to the first ever PKC Youth Nationals on the first night. However, he and Millertyme’s Jewel aka Hank, finally arrived on Thursday. It was Friday night when their luck changed for the better and the two of them earned their double cast wins to get them into the semi-finals!

Peyton not only has quite the story for how his trip to this event began, but he also has a pretty interesting story about his start in competition hunting and the PKC Youth Program. When asked how long he has been in the program and how he got involved, he quickly responded by saying, “This is my first ever competitive hunt! The reason I got involved is because I enjoy pleasure hunting and my dad told me about it. I decided to try competitive hunting to see how it is.”

Peyton shared why he decided to make his competitive debut at the first ever 2022 PKC Youth Nationals, “It is the first of its kind hunt. I figured if I was going to come to a hunt, I was going to come to one that was going to be pretty nice.”

To make it to the semi-finals of your first competition event, which is the first of its kind, is quite a feat. The hound that has made this interesting story possible for Peyton is Millertyme’s Jewel aka Hank. He talked about Jewel, “Her name is that because her name on the papers was Jewel, but the guy that we bought her from called her Hank. I like her because she is the best and the most consistent out of the dogs we hunt. I chose to bring her because I figured if I was going to go to a competition hunt, I want to win, so I brought her”

Peyton talked about his cast wins Friday night that earned him and Jewel another night of hunting in the Youth Nationals, “In the early round, she did very well. She got first strike, but we got last tree. We had 200 pending. We had to walk almost a mile and a half to her and she never left. She was split and had a coon, so I got moved up to 200 plus points. By the time we got to her, the hunt had ended. In the late round we got pretty lucky because she got through the country. I got third strike and there were a bunch of house dogs and we could barely hear her. While walking to another dog’s tree, they stopped and we could hear my dog treed. She had a coon there.”

Though the start of the PKC Youth Nationals was rough for Peyton and Jewel they are hoping that end of it will be smooth sailing. Peyton shared his outlook on the event so far, “I think it has been pretty fun. I have enjoyed it.”

Sydney Davis

Fourteen year old Sydney Davis has only been hunting in PKC for a year now. She may be fairly new to the registry, but she is hoping that she is going to be able to add this first time Youth National Championship title to her growing resume. Sydney made the trip from Butler, Missouri to Paducah, Kentucky to try to get that job done and she and Dialed in Liz have earned themselves a spot in the semi-finals!

Sydney talked about why she decided to be a part of the PKC Youth Program, “This is my second year in hunts and my first year in PKC. I enjoy coon hunting and I enjoy competition. Naturally I started participating in the hunts with the direction of my dad.”

Sydney talked about why she made the decision to attend this first every PKC Youth Nationals, “I enjoy the bigger youth events, so with this being the first annual PKC Youth Nationals, we wanted to attend. We did not get to prepare for the hunt like we wanted to, but my dad said, ‘You cannot win if you do not try.”

The hound that Sydney is handling at this event is Dialed in Liz. Liz is her personal dog and the one that she hunts at all the events. Sydney shared what it is about Liz that she likes, “Liz is very levelheaded and it feels that she wants to pleasure me majority of the nights when I take her hunting. With Liz, she always keeps things interesting in the woods. One night she might go .6 and tree a coon and other nights, she might just go 40 yards and tree a coon. Plus, she is getting better every time we hunt her. She is becoming more consistent with treeing coons.”

Liz kept Sydney on her toes when it came to the last qualifying night’s start off, but in the end she pulled it off and got them their double cast wins. Sydney described how her casts went, “In the early round, things did not go as well as I expected. Liz was not operating the best until the last few minutes of the hunt. I treed her with 50 seconds left in the hunt and she had a coon, which gave me the cast win. In the late round, she treed the only coon in the cast and stayed out of trouble the rest of the night.”

Sydney is hoping that Liz does stay dialed in for her semi-finals cast tonight so they can keep moving closer to that first ever 2022 PKC Youth National Championship title. She has been impressed with her time at this inaugural event so far and shared her thoughts about it, “It has been a great atmosphere, well organized, and everyone seems to be having a good time. The three casts that I have been involved in have been respectful and we did not have any issues. I appreciate the gentlemen that have helped guide/judge this event so it could happen. I am grateful that PKC decided to have this hunt and am looking forward to participating during the next four years!”

Brantley Berry

It is not often that eighteen year old Brantley Berry has a chance to hunt for $5,000 in his hometown of Paducah, but that opportunity presented itself in the form of the first ever PKC Youth Nationals this week and Brantley was not about to let it pass him up. It got a bit complicated for Brantley when his female came into heat on him, but having good friends in this sport paid off from him and he was given the chance to hunt All Jocked Up N Trippin. The two earned their double cast wins Thursday night and now they are heading out this evening to see if they have two more wins in them.

Brantley became involved in the PKC Youth Program about three and a half years ago. He has had a good streak of success in it and just recently won the 2022 Trader Inc. Youth Challenge and Dream Hunt. Now he is hoping to bring in another big win tonight, especially with the event being held at his home club. He said that with the way things were set up with this event, “There was no getting out of hunting in it!”

Though Brantley is hunting a fill in, All Jocked Up N Trippin has not let him down. It was not too hard of a transition for Brantley to transfer to him as a handler. Brantley shared, “Jock is Steve Yant’s dog and we are good buddies. I have hunted with Jock and Steve quite a bit. When my female came in, Steve offered me the use of his dog.”

Brantley shared how things went for him and Jock last night, “It went good in the early round. He treed one coon for 175 plus and that was all he needed. In the late round, Jock had 200 circle. I never shined his tree once they told me that all I needed was a circle tree. I asked the judge if we could just circle it and I pulled him off of it.”

Brantley has been trying to get in since the event started and he pulled it off last night. He has put in his time at this first ever PKC Youth National Champions and he talked about how he has felt about this event, “It is an awesome hunt. Jed Finley, Chris Freiberger, Steve Yant, and Shane Patton have done a great job putting it on.”

Cole Perry

Fifteen year old Cole Perry traveled to Paducah, Kentucky from Snead, Alabama to take his shot at being the first ever PKC Youth National Champion. Now he and Happy Hour really have something to celebrate after all their hard work since they made it into the semi-finals last night!

Cole has been involved in the PKC Youth Program for three years now. He shared how he became involved in the program, “I was at my stepdad’s barn one evening and Mike Franklin, a buddy of my stepdad, came over. I found out that Mike was still coon hunting. I went with him that night and the rest is history!”

When Cole heard that the first ever PKC Youth Nationals was going to be held, he knew that this was an event that he was going to attend. The hound that he brought with him to it is Happy Hour. Cole discussed Happy Hour, who has brought him to the semi-final round, “I like Happy Hour because he as a one of a kind locate on him. I choice to bring him because during the last few weeks, Happy Hour has been treeing coons consistently.”

Cole described how the casts went for him and Happy Hour last night, “In the early round, I struck him for 75 points and treed him for 100 points. That tree was scored and circled. When I cut him again, he struck in for 25 points and I treed him for 100 points. That tree was plused up and that won him the early round. In the late round, it was rough. I struck Happy Hour for 50 points and treed him for 100 points, but he got minused his 100 points. I treed him back in for 100 points and when we got to him, he had a coon so I had 50 plus points then. I recut and struck him back in for 25 points. He never treed again and I won with the most plus points.”

Cole is now hoping that Happy Hour continues to give him reason to celebrate by winning big tonight! He shared what he has thought of the first ever PKC Youth Nationals, “So far the event has been great – just hot!”