OK. One more thought, then I'll shut up. Maybe.
Make your cut off at ten, 15, 20 -- whatever's feasible. Say ten. Ten hounds in the race, first hound gets ten points. Nine hounds in the race, first hound gets nine points BUT put a 5-point buffer between first and second.
The first hound in the race occupies a unique position. He is driving the bus. He is the only one in the pack running the game. In a sense, all the rest are running him. I know that's not completely true, but it is, in a sense.
If you're not the first dog in the race, the view never changes. That is completely true.
SO, first hound in a ten-dog race gets ten points. Second hound gets five; third hound gets four, fifth gets three, etc. First hound in a twenty-dog race gets ten points; second gets five, and so on.
Where this evens the field is in smaller packs. In a seven-hound race -- the first hound gets seven points; second hounds gets two points. Third hound gets one point. Nothing else scores.
In five, four, three, two and one-dog races -- only first hound scores. Five, four, three, two or one-point, depending on how many dogs.
This prevents the ridiculous practice of giving relatively big scores to hounds running last in a four, three, two-dog race.
Thoughts?
Eric, you had it right the first time! Don't over think yourself. As the score keeper it's definitely less confusing to write the dogs' numbers down as they cross for as long as possible, then when the race passes turn to your score sheet and give a "1" to last place, and then simply work your way up to first. 1st place lead changes happen often in every race, and you know as we'll as I do that it's hard to have enough judges. Don't give a dog 5 extra points for getting scored at a lucky time for him. The 2nd place dog could have had it the longest, but got cut off prior to crossing the road. 1 point differences will eventually iron itself out, but that 5 may not. Just a thought....plus it requires more figuring and better chance for human error. Score all dogs equally in a 1 the point format, and the biggest pack's lead dog will when the hunt, and deserves to.
I don't know how long you fella's have ran dogs or judged but a lot of crossings that you get are hard enough to score the dogs much less count how many dogs were in the pack or crossing! Every crossing that takes place is not a clean cut crossing where a piece of game crosses, then 5, 7, 10, or 15 dogs cross in exact line order. In saying that, I don't believe in scoring a bunch of pack scores. Score 5 dogs in the crossing if you have that many and be done with it. Just my take>>
Its hard enough to get judges now so if we keep making it more difficult they are going to say the heck with it and it will be like some of the recent hunts with only a few judges for hundreds or even thousands of acres.
I know that I have been in the pens and saw crossings that were hard to determine first to fifth much less how many are in the pack especially when they are ten wide site running a yote.
Mr. Really, that makes no sense either. If a dog runs middle to front of a pack basically 6th place to say...10th place she could run all day long and not score a single point. A dog that's trying should always receive something. My grandfather taught me that the most important muscle on a dog was its heart. By the way you don't have to count how many dogs are in the race, you just call them out as fast as possible until their gone, and then count up from the last dog by ones on your score sheet. What in the hell is so hard about that....Really??????