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Adventures of the Coon Huntin Coonass.

No problem bud. Coon hunting has a bunch of jargon. The dogs ride in a dog box in the back of the truck. When we go to a new spot and let them out its called a drop.

Once the dog trees and the coon is shot. You put a leash on the dog and walk him back to the truck. Open the door on the dog box and they hop in (load).. Then you drive to a new area or even just the other end of a fencerow and make another drop. You'll also see me say we shot the dogs down a ditch. This means we dropped them on a ditch. When you get a dog out of the box for a drop they are wound up and ready to go. You hold them by the collar and they pull so hard they literally stand on their hind legs and walk like a human. As soon as you let go they take off like a "shot". Hence the " we shot them down this ditch."

one of my favorite sayings when i was coon hunting was were gonna shoot the bitchs in the ditch , it was just fun to say
 

Jackalope

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A CB cap is a 22 short with very little powder. Less than a short. It only goes between 400 and 700 fps. Very quiet. You can actually hear it leave the barrel.
 

badger

*Supporting Member*
Hey Joe, you should start saving those hides. You never know what the prices might be. These were from "08"

Coon prices are at the bottom and continued in the second pic.



 

Jackalope

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Hey Joe, you should start saving those hides. You never know what the prices might be. These were from "08"

Coon prices are at the bottom and continued in the second pic.

With prices like that you're right! I have plenty of room to put them up and hold on to them.. This is my first year hunting with George. He said we'll probably shoot about 150-180 a season hunting 2-3 nights a week.... I believe it. He'll we treed 8 the other night in 4 hours. :smiley_crazy:
 

Jackalope

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with those prices i need to get back into hunting and trapping fur bearers

Remember those were 08 prices.. The garment industry is in the shitter since the recession. Don't expect those prices now. I should go and dig up last springs NAFA auction prices.
 

badger

*Supporting Member*
Remember those were 08 prices.. The garment industry is in the shitter since the recession. Don't expect those prices now. I should go and dig up last springs NAFA auction prices.

Things have been looking better for coon. You never know what can happen with the market, but it sure doesn't cost anything but time to put up a few hides. You might make a bunch, or make a few. I know a guy from Michigan that got a top lot rat last year that brought $40. That's right $40 for a muskrat!

Did ya notice the yote prices I got that year? I hate those damn stinking things.

I'm getting some traps and snares out tomorrow and going to do some scouting Saturday.

Good luck with the hounds Joe!
 
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Jackalope

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Jackalope,

Your not down in southrn Ross county are you?

There are at least 2 guys with a few hounds out back right now!
Pretty sure they had one treed.

Nahhh.. To heck with walking those hills. We drive to our dogs. :smiley_blink: That's the nice part about hunting woodlots and fence rows. Half the time we pull up and can shine the tree they're on right from the truck.
 

Jackalope

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Things have been looking better for coon.

I might try putting them up this year then. Can i skin, roll, and freeze to flesh and board later. Does that cause any issues? I don't have any boards made up, fleshing beam, or draw knife. I can put it all back together but i might have to freeze some hides first as we're already killing...

I would also have to start shooting them in the noggin instead of 3-4 times in the ass to let the dogs have fun. And making sure only 1 dog can grabs them. :smiley_crocodile:
 

badger

*Supporting Member*
I might try putting them up this year then. Can i skin, roll, and freeze to flesh and board later. Does that cause any issues? I don't have any boards made up, fleshing beam, or draw knife. I can put it all back together but i might have to freeze some hides first as we're already killing...

I would also have to start shooting them in the noggin instead of 3-4 times in the ass to let the dogs have fun. And making sure only 1 dog can grabs them. :smiley_crocodile:

Sure can, but don't roll up warm hides in plastic bags and toss them in the freezer. You need to let the hide cool down. My buddy hunts cur dogs and he was doing a bunch of skinning in the woods instead of carrying out the carcasses. As soon as he got the dogs on another track he would jerk the hides off and throw them in a bag. Once he had a few all rolled up together, they could not cool down. He took them out of the freezer and brought them to me to put up on stretchers. I had to throw half of them away as they were slipping. Had another buddy lose his bear hide from Canada by doing the same thing. He had the hide off the bear an hour after he spined it with good intentions for the meat. The hide was still warm when it hit the freezer and the taxidermist couldn't do anything with it.

I like to skin them as soon as I can, but I prefer to wash them up some (if muddy and bloody) and comb out any burs and get the hide dry.
 

Jackalope

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Sure can, but don't roll up warm hides in plastic bags and toss them in the freezer. You need to let the hide cool down. My buddy hunts cur dogs and he was doing a bunch of skinning in the woods instead of carrying out the carcasses. As soon as he got the dogs on another track he would jerk the hides off and throw them in a bag. Once he had a few all rolled up together, they could not cool down. He took them out of the freezer and brought them to me to put up on stretchers. I had to throw half of them away as they were slipping. Had another buddy lose his bear hide from Canada by doing the same thing. He had the hide off the bear an hour after he spined it with good intentions for the meat. The hide was still warm when it hit the freezer and the taxidermist couldn't do anything with it.

I like to skin them as soon as I can, but I prefer to wash them up some (if muddy and bloody) and comb out any burs and get the hide dry.


Looks like at NAFAs last 3 auctions this year they sold 75-100% of the offering they had on Northeast central coon at an average of 9-12 dollars. NOT bad... I don't think we'll ever see $20+ coon again but it's hard to leave 10 bucks hanging on a forked limb in the woods. ;)
 

badger

*Supporting Member*
We simply do not have the coon they have in other states as far as quality and size. As you stated, I'll take every ten dollar coon I can catch. I also wouldn't count out $20+ coon in the future.

Hey UK, thanks buddy. I hope there's not a bunch of responsibilities that come with that nomination as I'm not known as a very responsible guy! :smiley_cheers:
 

Jackalope

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Drops ------ 10
Coon ------- 11
Den Trees -- 2
Tapped trees---1
Holes------- 0
Lying Dog -- 0
Triple--------1
Double-------2

Made 4 more drops tonight.. Dog lied once or the coon tapped the tree ("Tapped" means the coon climbed about 5 feet then bailed out tricking the dog) (lied - means just that, the dog was lying knowing damn well there wasn't a coon in there. They will do that rarely if they can't find a coon to tree) I think the coon tapped because when we got him off that tree and sent him on again he treed again not 30 yards away. no coon in that one either.

Treed 1 den tree (coon inside tree)

And treed twice more. One double and one single. For a total of three. 4 drops and 3 coon.. Should have been better but I'll take it.

That JR dog was acting a idiot again tonight... Came close to giving that dude a long nap in the woods. Dropped him out of the box by himself and he just ran about 30 yards in the woods and looked at me.. Stood there for 10 min and wouldn't go hunt. I would go to get him and he would walk away and stand there again.. His only saving grace was i drug a dead coon down a field edge and hung it up.. Dropped him out of the box and he followed it. He overshot the turn but came back and picked it up and treed good.. He treed for a good 20 minutes every breath. When i threw it out to him he jumped on it like a t-bone and beat it up. Good thing he still showed potential. That dog better get with the program. If i'm going to get out there and hunt a dog he's either a hero or a zero. Anything in the middle is a counterfeit and i won't hunt him. He doesn't run garbage though. (deer, opossum, fox, etc) That ain't saying much though, his simple ass isn't even running fuggin coon.. He's got about another month of me messing with him before i get tired of it.
 

Jackalope

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Some dogs never do get it, and they ain't worth their feed.

Did ya save any of the coon Joe?


The dogs skinned one themselves. The other wasn't worth a damn. I'm not sure what was up with that one, had patches of fur missing etc. And the third hung up in the tree. So nope. I will though. We need to quit throwing both dogs on the coon... I think I'm going to start making JR jealous. If Ben trees the coon Ben gets the coon. Tie JR back and not give him even a taste. Do that about 3 times and hope it puts a drive in him to beat Ben to the tree. Right now he's being a "me too" dog.

I think if someone would work with him and just him, he would make someone a good dog. I think he might just be a one man coondog.