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Coon hunting

Jackalope

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Sounds like a shit ton of fun to me.
Oh it is. There are times it's a lot of not fun also. If you really want to do it I recommend you find a local night hunt competition and go make friends. Just show up and start talking to people, find someone local and tag along with him on some hunts. The old guys will be all about pleasure hunting and have the best stories, the young guys will mostly be all about the competitions.
 

Jackalope

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Funny coon huntng story about my late coon hunting buddy George. One night George and I slipped out to cast a couple dogs for a quick hunt. We're sitting there in the dark on the tailgate of his truck on this old wooded farm road listening to the dogs. They treed but we wanted to see how long they would stay hooked. George gets a call from an old buddy of his and the guy drives out to meet us. After a while we can hear a truck idling along and up he pulls with his lights off. He had this three year old dog that he'd been working for a few months and wanted him to run with a couple good dogs. We gathered up the dogs and headed to a new spot.

When we arrived we threw his dog and a 9 year old seasoned dog out of the box. The season dog didn't go 150 ards and struck, not long after that he treed and was hooked. Not a peep from that other dog. So we go in to the tree and that other dog is nowhere to be seen. We make a bunch of racket and shoot then 22 a couple of times trying to get that dog to come in. Nada. Finally we leash the old dog and take him back to the truck. We sit there for about an hour and still hear nothing, drive around and nada. By now its been about three hours and we went back to where we threw him out and sat on the tailgate. George's friend keeps telling us about how he got this dog and he's just a knot head. Does this all the time and will somwtimes hunt good, but most times just runs off. The guy is getting pissed and says he might as well shoot him and move on to a new dog and quit wasting his time.

About 10 minutes later we can hear something running around in the woods. Each time the guy calls it stops. We sit there in the dark listening. Suddenly a coon headlight light pierces the darkness as george threw his light on without saying a word. I no sooner got my head turned that direction to look when the 22 rifle went off.

George shot that walker dog dead right where it stood about 20 yards away in the woods.

George! You shot my dog!

I did you a damn favor george replied.

The guy started laughing. Yeah, i guess you did.

George didn't much care for counterfeits. Especially ones that would disappear for 4 hours then stand in the woods staring at you in the dark.
 

Jackalope

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One other story that makes me chuckle. So George and I are out one night and we cast this dog down a wooded creek line. We are a good 400 yards from a house down the road. That dog shoots down that ditch line and hooked a left towards that farm house.

A minute or so later he strikes a trail and trees. George and I just looked at eachother like oh shit. We hop in the truck and pull up in front of the house and stop. That dog is about 30 yards off the side of this farmhouse on a small tree just hammering. no sooner than we pull up and stop this dude comes out on the front porch with a shotgun. He's all kind of madder than shit, I mean I would be too if someone had a dog hammering outside of my bedroom at 1 in the morning.

So George starts apologizing and asking if he can grab that dog. The guy is just fit to be tied cussing us out and saying no and he's going to shoot the dog. George tried to reason with the guy saying come on man don't shoot my dog just let me grab him. The guy kept insisting he was going to shoot this dog. George yelled at him to hold on a minute and let him throw this other dog out there and he can shoot both of them since he is in a dog buying mood. The guy had a genuine look of confusion on his face.

Then George said, now before you go and shoot that dog let me ask you something. George looks over at the guys barn and asks, have you ever seen a big ole barn on fire? The guy said rather timidly, get your fucking dog and get off my property.

Come to find out later he was some dentist from town that bought a farm house out in the country.
 
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xbowguy

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Licking Co. Ohio
Here is a sad coon dog story. My friend from Meigs Co. Hunted "Bub" every single night. Bub was on a roll and started winning coon dog trials. Every time they went somewhere, people asked him who he was. By the time Bub won the Buckeye Nationals and the Ohio State Nationals, people started knowing who the duo was and Bub was the main celebrity. By the time they got to the Grand National Event in Kansas, people knew who they were when the pulled in. They were like pointing and shaking their head yes....... Well Bub did not disappoint and won out in Kansas. At the end of the night, a fella pulled up on my buddy and wanted to buy Bub. Buddy said Bub is my whole world and is not for sale....we're buddy's to the end. Guy took out 20,000.00 and threw it on the hood of the truck. I want that Bub dog he said. Bub is family and not going anywhere even for 20,000! They came back to Ohio and Bub was hit by a train a week later and died. My buddy turned into a drunk and will not coon hunt anymore. He got dogs again and tried but just couldn't shake it. Feel for him to this day.

I first thought this story was another coon hunter story...but I met another guy who went to Kansas with my buddy (Name to be kept quiet). He assured me he seen the money and was shocked. Back then you could buy the top 4 x 4 for 10,000 or so. Bub is still remembered my many that got to see him hunt.
 

Jackalope

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Here is a sad coon dog story. My friend from Meigs Co. Hunted "Bub" every single night. Bub was on a roll and started winning coon dog trials. Every time they went somewhere, people asked him who he was. By the time Bub won the Buckeye Nationals and the Ohio State Nationals, people started knowing who the duo was and Bub was the main celebrity. By the time they got to the Grand National Event in Kansas, people knew who they were when the pulled in. They were like pointing and shaking their head yes....... Well Bub did not disappoint and won out in Kansas. At the end of the night, a fella pulled up on my buddy and wanted to buy Bub. Buddy said Bub is my whole world and is not for sale....we're buddy's to the end. Guy took out 20,000.00 and threw it on the hood of the truck. I want that Bub dog he said. Bub is family and not going anywhere even for 20,000! They came back to Ohio and Bub was hit by a train a week later and died. My buddy turned into a drunk and will not coon hunt anymore. He got dogs again and tried but just couldn't shake it. Feel for him to this day.

I first thought this story was another coon hunter story...but I met another guy who went to Kansas with my buddy (Name to be kept quiet). He assured me he seen the money and was shocked. Back then you could buy the top 4 x 4 for 10,000 or so. Bub is still remembered my many that got to see him hunt.
Sad story about your friend bud.

Coondogs did and still do fetch stupid amounts of cash. George traded one for a cherry 68 camaro and 5 grand once back in the 80s. I saw a guy offer him 15k cash for a 9 year old dog named Ben that we had. No deal. George got out of competition hunting years and years ago but i bet his phone rang 5 times a day from random people calling to see what he had in his box.

Duck guys think labs fetch coin. I guarantee its nothing compared to coondogs.
 
Ive hunted coons in ohio with my previous cur dogs. Like jamie said most curs will tree squirrels and coons. property lines are the biggest problem. Deer hunters that have access to the same property as you can be real dickheads. Squirrels are easier to hunt with a dog because the dog hunts closer in. Also the trails or much shorter so property lines are less of an issue. Even then dogs do not know property lines. At with squirrels the dog is normally close enough that i can get them to recall if needed.

Out in washington there is plenty of land. I have hunted coons with lacey a couple times. The problem is you have to be prepared to get harassed by the GW. They think every coon hunter is a lion and bear poacher. Bears, lions and some areas wolves are also a risk to your dogs. The other issue is porcupines. Even the most broke in dog will trash on a porcupine. Like joe said you have to be perpared to vet your own dogs. Bell was all cut up and missing a chunk of her ear from a fight with a bobcat in northern PA. Its a lot of to bother with just to pleasure hunt a few nights. However it is tons of fun when it is going right. Herding and tracking will scratch my dog working bone until i can move some where with treerats to hunt.

Btw i know this post is poorly stuctured. Its 4 am and i cant sleep.
 
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"J"

Git Off My Lawn
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IMG_0009.jpg
 

xbowguy

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Licking Co. Ohio
We bought a red tick for $500 once. Tried the dog out and he was Dynamite first to hit the track first to the tree first to grab the Coon he was everything. Took him out the next night let him off the leash he damn near knocked us both over trying to get back to the car. When we got to the car he had jumped through the window and was sitting on the back seat ready to go home. WTF? Lynched him again walk down the railroad tracks took him off the lead he did a small Loop and took off back for the car. Went home and called the guy back told him what was happening he said well I thought I told you that dog needs to run with another dog! WTF AGAIN.... took him out that night with another dog and he run great! The guy that owned the dog offered us our $500 back so we took it!
 

Jackalope

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We bought a red tick for $500 once. Tried the dog out and he was Dynamite first to hit the track first to the tree first to grab the Coon he was everything. Took him out the next night let him off the leash he damn near knocked us both over trying to get back to the car. When we got to the car he had jumped through the window and was sitting on the back seat ready to go home. WTF? Lynched him again walk down the railroad tracks took him off the lead he did a small Loop and took off back for the car. Went home and called the guy back told him what was happening he said well I thought I told you that dog needs to run with another dog! WTF AGAIN.... took him out that night with another dog and he run great! The guy that owned the dog offered us our $500 back so we took it!
Hahahaha. Damn dog jockey. At least you got your money back.
 

xbowguy

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Licking Co. Ohio
Back when the fur boom was roaring. There was a guy in Hebron Ohio who sold coon dogs. He had 10 or so at all times. 50.00 you could get a coon dog of your choice. If you took him out and didn't like him, just bring him back and take another. We didn't get one, but ran into a guy outside that had. He was on his 8th trip to get a different dog! Found out a few years later, he was getting them at the dog pound (3.00 for a tag/bail money) back then.