Making a Better Coon Hound

Well Coon Hunting is well under way. This is the time of year when the ole coon is up a bare tree, well maybe. Some of these old smart coon can hide in the open, a large nest, a hollow or hole in the tree. Most pick a fir tree with its needles, as a place to hide. We old timers don`t often kill a coon for its hide, the price is not the effort it takes to skin and care for the little money you can get. We just tree him and check the tree to make sure he is there and lead the dogs away. This is one coon you can chase many more times. We enjoy hearing the hounds work the trail and the tree. Each chase makes our hounds better. Let them know how proud of them you are. Make a big fuss at the tree. Telling them how great they are and a little snack of their favorite food is in order. You will find they will hunt for you, because they love to be told how great you think they are.
My best dogs loved the chase and the tree. These hounds were part of my family and they knew it. Treat your hounds like you would treat a best friend or one of your children. They will Hunt for you and make you proud. And they will be proud to have you as a hunting pardner
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In the mid 1970s I hunted with my buddy George. George had been badly burned in a fire where he worked. George had an fairly good coon hound. One night the dog was killed on a back woods road as we hunted.
George wanted me to find him a good pup we could train. I checked with all the breeders I could and with all the coon hunters I knew. I was ready to give up. One night George called me and said he just bought a old coon hound for $20.00. Could we hunt him that night.
When I got to Georges house, he was leading a yellow colored hound toward my truck. This was one old beat up hound. His ears were torn and scared. His face looked like old scare face. He seemed to be strong and moved well. On the way to the woods George told me the dog was deaf and could not hear a thing. We could only get him at the tree that he was tree on. We could not call him cause he could not hear us.
We turned him loose in a corn field and the old guy did a great job with the track and tree.
We found out later not to let him loose again until we moved to a new place. If you did the next coon treed may be miles away. One time we turned him loose at a cornfield. He was just off the chain when I found a hot cigar butt on the road. I told George than someone had just left this spot.
George drank beer a lot to ease the pain from his burns. He could get mad at the world at the drop of a hat. He carried a 6 inch barrel 357 Mag revolver. That night Yellow took forever to check the corn field. After an hour we heard him coming our way. The old dog stepped unto the gravel road, looked at us and headed the other way. We both tried to call him, but he just kept going. George chased him for a few steps. Out came the big 357 mag. George shot all six shots. The gravel hit the old hound from back to front. Not one shot found its mark, The old dog just froze in his tracks. George just walked up and put the chain on him.
George held on to that hound and cried. Findly he brought the dog to the truck. They got in the front seat. From then on we always rode in the front of the old Chevy truck. That was one big hound and had bad breath. What could I say I was just an on looker.
We hunted for years after and when the old hound was out you could wisper his name and lookout. He would run over you to get to the truck. George was amazed that the old hound could now hear. I just smiled when he would try to figger it out. I tried to tell him the shooting did it.

The Old Yellow Dog

Carl Moore

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One of my great hunting buddies was George Sammons. George worked in a steel mill in Erie Pa. When the week end arrived George and his family would come to our house to hunt coon. All the kids and the wives and our dogs would head for the woods. We hunted until early morning and return to the house for a big breakfast. After that most of the kids would sleep wherever they could find a place to crash. We did this both weekend nights almost every weekend.

George got badly burned in a mill accident and could not work or hunt for awhile. He always drank beer, but with time on his hands he started to drink a lot more. When he was just about in shape to start a little coon hunting again. His wife called one evening to tell us that their coon hound had died and George was having a rough time. Could I find them a coon hound so they could hunt with us again.

I spent a lot of time trying to find a good coon hound at a fair price we could hunt with my dogs. There just did not seem to be decent hound to be found. If I did find one the price was so high we could not afford it.

George called me, oneSaturday morning and said he had found a good coon hound that could tree coon by himself. The price was only $20.00. That was even cheaper than buying a pup. He was four years old and they told George he was a good tree dog. At the price I just knew George bought a trashy hound. I was not going to hunt my dogs with a hound that ran deer, skunks, possums, or what have you. Of course I would go with George to try the new hound out.

I went to Georges house to see the new dog and take them coon hunting. When I first saw the hound I was impressed by his size and looks. He looked well put together, had the look of hound and seemed to have a voice to go with it. The dog looked great and he had a nice even yellow coat. I would guess his age at about 4 years old. This dog was in his prime and I knew something just had to be wrong with him. George said he was told the dog was deaf. The only way you could get out of the woods was go to the tree and get him, he could not hear you call.

We went to a corn field and turned the hound out to hunt. Of course his name was Yellow. That old yellow hound only went a short piece into the corn and he opened on track. He had a nice clear bawl and carried the track down and across the corn to the woods. Not to far into the woods he hit a tree and treed his heart out. George was smiling from ear to ear. When we got to the tree. That big old hound was stretched as far as he could up the tree. He was barking as hard as could. We saw the coon right away and put a lead on the hound. George made a big thing to that dog telling him how great a coon hound he was.

We headed for another corn field, when we turned loose, Three deer crossed the road and headed down the side of the corn field. We held our breath when the hound barked trail. He went down the field a short way and then turned right toward the deer trail. He crossed their trail and headed for the woods. He ran for a time up a long hill. He soon settled to a tree. George and I both just about ran to the tree and there he was, doing his best. George had been drinking some and was a little drunk, but we head for one more field to hunt.

We turned the hound loose again. As I walked around the truck to get my light I saw a glow on the ground. I picked up a hot cigar butt. I told George someone had already hunted this place earlier this night. We waited for the yellow dog to come back to the truck. He could not hear us call him so we waited. George carried a 357 Mag handgun with him. Before long we heard Yellow coming through the corn. He came out to thw road about 20 yards from us and turned away from us. As he headed down the road George yelled at him to come in. Of course he just kept walking down the road. George pulled the handgun from its holster, and fired all six shots at the dog. Gravel and stones flew off the road and all over the yellow dog, none of the shots hit home. When the last shot was fired Yellow turned and ran for the truck.

We hunted the yellow dog with my hounds for many years after that night. He was one of the finest coon hound the families ever hunted with, however, after that night you had be careful when you called him. Call gently or you might get run over by a big yellow dog trying to get in the truck. Yellow sure could hear you now.

coon hunting stuff

As an old coon hunter with over fifty years of it under my belt. I will talk about coon hunting. I will review some of the goods we coon hunters can buy today,of course there will be some coon hunting stories, I will go to some hunts and report on them. I have a web store at Coon Hunter Supply .com I started coon hunting at about six years old and bought my first hound at about 9 or 10. The little hound was a bitch bluetick. That little hound was a good coon hound. We lived in northwestren Pa. What a great place to hunt, the coon always seemed to go to the top of highest hill to tree. We would hunt the corn fields and woods on the farm. after I got my first pick up truck,a fifty two Chevy. I started to hunt the state and Federial forest in Warren county, and the other counties where these forest were. I went to a few Coon hunts, at the time I also had a great rabbit dog. He was hunted in most rabbit trials In N.Y. Pa. and Ohio and won a lot of hunts in his class.
Coon Hunting must have been in my blood,cause it wasn`t to long before coon hunting took over my life. Over the years I trained, hunting,and showed at hunts all over the USA. and always seemed to win enough to keep me and the hounds happy. I will do more on this blog later thanks for reading cmbluetick@aol.com