COON HUNTING LIGHTS PAST AND FUTURE

Carl Moore http://coonhunterssupply.com/
 
As a coon hunter I look at the history of coon hunting lights. I find coon hunting lights, like the history of our great country, always seem to get better as time goes on.
The early settlers trapped and hunted raccoon for their fur and meat. When they did hunt raccoon of course they hunted them at night. The raccoon is a nautical animal and sleeps all day. These early hunters used pine Knots for torches to follow their coon hounds through the night woods. When the coon was treed by the hounds. The hunters would go to the tree to get their coon. With only a torch the hunters could not see the coon and had to cut the tree down and let the dogs catch and kill the coon. The fur was saved to be sold to the hide buyers at a trading post in the spring. The coon meat was food for the family.
Then after many years oil lanterns became the walking light for them. These lanterns burned Whale oil. Other refined oils were not available until after the discovery of oil in NW Pa. in 1859. The hunters still followed the hounds to the tree, but could not see the coon. These lanterns were good for walking, but the hunter still could not see where the coon was in the tree. The tree was chopped down and the coon was killed. Again the hide was traded at a spring round up at the closest trading post. The meat was prepared for the family.
The next lighting improvement was the carbide light. These lights were used in the coal mines through out the country. The coon hunters, still used a lantern, but found the carbide light was bright  enough to see the coons eyes in a tree. Once coon was treed and spotted he could be killed with a small caliber rifle. This prevented dog damage to the hide and meat. The Tree still stood in the forest. The undamaged hide traded at a better value and the meat had very little damage waste.
When I started coon hunting in the late `40s. We stilled used carbide lights. By then the very bright Coleman lantern was used as a walking light. This lantern burned a highly refined oil. We still carried our carbide head lights. There were many improvements on the coal miners hats and lights. Batteries were carried on a belt and used standard flash light in the light head, attached to a bump hat. Most used 6 Volt batteries or less. We always had to carry an extra spotlight to see the coon. We hunted for coon more to enjoy the hounds and the hunt. We still collected hides in the late fall and early winter. These hides had prim fur at this time and were sold to the fur buyer at the best price. After WW2 the demand for coon meat went down, but even today we still find folks that love coon meat. We give or sell what little coon meat we take as food for folks that love raccoon meat.
In the last few decades hunting lights have really changed. The hunting light still uses a battery, but these new batteries today were the dreams of the past. The new type of batteries have longer life, are lighter per Voltage than ever before, No acid dripping. The new bulbs have gotten better almost yearly. They last longer and can burn brighter. You can find a bulb to work on almost any battery voltage. These work just fine but you still have to carry a spotlight and always extra bulbs.
Then we come to the newest type of the coon hunting lights. In the middle `60s the LED lamps were brought to the market. The new type of lamp was first were designed to be used for low voltage applications. They were used as indicator lights on electronic gear. But in the years since the LED lights kept getting stronger and able to use higher voltages. The LEDs also got brighter and brighter. We now have LED light arrays that when used in a head is brighter than any light we have ever seem before. LED lamps don’t blow out like other bulbs. There is no filament to blow out, just different chemicals that use voltage to excite them into glowing.
Now we have this LED head. Add a battery, and a dimmer switch. You have a great light for hunting. This new light is so bright you don’t need to carry a spotlight. Battery drain is a unbelievable 50 hrs on low/ 25 hrs on high beam. LED lights last 10,000 hours or more Check with coonhunterssupply.com/. Read about the new light. With the help of Cajun Light Co. we think we have designed the ultimate coon hunting light.
http://coonhuhterssupply.com/

How to spoil the pup and make a Coon Hound

coonhunterssupply.com Carl Moore

I got that new coon hound pup. What do I do now? That is the big question. You have picked a pup after a lot of research, picked the breed, the parents, hopefully you hunted with them, and of course picked your favorite pup.

Now you got him home the first thing to do is take him to your vet. Let him give the full check out and give the shots needed. Your pup should get used to the handling and probing by his vet. Give him time to get learn to trust in his vet. Use the same vet for each visit, the pup will feel more at home with someone he knows and his vet will know all about him.

OK now that is done. Take your strong healthy pup home. Introduce him to the family. Let him play with the kids and your wife, he should know he is a part of your family. House break him, teach him manners, how to lead, stay close, sit, follow directions and most of all to trust you and the family to protect him and love him When the time comes he will do his best to please you when training to make you a great coon hound. Not all pups will turn out just the way you want, but don`t give up on him. He may just be a pleasure to take to the woods, and only tree a few coon, but give lots of love tell him how great he is. The more one on one time you spend with him the better he will get. Make sure you take your children with you often. The pup wants to show them how much he learned from you. Make day trips to the open spaces with the pup and the kids, let them play in the woods, streams and fields.

Yep make him a lap dog.

I think I can hear you screaming. Think about it you want a well behaved hound when you go hunting don`t you. One that only wants to please you and make you proud of him. Coon hunting is not fun if the dogs only hunts for his own pleasure.

You can make up a game for the family when the pup has grown a little. play hide and seek with him. Let the kids make drag a trail with a hot dog or sausage, and let the little guy find it. Of course that is his treat. Make it harder each time for him and hide it a little higher. After while put the sausage just out of reach. Cheer him on get him to tree that thing. Always give him his treat if he earns it. Before long the kids can put down a trail in the back yard and put the treat in a tree. Now you have a tree dog and trees how you want a real coon hound.

With lots of hikes in the woods and knowing how to tree you now have a hound that is ready for training.

The Great Coon Hunting Magazines

By Carl Moore
The coon hunters of to day and of the past has a great selection of magazines to read. Some of these have been around for a long time and are fairly new. There main object is to cover the sport and the hounds we love. They have stories of hunts, training, reviews of the products we need to make our sport better. I read and reread the magazines until they are tattered and torn, but never throw them away. I use them as references for a problem that I may have. The stories are alway a great read and have some great hints in them. some of these magazines have been around for ever. I have been a subscriber to Full Cry, American Cooner, and now a fairly new Mag. called GunHound Magazine. www.treehound.com/html/fullcry.html, www.americancooner.com/ and gunhoundmag.zoomshare.com/ These are all great magazines.
There are others you might be interested in. Check out the Breed Assoccions, UKC, AKC and Hunting Clubs have their own magazines. These are all good reading on almost subject in the hound hunting world. As you search the web for info you may find other site that you will find helpful. Of course don`t forget the Blogs. http://www.coonhunterssupply.com

Dennis, Pug, the Bear, Airhead and I

Dennis, Pug, the Bear, Airhead and I
By Carl Moore coonhunterssupply.com
As a coon hunter and a competition hunter I was well known as a trainer of good coon hounds. Some times I would hunt and finish training a coon hound for other hunters. A few years ago I got a call from some gentlemen who had a fairly good bluetick hound. They wanted me to get their dog ready for some major hunts and if possible make him a champion. I drove over to their home to check the hound out.
When I got to the house and parked the truck. I saw some great looking Bluetick hounds chained here and there around the property. I knew the guys[ Pug and Dennis] from some of the hunts I had been to in the past. They were both wheel chair bound and had people to handle there every need. The handlers would hunt the hounds in the forest around the home place and the guys could follow on the near by roads, with the wheelchairs, The handlers would take care of the hounds.
I was asked to finish training and competition hunt their best hound. The dog was called “Airhead”. As a young pup he made some big mistakes and made for some great fun, with his dumb moves.
Our first competition hunt with the guys was in McKain County Pennsylvania. Airhead was the first to strike the coons trail. We hunt four dogs in each cast and the best dog wins the cast. The other hounds joined in to the chase. The coon went up the side of the mountain and down the other side. We could hear when the dogs treed. Airhead was first to bark tree. We had to drive around the mountain to get to the dogs. The guys, their handlers and I rode in their Van. The van was set up for the wheelchairs and had a very large roof that opened the front 2/3 of the van top. There were four other trucks in our small convoy.
The little convoy stopped a couple of times to hear the hounds and make sure of their location. They were treed right where I thought they should be. At the next stop I was sure they had moved about fifty yards to the left, but the hunt judge disagreed with me. When we got close to where the dogs were treed we parked the van, in a place so the guys could hear the hounds tree.
We parked under a very large Hemlock tree. The hounds were about fifty yards down by a stream, treeing like they should. The tree was checked, the coon seen, and the hounds were scored. When I got back to the van the guys were setting there laughing. They would not talk to me until the convoy started back to hunt headquarters.
Then they told me, when we went to the hounds. They heard a noise in the tree above the open van. When they looked up there was a black bear up the hemlock tree. The bear was racing down the tree and limbs were flying. Some falling into the van. they thought the bear would soon join them. I thought about the hounds moving from one tree to another and was sure Airhead had treed the bear first. Then smelled the coon in a near by tree. He was smart enough to go to the coon and win the hunt.
Airhead won his share of hunts and soon became a great champion. He was a great hound and a ball to hunt. We never knew what he might do in a hunt. He always was good for a few laughs, but he was still won enough hunts to become a great champion.