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.
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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.

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
coonhunterssupply.com

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

http://coonhunterssupply.con/

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.