I have a coonhound, and wouldn't mind going out and chasing a few around. gotta get the dog smarted up first, though.
No, Dan, I do not have to go hunting for them, as the wife feeds them on the back proch and all I have to get one when she is not around. 8)
My dog will train them.May have a hard time with the skunks though.I just can't get there in time with my gun when it comes to skunks.He cornered a coon about 4:30 one morning by the garage and the house.I put the light on the coon and all I saw was eyes,teeth and claws.He's only a mutt but he loves to hunt.He having a hard time with the turkeys.He found 4 woodchucks last year and got a little to close to a porcupine.
A friend came by Sat. night with his two dogs and we hunted for a while until it started raining. He spent more time trying to catch the dogs than hunting. ::) It seems every dog he gets won't come to him. I accused him of beating his dogs, but he said he never does. I use to hunt with my dad a long time ago and we never had trouble getting the dogs to come to us when we wanted to go to the house.
When I hunted with the local coon hunters, they would either gather their dogs at the tree the coon was treed in, or they would leave the woods, and place a coat of theirs along the road. Next morning they would come by where that coat lay, and the dogs would be curled up beside it. Usually they were too far away to call them or whistle them in.
That coon hunting was a great deal of fun, as we'd stand around and listen to all the old coon hunting stories, interrupted only by a pause to listen for the dogs, followed by an explanation of what they were doin, what hill or valley they were in, or if they were still on the coon trail. Usually would hunt from 7 pm to 3 am, and cover a lot of country. Great fun.
I been coonhuntin most of my life and I am 53.My two best dogs died last year and it kinda took the wind outa my sales.I do have a 3 year old gyp which is the last one left out of my old blood line of walkers that I have hunted for years.coon huntin and sawmillin will both get in your blood and yer hooked. :) :)
you have any tips, or bits of wisdom?
I ordered a training book "walk with wick" which is supposed to be pretty good. I saw that there's a UKC hunt up the road in 2 weeks, but i heard that guy never calls people back... I guess I should find that out for myself :)
i honestly don't know if I trust my dog to come back if I just turn him loose in the woods at this point.
I don't coon hunt, but the dogs do.
They came back scratched up and happy yesterday. They've about cleaned out the groundhogs.
This was one morning while I was getting ready for work.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10017/coondawgs.jpg)
The dogs were taking care of business at the bottom of the tree when the bird decided to come and see what the commotion was about.
Seeing that the coon was in a compromised situation, the bird flew around and talked to the coon while pecking at his rear, driving the coon into the very top of the little tree.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10017/coon2.jpg)
One of the best things to do is find someone who will take you along with a good broke dog and that will help to get your dog started.Walk with wick is an exellent book full of training tips.Go to that night hunt and just set back and listen to the hunters there,you may meet a helpful friend.If you ever come my way I would be glad to take you hunting.As far as getting your dog to come when you call him,you will find the details in your new book.Some dogs will never be called off of a coon track....The main tip is have fun :)
I'll give the guy a call, probably tomorrow when I get home from work. i've been busy chasing other things down the past several days..
my dog sure goes nuts after squirrels. I've got another local lead to chase down too. problem around here is if you don't know somebody, it's tough to get an in with them....