Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1883-11-29
A Coon Hunt.
SAVAGE sPoRr.IN a VERMONT FOREST.
sLAYING THE RING-TAILED VICTIMS IN COLD
BLOOD.



\ weird and sombre spectacle it was as
we entered the still forest shades. Below
was the brown carpet of rustling autumn
/ leaves. Above we're the spectral tree tops
stretching across the stars, except where
here and there broken by forest glade.
Y The lanterns cast shadows through the un-
derbrush and shone itfully on the moving
Y forms tramping in Indian file over gully
and rock and cracking boush When at in
1 teryals we stopped to listen there were Sig
nificant little sounds that broke the wood
4 land silences. \ twg or nut dropped from
a tree, or sudden rasp of the leaves sig
nailed the retreat to the hole of some
| squirrel alarmed BY the untimey intrusion
The dogs quick tread as he pattered through
the brush could be heard at times, now dull
er with distance or louder as the animal came
back to take up some new scent. Once the
creature whose actions were almost human
in sagacity, broke !Lto a whine. followed by
series Of deep but spasmodc barks. JEFF
don't bark as if he meant business this time
said Hur!burt, 'but we'll 90 and see We
found jeff wheeling in uncertain gyraiions
in group Of trees But as we drew near
his motions became more definite. his ye!ps
died away, and he was off on the fresh scent
left By some vagrant coon which perhaps on
is few moments before had fled from the
tree clump. Now our party separated. The
two raw members Of it remained behind
while the hunters passed on along the dogs
track.
We waited for ten minutes, when sudden
Is came again JefTs deep bass, not as before
in quavers, but strong, steady and regular
the certain proof that game was driven 10
tree. Ere long, too, the joyful call Of the
hunters confirmed our hope, and after wild
dash through brlers, over ledge and across
woodland swamp We stood under the tree up
which JEFF had driven his quarry. 1t was Il
big maple, thick with boughs and dwarhng
the smaller woods that edged the swamp.
Looking upward We could descry dimy what
seemed q knot on one of the upper boughs,
but so vague and immovable that it was hard
TO fancy it u living creature. One of the
hunters took the gun. and standing behind,
at his order, let dim gleam from the Ian
tern fall athwart the shining barrels. Four
times ne fired, but only the falling twigs cut
hy the shot and the sharp echo through the
woods came back. Ii was almost like shot
in space, deep was the obscuriiy above,
made darker hy the thick maple boughs.
Now opened the second act of the coon
tragedy. Hurlburt, Jeff's master and the
leading coon hunter Of these parts. bucked
on his spurs. Placing his hands lightly on
the tree trunk, he mounted 1t as readily as u
flight of stairs, and in two minutes was far
aloft in the boughs. Gosh" came down :,
voice tremulous with excitement. ''it there
amt three coons III ln!s tree. Then pres
entity, '.By thunder, there's another one, too
Immediately the climber came down TO the
lowest branches, caught the rope thrown To
him by one of the party. momnte, once more.
and drew up the gun tied to the lower end
Of the cord. "Look out. I'm goin' to let
him have it" he yelled, followed by the dis
charge of the piece. "He's gon' to tum-
hle,'' came again from the tree-top, but no
coon dropped. Another discharge sounded
through the woods, and dark object dropped
crashing through the branches. In the blaze
of our lights it took the form of a coon,
which striking on its rump with upright
body, bounded two feet in the air like a rub
ber ball. and on falling back dashed for the
underbrush. Now came the exciting episode
of a coon hunt. In second jeff had
caught the animal by the back and was
whrling like the fy-wheei of an engine,
keeping always, SO far as might be, the
coon's nose at the circumference of the cir
Gle The instant the coon, resisting this
centrifugal force, reached backward for
bite, JEFF dropped it. and two heavy blows
| fell on the creature from my comrades clubs.
Then the dog entered the melee again, and
the scene was re-enacted until the coon,
yielding to the awful odds, dropped lifeless.
1t would be hard to describe 1.-THE snap
ping, biting creature, the shouting men, the
tumbles over rocks, the snarling dog whirl-
ing in rotatory fog dog, men and coon in
a twisted, yelling. yelping medley, set in a
rude and rocky piece Of ground among thick
underbrush; the whole palely lighted by
the lanterns beams.
Each one of the three other coons was
shaken down successfully and the same
butchery followed, till the four lay side by
side. Each weighed some fifteen pounds.
The game had heen bagged within three
quarters Of an hour, and not more than a
mile and quarter from populous Yankee
village.
In an hour more another victim was aGd-
ed. After while Jeffs voice sounded from
point hundred rods away. The dog this
time was at the foot of chestnut tree in
the thicker woods, its shaft reaching up
ward forty feet without limb, while forty
feet further in air was a dark mass on q
small limb. This coon made vain attempts