The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-07-02
CONCERNING C0ONS.
A DISCOURSE UPON COON HUNTING.
Their Habits, Their Food and the Ways
and Means Of Capturing TheE.-ny E
An Animal Of marked
tPeculiarltieS. =
[From a Paper by John Foster.l

rFrom a Paper by John Foster1
Tho roturoIist has given tho ,coop but
I,+tIa ottAntion trs,,aiIJ 1ba m As baa,, AZ.
oo,,,,,d ) cle ,fcat,o,, Is hs,s. .,,ase ~ inn.
nerso6t dascrintiou nd sohliyson| an IN his
real ,,ar;ts. iTha h,,ntsrh has not venerallv
odo,,+a5 +ba ,coo, &c he Favor;ta gome
ond ba q lass huntod than most oy our
r,oT,a ~ have tend.
o,,cslEy ~ Gb,,, ,osiI hi,,E ,f.nr, tba Sioht ana
E-o,.,sd,o,Ss 60. u ii l. a. !,,nlr ~, mn !.
,e,,.1 +t;,,, "a a, =, ,ooa
tto.s -, i,,,,n, sn,oro, tho,,, .for
Uoa,s as,a ,,asrar soaT ono md ,vhosa
;dsss as tbo;r ah;tsS are yoona, and indis.
nrct. nayertheiess tboss hi ss,.5b Who do choose to
hunt har, ascGo1n,a ~ tbe nno5st entbusiastic az
vno,.tssN,,ar Sn6 9biace the pJaasnfes of tha
,coon hrnt fo,.a,i,6.t of allji To Al, who are.
;ntaragtad an ,ar;r,al l,fa Aither as rspien.'
fists snorts,n,an' ar Lovers OF nature. we ex.'
tenH ;tbs tassuraries that d VISIT to the
bantts "a tba ,coon az, inter.view with him
in his own forest domain. an examinaticI,
of his habits. his food. and the siways and
means of his captnre. viii prove yery
plaasant adventure. An animal Of marked
and neculiar habits. a good liver. CHOOSING
n 1vboIasome diet. nossessed of the GINNING
of the for. most affectionate to her little
family. defending them AZ times with great
bravery and a shrewdness which amounts
to strategy. such is the ,coon in its native
condition.
The raccoon. Procvon of the scientist. but
in familiar phrase the ,coon. is positively
an American. His family is represented on
both the American continents and in no
other lands. Our own North American
,coon is found from Canada to the Florida
Kevs and westward to the Pacific coast,
Tn difPsrept sections he undoubtedly has
difPerant bahits. in the cold Northern
states he reaches a greater DEVELOPMENT.
and is a far more pamv animal than in the
South. His AVERAGE weight in our State
when his full growth is attained is little
less than twenty nounds. The females do
not often weigh over seventeen or eighteen
Mounds and the males seldom over twenty.
two or twentv.tbree. We rarely catch one
as heavy as twentv five pounds. The
Largest ono yve aver caupbt t;nned thirty
nonnds We have heard of ,coons beinp
contrred xyeiobing as bigb nc FORTY nopnds
and we consider the parties who have
given ne this information in most cases
ro,;ohle We saIdom catch the heaviest
,ooons fo,. tbo roo con that whom tbov bova
roachad thair ereote,t weigbt tbev
ronoa hnt verv LITTLE and
tharafore the cbances of tba
doc striking their track are oreatlv less.
ened their fIesb is bv some nrived very
biebIv. II is wbolesome and IL nroperly
coolsad ia certainly verv fine food. One
dacided necuIiaritv of the ,coon is the
co,dnass of b;e scent no bunters tern, r..
that is. the small amount of animal scent
which he leaves in bis track. thus render.
ing IL extremely difficult for dogs to follow
him. The characteristic Ia stronger at
some times than others. Through the
summer months. when the Young sre
under the mother,s care. and are unable to
defend themselves. this lack of scent In
most apparent, and through the month OF
September and the early weeks of Oc.
tober it is a good dog that can successfully
follow their blind and puzzling track.
Later the scent becomes stronger, and in
the months OF November and December it
Is comparatively an easy matter for the
dog to follow them, though the track is
cold compared with that of other animals.
We think the coon prefers to live in
the vicinity of civilization rather than
in a wholly wild country. In sparsely
settled districts, in the large tracts OF
forests, which we still have left, the
coon makes his home. His domicile
may be secure and cozy cave in some
ledge on the hillside, but perhaps it is
more likely to be in hollow tree; and
here, when the storms of winter come the
whole femily go to sleep, the long sleep
of the winter, to sleep free from the cares
and dangers OF their little world, to sleep
forgetful of mva ling foes, the battle with
the dog or the stern race for life. The
warm thaws of February awa;en them
and in obedience to her mati18 instinct>
they travel long dis ances Oil the snow,
and it is claimed by some that they then
perish in great numbers if the weather be-
comes suddenly and severely cold. This
may be the most probable theory OF
accounting Tor their great scarcity in
some years.
In general the coon has many means Of
self defense and self protection; he is sly
in his travels, even in the night; never
emits noise of any kind that may disclose