Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-01-21
skins he could nail to his barn door tho


by sportsmen in these later days is one
of those things about which TIE remark
has once or twice been made that no
fellow can find out. He is us cunning as
the fox and more difficult to trail. He
is, moreover, the cleancst of animals,
and eats only the most wholesome of
food. He should not be despised sure
ly because he can be hunted only at
night, for in treading the woods in the
darkness, following dogs that you can
not see, and whose baying alone breaks
the stiffness, there is most singular en-
chantment.
Even in localities where coons are
the most abundant nine out of ten OF
the present generation never saw one,
and few people know anything about
them or their habits. Although the
coon prefers the vicinity of civilization
as his habitat, he plans to keep alooi
from the eyes of men, and his habits
render this an easy task. By day he
lies close in out-of-the-way retreats, in
the depths of hollow trees or isolated
crevices, and holes in the rocks. He
wanders forth only at night, and al
though his foraging expeditions may
take him to the very doors of farmers,
and even within the boundary lines Of
villages, he never betrays his presence.
If more than one coon is brought TO bay
in tree, they will invariably be females
or mother coon and her offspring.
The female brings forth her litter only
once in two years, and from the coming
of one litter until the arrival of another
she and her young are never separated.
She keeps her little family together
until they are 2 years old, and in pro-
tecting them will fight the attacking
dog or hunter until she dies. Many
good coon dog has been forccdto retreat
before the fury of she coon fighting
for her young, and if she is captured the
whole family fall victims to the hunter.
The animal scent the coon leaves on
the trail is at all times less than that OF
any other game quadruped, but when
the female is nursing her young during
the summer months her scent is hardly
preceptible to the dogs, thus saving her
and her litter from many race for life.
The scent of the coon grows stronger
as the cold weather advances, and
through November .and December the
dogs follow it with comparatively little
difficulty.
While the female coon is social and
domestic, the male is quite the reverse.
He is surly and solitary, ranges entirely
alone, and gives no care or attention to
family matters. If two males meet in
the woods or in the field they fight furi-
ously, and not infrequently to the death.
An old coon-hunter of this vicinity tells
how he once surprisd two male coons
fighting in a corn-ield. They were so
frantically in earnest that they flew at
each other even after tho dogs had
jumped upon them and taken a hand in
the dispute. The male coon makes his
range for forage much wider than the
female does, and having no one to look
after but himself more frequently es-
capes the hunter.
In the spring and summer the mar
gins of brooks and ponds and the soft
mud in swamps and bays in every coon
country are always thickly indented
with the graceful footprints of the
, coon, for in those months he spends his
, nights in catching frogs, fish, lizards,
grubs and mussels, which are then his
, chief subsistence. Later on he ranges
, am )ng the huckleberry and blackberry
} patches, and feasts on the fruit. When
l the milk comes in the corn is the coon s
gala time, for he loves the tender, sue
, culent grains, as the farmer knows to
= his sorrow, and great are the risks he
will take to forage in the fields. 1t is
not until the berries are gone and the
f corn has grown tough in the ear that
the coon begins to look about for his
a winter stores. These he lays by plenti.
fully from the beechnut, chestnut anG
r acorn crops, and on these crops de.
s ponds the hunting of the coon when he
, is at his best. During the hunting seas
/ on he is fat and solid and wide awake
D provided there are plenty of nuts
t If the crop is failure the coor
e goes to his winter quarters thir
/ and miserable and poorly pre-
4 pared for the long winter
S sleep and fast, wandcrs forth on every
s day of thaw, although the snow may b.
r deep on the ground, in search of sucl
p flag ends of provinder as may fall to hi
: lot. At such times the unfortunate cool
d may be seen lowering, wan and bag
:, gard, on the edges of barn and WOOD
# yards, waiting for an opportunity tc
G pick up scraps from the kitchen, tn,
C poultry yard, or pig sty. One peculiar
o ity of the coon, which, like most of hi
|, peculiarities, have escaped the attention
T of the naturalists who write books, il
S that he never touches food until he ha!
quaffed at some spring or brook, even
It he is compelled to go far to find it. Oh
@ coon hunters say that the coon dip
= every mouthful of his food in water be
d fore eating it, but, like all hunters, oil
&c coon hunters say great many things
t. would bother them to prove.
D. 1t is doubtful whether there are man
10 people who know that in no other coun
1T try on the globe besides the America
-e continent can the coon be found, am
e, that although he is a favorite game
t. the south, he is nowhere SO gamey an
ID excellent in condition as in the middl
as states. When the coon grows inord
We nately fat and large he lessons h
a chances of fallinga victim to the hunter
k for then he ventures but short distanc
as from his hiding place and gives the dc
Is. small opportunity of finding his trai
ge 1t was rare, for this reason, even in Il
ng days when coon hunting was scienc
on that coon over twenty pounds
m weight was ever bagged, although the
en- have been known to attain a weight
I g., 4