The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-01-15

'Whilc you have been idling after
coons," said he, ''therc may have been
hose in the district who do not hunt
,oons. and whom you might have led
hcrc and saved their souls.'
Deacon Brown rose up in the meet
ing and said.
Dominic, Of thrz anyone In this
decstric' ez don't hunt coons lis soul
hain't #uth savin!''
There was sport in tile coon-hunt for
our fathers, and in a great measure a
mans Importance in some communi-
tics was judged by the number of coon
skins he could nail to his barn door the
next morning after hunt.
Why the coon has come to bc dcspiscd
by sportsmen in these later days is one
of those things about which the remark
has once or twice been made that no
fellow can find out. He as cunning MS
the fox and more difficult to trail. He
is. moreover, the clcancst of animals,
and eats only the most wholesome of
food. He should not be despiscd sure
ly because he can be hunted only at
night, for in trcading the woods in the
darkness, following dogs that you can
not sec. and whose baying alone breaks
the stiffness, there is most singular en-
chantment:
Even in localities where coons arc
the most abundant nine out of ten of
the present generation never saw ono,
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 aloof
from the eyes of men, and his habits
render this an easy task. BY day he
lies close in out-of-thc-way retreats, in
the depths of hollow trees or isolated
crcvices. 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 tho boundary lines of
villages, he never bctrays his presence.
If more than one coon is brought to bay
in u tree, they will invariably b, females
or a mother coon and her offspring.
Tho 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 arc 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 a
good coon dog has been forcedto 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 thnn that of
any other g',mc 1uadrupcd, but when
the female is nursing hef young during
the summer months hcf sccht is hardly
preccptiblc to the dogs, thus saving her
and her litter front many race for life.
The scent of the coon grows stronger
as the cold weather advances, and
through November :and December tho
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. Ii two males meet in
the woods or in the field they fight f,ri-
ously. and not infrequently to the death.
An old coon-hunter of this vicinity tells
how he once surprisd two male coons
fightingin corn-ticld. They were so
frantcally in earnest that they flew at
each other even after the dogs had
jumped upon them and taken hand in
the dispute. The male cooti makes his
range for forage much wider than the
female does, and having no one to look
after but himself more frequently cs-
capcs 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 indentcd
with the graceful footprints of the
coon, for in those months he spends his
nights in catching frogs, fish, lizards.
grubs and musscls, which are then his
chief subsistence. Later on he ranges
among the hucklcberry and blackberry
patches, and fcasts on the fruit. When
the milk comes in the corn is the coon g
gala time, for he loves tho tender, sue
culcnt grains, as the farnlcf 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
corn has grown tough in the ear that
the coon begins to look about for his
winter stores. These he lays by plcnti-
fully from the bccchnut, chestnut and
acorn crops, and on these crops de-
pcnds the hunting of the coon when he
is at his hest. During the hunting seas
on he is fat and solid and wide awake,
provided there are plenty of nuts.
If the crop is failure the coon
goes to his winter quarters thin
and miserable and poorly pre-
pared for the long winters
sleep and fast. wandcrs forth Oh escfy
day of thaw, although the snow may be
deep on the ground, in search of such
flag ends of provinder as may fall to his
lot. At such times the unfortunate coon
may be seen lowering, wan and hag-
gard, OH the edges of barn and wood
yards, waiting for an opportunity to
pick up scraps from the kitchen. the
poultry yard. or pig sty. One peculiar
ity of the coon. which, like most of his
pccnliarities, have escaped the attention
Of the naturalists who write books. is
that he never touches food until he has
quaffed at some spring or brook. even if
he is compelled to go far to find it. Old
coon hunters say that tho coon dips
every mouthful of his food in water be-
fore eating it, but, like all hunters, old
coon hunters say great many things it
would bother them to nroyc