News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-12-30
HABITS OF THE COON.
IL Forages at Night Only, and Always
Takes Water Before Eating.

Although the coon prefers the vicinity
of civilization as his habitat, he plans to
keep aloof from the eyes of men, and his
habits make 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 farm
houses, and even within the boundary
| lines of villages, he never betrays his
| presence. If more than one coon is
brought to bay in a tree they will in
variably be females, or mother coon
| and her offspring. The female brings
forth her litter only once i'll 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 two
years old, and in protecting them Will
fight the attacking dog or hunter until
she dies. Many a good coon dog has
been forced to retreat before the fury of
a she coon fighting for her young. and
if she is captured the whole family fall
victims to the hunter. The animal scent
the coon leave 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 perceptible
to the most delicate-nosed dog The
scent of the coon grows stronger as cold
weather advances, and through Novem-
er and December the dogs follow it
with little difficulty
In the spring and summer the margins
of brooks and ponds, and the soft mud
in swamps and bays in every coon cOun-
try, are Away, 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 sub
sistence. Later on he ranges among the
huckleberry and blackberry patches,
and feasts on their fruit. With the
coming of the milk in the green corn
comes the coon's gala time, for he loves
the tender, succulent 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 corn has grown tough in
the ear that the coon begins to look
about for his winter stores. These he
lays by plentifully, from the beechnut,
chestnut, and acorn crops, and on these
crops depends the hunting of the coon
when he is at his best. During the nut
ting season he is fat and solid and wide
awake, provided that nuts are plentiful.
When the coon grows Unfortunately fat
and large he lessons his chances of fall
ing victim the hunter, for then he
ventures but short distance. from his
hiding place and gives the dog small
opportunity for finding his trail. Even
in the days when coon hunting was a
science it was rare that a coon weighing
over twenty pounds was ever bagged,
although they have been known to at
tain a weight of forty pounds. A coon
at that weight, however, must have been
simply ball of fat, and but little would
have been left of him but bones and
gravy after cooking.
If the nut crop is a failure, the coon
goes to his winter quarters thin and
and poorly prepared for the
long winters sleep and fast. 1t is in
seasons of such straits that the coon
wanders forth on every day of thaw, al
though the snow may lie deep on the
Ill SGtlCll Vi SICu Lay tulAS Vi
provender as may fall to his lot At
such times the unfortunate coon may be
seen lowering, wan and haggard, on the
edges of farms and dooryards, waiting
for his opportunity to pick up scraps
from the kitchen, poultry yard, or pig
sty.
One popularity Of the coon which, by
the way, is the cleanest of animals, and,
as has been seen, eats only the most
of food, and one which does
not seem to have attracted the attention
Of book naturalists, is that he never
touches food until he has quatfed at
some spring or brook, even if he is COM
PEELED to 60 far to find one. Old coon
hunters say that the coon dips every
mouthful of his food in water before
eating it; but, like all hunters, old coon
hunters say many things it would botheA-
them like smoke to prove.