Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-02-13
HUNTING THE COON.
Exhilarating Sport Which Fiourished
the DAYS Precedine, the War

GAnuaraunS sport which Flour1shed In
the Days Preceding the War.
Among the animals which may be said to
have become extinct is the coon dog of our
fathers, says the Bangor Industrial Jour
nal He was of no particular strain OF
blood, but he united the keen scent of the
deer-hound with the intelligence of the
shepherd dog, and the tenaclty of the bull
dog with the stealth of the panther With
less accomplishments than these he might
have been good on fox or deer trail; the
lowing herd would have probably been safe
in his keeping; he might have been able to
hold his own in q fight, or have stood o
chance of succeeding as a sheep stealer,
but he couldn't have been a coon dog
For your coon is a cute and tricky Gus
toner, and crammed with patience. More
over, he leaves behind him the coldest, most
scentless trail of any animal that runs He
leads you through the tangled swamps and
deep, stony hollows. He crosses and re-
crosses swift running streams. He frisks
along the top of rough stone walls as silent
and swift as shadow. he stops within
dozen feet of some convenient wall, clears
the intervening space at bound, strikes
tree and glides up the longest limb runs to
its extremity, and leaps a dozen feet be-
yond it to the ground again, breaking his
trail abruptly on one side and beginning it
as confusingly on the other. He invents
tactics for emergencies, and brings to
every consideration of his welfare and that
of his family large and level head. He
plays his cards well and the dog that would
beat him must needs hold both bowers and
ace, with strong cards to back them.
These the coon dogs of our fathers always
had.
There were, twenty-five years ago, the
stlli-hunting coon dog and the coon dog who
let you know at every step that he was get
ting there. There was mixed up with the
methods of the still-hunter an element of
greater certainty that you would get your
coon than there was with the more melodi-
Gus system OF the dog that mouthed his
presence III the shadowy chase; but the
style of the latter put more tingle INTO your
blood and buoyed you up with swecter ex-
pectancy. There was something weird and
uncanny in all the turnings and windings
OF the former through the gloomy woods at
night
1t was different with the dog that gave
tongue as he hunted. He made music in
the night-not the silvery treble of the fox
hound, floating down from the hills on the
frosty air and drawn out in sweet cadenza
by every willing echo, nor yet the mellow
bass OF the deer hound, swelling over the
ridges, clear and far-sounding as bugle-
noie, but pleasant though staccato song of
his own, half bark, half bay, a cheerful
mingling of melody with business.
Once in the rare old days of coon hunting
new preacher was settled in the back
woods district of Pike County, Ill He was
not wise in the way of the woods. Early in
his first autumn on his charge ne began the
usual protracted meeting season. By and
by he noticed that on moonlight and starlit
nights his congregation was made up OF
women only. Finally he asked the reason
OF this. A sister arose and said:
"Its cause the coonin's bett'n tits in the
! dark % the moon, Dominic Soon ez the
moon darks the men1l jine ye.'
Sure enough, when the 'moon darkedn
the brethren were all in their places in the
Westinghouse, joining heartily in the pro-
ceedlngs. The pastor demonstrated with
them publicly.
while you have been idling after coons. 70
said he, there may have been those in this
| district who do not hunt coons, and whom
you might have led here and saved their
souls.n
Deacon Brown rose up in the meeting and
| SAID:
Dominic, if thez any one in this deestric,
ez don't hunt coons his soul hain't yuth
savin'."
Coon hunting as pastime went out of
fashion with the war, and the old race of
trained coon dogs gradually became ex-
tlnct. Why the coon has come to be de-
! spised by the sportsmen In these days is
| one OF those things about which the re-
mark has once Or twice been made that no
fellow can find out. He is as cunning as
the fox and more difficult to trail. Heis
moreover, the leanest of animals, and eats
only the most wholesome food He should
not be despised, surely, because ne can ha
hunted only at night, for in threading the
woods in the darkness, following dogs that
you can not see and whose bayine alone
breaks the stiffness, there is most singlI-
Lar enchantment.
Even when coons are most abundant.
| nine out of ten of the present generation
never see one, and few people know any
thing acout them or their habits. AIthourh
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 lies close in out-of-
tne-way retreats, in the depths of hollow
trees or isolated crevices and holes in the
rocks He wanders forth only at night
and although his foraging expefiftions
may bring him to the very doors of the
| farmers, and even within the boundary
lines of villages, he never betrays his pres
ence. If more than one coon is brought "a
bay In tree they viii invariably be females
! or mother coon with her offspring The
| female brings forth her litter only once In
/ two years. and from the coming of the litter
to 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 viii fight the at
tacking dog or hunter until she dies
While the female coon is social and do
! nestle, the male Is the reverse. lie is soil
tary, ranges entirely alone and gives nc
care or attention to family matters. If two
males meet in the woods or fields they fiobt
| furiousiy and not infrequentlv to the death
The male makes his range for forage much
WIDER than the female does, and having nc
one to look after but himself more frequent
~ escapes the hunter. Ia spring and SUN
mer the margin Of brooks and ponds and the
soft mud in swamps and bays are thlcky
lndented with the graceful footprints Of tho
coon. for in these 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 the fruit.
When the milk comes In the corn is thu
coop's gala time, for he loves the tender
sHcculent grains, as farmer knows 10 his
sorrow, and great are the risks he VIII take
TO forage in the fields. II is not until the
berries are gone and the corn grown tough
in the ear that the coon begins to Iool
asout for his winter stores. Then he lays
up plentifullY from the beech-nut, chestnut
and acorn crops, and on these crops depends
the hunting Of the coon when he Is at his
best During the nutting season he is fat
solid and wide awake, providing there are
plenty OF nuts One popularity of the coon,
which, like most of his peculiarities, has es-
capped the attention of the naturaJists who
write books. Is that he never touches food
until he has quaffed at some spring or
brook, even If he is compelled TO 90 far TO
ind it. Old coon hunters say that the
coon dips every nnouthfnl OF ms food into
water before eating it, but, like all Old
/ hunters old coon h.latfsr.s "a y a great many