The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-12-20
The SPoRrIVE COON.
An Old-time Delaware Valley Euntcr
Talks Knowingly About i.

~ - rare IIldJ you near i nGuScf lON-
adays speak good word for the coon,
said an old Delaware Valley sportsman,
and yet If you ask him what his obiec-
ton is to this much-berated animal he
can't tell you. More abundant and
more widely distributed over the Amer
lean continent than any other game
animal except, perhaps, the rabbit, it
Is less frequently encountered when
not hunted for than even the rarer
animals. And vet the coon prefers to
live in the neighberhood of men. In
country totally uninhabited and wild
you may turn your best dogs loose and
you'll never run coon upa tree. Why,
in one little circuit of five miles on the
Calllcoon creek in Sullivan county,
one hunter killed forty coons in one
week, and another killed eight in
single night, yet if you should ask ten
persons living in that very district if
they had ever seen wild coon they
would say no. And it is so the country
over People generally don't know
anything about the coon, and that's
run it down.
know little something about
coons. have studied them in their
haunts, in their feeding places, in their
domestic relations, everywhere and I'M
der all circumstances, and l think I
speak by the book when l talk about
coons. No, don't speak by the book,
either, for have yet to read any pro-
fessional naturalist's observations on
coons that were satisfactory, much less
correct. Did you ever read in your
natural history that the male coon is
surly, cross, insolent fellow, wander
ing about by himself, leaving his mate
to bring up their family all by herself?
l guess not. Did any naturalist ever
set it down that it won't do for two old
male coons to get into the same tree
together, because if they should there
would be one of the hottest fights any
one ever saw between four-legged ami
mails? think not. Yet l can tell you
that these are all facts, for I've seen
'em.
In the middle states the coon seems
! to thrive the best, if we may judge by
| the size he attains there. The south
ern coon won't weigh within as much
as five pounds, taking the average, as
one that grew up in New York, Penn
sylvania, or New Jersey. The coons
that are killed, as general thing, are
| the light weights. have noticed that
particularly, and my theory of it is
that when coon gets large and heavy
| it becomes hard matter for him to
roam about much, and he feeds in
smaller range.
Why ar, coons so seldom seen? Well,
the coon is what you might call night
hand. He stays home all day, or rather
she does, for the male coon is rest
less chap, and if you ever see a coon on
the tramp in the day time you can set
| it down that it is male. The home of
the coon is in the snug hollow of some
| good-sized tree, or perhaps a cave in
! some high and safe hillside, where by
no possibility any random rover, either
dog or hunter, will ever stray. Then
the coon never makes any more noise
than a rabbit does, and was never yet
betrayed by a sound. In the summer
nights he steals to the brooks and the
swamps and marshes for fish, frogs,
mussels, snails, grubs and lizards, fish
ing with great dexterity, and digging
with unerring instinct for insects that
live under the soft earth. The coon is
particularly fond of crawfsh. The
way he fishes for them is to wade in
the creek, generally going down stream.
The crawfish live under the stones on
the bottom. With his forepaws the
| FOOLS aoo1, 81 Io
to, thrusting one paw under one side
and the other at the opposite side. 1t
is a comical sight to see a coon fishing
for crawfish. He keeps his head high
in air, moving it up and down and to
and fro, his eyes evidently gazing at
nothing, every sense seeming to be
concentrated on the business beneath
the water. You can tell instantly when
the coon has fastened upon a crawfish,
for the expression on his face changes
at once from the dull, vacant stare to
one of brightness and animation. He
draws the crawfish out of the water,
and, standing on his hind feet, rolls it
smartly between his paws This brushes
the she'll and claws of the crawfish,
and makes the sweet meat more &C.
! ceptable. The coon eats his capture
with great relish, then begins the
search for another one.
When the green corn is tender and
in the milk, every night will find the
coon diligently at work diminishing
,, the farmers crop. Later on, when the
barberries and marsh cranberries are
in season, the coon seeks the spot where
t they may be found and feasts and
;, grows fat. And he loves grapes. The
! coon will soon strip vine of its clus.
tiers, eating the grapes just as person
: does, squeezing out the luscious pulp
5 and dropping the skins on the ground.
: In eating the coon piles the skins in
little conical mounds beneath the
vines, so that there need never be any
:, doubt as to what sort Of robber ha.
e been at the vines. In September, Octo
= Der and the later months beechnuts
c chestnuts and acorns become the fooc
: of the coon.
At the first blast of winter the busy
little animal betakes itself to its snug
5 hollow in the tree or other nest it has