The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-20
Ketchem Koon Klub
Is Worrying
Nowadays.
NO COON LAWS IN THE STATE.
Worcester Club Will Buy a
New Hound Right
Away.

Z =
Reports are coming to the mighty hunt
ers of the unique organization that
coons are being hunted in various parts
Of the county, and the tales that come
waited into town are deplored by the
enthusiasts.
It is upsportsmanlike, they claim. No
true sportsman eligible to the inner
most circle of the elect of the craft
would. dream of letting his hound run
o nights at this season of the year,
they say. 1t kills the sport. 1t spoils
all the promised fun Of the days to
come, Ketchem Koon Klub will not do
1t, and others ought not. To be sure
there is no law to prevent it, No law
Is upon the statutes of the state which
places a close time on coons, nor does
the club have word of eensure for the
farmer that turns out at night to shoot
the banded tails out of his corn patch,
but the claim is that no true sportsman,
that hunts for pleasure and for the en-
Joyment OF the chase would for mo-
ment mediate a coon hunt before Oc-
tober opens the sea son wide for every
body.
Fox hunters have an unwritten code
that forbids the hunting of Reynard be-
fore Oct l, and the cry of the muezzin
is not more religiously needed by the
most devout follower of Mohammed
than is this unlisted law of the fox
hunter Indeed, it is doubtful if any
on the statutes of the state is needed
more faithfully than the mutual under
standing on close time that exists for
the fox hunter. Coon hunters, too have
the same unWritten code of etiquette,
but the devetees of the night hunt con-
stitute g much smaller class of enthu-
siasts than the fox hunters, and the
dictates of craftsmanship are not as
closely followed.
Ketchem Koon Klub is lamenting the
sad fact that coons are being hunted
now. 1t is all wrong, they say. The
sturdy master of hounds of the club
would no more turn the clubs famous
dog, Hunter, loose in the swamps dur
ing August or September than he would
hunt foxes in July. And any man that
does it, he says, is not fit and suitable
candidate for election to the ranks Of
true sportsmen.
The reason for the objection to hunt
ing at this season of the year need not
be sought for The baby coons are
now running with their mamma coon
In a happy family. They are not yet
instructed in coon lore, and do not know
the terror and possible death that
voiced hound, perhaps mile away, but
surely and Enthusiastically on the trail
from the lodges to the corn field where
the litter is feeding on the corn in the
milk, which, by the way, is a fayorite
food for coons at this season of the
year
At the first warning Of the approach
of the hounds, the solicitous mater
familias hurrieS her young to the near
est tree, and puts the entire litter up
among the branches and follows her.
self. The tiny baby coons are scarcely
large enough to be of any earthly use
to the hunter, and are incapable of put
ting up any show of the bear-like fight
which after all is the main delight of a
coon hunt. The young weigh not over
five pounds, and are easily killed by
the summer hunter An entire litter
can be destroyed too easily to furnish
any fun at all to either hunter or
hounds. The fur too, is not at it's
prime, and the coons are slaughtered
without show of mercy and without any
tolerable measure of sport, The same
litter of coons that can be handily
murdered before the first of October
will after that date be capable of lead
ing many a merry chase through the
swampSa To kill them now
is to spoil all the promise of true
sport to come. Therefore Ketchum
Koou Klub bemoans the fact that
hunters are tempted out o'nights now.
Later, when she deserts her young
and the coons desert the cornfields in
search Of apples or nuts for food, or
even later still when they go into the
swamp in search Of a dainty diet of
frogs, the true sport is to be had Then,
too, the fur of the animals is at its best
and the pelt is worth securing. The
icoons are grown to toothsome fairness
that is calculated to tempt the appetite
of the hunter and to tickle the palate
of the most pronounced epicure that
ever delighted in the savory odor of
roast coon. Promise Of good sport
this fall is abundant if the ante-season
hunters will desist from killing whole
filters and allow the sport to reach its
best before getting out behind the dogs
Ketchem koon Klub is getting inn
patient to listen to the Incompatible
and thrilling music of the dogs, ring
ing out through the night. But the
club will await patiently the arrival of
the logical and accepted time to begin,
just as the fox hunter is awaiting the
opening of his self prescribed season.
The coon hunter whose dog is heard
running these nights has no excuse to
offer, Ketchem Koon Klub says No
hunter runs a coon hound unless he is
out to kill, 1t is different with their
brothers in kim the fox hunters. They
are out these moonlight nights, of
course, without gun, running the
hounds TO harden them and whet their
appetites for the true sport when it be-
gins In earnest. They all do it, but it
is safe to say that not fox will tumble
to earth before the gun of a member of
Worcester Fur Company until after
Oct. 1. They are simply listening to
the hounds and hardening them down
for killing work in due time.
But with coon hounds the proposition
is a different one. The main qualifica-
ton of first class rate coon dog is
tree work, and his ability to stand by
his post with his coon among the
branches until the arrival of the hunt
ers, whenever that may be. If the coon
dog is run for practice. and is taken
away from his tree after his game is
up, he quickly learns to desert his
game and is worth about the price of
his hide for coon hunting purposes
Therefore Ketchem Koon Klub finds no
excuse for the fact that coon dogs are
even now running O nights. They are
preparing to preach little smoke talks
70 the offenders and try to win them
from the evitJG1 their ways.
Meanwhile the club is negotiating for
the purchase of one of the finest coon
dogs in New England The clubs old
hound, Hunter, the hero Of many a
midnight battle, and many a hard and
successful run, is getting old and must
have a sturdy helpmeet in the chase.
The new hound when he comes will be
q sizzler of the first water, and one
capable Of giving cards and spades and
little casino to any dog the club has
even owned. But he win not be hunted
until Oct. /. That is certain.
-
Horses and cattle have collie and cramps.
IAN Killer. viii cure them every time.