Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-27
So cents.
COON HUNTING IN MAINE.
The Season Now at Its Height, and
There's Great Sport.

From the New York Sun.
The full moon of September witnessed the
beginning of the coon hunting season in
eastern, Maine. and, though the hardwood
trees We're thick with leaves, afording
excellent hiding places for the fleeing ami
mails and making much hard work for
hunters and dogs. the result has been very
satisfactory to all the participants except
ing the coons that We're slain. The Maine
racCoon differs in no essential from his
cousins in West Virginia and Kentucky.
He is an all-round athlete, endowed with
the powers for defense and escape that
nature generally distributes among three
or four species of mammals. He is as cum
ming as a fox. He swim as well as
an otter. and he can climb tree quicker
than wildcat; while for genuine grit and
lighting abilities he can discount any other
animal that walks. For these reasons coon
hunting has always been a favOrite sport
in Maine
The essentials for coon hunting in Maine
are good dOg-a foxhound with a dash
| of bull TERROR blood in his composition
| prefcrred-a rife revolver for shooting
an ak for Telling the trees, lantern for
| illuminating the dark places where coons
may hide, a pair of long-legged rubber
| boots. a square of court plaster for dress
| ing wounds and fat bottle of high-proof
| whisky for reasons too numerous to men,
| ton. Until the middle of October, when the
I Stdthtd corn IL taken TO the Darn, NOBODY
starts on a coon hunt until 8 or 10 O'Clock
| in the evening. for the animals are night
! feeders and seldom start out until their
human foes have gone to bed. The point
| of departure Is from an isolated cornfield
| in back lot. Having blanketed and teth-
| cred their horses. az bat one of the hunters
creep away to the edge of the woods near
est the cornfield. lying several rods apart
to await the Oncoming of their prey. Then
| the remaining hunter leads his dog to the
| side of the cornfieid that is furthest away
from the waiting gunners and trails him
back and forth among the stacks until
fresh track Is scented, when the baying dog
| Is set free. Though coon can often Whip
dog in a fair fight. he will never risk an
encounter while there Is an avenue of es-
cape. preferring to conserve his energies
to the last. The hidden gunners can tell
from the sounds made by the dog the direc-
ton in which the coon is running If he
Is coming toward them they make ready to
shoot at the first sound of Scampering feet
and to shoot again and again as long as
there is a hope of hitting anything.
If the night Is bright and the coon is
young, the hunters stand a good chance of
shooting the coon or the dog or both, in
few minutes after the alarm is given 9th
erwise the whole party is off for a long,
hard chase through the dark woods. the
coon in the lead, followed more or less
closely by the dog, while the men trail out
| behind in distances that are measured by
age and powers of endurance. A coon that
has survived two or three nights of hard
hunting StellS 10 hno" from instinct Inat
his greatest safety lies in "a straight-away
run over rough and swampy land 1t then
| becomes a question of endurance between
him and the dog. If closely pressed. he
will take to the swamps. swimming muddy
| ponds and creeks to kill the scent and delay
the chase. Under these conditions the
muddy and water-SOaked men give out
after a few hours, leaving the dog to go on
alone a gritty dog will tree coon in
! four hours or less. but If the men do not
come up to help him out the only satisfac-
| ton he gets from the hunt is to sit bowling
and Shivering at the foot of the tree until
daylight and hunger drive him home.
Under more favoring conditions, where
| the dog is swift and the land Is hilly, the
coon takes to q tree after making a hope
| less attempt to escape on the ground. The
hunters light their lanterns. and, guided
by the dog. climb peer into a number
| OF trees before the coon Is found, rolled up
| in n ball and hiding away in the thicket
| of limbs and foliage. A man with lam
| tern held alOft on long pole is set to
watch the coon II the animal is large
| the trees adjoining the one in which the
| coon is hiding are cut down and moved
from one tree to another. After this one
man holds the dog while two other men
| with axes chop down the coon tree Be-
| fore the limbs hit the ground the dog is
| set free Men who have never seen TWEEN
| ty-five-pound coon lighting for his life
| against dog twice his weight have missed
| some of the most exciting sport In the
| world The coon lies on its back defend
| ing itself with sharp teeth and sharper
| claws, Its body drawn UP into a ball of
| huny fur and every sense alert for attack
| OF defense. Woe to the dog that turns
| tail or looks away at such time. In an
| other moment he is sent home ifmping and