The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-11
THE EXTINCT COON DOG
DOG, MASTER, coon AND HUNTER
HAVE NEARLY DISAPPEARED.
a Sport Once General Attracts Little
Attention Now-Habits and Char
acferistics of the Coon.

This is the time of year when the coon
hunter along the southern Indiana border,
that is. the occasional one left of this tribe,
is out of nights until a late hour, II not
all night, with trained or unframed dogs
chasing the nimble raccoon TO his lair; for
these animals, after feasting all summer
on berries and green corn and, later, on
pawpaws and persimmons. are now In
prime order. But the coon dog of our Ia
theirs seems to have become almost extinct
as a species of hunting dog. He was OF
no particular strain of blood. but he united
the keen scent of the deerhound with the
intelligence OF the shepherd dog, and the
tenacity of the bulldog with the stealth OF
the panther. With fewer accomplishments
than these he might have been good
fox or deer trailer; the lowing herd would
probably have been safe in his keeping; he
might have been able to hold his own in
! fight. or stood an excellent chance of sue
ceeding as a sheep stealer, but he couid
not have been a coon dog. For your coon
| is a cute and tricky customer, and crammed
! with patience. Moreover, he leaves behind
| him the coolest, most scentless trail OIL
/ any animal that runs. He leads you
| through tangled swamps and deep, stony
| hollows. He crosses and recrosses 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 we'll, clears the
| intervening space at a bound, strikes a
| tree, and glides up to the longest limb,
runs to it's extremity and leaps dozen feet
beyond it to the ground again. breaking
his trail abruptly on one side and begin
ming 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 uniform
| ly level head. He plays his cards well,
and the dog that would beat him must
need hold both bowers and the ace, with
strong cards to back them. These the
coon dog of our fathers always had.
But it was different with the dog that
! gave tongue as he hunted. He made music
| in the night--not the silvery treble OF the
/ foxhound 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 deerhound, swelling
over the ridges, clear and far-sounding as
a bugle note, but a pleasant. though
staccato song of his own, half bark, half
bay-a cheerful mingling of melody with
business.
The baying coon dog always had better
nose than his voiceless brother. and he
needed to have. The coon never knew
| when the silent dog was on his track, and
consequently did not bring to his protection
| the many wiles and stratagems that he
] at once resorted to when the cry of the
| other dog rang out on the trail. 1t was
! then that he Unanswered to throw false
scents. and the brook and the bramble,
| the hill and the hollow were all impressed
into his service in his race for life; and 1t
| was then that the baying coon dog of our
fathers came out strong. Step by step he
| unraveled the tangled and well-hidden scent,
constantly sounding his wild challenge to
| the coon to do his best until the hunted
| animals repertory of wiles was exhausted,
and, accepting the inevitable, he climbed
| tree. When the dog found he had brought
the coon to this his musical bay changed to
| a loud. quick bark. the signal to the hunter
following on behind that the coon was
| freed.
A SPORT OUT OF FASHION.
For some inexplainable reason, ever since
the civil war. coon hunting a pastime
has been going out Of fashion, and the
race Of trained dogs has gradually become
| nearly extinct. There Ore cOOu Jugs anu
coon hunters yet, but they are not the coon
dogs of our fathers, and the hunters are
generally shiftess, hand-to-mouth members
| of the community who are even ashamed
| to have it known that they go a-cooning.
Yet twenty-five years ago the colonel. the
| squire, the preacher and the deacon were
| the nightly hunters of this willy game, and
Wed with each other in being known as the
best coon hunter in their respective baili-
| wicks.
Once in those rare days a new preacher
| was settled over Methodist circuit down
in Clark county. He was not wise in the
| ways of the woods. Early in his first
autumn on the charge he began the usual
protracted meeting season. BY and by he
noticed that on moonlit and starlit nights
his congregations were made up of women
only Finally he asked the reason of this
| A sister rose and said:
Its cause the coonin's better'n It's in
the dark o the moon, Brother Smith. Soon
ez the moon darks. the men II jne ye.''
Sure enough. when the moon darked,"
the brethren were all in their places in the