The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-12-21
COON HUNTING IN KENTUCKY
AS It Was Practiced Long Ago and is
Attempted Today.

Good coon dogs are rare sporting
animals nowadays. They never
were as common as good bird dogs,
but when there was more virgin for
est in Kentucky than there now is,
and when the wages Of farm labor
ers were less than they now are,
there was a fair profit in coon hunt
ing as well as fair sport, and nearly
every "roundlog" or hewn log cabin
boasted a coon dog. When six
bits" day was the pay of strap
ping farm laborer, even in corn
shocking time. and coon pelts were
worth half-dollar, a really good
coon dog could earn more for the
man who followed him than could be
earned in the field from sunup to sun
down. 'Coons were plentiful in the
woods. A man with first-rate dog
usually a cur which knew better
than to waste time jumping up rab-
bits, and whose nose was set for the
trailing of ''varmints "-and with an
ak to chop down trees and a shotgun
or cap-and-ball rifle TO use as occas-
ion offered, was pretty sure to come
home with more than six bits"
worth of coon fur before midnight.
Dogs trail 'coons more readily /af-
ter light rain has fallen, When il
is damp in the woods and the vari-
Gus forest scents mingle and form
perfume that is grateful to the oil
Factories OF human beings the rae
coon upon his way from his home in
a hollow tree to his fishing in the
shadows of the creek leaves more O.
the prefume of his pads" upon the
fallen leaves than is left upon a Dry
night. And il the clouds have blown
away and there is a full moon the
hunter is not put 10 the trouble of
getting the coon out of the tree by
climbing the tree or by chopping it
down, a method common enough
when timber was looked upon as in
exhaustible and when aXmen were
more expert than they now are and
did not look upon AK worA as intol-
cradle labor. Upon moonlight nights
the coon was usually discoyerable
to the hunter somewhere in the
crotch" of the tree or fattened out
upon the top of a large limb trying
to hide. All that was necessary was
to walk about the tree keeping It's
branches silhouted against the moon
until the fur of the coon was seen.
The coarse hair that grows LONGER
than the soft short fur upon the
'coon's back showed readily against
the moon, and sometimes the end of
a tail left hanging carelessly over a
limb would reveal the whereabouts of
the animal whose presence was de-
noted by the refusal of the dog to leave
the butt of the tree. Jelts are not at
their best until the heavy frosts have
made the raccoon put on his winter
coat By that time the leaves have
fallen. leaving the branches bar,
against the sky. A man accustomed
to shooting squirrels from the top
most branches of "shell.bark' hickor-
les with a long rifle could spot a
coon by moonlight by getting his fur
against the face of the moon. and
hunters who were primarily interest
ed in getting pelts saved time by do
ing so. A wild turkey roost was
sometimes found by hunter while
circling a tree looking for a coon.
Upon cloudy nights, or in the lark
of the moon. il was not worth while
to carry gun of any kind. The dog
and the AK constituted full equipment
The coon freed, there was nothing
to do but cut down the tree or climb
il. Cutting the tree had one great
disadvantages. An eager dog would
sometimes fail to allow for the
spread of the branches and get
killed by the falling tree II the dogs
10 II. -.
possibility that the coon would get
up another tree before he could be
caught. And old and experienced an
imals sometimes managed to jump
from the branches OF a falling tree
to a standing one. leaving no trail
and sometimes escaping the eyes of
the dogs. Climbing the tree had also
one great disadvantage. The suppos-
ed coon sometimes turned out to be
a wildcat II is safe enough to strad.
die limb and make a coon run out
TO the end Of IL, where he may be
shaken into the jaws Of the dogs be-
low. But a wildcat is inclined to
dispute possession of the limb. and
an enraged wildcat encountered in
the dark by a bare-handed human op-
ponent is somewhat more terrible
than an army with banners. Be
cause OF its rapidity in action, the
wildcat also seems in such a situa-
ton, to be as the sands Of the sea
for multitude. Old coon hunters
used to tell grisly stories Of limb-end
encounters with "oatamounts" to
which they would have been glad to
apologize in time IL they had known
what manner Of savage beast they
faced in the inky darkness Of mid
night in the depths of the forests.
But notwithstanding its drawbacks
coon hunting was regarded as good
sport by primitive ruralists who had
not been lectured by the modern
writers upon the wfckadnaee NJ or,,ai