Retreat to the den?
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:35 pm
So this is what happened,
One night we went to an edge of the property we don't hunt very often. We turned the dogs lose down a trail headed Southwest through the woods. They quickly struck, and after a few minutes had the coon treed. When we got there all 4 dogs were on the same tree, It was a big hollow tree and when I looked up the trunk I could see a big coon way at the top. Good strike, chase, and tree, ect. And I call it a "den tree" because it was hollow and instead of the coon being up in the top in the branches, he ran up the hollow part of the trunk. We loaded the dogs up, and drove about a mile or so away. We found a good spot and turned the dogs lose up a creek heading Northwest. (The general direction of the hollow tree we were just at) They struck again real quick maybe less than a minute from when we turned them out. They trailed and chased a long time all the time heading pretty much Northwest. When we were pretty sure they had treed (It was a pretty good distance away) We headed towards the sound and found them at the same place. Except this time two of the dogs were on one tree about 15 yards away from the "den tree" and there were three big coons in it. The other two dogs were back at the "den tree" and the big coon was still up the hollow part. I know for a fact the other three coons were not there the first time. This happened in December and all four coons were big adult coons, so its not like it was a mother with little ones. I guess my question is did those coons all intentionally retreat to that spot to escape? Or was it just a coincidence that they ended up so close. I am wondering this because usually the dogs tree much quicker after they strike, so I felt like in this instance the coon ran real far instead of just running up any normal old tree to be safe. I haven't seen many related topics about this on the forum, and even though it won't really effect much hunting, its just something I am curious about.
What does everybody think?
Good hunting,
Bryce
One night we went to an edge of the property we don't hunt very often. We turned the dogs lose down a trail headed Southwest through the woods. They quickly struck, and after a few minutes had the coon treed. When we got there all 4 dogs were on the same tree, It was a big hollow tree and when I looked up the trunk I could see a big coon way at the top. Good strike, chase, and tree, ect. And I call it a "den tree" because it was hollow and instead of the coon being up in the top in the branches, he ran up the hollow part of the trunk. We loaded the dogs up, and drove about a mile or so away. We found a good spot and turned the dogs lose up a creek heading Northwest. (The general direction of the hollow tree we were just at) They struck again real quick maybe less than a minute from when we turned them out. They trailed and chased a long time all the time heading pretty much Northwest. When we were pretty sure they had treed (It was a pretty good distance away) We headed towards the sound and found them at the same place. Except this time two of the dogs were on one tree about 15 yards away from the "den tree" and there were three big coons in it. The other two dogs were back at the "den tree" and the big coon was still up the hollow part. I know for a fact the other three coons were not there the first time. This happened in December and all four coons were big adult coons, so its not like it was a mother with little ones. I guess my question is did those coons all intentionally retreat to that spot to escape? Or was it just a coincidence that they ended up so close. I am wondering this because usually the dogs tree much quicker after they strike, so I felt like in this instance the coon ran real far instead of just running up any normal old tree to be safe. I haven't seen many related topics about this on the forum, and even though it won't really effect much hunting, its just something I am curious about.
What does everybody think?
Good hunting,
Bryce