Trashy Hound coon hunt...
Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:04 am
I took my 5 dogs out the other night, well, 4 dogs and a pup, even brought momma along for her first hunt back. We had a wild time, treed 2 coons and caught a world record book skunk. Biggest skunk I have ever seen, and I have seen many.
I turned Sadie, Rebel, Gus, Jenna and little 5 month old Bell loose, going south along the west side of the river, Gus and Rebel struck a track just in front of us and the 3 bitches followed, all striking and lining out. Bell could have just been barking and trying to keep up, but had her nose to the ground, not neccesarily trailing, but I think she could smell it.
They wen't maybe 1/3 of a mile and Gus slammed the tree, followed by Jenna, Sadie and Rebel. Bell got there about when I did from a different route and just acted happy to be alive and with the big dogs, just barking at everything. I don't think she realized the coon was there until he plopped out of the tree about 3 feet in front of her. She did a big bark/ jump backwards and wasn't sure what to do next, when Gus and Rebel dove on it and tumbled toward the river. Jenna and Sadie showed up and in the river they went. Much to my surprise, Bell jumped in right after them. She sure doesn't swim like a beaver and was staring at the moon while she swam around, big dogs knocking her under and a mad coon in the water, about 2 feet from her head.
I took off my backpack, threw my phone in the backpack (Ruined several in the past, jumping in to save dogs, ask T-mobile) and was about to jump in when Gus brought the coon back to the shore and put the finishing touches on him, while Rebel and Bell got in a few cheap shots. I was impressed with what Bell was doing, for a pup, she sure was doing good.
I got them rounded up and casted them south along the river again, we walked for a while and the dogs did a good job of hunting out, Bell went right along with the big dogs, she seemed to just follow Gus, must not want to get to far from some real backup, as Sadie and Jenna are not kill dogs.
About 15 minutes down river we get another strike, it's Rebel and Sadie, on the other side of the river. Gus, Jenna and Bell all go to them and take it back in the direction we came from. They run it for maybe 5 minutes, make a loss and Rebel picks it up. They run a short ways to some small trees and all lock up treed. Halfway there, I hear Bell barking her head off. I get into them and she is acting like she treed the coon herself. They have him caught real close to the river and as I'm looking for a way to knock him out of the tree, to solid ground and not into the river... He bails into the river. This is a pretty good sized coon and the only dogs that see him bail, are Rebel and Bell. They're on him in the river and my other 3 dogs are going up the river. I yell for them and start dropping my gear again. I just barely put my pack down with my truck keys and phone in it and am just about to jump in the river and here comes Gus, he jumps out into the river, swims up to the commotion, grabs the coon and takes him straight up onto the bank.
He must have thought it would be a quick deal like the last one, but when they get up on the bank, Gus is getting whooped by this big coon. Rebel and Bell run up and start barking and nipping, finally Jenna get's there and Rebel gets bold, and it's a done deal. Good sized boar, looks like he's had a rough life, 2 of his teeth are missing and he's pretty skinny. Huge bodied coon, probably would've been a 25+ lber in prime shape.
I round the dogs up again, check them over and start back towards the truck. I'm 3/4 of the way back and decide 3 would be better than 2 and cut them loose, going north. I'm standing on the bridge to go back to the truck, about to call them in and head home a happy man... Jenna strikes. Gus, Rebel, Bell and Sadie all go straight to her and all of them open up and smoke this track, except Sadie, then they take this track out into the hayfield. I should've realized when Sadie wasn't interested and they headed for the field, it wasn't a coon. I get to all 4 dogs and they are under a haystack, going nuts and the fight is on. I climb up on the hay, trying to sick Sadie into them. All the while I am thinking this is awesome, 3 coons, in 3 hours... Right then the skunk aroma hit me. I had left my shock collars at home so I had no control over the dogs. I climbed down, still not sure they were killing the skunk. About 5 minutes later it was very clear, Jenna came backing out, dragging the biggest skunk I have ever seen. I went and threw all of the dogs in the river and called it a night.
When I climbed in bed with my wife at 4 am, smelling like skunk... I felt like a houndsman... maybe a piss poor, skunk smelling houndsman, but a houndsman.
I love it! Here are some terrible cell phone pics of the dogs when we were done.
Take care.
Mason
Jenna and Sadie
Gus and Rebel checking out Bell, I think they thought she was a critter when she came running up.
Sadie, Jenna, Rebel and Gus
Back at the truck
I turned Sadie, Rebel, Gus, Jenna and little 5 month old Bell loose, going south along the west side of the river, Gus and Rebel struck a track just in front of us and the 3 bitches followed, all striking and lining out. Bell could have just been barking and trying to keep up, but had her nose to the ground, not neccesarily trailing, but I think she could smell it.
They wen't maybe 1/3 of a mile and Gus slammed the tree, followed by Jenna, Sadie and Rebel. Bell got there about when I did from a different route and just acted happy to be alive and with the big dogs, just barking at everything. I don't think she realized the coon was there until he plopped out of the tree about 3 feet in front of her. She did a big bark/ jump backwards and wasn't sure what to do next, when Gus and Rebel dove on it and tumbled toward the river. Jenna and Sadie showed up and in the river they went. Much to my surprise, Bell jumped in right after them. She sure doesn't swim like a beaver and was staring at the moon while she swam around, big dogs knocking her under and a mad coon in the water, about 2 feet from her head.
I took off my backpack, threw my phone in the backpack (Ruined several in the past, jumping in to save dogs, ask T-mobile) and was about to jump in when Gus brought the coon back to the shore and put the finishing touches on him, while Rebel and Bell got in a few cheap shots. I was impressed with what Bell was doing, for a pup, she sure was doing good.
I got them rounded up and casted them south along the river again, we walked for a while and the dogs did a good job of hunting out, Bell went right along with the big dogs, she seemed to just follow Gus, must not want to get to far from some real backup, as Sadie and Jenna are not kill dogs.
About 15 minutes down river we get another strike, it's Rebel and Sadie, on the other side of the river. Gus, Jenna and Bell all go to them and take it back in the direction we came from. They run it for maybe 5 minutes, make a loss and Rebel picks it up. They run a short ways to some small trees and all lock up treed. Halfway there, I hear Bell barking her head off. I get into them and she is acting like she treed the coon herself. They have him caught real close to the river and as I'm looking for a way to knock him out of the tree, to solid ground and not into the river... He bails into the river. This is a pretty good sized coon and the only dogs that see him bail, are Rebel and Bell. They're on him in the river and my other 3 dogs are going up the river. I yell for them and start dropping my gear again. I just barely put my pack down with my truck keys and phone in it and am just about to jump in the river and here comes Gus, he jumps out into the river, swims up to the commotion, grabs the coon and takes him straight up onto the bank.
He must have thought it would be a quick deal like the last one, but when they get up on the bank, Gus is getting whooped by this big coon. Rebel and Bell run up and start barking and nipping, finally Jenna get's there and Rebel gets bold, and it's a done deal. Good sized boar, looks like he's had a rough life, 2 of his teeth are missing and he's pretty skinny. Huge bodied coon, probably would've been a 25+ lber in prime shape.
I round the dogs up again, check them over and start back towards the truck. I'm 3/4 of the way back and decide 3 would be better than 2 and cut them loose, going north. I'm standing on the bridge to go back to the truck, about to call them in and head home a happy man... Jenna strikes. Gus, Rebel, Bell and Sadie all go straight to her and all of them open up and smoke this track, except Sadie, then they take this track out into the hayfield. I should've realized when Sadie wasn't interested and they headed for the field, it wasn't a coon. I get to all 4 dogs and they are under a haystack, going nuts and the fight is on. I climb up on the hay, trying to sick Sadie into them. All the while I am thinking this is awesome, 3 coons, in 3 hours... Right then the skunk aroma hit me. I had left my shock collars at home so I had no control over the dogs. I climbed down, still not sure they were killing the skunk. About 5 minutes later it was very clear, Jenna came backing out, dragging the biggest skunk I have ever seen. I went and threw all of the dogs in the river and called it a night.
When I climbed in bed with my wife at 4 am, smelling like skunk... I felt like a houndsman... maybe a piss poor, skunk smelling houndsman, but a houndsman.
I love it! Here are some terrible cell phone pics of the dogs when we were done.
Take care.
Mason
Jenna and Sadie
Gus and Rebel checking out Bell, I think they thought she was a critter when she came running up.
Sadie, Jenna, Rebel and Gus
Back at the truck
I would of made you sleep with those trashy hounds.