Coon hunting or raccoon hunting is the practice of raccoon hunting, most often for their meat and fur. It is almost always done with specially bred dogs called coonhounds, where there are six breeds, and most commonly associated with rural life in South America. Coon hunting is also popular in the Midwest countryside. Most forest hunts occur at night, with dogs being released, following and putting raccoons on trees without human assistance. Once the raccoon is in the tree, with the dog on the base, it is referred to as "treed", with "treeing" being the active verb form.
In addition to hunting meat or fur, there is also a hunt for competition to show the speed and skill of the dog. Inside these raccoons are not killed, but planted and released. Some of the biggest competition hunts are Grand American, Autumn Oaks, and Leafy Oaks. Coon hunting has been recorded in books like Where is Red Fern Grows and popularized in stories and songs recorded by Jerry Clower, Jimmy Martin and others. In Alabama, there is a special funeral for the burial of coonhounds.
Video Coon hunting
Training
Coonhound puppies usually start their hunting training at less than six months of age. The dog owner or trainer will start by teaching him to follow the aroma of raccoon's pelt or commercial flavored stems dragged on the ground.
After the young dog mastered this, he was hunted, either by itself or with another dog. Many dog ​​trainers prefer to hunt older dogs alongside younger dogs, arguing that they will set an example for inexperienced dogs. Experienced dog trainers noted that the hardest part is often not teaching dogs to hunt raccoons but teaching them to ignore other animals such as opossum, whitetail deer and rabbits, which are sometimes called "junk".
Unintentional shooting or fleeing from deer by coonhounds is very problematic for hunters, as deer hunting with dogs is illegal in most states.
Maps Coon hunting
Practice
The hunt for modern coon is done by using dog or dog trained. Although historically hound dogs come from any type, modern coon dogs are almost always members of a subgroup called coonhounds. There are six different types of coonhounds developed specifically for hunting game climbing by scent; Black and Tan Coonhound, Redbone Coonhound, Bluetick Coonhound, English Coonhound, Coonhound Treeing Walker, and Plott Hound. Breeds vary in size, although the color is the biggest real difference. All but Plott Hound down from Coonhound UK.
The main difference in hunting performance is whether the dog is hot-nosed, which means it will skip the older scent to follow a newer, or cold nose, meaning it will follow the older scent. Of the six breed coonhounds, the hot-nosed Wooding Walker Coonhound is the most popular. Some hunters also use the Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog, although this breed is not a dog but a cur.
Dogs or dogs are released at night in areas where raccoons are most likely, such as forests, fields or swamps, and are permitted to discover the scent of raccoons. Most dogs will radiate long and different bays when it strikes the path, and will continue to sneak around the whole time they are tracking the raccoon. Dog sounds can change the timbre depending on how fresh or "hot" the aroma is. Unlike some hunting dog races that use vision to find their prey, coonhound only uses their sense of smell. Hunting usually ends when a raccoon climbs a tree. Upon reaching the tree, the dog or dog will stop swinging and start a "tree" bark, also referred to as mincemeat for short, sharp sound. This change in vocalization allows hunters to know when raccoons are sprinkled. Some dogs have spewed as many as 150 stems of skin per minute while in a tree. This dog is thus said to be a tree, and raccoons are considered sprinkled.
Man hunters may follow the dog while hunting, or stay in one place and just chase after the dog crashing. Tracking collars with a built-in global positioning system can be used to help find dogs, although historically the sound of dogs is used as a tracker. Following dogs to trees is often done on foot, although some hunters use donkeys or horses, and some use all-terrain vehicles. Horses and donkeys used for forest hunting are usually able to jump the "flat-footed" fence or from a standstill. Hunters descend for this procedure, unlike the traditional British fox hunt where part of the sport involves a fence jumping at speed. This method has led to a donkey show competition called coon jumping.
Regardless of how they choose to travel, hunters usually wear headlights to allow free use of both hands, although a few years ago a flashlight or lantern was more common. The first coon hunting lamp is a carbide lamp similar to that used by coal miners, but today's headlamps are made and sold specifically for hunting. The.22 rifle is the preferred rifle caliber, and boots are highly recommended because of the mud and rough terrain.
Not all hunting is done in the wild, as many modern hunters insert their dogs in the hunt for competition, also called nite hunting. In 2002, United Kennel Club (UKC), the largest registry for coonhounds, sanctioned over 6000 hunts across the United States. The largest and most prestigious annual hunt, also called field trial, includes Autumn Oaks, Leafy Oaks, and Coonhunting World Championship. All UKC events are licensed.
Autumn Oaks is held in Richmond, Indiana and attracts competitors from 39 states and Canada. Another major annual hunt is the Grand American Coon Hunt, which has been held in Orangeburg, South Carolina since 1965 and approved by the American Coon Hunters Association. These include popular benches or conformational events in addition to hunting competitions, and have special events for children who hunt or have coonhounds. In addition to the hunting of larger children, the UKC also organizes a number of annual breeding hits annually, meaning that they are limited to dogs from one breed only. The Southeastern Treeing Walker Conference is an example of this. American Kennel Club and other kennel clubs also sanction soccer hunting.
While killing raccoons is legal during the hunting season, usually September to February, some hunters just cut down the raccoons and then let them not get hurt. In a competitive hunt, where the goal is to show dog skills, kill or injure raccoons will often lead to disqualification. Hunting sports without killing raccoons, which are likened to catching and releasing fish, or chasing raccoons from fields are legal throughout the year.
Rule
As with all game animals in the United States, raccoon hunting is regulated by wildlife conservation officials in individual states and seasons as well as bag boundaries will therefore vary. In Tennessee, for example, the hunting season begins in mid-September and ends in February, with a raccoon bag per hunter per day, while in Kentucky, starting in October and ending on the last day of February, no bag limit. Some states, including Iowa, require a valid license or hunting license to train a hunting coonhound.
History
Raccoons were first hunted by Native Americans, who harvest ordinary animals for both meat and feathers. British and European settlers in North America then adopted this practice.
While the original hunters were not dependent on dogs, white hunters used them from Colonial times; George Washington is credited with owning some of the first coon hunters, a French dog given to him by the Marquis de Lafayette. Most of the early coon dogs are actually Foxhounds imported from Europe or mixed breeds with dog blood, but these dogs often have trouble finding raccoons when the latter climb trees, and breeders start specifically developing dogs for their tree ability: the ability to follow kiss to the bottom tree and stay there until the hunter comes.
Coonhounds existed as distinct types in the mid to late 1800s. In 1885, pelt raccoons sold for about 25 cents, worth a price for that time. Up to World War I raccoons are very common though often hunted, and are sometimes poisoned to keep them from destroying crops.
The fur coat of raccoon fur was a fashion trend in the 1920s, which led to high pelt prices and an increase in hunting and trapping. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when many rural families lived in poverty, the raccoons were hunted widely and became relatively rare. The hunter sells the skin for the money it needs, and the meat provides protein. In the 1940s and conservation efforts of '50s were done, including hunters not to cut down the nest trees that raccoonon used to raise children. The raccoon population was then expanded, to the extent that they were recognized as the least-visited species.
During the 1950s, nite hunting began and in the 1970s became popular with hunts involving more than a thousand dogs.
In the 1970s, the price of raccoon feathers rose again to the highest level of 25 to 30 dollars each, and some people made all of their income from forest hunting. It's possible to catch ten raccoons per night in densely populated areas, with good dogs. An outdoor writer estimates that in 1985 there were 30 to 40 thousand forest hunters in Michigan alone. The market hunt was mostly dead in the late 1980s, and it is thought that during the winter, feather trappers eat more raccoons than hunt with dogs.
The practice of forest hunting is sometimes associated with possum hunting, since the same dog is often used, the animals are climbers naturally, and are common in the same geographical area. However, the opossum was criticized for being too easy to hunt and too oily to eat if killed, and rarely hunted today.
Coon hunting continues to be popular in the South and Midwest countryside. The Indianapolis Star is noted in a 2014 article that while some coon hunters are "people dressed in over the forest," some earn six digits, and a top coonhound can cost up to $ 40,000.
Media and culture
Published in 1947, Fred Gipson's first novel, Hound-Dog Man , tells the story of two boys who hunted forests with â € Å"anjing dogâ € in 1905 Texas. It was made into a 1959 film starring Fabian Forte and Stuart Whitman, but while the book was a success the film failed.
In 1961 Wilson Rawls published a novel where Red Fern Grows, the story of a young coon hunter Billy Colman, who lives in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma with Redbone Coonhounds, Old Dan and Little Ann. The book was not successfully marketed to adults for several years before being tested in school, where it became a mainstay. The film of the same name was made in 1974, starring Beverly Garland, Stewart Peterson, and James Whitmore. It was remade in 2003.
Local comedians and storytellers Jerry Clower released his notes on "The Coon Hunt", a comic story about Mississippi's wrong hunting, in the early 1970s. It became popular almost immediately, launching Clower's career, and remained his most famous work, in addition to bringing in more than $ 1 million in sales and eventually becoming a platinum record for MCA Records.
Country and bluegrass musician, Jimmy Martin, was hunted as a hobby and wrote and recorded some songs about his coonhound. His two songs, "Pete, The Best Coon Dog in the State of Tennessee" and "Run Pete Run", depicting the exploits of "Black Half and Tan and Half Walker" named Pete, became bluegrass hit. On the last song, Martin's coonhound voice actually sounded.
In addition to the fictional depictions of forest hunting, there are several special magazines devoted to sports, two of which are Coonhound Bloodlines and Full Cry .
More
The Key Underwood Coon Dog Graveyard Memorial is a cemetery located in Colbert County, Alabama. Since the 1930s it has been specifically dedicated to coonhounds burials.
See also
- The hunting bear
- Hunting boar
- Hunting fox
- Hunting wolves
Note
References
Further reading
- Wick, John (1985), Walking with Axis: The Tree Dog Encyclopedia , Westwick Pub.
- Whitney, Leon Fradley; Underwood, Acil B. (1952), "Part of Outdoor Outdoors & Outdoors series", Coon Hunter Handbook, Holt, Rinehart & amp; Winston Ã,
External links
- Advanced Hunting Article on hunting
- Hunting Coon how to
- The official website of the American Coon Hunters' Association
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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