Things Young Coon Hunters Are Never to Ask Their Professional Coon-hunting Dads

NOTICE:

I state in this story that there are no female coon hunters that I know of. I will do my best to research this fact, for I do not want you to think I am "just' telling you things to be doing.

Thank you,

Kenneth

I don't want to come off sounding sexist, but if there ever was a sport that deserved the title, a "Man Thing," coon hunting fits the description. Besides fishing, where buys can bond, coon hunting has been in existence since colonial days when dogs named scent hounds were imported from France, England and even Ireland. Their physical features allowed them to quickly follow prey through thick forests and track raccoons like nobody's business. The most-astounding fact about these special canines were a few of the coon hounds had webbed feet, like ducks, to help them navigate in water and swamps. Others had long and moist nostrils to aid them in scent recognition.

Coon hunting however did not gain traction until the 20th century when it became a popular sport and past time for men. Another exciting reason for spending all night in the woods to kill a few coons was that their fur was highly-valued, and some people even enjoyed raccoon meat a delicacy. more important reason for the hunting was the raccoon fur which was highly valued. Some people also considered the meat a delicious treat. As in 2015, coon hunting was done with specialized dogs that could quickly move through thick bushes and track the coon scent at the same time. It wasn't too long before people began having competitive coon hunting. Dogs participated in tests such as water races and treeing contests.

The 20th century saw seasonal coon hunting at its highest. In the 1946 - 1947 season, it's estimated that one million raccoon were hunted. This figure rose to 2 million in the next sixteen years. The 1976 - 1977 season saw an all-time high number of raccoons being hunted for their meat and fur. As the century came to an end, raccoon hunting started dwindling. This was caused by falling prices of raccoon fur thus sparking a fall in demand of the animals. By the time the 90s were coming around the number had drastically dropped to 0.9 million.

These paragraphs are the civilized, easy-to-grasp definitions concerning coon hunting. Anyone can read these and smile to themselves just like the little girl who acts as The Little Debbie Cakes logo. But as in everything in life, there is the raw definition of this ageless-recreation men have loved since its inception.

• Coon hunting is an all-night event that involves men. To my knowledge there are no women coon hunters yet, but they are more than welcome to join this "after dark" craze.
• A typical coon hunt starts at dark which depends on your time zone, and lasts most of the night or until the coon hunters get their legal limit of raccoons.
• Coon hunting in reality is a hot, sweaty, tiresome struggle against briars, thorns, poison snakes and other dangerous beasts with only one light to use to find your way to the coon that hopefully, your prize coon dog, "Jukey," has ran up a tree or as professional coon hunters call "treed."
• Coon hunting can easily be defined as one of the earliest "rites of passage" for boys to become men. At the risk of being cliché, only the toughest of boys could survive such a grueling sport as coon hunting and yet, be so rewarding and fulfilling. In short. You have to love coon hunting to be a good coon hunter.

Some of these young men made strong men and industrious members of the community, but sadly some of these young men failed, but not because of a lack of trying.

These young, eager coon hunters didn't learn the one vitally-important rule of coon hunting called

Things Young Coon Hunters Are Never to Ask Their Professional Coon-hunting Dads

• "Is it snack time yet?"
• "Do I get a coon hunting nickname?"
• "Can I use a battery-powered flashlight instead of this smelly carbide?"
• "Get me out of these Blackberry briars."
• "You mean that I can't talk during this hunt?"
• "What about screaming like a wild pig? I like wild pigs."
• "Why do you older guys just get to use a gun?"
• "Hey, what has a raccoon ever done to you?"
• "I can't do "number two' and everyone standing around."
• "I was just petting 'Billy,' our coondog. Was that wrong?"
• "Do raccoons bite if they are angry?"
• "Why can't I listen to my iPad? Toby Keith is on tonight?"
• "Oooucchhhh! 'Mr. Taylor, did you have to kick me in the butt when you tripped?"
• "Look! A raccoon. Watch me run and yell at it!"
• "I can't do "number one" and everyone standing around.'
• "Oh, that's my cell phone. What? I can't take that?"
• "When can I be the leader?"
• "Why are you men taking me toward the river? Are you throwing me?"
• "Can I have something to eat now?"
• "What kind of snake am I holding?"
• "Do coons not come out in daytime?'
• "Oh, I see now. You want me to climb that tree where the dogs have tree'd the coon."

You might want to check-out this link . . .

coonhuntingclub.blogspot.com/2013//thehistoryofcoonhunting.htm.