Coon Hunting!

After my last semi-depressing post, I decided to write about something a little more upbeat: raccoon hunting! My family is very, very into hunting. My dad and my brothers are most definitely hunting fanatics, especially when it comes to coon (raccoon) season! We have three dogs, specially trained for hunting raccoon. The process of coon hunting is quite different from most other types of hunting because it takes place at night and you have to rely on dogs to find your prey. Jordan and I went with my dad on Friday night and got 11, a pretty good haul. This is the process for a typical night of coon hunting...

First, you get dressed up in warm clothes and headlights (or flashlights). Then we put tracking collars on our dogs that send signals to our handheld GPS. This tells us where the dogs are if they get too far away from us. After we load up the dogs and equipment, we head to our hunting spot, usually a woods or farm. When you get to your destination, you let the dog out and basically follow him wherever he goes. The dog will sniff out a coon's trail, bark signalling he found something, and then follow the trail. When the dog has located the raccoon (usually in a tree), he will bark repeatedly and put his front paws on the correct tree. This is called "treeing." You then "shine" the tree by pointing your lights up in the branches so you can see the animal's eyes reflecting. I'll spare the gory details and suffice it to say that next you shoot the raccoon and that's the end of it. On an average night of coon hunting, if you go for a few hours and have good dogs, you can get 7 or so, but on a really good night, you can get 20 or more. Depending on the size of the raccoon, you can get anywhere from $3 to $40 for a coon hide.

Most people don't picture me as a hunter, but it's something I've been raised to do. I shot my first deer when I was 14 and have been coon hunting many times. Although some people think it's gross or cruel or stupid, for me, hunting has really been just a great way for me to bond with my dad and my brothers.