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The Orbital and other Coon Tales

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Zuma:

It is under. or actually within the orbital of the night sky that most all coon hunts occur.
Is it really important? Well I think so. Not just for direction but for pure enjoyment.
My dad was a naval navigator plotting position and course via the stars at night.
Some of that knowledge he shared with me came in handy wether coon hunting or
running my trap line late at night. Or being lost in the Mojave Desert. (a buddy) lol.
Of course there are other ways of determining the direction you must go to get  to
where you want to be. Aircraft, yappy house dogs, creeks and ridges help in known
areas but not so much in new territory. Forget about the moss on a tree.
Well here's hoping you all got a coon tale to share. I have a few.
Zuma

Zuma:
So one day my brother says -- I know a great place to run the dogs. It's remote but
it should be ok. No road should be further than five miles.
Well, we dropped the tailgate at the pull off by the creek. Bullet, Hush and two pups
in training hit the woods in a downstream direction. Bada boom bada Bang the hunt was on
Jeff and I had not even finished slinging our gun and lights. It was star lit and not to tangled
after we left the creek at a right angle to the left. All tolled it was about maybe 300 yds to the tree.
A huge Hemlock not uncommon in those days in eastern PA.. Standing way back from the tree
making every coon call we could make we got a glint of gold. An eye. We decided not to leash
the dogs to save some time. The night was young. Whoever was carrying the .22 got the shot.
The rifle cracked and like a ping pong ball it came flopping down through the branches.
The hounds caught the creature in mid air. Well the mix was on, Two veteran dogs and two pups.
It was like a fifties cartoon where the bull dog gets the cat, a big ball of dust and body parts.
This was different, something unusual. The dogs had never behaved like this before.
We both grabbed collars trying to save a $30 skin. To late. The creature was ripped to shreds
and the dogs were scratching at their faces and ears. .An extra large sized Porcupine we named Spike.
To be continued--
Zuma

Zuma:
It really was mayhem. At least until we had the dogs tied to saplings and could assess the situation.
As we cleared quills from dogs we left them unleashed while we went after more with our saving grace multipurpose pliers. We hadn't completed surgery on the last pup before Hush boomed on a feeder trail.
What the heck, those mutts still have broken quills in them. Yep some had broken off before fully extracted.
At this point I said let's get our bearings before we leave the tree. Jeff agreed. So we gathered up all the equipment, shut off our lights and listened and looked quietly.We had to move a little into the hardwoods to see the sky. It was dead silent and we both let out the proverbial groan, as we saw the sky was totally overcast. Jeff said "we came in this way" pointing in a direction I disagreed with by 180 degrees " Are you sure" " Heck yes, I am sure, but it only matters if we head back and wait for the dogs till morning at the truck and that would be kinda cruel seeing how their hot at getting us a coon quills and all. Don't worry it can't be more than five miles to a road, Ah geeze was all I could say .
To be continued-----
Zuma

bjrogg:
I'm staying tuned Zuma. I'll  fill in here with a story of mine.
My son always trapped coons in one of the nieghbors barns with a live trap. He always had me dispatch them and skin them. I normally shot them with my 22 but they always ended up making themselves and everything else a bloody mess. One day I decided to try something different. I took a 220 conibear trap and two stakes. I set the trap and stood it up in place with the two stakes between the jaws. I opened the live trap door and slid it in front of the set conibear. My son and I watched as the coon walked out the trap and into the other. It worked great and quickly dispatched the coon with no mess at all. The next time he caught one the nieghbor was there. I set everything up again but the ground was to frozen to pound my stake in as far as I'd like. They stuck up about four inches above the conibear trap. My son told the nieghbor "watch this". My son had my 22 if anything went wrong. I opened the live trap door and slid it in front of the 220. The stakes were sticking up to high and the door from the live trap wouldn't slid over top of them leaving a small gap between the traps. The coon started to leave the trap headed right for the 220. At the last possible second it took a 90 degree turn and went out the small gap between the traps. My son stood there in disbelief as the coon ran away not even trying to take a shot at it. My nieghbor who is a real comedian and myself where laughing uncontrollably. "Watch this" he kept saying over and over as we ran after the coon. It ran around the outside of the barn and right back into the bale pile it was originally caught in. I thought it was one of the funniest things I ever saw. My son didn't see the humor in it for awhile as he was really razzed by the nieghbor every time he saw him for a couple years. I told the nieghbor jokingly we were practicing catch and release. I can still see that coon making that quick 90 degree turn.
Bjrogg

Zuma:
Bj that's why I try not to photograph my arrowhead reduction or knap
to close to others. Murphy's  Law and one lucky coon. In this case like others,
if you are with ones you care about no matter what it's still a good memory.
Thanks for sharing the story and the chuckle. I have to get typing. I've been fleshin
all day. Well maybe 2.5 hrs seems like all day
Zuma.

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