Post by Toby Benoit on Oct 5, 2005 10:20:24 GMT 12.75
I was asked to go coonhunting this past weekend and I had a great time! I'd coonhunted for years and got really into it competitively. The pelts aren't worth anything these days, but there's still a bunch of clubs that host competitive hunts and I used to travel the curcuit with my Blueticks. Not really bragging, but I held several state and regional titles with my dogs back in the eighties and early nineties.
I had to get out of it though. I got to the age where I had to get out into the world and make a living and I began working sixty to eighty hours a week. That leaves NO time to raise and train a bunch of hounds, no matter how much you love it. So, I sold my hounds and gear and moved on.
Now, my buddy's been trying to get me back into it for a long while and I finally decided to go on out to a hunt with him and just tag along. When we got to the club I got to catch up with a lot of old friends and even made some new ones. But, that night in the woods with that cast of hounds was really special.
Hearing their voices ringing through the cypress trees made my heart well up in my throat and just got me all stirred up. It even brought a tear into my eyes thinking about my first and best coondog Matty while the hunters headed to the hounds when they sang treed. I stayed at the truck. My legs ain't so good anymore and I can't move through the woods the way I used to.
Matty was where it all started for me. I'd never been conhunting before, but I'd read about it and talked to a bunch of old guys that had and I wanted to do it really bad, so my folks bought me a Bluetick puppy. It really was a storybook kinda tale because we learned together and she eventualy won the AKC state championship with me. I loved that dog so much. She was a real part of the family, but she died young from lightening strike after whelping out a beautiful litter of pups for me to start over with.
My buddy was hunting a decendant of one of Matty's pups the other night.
We treed three coons and although my friends pup didn't win the competition, she did a bang up job. I can't get back into coonhunting the way I used too; my legs won't permit it. But, I made a promise to myself not to be a stranger to the sport. I'm really glad I went.
I had to get out of it though. I got to the age where I had to get out into the world and make a living and I began working sixty to eighty hours a week. That leaves NO time to raise and train a bunch of hounds, no matter how much you love it. So, I sold my hounds and gear and moved on.
Now, my buddy's been trying to get me back into it for a long while and I finally decided to go on out to a hunt with him and just tag along. When we got to the club I got to catch up with a lot of old friends and even made some new ones. But, that night in the woods with that cast of hounds was really special.
Hearing their voices ringing through the cypress trees made my heart well up in my throat and just got me all stirred up. It even brought a tear into my eyes thinking about my first and best coondog Matty while the hunters headed to the hounds when they sang treed. I stayed at the truck. My legs ain't so good anymore and I can't move through the woods the way I used to.
Matty was where it all started for me. I'd never been conhunting before, but I'd read about it and talked to a bunch of old guys that had and I wanted to do it really bad, so my folks bought me a Bluetick puppy. It really was a storybook kinda tale because we learned together and she eventualy won the AKC state championship with me. I loved that dog so much. She was a real part of the family, but she died young from lightening strike after whelping out a beautiful litter of pups for me to start over with.
My buddy was hunting a decendant of one of Matty's pups the other night.
We treed three coons and although my friends pup didn't win the competition, she did a bang up job. I can't get back into coonhunting the way I used too; my legs won't permit it. But, I made a promise to myself not to be a stranger to the sport. I'm really glad I went.