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-- Do Coons Semi Hibernate? (http://forums.ukcdogs.com/showthread.php?threadid=294672)

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I dont have any scientific proof to back it up but like you I have heard it ever since I started hunting. Heard they could stay up in the trees or dens for a week or two at a time without coming down.

Found this website and it says that coons cant hibernate but can sleep for several days at a time in cold weather.

http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html

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Golden Woods Bo
Golden Woods Fancy B

Coons do semi-hibernate. The term is "torpor". Their breathing and heartrate slow down but not as much as with true hibernation. They wake up periodically and go out but come back go back to bed. 2 weeks isn't out of the ordinary in the far north.

BEEN TOLD BY OLD TIMERS......

WHEN COON DO LAY UP FOR DAYS AND SLEEP, THEY SUCK ON ONE OF THERE FEET WHILE SLEEPING. SO, HAS ANYONE ELSE BEEN TOLD THIS ? IS IT TRUE OR NOT ? I AM ASKING ALL OF YOU.
I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK WHEN I HEARD THIS, AND I KNOW YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU HEAR AT A COONHUNTER GATHERING. LOL

BRAD E. ISAACS

Our coons will lay-up for long stretches of time during the winter. They seem to hate the deep powder snow, they`ll move once there`s a crust even when it`s cold but a couple feet of soft powder will keep them in.

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Pete Rhines

What Jim said.

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Larry Atherton

Aim small miss small

I live in northern Indiana and I think it is a rare occasion for coons in this area to layup more than a few days at a time.

I have known specific den trees that I was easily able to monitor due to reoccurring snow. It isn't unusually to have coons den up for up to 2-3 week periods in my neck of the woods.

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Larry Atherton

Aim small miss small

Larry, PEOPLE den up for 2 to 3 weeks at a time in your neck of the woods!!

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semi

coon will lay in durins a snow/ice storm and a few days after.......cepting rutting season......we also hunt sunny afternoons with succes on the sunside os the mtn...

?

Coons do not hibernate, they can layup and suck their toes, whatever, but do not go into a true hibernation. I got this from DNR because it is a great question and I assumed the coons were hibernating here on those cold clear nights.

Ok, try this. Google "raccoons hibernation"

Coons don't hibernate, but, their respiration and heartrate slows while they sleep for days...... I guess we're beating the term "hibernate vs. semi-hibernate" Six of one thing.......a half dozen of the other.... Ok, how 'bout this? Do coons stay up or do they come down when it gets so cold snot freezes in your nose?

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UKC GrNtCh PKC Ch Pa HTX Sniper (Deceased) Four time qualified for World Championship
Duane and Seth Jones/Jarret Davis partners
Beaver River Kennels/Team Pa
USAF proud!!! 6 Years active 19 Reserves MSgt (ret) Raven 457
Carpe Nocturnum-Seize the night!

Ill tell you what, It gets pretty dang cold here in MN.

If it gets cold (-5 or lower) you wont see a coon track in the snow, unless its after mid Jan and they start rutting, then they may run no matter how cold it is.

Up on the Manitoba border where I hunt I snowshoe in the middle of winter and look for coon tracks in the deep, powder snow. I've yet to see any coon tracks in those conditions which can extend for several weeks to a couple months. If it warms and holds above freezing and the deep snow firms, they'll run but otherwise not.

It amazes me how they make it through the winter unless they are designed for long periods of inactivity. The coons here also den primarily in the ground. I suppose that allows them to get below the frost line where it's a little warmer, and the coons are also very big here. Body mass equals the ability to pile on large amounts of fat and increases thermal efficiency. When my dog trees a near starved coon in the late winter, it usually is a kitten born the prior summer. The adult coons are thin as rails and all legs at that time but seem healthy and will take your dog for a run through the woods. Spring, before the leaves, is my favorite time to coon hunt.

"BERGMAN'S RULE"

Largest coon in the north & smaller as ya go south. Required size for survival lose' it's importance in the warmer climate's where they don't need to shiver for long period's of time. Why they have huge bodied deer in the 'nort & miniature version's in the south. Same thing only different.

I am really fond of huntin during the cold frigid snow covered month's when the dog's gotta bust a trail to just find a coon track but like has been stated they don't move in powder condition's very often.

Along my lane we have bluff's that are chuckin full of coon with a creek between them where the lane narrow's. If they move in the snow much there will be track's to the water. Been time's when we ain't seen a track in several week's. Not "TRUE" hibernation but Ma Nature's way of keepin them alive or most of them anyway's.

bergemans rule??? thats why we are so well conditioned for the hard winters TT!!LOL

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quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Dogs
bergemans rule??? thats why we are so well conditioned for the hard winters TT!!LOL

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I hunt coons in the ground with my terriers. Around here, coons will lay up in cold weather, usually more than one in a den in the ground. And they are not asleep when one of my terriers goes in there with them. But I've had a terrier drag a sleeping groundhog out of the ground in January, and it didn't wake up. We tucked him back in the hole. :-)

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Henry County, Kentucky

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