Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
Posts: 6544

Well, it was cold and raining last night, but my two oldest boys and their cousin wanted to go coon hunting one more time before quiet time (April 15th). Due to celebrating our 20th anniversary, we were getting a late start, and we didn't make it to the woods until 10:30 pm.

The night was about as black as one could possibly imagine. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the night sky was made up of india ink. The chill of the cold and damp cut right through to the bone. The wind was blowing out of the northeast at 13 mph with 20 mph gust, but it didn't seem to dampen the spirits of 3 youngsters a 13 year old hound and a young hound. Our first drop was off a small hardwood ridge that quickly dropped off into a flooded bottom. The old dog struck seconds after cut loose, and the young dog chimed in. The track was short and sweet. Unfortunately, it was a den tree. By the time we plodded back to the truck some of the chill had been worked off.

There was water every where! The rain was starting to pick up, but we wanted to end the night on a good note. I thought about the different spots we could cut loose, but water was going to be a problem no matter what. So rather than avoid it why not just embrace it like we had the night? So I headed the truck to a dead end at the edge of a swamp.

We cut the dogs to the northeast directly into the wind. About the time they hit the water's edge they both opened. The track headed north then east. The boys commented on how deep the water sounded as the hounds thrashed around in it. The track was moving along at an impressive clip when the young dog barked up first, but it was the old dog that rolled it over first shortly after. The coon was easy to find even though looking up into the falling rain was a bit of a chore. My nephew quickly claimed I have him right here! Sure enough he did.

Now, the rain was coming down even harder as we lead the dogs back through the water to an old 2-track that lead back to the truck. The boys were satisfied with our success so we called it a night, and turned the truck towards home.

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Larry Atherton

Aim small miss small

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