Larry Atherton
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
Posts: 6544 |
Wow another marathon weekend! Long
On Friday night the boys and I took mother and daughter out. First drop was the daughter in our favorite cornfield this year. She ran a fairly long track that did a half of a loop and she holed it in a hole near the truck. I have hunted this spot for years and never knew the hole was there. I knew a partial foundation to an old farm house was there, but the hole was new to me.
We then walked her back to the north edge of the corn and cut her towards the woods and river. She struck a track and headed northeast towards the river. The track then turned and paralleled the river for a ways west and it turned back towards the south. It then left the river bottom and cut through a little strip woods and back into the corn field. It headed to the southwest and then south again. I cut the east edge of the field and ran for the road as she was heading for a busy black top road. I am getting too out of shape to sprint a half mile!!!!!! Meanwhile the boys followed behind their dog. The dog made a loop near a telephone in the middle of the corn, and then came out to the edge of the corn. It first ran down the edge to the east and then it came back west. The young dog hung up here a little then figured the coon went further west and turned back north into the corn. It then turned into a treed fence row and did another short run down and back much like it did on the south side of the corn. This time though the young dog didn’t take as long figuring it out, but then the coon made a mad dash for the farmer barn. My oldest boy caught his dog just before she turned the corner into the open barn door.
Next drop, we cut the old dog into the river bottom near a flooded area. She takes the track out of there and into a corn field and catches something in front of the farmer’s house under his apple trees. I sent the oldest boy in to catch her. He said she was trying to kill a possum that was bigger than her. Dang possum dogs!!!! We were getting ready to cut again when we heard another coon hound in the bottom. So we then called it a night since we had to be up early in the morning.
Morning rows around and we are ready to head north for a day of grouse hunting. My brother in-law and father in-law arrive, and we loaded up their truck. We got side tracked twice on the way up once to buy licenses and the other time for a food stop. This was the first time that my youngest son has ever hunted with anything bigger than a bb gun. He was carrying a Rossi .410. The 6 of us worked the tag alder thickets south along a small river until about 1:00 and then stopped for lunch. We then started working the thickets north along the river. I was proud of how my son handled himself and the fire arm. We actually saw more grouse this year than the last 4 or 5 years.
Unfortunately, no one connected on a single bird. Out of the 6 of us 3 got all the shooting. Just for the record I wasn’t one of those getting all the shots. I was 2 steps behind my son. We finished back at the truck at 5:00 pm. We then headed northeast to check out some property that my father and I are looking at. It was a nice piece of property, but by the time the boys and I covered all 4 corners of the 40 acres it was 7:30 pm. We turned the truck south and headed home with a brief stop at a McDonald’s. Shortly after everyone finished eating all 3 boys and grandpa were fast asleep.lol
We got home at 9:00 pm, and I started to get ready to go coon hunting. My youngest had went into his room and fallen fast asleep in the middle of his floor with all his clothes on.lol The other 2 older boys looked at me with pleading eyes. I cut them a reprieve, and told them didn’t have to go with me. I just loaded up the young dog and headed the truck west. I probably shouldn’t have went because I was in fact very tired, and I wasn’t too sure how the hour drive west would go let alone the hour drive home afterwards. I called a buddy to see if he wanted to go, and unfortunately I woke him up … ole well … I apologized and headed to a state land spot that we hadn’t hunted yet this year.
I try to eliminate trash issues I will walk a young dog much farther than I will an old dog. So I walked the young dog in about a half mile through a fallow field and soybean field to cut her along a creek and into the woods. She didn’t go 50 yards and struck a track heading east on the other side of the creek. The track went along the bottom of an old dried up creek bed that ran just inside the edge of the woods. The dog ran to the east edge of the woods and popped out into a corn field. The track worked it’s way south and then rambled back west. The young dog was moving the track very well and covering a bunch of ground.
There was one large tree near the west side of the cornfield and I suspected the dog to tree there, but she only threw a locate and then kept tracking west. She took the track through a thicket of small willow type trees and briars. The track then hit the creek and went a short ways down and across to an absolutely huge tree. The young dog threw a locate then checked the tree and rolled back up on it. The creek bank was thick with briars , and I actually had to get on my hands and knees to get to the dog and leash her. She had done a good job and I surely wanted to knock this coon out to her. I made a complete circle around the tree with my light on low and squalling, but not very loudly.
I then completely circled the tree again with my light on high searching up every branch and crotch going up and out. I even made a 3rd loop around the tree. I did not want to give up. I was not feeling very positive about my coon finding skills as I pulled the dog off the tree. We were walking out and I took one more last look. There not 2 feet from the very top I saw a single eye. I could not get the coon to look again, but I had an idea where he was. I leashed the dog back up, and got the gun out and loaded it. I aimed to where I thought the coon was and fired. Nope it was a miss, but I caught a quick flash of eye just a little bit higher. The second shot connected. I was reloading when the coon fell out. By the time we walked back to the truck I was sweating like I was in a swedish sauna. I had planned on making 2 drops, but thought it may just be prudent to call it a night. It was nearly 2:00 am by the time I crawled into bed.
Sunday, I had been neglecting the misses and missed Sweetest Day, so I dedicated the day to cleaning the mess the boys and I had left behind the last couple of days. Then I finished things off by making her diner. The worst part was by the time I got to bed Sunday night I was past tired and couldn’t fall a sleep.lol
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Larry Atherton
Aim small miss small
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10-19-2009 05:43 PM
Sounds very eventful.....
