ki4qpu
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Nov 2009
Location: East TN
Posts: 256 |
Golden Years of Possum Hunting
Saw this on another site thought you might enjoy.
The honorable Possum was was once the king of the night woods. Yes, there was once a day when possum hunting ruled over all other kinds of night hunting. In fact, the lowly raccoon was considered more of a nuisance. Read on if you don't believe me.
When I was only three years old, my great uncle came by to get my dad to go possum hunting. He said to my dad, why don't we take the boy. That was my first possum hunt. It didn't cost much then. All you needed was a feist dog, a toe sack, a kerosene lantern and an axe. All of this cost nothing (everyone already had an axe). Nary a dog box and nor a truck was needed as you always left walking from the house. Kerosene was always around as it was medication for all sorts of ailments, and besides it only cost about a nickel a gallon.
I learned quick the tricks of the trade. When the dogs treed and you got to the tree, someone would put the kerosene lantern on top of their head and look for the possum. Sometimes they would bring a piece of tin to put behind the lantern. Anyway possums usually tree in small trees and someone would climb part way up after finding the possum and shake him out. However, there was a trick to it. You get him swinging back and forth and then give a quick pop and this would usually dislodge him. If the tree wouldn't swing, that is what the axe was for. The dogs would wool the possums some and it would sull. You'd get it and put in in the sack. After I got bigger, that was my job, to carry the sack of possums. Sometimes the possum would be too high and you couldn't find him. That's why people hunted away from the creeks; getting after a coon was just a waste of time, a nuisance, as coons prefer the big timber. On damp nights you could take some paper, put it on a stick, light it and raise it up high and see the possum when the lantern failed.
Later they came out with two cell flashlights. I am not sure if they had already been invented, but I had never seen one. This made possum finding easy; but you still did not want to get after a coon. I remember we would put the batteries on the stove (they would always be run down) and warm them up. Then the flashlight would go in your pocket and stay there until you get to the tree and you failed to find anything with the lantern. Later, bigger flashlights came out with more batteries and that is when coon hunting took off. People then were moving to town and had money to buy batteries. I should have bought some stock in a battery company.
But, the flashlight was the downfall of a fun sport that kids enjoyed as much as the adults.
And now you know the rest of the story!
__________________
Jon Baker
Home of the pot lickers
Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day! Teach a man to fish, and tomorrow he'll have all his buddies in your fishin' hole!
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03-12-2010 03:23 AM
BARRY GREEN 
