Registered: Aug 2006
Location: Latta, SC
Posts: 1021

Saw 4 tracks that ended up with no tree made.At some point of these 4 tracks I saw the coon,Most were long cold trailing type tracks and 1 road coon lasted just 4 minutes and the track just seemed to disappear.The same dog started a track this morning at 3.15 am...FULL MOON/37 degrees and finally treed at 4.20 am with the coon being seen on the outside. He never realy ran the track like it was hot...More like a dog cold trailing a deer, just before he located the tree his track barks were no more excitable than when he started the track an hour earlier. The garmin showed the dog traveled 3.8 miles and speed was 6 mph.Of the other 4 stated above 1 track lasted 50 minutes and I saw the coon and the dog was running it like a deer race. less than 1 minute apart as they crossed the road after it had ran 6/10 mile the other way.I just don't understand why the same dog can tree a coon on the first bark less than a minute from the truck and then struggle so bad on a coon you have seen with your own eyes ...HOT TRACKS AND THE DOG MOVES IT LIKE ITS HOURS OLD... GOT TO BE SOMETHING WITH APRIL/FULLMOON..Different coons smelling stronger, location, barometer, temperature.IS HE JUST A SLOW TRACK DOG,LOOKS GOOD ON A COON THAT WILL CLIMB QUICK....Anyone running long tracks like this...

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Registered: Jul 2007
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James I have had the same thing the last couple weeks !! Cold trail and work them up like they were looking at him and sat night they were finally smoking him and it went dead to nothing!!! The one female ended up 25 ft in a tree on the river and there was no coon seen above the dog but I can assure you she didn't go up that tree checking!!! Don't know if coon had a den on backside of the tree that was outta site or if he jumped out!! Don't know but there running almost like rutting coon do!!!! Good thing I got that ragin Bo female for the futures on she flat out hustles and covers some ground and when I say that I measure in miles not yards!!!!! !! Gotta love hunting on thin coon!!! Lol maybe it keeps us in better shape than in thick coon!! Gotta look for some positive in all this walking!! Last night I looked at 2 coons walked 4.3 miles and then had my wife pick me up and saved me about a mile walking but at 9:30 when I cut loose it was dark!! No moon yet 43 degrees and a 5 mph wind !! Thought coons would have been everywhere considering its been 70 plus and high humidity for the last week!! They must have our phones tapped cause the coons know every move we make before us and our dogs do!!!lol

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Registered: Jul 2007
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Another thing I think that hurts us James is that we are limited to places to hunt and when you hunt 5-6 nites a week year round and only have 5-6 places to hunt there are no more dumb coons !! There dead!!! So we are running the same coon over and over and they know what kinda dog power we got!!! Are maybe lack of ! But I have yet to see anyone bring one in here that looks any better most don't look half as good !!!

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 311

We have been treeing coons but no tracks and they have been hunting there buts off the coons are like us enjoying the weather we are having during the day and camping at night

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Registered: Dec 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 2027

I've had quite a few bad nights lately, seems to me there getting down early, the later the night goes the crappier the tracks are getting. I have a trailing type female with a good nose, and she has looked pretty poor on quite a few of these nights here lately.

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Registered: Aug 2006
Location: Latta, SC
Posts: 1021

Hey Joe,The male pup stayed with Stud on one of these bad coon.He has a gear like OLD RAGIN BO AND HIS GRANDSIRE PETE. Stud had struck across the road and I assume he took the wrong end because his track got worse to nothing,within 5 minutes after Stud struck a coon came slipping out crossing the road from where I had just cut him.I put Son on him and he tried to work it in a bad briar patch and knee deep water,I got Stud back in and put him with Son and they worked this track for 45 minutes about 3/4 mile crossing 2 roads,I finally toned them in.The pup was trying as much as Stud.One of these coons ran like a deer race and the lil gyp was in with Stud on this one, They put it away 6/10 mile and brought it straight back and I had walked the road and waited at the crossing and here comes a big coon and less than a minute later Stud and Lil Dixie come thru pushing water,They ran this for 50 minutes and she had enuff but I did notice she was workin the track separate at times from Stud,I had enuff too and toned Stud in after 20 more minutes.Just can,t figure if ...STUD...is just slow and sorry or just inexperienced.He will turn 3 in June but he ,s only been hunted about as much as a 14 month old.....Stud hasn,t seen a full season yet...I got another colar comin...SO I CAN WATCH THESE PUPS EVERY ACTION...

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Registered: Jan 2012
Location: Goshen,Ohio
Posts: 2679

I'm glad our coon don't run like that.Treed several layups tonight and the rest were short tracks.Did see a coon sleeping in a squirrel nest in a cedar tree.Dogs couldn't get it treed and 3 outta 4 dogs couldn't smell it.Guess he got down real early.

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Registered: Aug 2006
Location: Latta, SC
Posts: 1021

For the past 5 years Bo and Darlin showed me hollow trees and lay up trees that I did not know were in the woods. They were more about action and getting it done now, Darlin is Studs mother and she is a better track dog than Bo was ,But I taught Bo to give up those bad tracks when he was young because he could not handle them.Ole Bo was 70% accurate and he hunted on the run,he could cover a mile in a few minutes but he would not leave the country,and he had a mouth to cover him.Bo would not beat a track too long, He was lookin for a coon he could tree now.Where as Stud is the first Trailing dog I have ever worked with, but he showed me earlier that he could move a bad track thru deep water or cutovers and have the coon a high % of time but he is definitely the slowest dog I have owned on a long workin track.Stud can tree a 1 minute coon too..and look good as well as tree a lay up.He has to get his nose and feet and brain workin together....Stud has put some coons thru these ditches and cutovers that Bo and Darlin dared to stick their nose in...DIFFERENT STYLE DOGS IS WHAT I,M SEEING WITH STUD...

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Registered: Mar 2013
Location: Cambridge, Ohio
Posts: 83

quote:

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Originally posted by James B Grice
Saw 4 tracks that ended up with no tree made.At some point of these 4 tracks I saw the coon,Most were long cold trailing type tracks and 1 road coon lasted just 4 minutes and the track just seemed to disappear.The same dog started a track this morning at 3.15 am...FULL MOON/37 degrees and finally treed at 4.20 am with the coon being seen on the outside. He never realy ran the track like it was hot...More like a dog cold trailing a deer, just before he located the tree his track barks were no more excitable than when he started the track an hour earlier. The garmin showed the dog traveled 3.8 miles and speed was 6 mph.Of the other 4 stated above 1 track lasted 50 minutes and I saw the coon and the dog was running it like a deer race. less than 1 minute apart as they crossed the road after it had ran 6/10 mile the other way.I just don't understand why the same dog can tree a coon on the first bark less than a minute from the truck and then struggle so bad on a coon you have seen with your own eyes ...HOT TRACKS AND THE DOG MOVES IT LIKE ITS HOURS OLD... GOT TO BE SOMETHING WITH APRIL/FULLMOON..Different coons smelling stronger, location, barometer, temperature.IS HE JUST A SLOW TRACK DOG,LOOKS GOOD ON A COON THAT WILL CLIMB QUICK....Anyone running long tracks like this...

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Registered: Mar 2013
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland
Posts: 313

One night last week I saw 4 coons laying out on 4 different den trees, dogs hunted right under them, but they couldn't strike a track on the ground. Still treed some coons every night, but never did tree any that I saw laying up. Treed several this week with little, or no track, and a couple with long hard tracks. For the most part, the tree checking dogs have been showing me the most coons this week.

I know it's not because the coons have been hounded to death here, because I hunted a couple spots tonight that I know haven't been hunted in 3 or 4 years, and had about the same results. I think it's a combination of coons moving early, and the sows not moving far from the dens.

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Registered: Jul 2007
Location:
Posts: 3075

Whatever it is one thing for sure it's in our blood as much so if not moreso than the hounds we hunt and if we had the same outcome every night it would get boring quick but ****!!! I walked 4 miles last night with just a 9 month old pup and saw one coon laying up which had never been on the ground as of 10:30 !!! And then struck and old track on the one and only bucket within miles of here for these pups and that track was left before dark yesterday so needless to say penny gave It all a 9 month old hustling little bitch can give it!!!! Can't wait till tonight cause it can all change in a split second!!!! Old dogs will run tonight!!!! Early and break pups out early tomorrow morning!!

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Registered: Aug 2008
Location: SE Ohio, Glouster
Posts: 2244

April is a funny month. Some nights are fantastic and some nights are real head scratchers. It is my opinion that somewhere near the middle of April is when the majority of sow coons (at least in my area) are denned up with their young. That is why you see them lying out on den trees or very near den trees. Also I believe mother nature protects these mothers while the young are nursing, thus they don't give off as much scent. I also believe we only have about half as many tracks to run in Aprils as the majority of the sows are laying in the dens with their babies, thus most of the tracks that cover any REAL distance are probably boar coons.

With only boar coons out scurrying around laying the longer tracks, means (again to me) their are not as many good tracks to strike. When we get to about Memorial Day, momma coon starts taking her babies out to expand their diet so to speak. That is when you will notice mother coon raiding the hen house. When this starts to happen you will start to find there seem to be more good tracks in the woods, and that is because their actually is. Mom is out rummaging around trying to find different foods for the young, and they are follow her farther and farther from the den.

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Registered: Aug 2006
Location: Latta, SC
Posts: 1021

Rocketman I totally agree with that statement,That has been my thinking on as to why you can,t strike a coon as quick in April/May ,most of the sows are up more so than roaming the ground.I have always considered May a tougher month to strike a coon here in my neck of the woods unless you hunt bucketts.These tracks that I saw the 4 different coon were ...wild hunting and not baited areas....I CAN TREE A COON MOST NIGHTS AS LONG AS I KEEP THAT SOUR CORN ON THE GROUND...The Stud dog wasn,t hunted much until I lost Ragin Bo....I WANTED TO ALLOW STUD THE CHANCE TO SHOW ME HIS NATURAL ABILITY BY HUNTING HIM MORE SO IN A WILD ENVIROMENT RATHER THAN TEACHING HIM TO HUNT FROM A BUCKET..I don't know why he is so slow on some tracks cold be that he is just inexperienced and could be just different coons would rather run than climb, Studs moma is more of an action type dog but his top side I have hunted almost all of them and they were more runnin type dogs definitely not cold trailers or ground pounders. My buddy Randall and his friends caught 2 on the ground last week and they hadn,t caught one on the ground all year. My dad told me this same thing when I was a lil boy about runnin dogs in May here in S.C.......May be time to take dads advice and start fishin

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Registered: May 2005
Location: Bellevue, IA
Posts: 1874

Haven't been having the best of luck since April either. I just chalk it up to lack of dog power.

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Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Burlington, CT
Posts: 1758

I beleive Rocketman is correct... I've heard that for years, and experienced the same phenomenon year after year for a couple decades. Sow coon with kittens somehow don't put off the same amount of scent.

I've got dogs that can track and tree an old rutting coon for the greater part of a mile, in heavy snow, that struggle to move a track this time of year.

I can't explain the science, but I beleive they smell different this time of year...

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I'm not sure that it's the coon that smell different but maybe the baro matrix pressure difference moon phase,sows that are pregnant and staying close to the den and usually this time of year is when the pollen is heavy and everything is changing!! And that maybe natures way of protecting the sow and young !! And maybe I'm wrong I just can't see how a coons scent can be eliminated as is being suggested ?? Now kittens obviously aren't giving off as much scent due to being new born and they haven't been alive long enough to get a strong scent!! Such as boars urinating on themselves during the rut etc.. And I maybe wrong but I wanna think its something other than the coon itself that's protecting sows and little ones!!! Interested in any other thoughts on this subject

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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Fayetteville.Ga
Posts: 2167

For the last couple of monts my dogs have not been worth a dime tracks just like yawl have been talking about I thought I was the only one having nights like this. No fun at all flustrating to say the least. OK things will get better at least I hope. Darn old sorry black dogs. But hold on my hunting buddy dogs ain't no better. Sorry old walkers.

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Found two more dead coons tonight are should I say pups brought me two more !!! If they treed as many as they found dead ones they would be Rollin!!

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Btt

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Registered: Oct 2012
Location: burnt district MO/KS border
Posts: 787

this is the time of year when feed is the most scarce for coons......water is too cold for most of the crayfish and ect to move around a lot.....grain fields and nut trees are pretty much picked clean...


cattle creep feeders and fence rows are the norm in my area this time of year...the turkeys and quail are nesting in the fence rows and that means eggs.......cattle feeder is a no brainer like the mcdonalds of coon feeders "supersized" lol......

coons just have to cover more ground this time of year to find food.. . so the tracks are longer and go in weird places.

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Registered: Apr 2014
Location: batsville ark
Posts: 1110

do yall have any bobcats in your area or the whole ghost coon lol seriously coons here in iowa have been stirring in the daylight before it gets dark making tracks difficult on the dogs best of hunting to you. Thomas red rock kennels.

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Registered: Jan 2010
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 10675

quote:

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Originally posted by blackflagginit
this is the time of year when feed is the most scarce for coons......water is too cold for most of the crayfish and ect to move around a lot.....grain fields and nut trees are pretty much picked clean...


cattle creep feeders and fence rows are the norm in my area this time of year...the turkeys and quail are nesting in the fence rows and that means eggs.......cattle feeder is a no brainer like the mcdonalds of coon feeders "supersized" lol......

coons just have to cover more ground this time of year to find food.. . so the tracks are longer and go in weird places.

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: North MO
Posts: 2353

That happens to me sometimes this time of year......slow tracks, blank trees, hour long chases etc......I usually blame it on the time of year....moon....too dry.....etc....


Than every now and than I see a good dog turned loose and see what the problem is

Last edited by Josh Michaelis on 04-22-2014 at 01:59 PM

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Registered: Nov 2013
Location: Convoy,Ohio
Posts: 1693

I guess I better consider myself lucky,,,my dog has been hammering the coon here in my neck of the woods (northwest Ohio),just bought the dog the first of the year,,and didn't have him out untill 3 weeks ago,,,and I've seen a lot of coon with him,,,I'm used to those ole **** eaters,lol,,,this dog is by far the best I've ever owned,,,I always thought I had decent dogs,untill I got him,he is out of trackrat and cc Hoosier call girl,,,I think I will stay with that bloodline from here on out,,,hope everyone's hunting gets better and stays that way,,, good luck fellow coonhunters...

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Registered: Jul 2007
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Posts: 3075

Well you are in northwest Ohio and I'm glad he looks good but bring him on down in this country and you will find out exactly what your leading!!! We had a cast sat night consisting of pro hunt winners,grand American winner etc...walked along way to a split with two coons and suffered a dog with two moccasin bites in the duration!!! And this was deeper than most have been all winter into the big swamp!!! It's not what's on the end of the leads!!! I know something has gone thru here and killed a bunch and we didn't have a lot to begin with !!! The sows that are alive are propably in the dens getting ready to have kittens !! No ghost coons ,and no bobcats !! Mr grice stated he physically saw 4 of the coons he is speaking about !!

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