Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1110

quote:

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Originally posted by Dave Richards
Any real coon hunter that hunted for the love of the sport itself HATED the days of high coon hide prices. It was one thing for the average coon hunter to be able to pay his expenses from selling coon hides to the wanton killing of coons. Many coons were spot lighted, killing coons that were not treed by dogs, but taken by any means they could get them. High fur prices were the bane of a true coon hunter that enjoyed the sport hunting with dogs taking one coon per tree and leaving coons for seed. Hide hunting was done without regard of the population or how the coon was harvested. Personally, I hope hides never sell for enough to bring out the spot lighters or anyone not interested in the sport only the dollars that the hides will bring. A lot if money was spent in my area by coon clubs and coon hunters buying and stocking coons to build up a decent population. We have succeeded in establishing a decent population, but not one that could stand up to high prices and wanton killing by any means. Dave

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Tom Wood

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Registered: Jan 2016
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Posts: 589

I have my Dad to thank for my views on the harvest of fish and game. He practiced catch and release way before it became popular. He always said the taking of fish and game was really a small piece in the bigger picture of the experience of fishing and hunting.

I look forward to our reunion!

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Dan

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Registered: Nov 2011
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Yes sir Dave...I conserve and abide by the harvest recommendations and many times I exceed them even if it means not taking any if I see low numbers or too much reduction of habitat...about all wildlife...

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Training dogs is not so much about quantity, it's more about timing, and the right situations...After that it's up to the dog....A hunting dog is born...

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
Posts: 6539

Personally, I prefer when the put-up fur sells right around $15.00 to $20.00 each. I enjoy putting fur up. I hate the idea of coons being shot and left in the woods. That to me is plain ole disrespectful of our favorite game animal.

Of course we typically have no shortage of coons in Michigan. I hadn't heard any population estimates in recent years, but a while back DNR estimates were >40 coons/square mile.

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Larry Atherton

Aim small miss small

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5637

It's a catch22 deal I think, it's hard to see them wasted in the woods and yes, some places have a very abundant supply that needs thinned to keep them healthy . Problem is that high prices causes over harvest in places that have low populations of coons. Whether the hide is sold or left in the woods, it's just a dead coon when you kill it. Low prices definitely does not bring out the spot lighters and other unsportsman ways of killing coons like the high prices do. Dave

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Dave Richards Treeing Walkers Reg American Saddlebred and Registered Rocky Mt. Show Horses

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Warsaw, New York
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Larry Atherton
Personally, I prefer when the put-up fur sells right around $15.00 to $20.00 each. I enjoy putting fur up. I hate the idea of coons being shot and left in the woods. That to me is plain ole disrespectful of our favorite game animal.

Of course we typically have no shortage of coons in Michigan. I hadn't heard any population estimates in recent years, but a while back DNR estimates were >40 coons/square mile. [/QUOTE

Personally I agree with Larry, I hunted through the years of high fur prices and I never had a problem taking 100 or more coon per year and to come back to the same spots year after year and see as many if not more coon! I think you guys are full of bull when you say the spotlighters cleaned the coon out. Yes they were a pain and yes we didnt believe spotlighting was ethical because we took pride in taking them with our hounds. You make it sound like your dogs ran and treed and you could kill every coon in the woods. I have enough spots to hunt I only hit each one 4 to 5 times during season. In 50 plus years of hunting I have only run into other hunters three times. We only shot coon our dogs treed and if multiples in a tree we shot one. If we shot it we skinned it! I guess we are blessed with a good population due to big tracts of timber, many creeks and streams and acres of ag crops plus a lot of wild food. This year due to low fur prices we only shot 40 plus coon trying to be
selective and take big coon. Sorry if I got side tracked this was suppose to be about hunting alone. I like an honest dog so I believe it is good to hunt them alone a lot. But I still like to handle fur!

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Doug Robinson

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5637

You are fortunate to have such good hunting, not everyone does. We used to pay 30.00 per coon plus hauling costs just to stock in our area due to low coon populations. Surely you do not think that high prices had no negative effect on the coon population. I have no issues with coons harvested by ethical sportsmen either hunting with dogs or trapping, it's the shoot every coon you see mentality that bothers me, especially when they had no digs or vested interest in the sport of coon hunting, only what the hides were bringing. Some areas of the country can stand a heavy harvest, while it would cripple other areas. Dave

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Dave Richards Treeing Walkers Reg American Saddlebred and Registered Rocky Mt. Show Horses

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Warsaw, New York
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quote:

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Originally posted by Dave Richards
You are fortunate to have such good hunting, not everyone does. We used to pay 30.00 per coon plus hauling costs just to stock in our area due to low coon populations. Surely you do not think that high prices had no negative effect on the coon population. I have no issues with coons harvested by ethical sportsmen either hunting with dogs or trapping, it's the shoot every coon you see mentality that bothers me, especially when they had no digs or vested interest in the sport of coon hunting, only what the hides were bringing. Some areas of the country can stand a heavy harvest, while it would cripple other areas. Dave

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Doug Robinson

Past Home of:
GRNITECH FCH GRCH ROBINSON'S SILVERTONE BLUSPECK HTX DNA-P
GRNITECH GRCH PKC CH ROBINSON'S RED LINDSAY
NITECH GRFCH GRWCH GRCH ROBINSON'S CROOKTAIL KATE
GRNITECH GRCH ROBINSON'S CIDERHOUSE LULU
NITECH GRCH GRFCH GRWCH RED RIDGE'S SUPER SHOCK Z HTX2
NITECH GRCH ROBINSON'S OATKA VALLEY ANNIE (BLUSPECK DAUGHTER)
NITECH GRCH ROBINSON'S JJ THUNDER SUE

Current
CH PR ROBINSON'S OATKA VALLEY JUNEBUG - (GRNITECH PKC CH RIVER BOTTOM'S CRACKER JACK X NITECH GRCH ROBINSON'S OATKA VALLEY ANNIE)

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5637

I may have been s little harsh in saying that all real coon hunters hated high prices, IT sure did not apply to someone like yourself who hunted the way you did and had the coons to support the harvest . I should have choose my words more wisely and said coon hunters in low coon populations were opposed to high prices as it encouraged over harvesting. The coons we stocked came from several hundred miles away in some cases and while they all did not survive, many did. Today we are blessed with an average coon population due to our stocking efforts. You can tree 2 to 3 coons a night with a decent coon dog, while years ago you could tree 2 to 3 coons a week with a real coon dog. I hope that we will always have a decent coon population so the younger hunters will NEVER know what it's like to hunt a coon dog and never get a bark some nights, simply because there was not any coon in that area. Thank you for your post. Dave

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Dave Richards Treeing Walkers Reg American Saddlebred and Registered Rocky Mt. Show Horses

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Registered: Sep 2007
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quote:

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Originally posted by Doug Robinson
Dave I hear what you are saying buddy. One year at Autumn Oaks my buddy and I were visiting with Bob Roby and his Dusty dog and showing Bob some pictures of coon I harvested with a pup out of Dusty when a couple fellas from Tennessee overheard our conversation and mentioned how sparse their coon were I had no idea. They said in the mountains if they got three coon a week it was good hunting, whereas that was a typical night for us. People from the south think the coon are just fallin out of the trees up here which isn't so, there are pockets of coon and plenty of tuff nights but if the dogs don't strike within 5 minutes where I hunt somethings wrong(unless on snowy freezing nights).I guess Im blessed I just take offense at the statement that any real coonhunter hated high fur prices well I consider myself a real coonhunter that doesn't sit in the truck and still kills and handles fur in an ethical way just saying. You know Dave they did a study of trapping and stocking coon and most all leave the area and try to get back to where they were trapped, some traveling over 20 miles. My hunting partner Paul has a son in law that raises sweet corn he has Paul box trap coon and we let them go 9 miles away at a friends woods. We released 23 last year and Paul was sure he trapped a couple a second time. And with all the releases we cant see a big difference during kill season.

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Get deep or Get Beat!

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Registered: Apr 2014
Location: batsville ark
Posts: 1110

Coon populations are down in the hills where I hunt.i talked to a state biologist about populations being effected by tick disease .he told me that it was a good possibility and test on gray fox and yotes had showed positive

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Registered: Dec 2019
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 246

Back in the early 80's a average 10 pound green hide coon was worth $15 then you could sell the meat for $5. Now of days the meat is $7 and the hide is worth $0. And you could hunt any where you wanted to and plenty of hard woods but if you got 3 coons a week of hard hunting you was considered packing a coondog. Now of days I pay $600 a year hunting club dues shoot just enough coons to keep the deer hunters happy so they let me hunt during deer season. But if I don't look at 3 coons in the first hour I think something's wrong. I do believe the dogs are for better now. Maybe because of the high coon population, maybe. But I can't remember the last deer race I've had seems these dogs run more rabbits now of days than deer. Maybe they got better noses now of days. And if I turn 3 dogs out you go to 3 different trees. Back in the day they would pack.

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