Registered: Jun 2005
Location: North of Panama City Florida
Posts: 1014

The thread on the coons moving early or before dark got me wondering... Do you use the hunting/fishing charts to give you an idea of when the coons are feeding/moving?

I have a friend that uses them to decide when to go (pleasure) hunting and swears by them. I have heard others say it isn't accurate when it comes to coons.

What do you think? I understand a good dog should be able to tree layups when they haven't moved and blah, blah, blah... lets not turn it into a keyboard battle over that...

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Registered: Jun 2016
Location: Suffolk Virginia
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No, I usually just go hunting about dark or later when it cools down in summertime.

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Registered: Dec 2016
Location: Ark/Miss
Posts: 524

I use the previous days game camera to get an idea sometimes in summer, but just cut at dark in the winter.

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: Canton, Ohio
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I use the barometer. If it is below 30 and falling, hunting is poor. If it is rising, good hunting. Watch the cows in a field. Standing, eating, go hunting... Laying down, not moving... Stay home. Ever see a night you thought "I should have stayed home" and hunting was great... Check barometer... A night that should have been a good night but was terrible... Check the barometer.... Old man told me this many years ago......

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Last edited by harleydan1956 on 06-28-2017 at 06:48 PM

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Registered: Jun 2005
Location: North of Panama City Florida
Posts: 1014

quote:

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Originally posted by harleydan1956
I use the barometer. If it is below 30 and falling, hunting is poor. If it is rising, good hunting. Watch the cows in a field. Standing, eating, go hunting... Laying down, not moving... Stay home. Ever see a night you thought "I should have stayed home" and hunting was great... Check barometer... A night that should have been a good night but was terrible... Check the barometer.... Old man told me this many years ago......

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Very good to know!! Thank you!

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: jacksonville, nc
Posts: 2856

You guys take coon hunting seriously. I just go whenever I feel like it. If it looks like it's going to rain, I go anyway because my dogs still like running the roads and hunting even when they don't find anything.

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Registered: Jul 2014
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 27

I have used one for years deer hunting. if I am going I usually will not look at it until the hunt is over. If I just have a few hours to hunt either the morning or evening I will check it and decide. they seem to be fairly accurate, but the weather can change what they predict. I usually just cut the dog loose at dark.

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location:
Posts: 593

I dont plan a hunt by them

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Mark

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Registered: Jun 2012
Location: McRae Ar
Posts: 3701

quote:

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Originally posted by harleydan1956
I use the barometer. If it is below 30 and falling, hunting is poor. If it is rising, good hunting. Watch the cows in a field. Standing, eating, go hunting... Laying down, not moving... Stay home. Ever see a night you thought "I should have stayed home" and hunting was great... Check barometer... A night that should have been a good night but was terrible... Check the barometer.... Old man told me this many years ago......

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Registered: Apr 2015
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You can bet when the moon is full, deer will be on their feet in the middle of the day, doesn't matter if it is 30 or 100 degrees, watch the bean fields when your driving, if the moon is full you will see deer feeding mid-day.

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quote:

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Originally posted by ScottCK 6
You can bet when the moon is full, deer will be on their feet in the middle of the day, doesn't matter if it is 30 or 100 degrees, watch the bean fields when your driving, if the moon is full you will see deer feeding mid-day.

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Registered: Apr 2015
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Posts: 399

Its a fact, of course when it gets really warm in the winter it is uncomfortable for any animals that has a winter coat to move around, but those are abnormal conditions, that's why it's hard to get after a Coon on those 60 degree days in January, they're not dressed for it, the next full moon, drive around I do not care if it's the hottest day on record, you will be surprised at the numbers of deer you see feeding in the beans mid-day. I used to be a bow hunting junkie, I lived it, pretty good at predicting deer activity.

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Registered: Aug 2014
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Posts: 780

I can let my hounds out for exercise during the day and they will almost always end up under a coon.

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Registered: Jun 2005
Location: North of Panama City Florida
Posts: 1014

quote:

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Originally posted by joey
I had a friend that kept a journal for years and I kept one for a couple of years. Every night he or I went we wrote down what the dogs did and what the weather was. Temp, wind, moisture conditions, moon phase and Barometer. He was a computer geek and plotted all of it,there was no pattern to it at all for coons. For deer the barometer was fairly dependable and contrary to popular belief the moon had nothing to do with deer movement. What made them move more than anything was a sudden drop in temps.

I used to believe the something about the cows. Until I got some, mine eat when they are hungry no matter the barometer and when they are full they lay down and chew cud.

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: Menard,TX
Posts: 1158

My experience on predators is that they will move when barometric pressure is low and falling but that the dogs have difficulty trailing as the scent rises quickly. High pressure keeps the scent closer to the ground and therefore, dogs can trail much easier. I see this on lions, bobcats and coons.
This also explains why the old timers always said that hunting was no good when the pressure was low and falling. Critters were moving but dogs could not smell them. Just experienced this on a huge tom in the Navajo Nation. I like to hunt dry ground and I cut a track that was made by the lion walking a road that I had driven the day before. I felt the track was less than 8 hours old, so I expected my dogs to leave there running. Not so fast as Lee Corso says, I had to follow the track or where I thought the lion had walked for a half mile before my coldest nosed dog ever wiggled and finally opened. Long story short, they trailed to a highway and that was about it.
I looked at my Garmin Fenix 3 and saw that the barometric pressure was as low as I had ever seen and falling.
Adios,
gary

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
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Now these are just my experiences. Thirty years ago while conducting a couple of different research studies, I kept track of barometer readings and trends, humidity, air temperature, ground temperature, ground moisture, and moon phases to see when coons move. I did this for quite a while before doing a statistical analysis. Long story short, there were no correlations at all.

From a hunting stand point, I want my dogs to be able to perform under all conditions. This means I hunt when I can in-spite of the weather conditions. Yes, it is fun to hunt when the weather is good and the coons are moving, but I get a sense of pride when my dogs do well under tough conditions.

Twenty years ago, my wife worked 3rd shift, and I could only hunt on her nights off (2 nights/week). I learned to enjoy bad weather during that time.

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I don't think we notice as much what the weather does as far as trailing conditions go with coon hounds. I do with rabbit dogs, there are days that they flat can't run a rabbit even if it jumps right in front of them. I don't know why and can't seem to correlate it with the pressure even though that's what some say it is. They call it bad scenting conditions but know one seems to agree what causes it. They can start several rabbits and cant do anything with them and then all of a sudden its like a switch flips and they lock on to one for an hour. I don't know why but it has to effect coon dogs also.

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: Menard,TX
Posts: 1158

I think that poor barometric conditions might not kill you if hunting in country where it rains or snows and there is moisture in or on the ground and vegetation. You really see it affect the dogs when hunting this semi-desert and desert conditions and when trying to work tracks that are hours if not days old.
Adios,
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Location: Cairo, Missouri
Posts: 756

Sometimes the smellin' just ain't good.

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Registered: Mar 2015
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quote:

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Originally posted by Gary Roberson
I think that poor barometric conditions might not kill you if hunting in country where it rains or snows and there is moisture in or on the ground and vegetation. You really see it affect the dogs when hunting this semi-desert and desert conditions and when trying to work tracks that are hours if not days old.
Adios,
Gary

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: Menard,TX
Posts: 1158

I am talking lion tracks. And yes, they can smell them several days old in the right conditions.
I train these dogs by hunting only in the daylight on coon so that they rarely strike a good track. This time of the year, it is just too hot in the evenings, much cooler in the mornings.
Adios,
Gary

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Registered: Jun 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 3370

quote:

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Originally posted by 4play
Lol days old?
Hate to hear what you consider a 'old/cold track'.
Blood hounds can't even smell tracks that are 'days old',I know no coon hound can either.
1-2 hours is pushing it.Frost on ground,your lucky to move a 1/2 hr track........I know guys are gonna say "my hounds can do this or do that"....not in the real world.

*unless you like to hear beating and banging all night*

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Registered: May 2008
Location: lenoir nc
Posts: 307

I'll be honest every time I think I figured out a dog, a bear, or a coon I find out how just how wrong my theory is! So I won't say one way or the other!

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Registered: May 2017
Location: PA
Posts: 70

I have alvays thougt that that was a bunch of bs imo.

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Eric T.

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Freeport,TX
Posts: 1911

In southeast texas to have very low humidity the weather condition will at least be cool to cold. Low humidity and low barometric pressure will cause the scent to flash off pretty quick...I have seen my dogs lose a good track that normally they could run at full speed with their heads up...

During winter months when a good norther blows in here in the south deer will move quite a bit and is usually good hunting...the colder the better...cold weather will make mammals burn more calories to help in maintaining body heat...same with dogs...in the summer I feed about half a bowl and in the winter will increase to maintain their weight...sometimes I feed a full bowl...so it makes since that the average animal in the wild will have to hunt for food more often than normal, unless it is one goes into hibernation...

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