Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Sheridan, WY
Posts: 1148

Coon not moving here... December - January almost a complete waste of time to coon hunt here. Used some Tucks Coon scent to lay some drags for the young dog today. What do you do with you hounds when you have a stretch where you can't be hunting heavy?

best lunch in wilmington nc

__________________
______________________________
Seeking Soli Deo Gloria through the hounds.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2765

I feel your pain. Likely be late Feb early March before they start moving here depending what kinda winter we have. We're not completely shut down here yet but close. Had couple strikes off the rig Mon night but they were cold the coons We're down in afternoon I'd say. I go cat hunting a little with the boys if I get bored enough, maybe take in a beagle hunt or two. It's a long stretch I hate it lol. Price we pay for cool summer nights and no snakes I guess.

__________________
Friends don't let friends hunt blueticks

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2019
Location: East central indiana
Posts: 159

Out there somewhere every night there is a coon moving, just have to have a dog willing to go find it.

__________________
Sam fox
PKC, the place to be.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Sheridan, WY
Posts: 1148

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sfox91
Out there somewhere every night there is a coon moving, just have to have a dog willing to go find it.

---

__________________
______________________________
Seeking Soli Deo Gloria through the hounds.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2765

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sfox91
Out there somewhere every night there is a coon moving, just have to have a dog willing to go find it.

---

__________________
Friends don't let friends hunt blueticks

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2019
Location: East central indiana
Posts: 159

Can’t legally cross the border. But I’ve hunted WV in early January, shoved my truck as far as I could and still had to walk a lot

__________________
Sam fox
PKC, the place to be.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Sheridan, WY
Posts: 1148

Sam, couple other factors here are the general coon population is low. Even when they are moving good in the Spring- it's nothing to hunt a few night and only cut one or two tracks. And what surprises most people about Wyoming.... Is I only have very small places to hunt. Thousands upon thousands of acres of public land here.... But most of it is essentially desert. The national forest is mountains that have too much snow and cold for coons.

I take a trip once or twice a year just to coon hunt. Last couple years I've done Missouri, Arkansas, and Iowa. Sure miss the hunting in Indiana.

__________________
______________________________
Seeking Soli Deo Gloria through the hounds.

Last edited by houndsound on 12-31-2020 at 12:43 AM

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2019
Location: East central indiana
Posts: 159

Come on up. I’m 35-40 minutes from where they hold
Autumn oaks and have more hunting than I can shake a stick at. Nobody around here ever wants to hunt, and thought it said WV, not WY that’s my own fault. Never been to WY

__________________
Sam fox
PKC, the place to be.

Last edited by Sfox91 on 12-31-2020 at 12:47 AM

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Sheridan, WY
Posts: 1148

Great place to live and raise a family.... Dumb place to be a coon hunter, lol.

__________________
______________________________
Seeking Soli Deo Gloria through the hounds.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2765

Sam I'm a looong way from west Virginia lol. Most of our coon den in the ground. Put couple feet snow and ice on top and they'll stay there til late Feb. They wake up hungry and horny and it don't get cold enough that you can't run a coon. Bring snowshoes

__________________
Friends don't let friends hunt blueticks

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2007
Location: Glenmont,Ohio
Posts: 1162

That would be a tough thing to deal with (the coon not moving) , I would say you are doing about all you can do by just laying a drag and working her. I know that most any given night I want to head out that I can tree a coon somewhere , it may take driving and a lot of walking to get to the dog but he/she will tree one somewhere if cut loose. #spoiled. I’ve visited Wyoming a few times and I would say you are correct about being a great place to live and raise a family, just not many coons.

__________________
Get deep or Get Beat!

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2013
Location: West Columbia TX
Posts: 112

Man if i lived in WY i would be lookin for some better critters to chase than coons. What about lynx, bobcat, mountain lion? I think if i lived up there and got to tree those i wouldnt care if i ever treed another coon again.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jan 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 589

Houndsound, you ever run your hounds on cats? I'd love the opportunity to do that with my hounds... I've not purposely broke my old dog off house cats for just that reason... He's only treed three in his lifetime, but I've just caught him and pulled him off the tree.. Have dreams of putting him in a cat race out west some day!!

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Sheridan, WY
Posts: 1148

I used to tree lions when I was a kid.... people think I'm crazy.... but it kinda bores me at this point. For me it's not about the game- it's about the hound work. To each his own, I have a friend that hunt nothing but cats. I have a friend who chases both.

The cat hunting is cool- it's not great hunting for bobcats here- there is a decent populations, but on the mountains there are not roads and you will be walking miles of tough country in deep snow to get to your hounds... till you've hiked the Big Horn or Rocky Mountains you can't understand the challenge it is... not like the hills or mountains east. Off the mountain there just aren't any trees and you can about guarantee a bobcat will end up in a hole.

Lions are much better to run in the mountains... they have very small hearts and lungs for their body size and tree up much faster than a bobcat. Unless you turn your hound out on a real old track- a lion track will tree up pretty fast. But I've been under a dozen or so lions... and the novelty is gone....

People think I am crazy to prefer coon hunting over cat hunting... and I can't explain why I prefer it but I do. I like the fact that my hounds have to hunt for their track... 99% of cat hunters drive around until they find a track and then turn the dogs lose on it. I like the fact that I can go coon hunt for an hour and come home if I want. A cat hunt pretty much takes an entire day of driving, planning, hiking, etc.... I like the fact my hounds can't see what's the tree, they have to trust their brain and nose to tree a coon. Not to knock my friend's cat hounds- they are nice dogs... but they do not have to be bred to hunt a track up, be trash free, and can usually see the game in the tree... and if not the odor of a 150 pound critter is easier to locate than a 20 pound critter. Its challenging to do it here in Wyoming- again kinda' why I'm drawn to it. Once I have hounds that excel here on coon... when I retire and move elsewhere I'll enjoy the coon hunting all the more.

I know a couple guys here that cat hunt really seriously and have nice hounds... but it is part of their full time work. Most people out here that have big game hounds... I call em' Harley hounds... they own hounds like most people own Harley motorcycles. They only use them once or twice a year- don't really know what they are doing, and own them for the primary purpose of perpetuating a macho identity.

To each their own... I've just always been a coon hunter, can't really give you a logical reason why I prefer it over cat hunting. Maybe there is a reason the phrase "Wow that was a smart coon hunter" is not heard that often.

But if you want to tree a cat I could help you out.

__________________
______________________________
Seeking Soli Deo Gloria through the hounds.

Last edited by houndsound on 12-31-2020 at 03:44 PM

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2765

Houndsound your thoughts on cat hunting are exactly the same as mine lol. Eight hours on snowshoes ain't my idea of a good time.

__________________
Friends don't let friends hunt blueticks

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged