Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 22462

What is the purpose of a coon club today? What are they for? Why do we have them? I remember the coon clubs of yesteryear. There are still some of them around. They were much more than just a place to have comp hunts. But what about the coon clubs of today.

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Registered: Sep 2010
Location: New Paris, Indiana
Posts: 7076

Around here, almost all of the old clubs are Conservation Coonhunters clubs. Somewhere in the clubs name is the word Conservation. So they are about more than just coonhunting and the membership reflects that. So does the income. At our club it's nite hunts, paper shoots, auctions and the building rental. Our club would prolly live on without comp hunts.

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 22462

Jim, that is the way coon clubs used to be. They were the center of the community. They had all day benefits, bar b ques, auctions, shooting contests, water races. There always used to be 10-15 kids running around playing. Maybe that is why the youngsters aren't hunting. Does your club make kids feel welcome? They were a place to party, play cards and just generally hang out with your friends. What has happened? Now you show up 15-30 min before deadline, draw out and go hunting. Hunters used to come back after the hunt and hang out for a couple of hours. Now they go straight home after the hunt without even going back to see who won.

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

Excellent post, best explanation that I have heard lately. My Club operated pretty much the same way. We had Turkey shoots all fall, every Sat. Night, raffles and other fund raisers. We always had money in the bank, we donated money to the local community and in turn, we had the support of the people in the community. We did not rely on the hunts to keep us funded, our Club was for the whole community, not just night hunts. Dave

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Registered: Oct 2016
Location: Huntsville, Missouri
Posts: 371

Just personally, I don’t get to hunts or shows early because I have kids, a job, dogs and cows, and other engagements constantly.
I often don’t stick around after a hunt at 3 am because I am tired from having kids, a job, dogs and cows, and other engagements that leave me tired.
The past is great, but we have good clubs in my area, and I am having as good of hunts as I ever did. You only hunt with three other people regardless of how big a hunt is.


Gas is under 2 bucks a gallon and coons are very plentiful.

People just have so many entertainment options and going in different ways. I compare it to dirt track racing. It will never be back like it was. Times change. I think kids in sports has led to an overall decline in other pursuits. I am not saying good or bad.

We have a trade day once a month at one of our clubs.

Just purely by demographics, in rural areas here the population is shrinking.....so even if coon hunters made up the same percentage of people (which I am sure they don’t) it would still be a shrinking sport.
Hunting numbers are down across the country for all kinds of hunting.

I once heard a baseball guy say, “every baseball guy’s opinion of when was baseball’s “Golden Age” just happens to coincide to when they were 15.”
I think when we are young and have good legs is probably most people’s golden age. But remember, the youth of today is experiencing the time of their life right now!

Instead of being bitter and old I want to be thankful for what I do have. And hopefully if I do enough for the sport, someone will help me a little when I am old.

Last edited by Cliff Thornburg on 12-20-2018 at 02:09 AM

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Registered: Oct 2005
Location: Kenbridge,va
Posts: 3041

We had a good strong club here that was built from the ground up by its members..Luckily we had carpenters,electricians and laborers in the club...A supper once a month,plenty of ukc hunts,buddy hunts and a couple of meat hunts every Kill season..Was a social club and a coonhunting club..Had a great time late 70s till it got closed down not to lack of interest because some members started complaining we were having too many hunts..We had two pkcs a month,a nkc hunt a month,acha also and as many ukc hunts a year as they would let us..Still miss that wood stove and the ladies eggs and bacon we came back in from a cast ..That was a great coon club !!

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