Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Weyers Cave Va
Posts: 13408

They say the average span of a coon hunter is 10 years and then most get out of the sport.

Ten years would be the life span of most hounds to be in their prime. Is the reason most only last 10 years is because they lost their top hound or is there more to it?

I've been coon hunting since I was 13/14 years old. That makes me going on 40 years of chasing these hounds through the woods.


Why does it become such a passion for some and others can just walk away from the sport so easy?

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Dennis Robinson
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Registered: Mar 2009
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 224

I been following hounds about 30 years now Hobo. I guess what keeps me going is the thought of one day following a top notch one lol.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

Hobo let me ask you a serious question the very first time you heard a hound how did that make you feel ? I can remember setting on that back porch with my auntie hearing those dogs not having a clue what they were doing but yet it was a feeling I never will forget I knew right then I wanted to be a part of it and I still love the sound of a hound.


Tar

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Weyers Cave Va
Posts: 13408

Good question Tar....

I'm not really sure of the answer. I grew up around dogs all of my life. My Dad had Brittany Spaniels growing up till we moved to Southwest Va. Then my Granny gave us my Papaw's Mtn Feist and my older brother and I started squirrel hunting with her. I do recall the first squirrel she ever treed for us we both ran to the tree because we had never hunted with a tree dog before and didn't know how long she would stay treed.

I think what actually hooked me on coon hunting was when my first hound (Bluetick) treed her first coon. I was hooked from that night on.

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Remembering Our Past......
Gr.Nt.Ch.Gr.Ch.Dohoney's Lobo
Ch.Swampmusic Lil Bit Sassy
Ch.Swampmusic Misty Shadow
Gr.Ch.Swampmusic Boone
Gr.Ch.Swampmusic Pride
But Looking To The Future...

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Dennis Robinson
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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 1513

I started coonen when a friend of the family took e at 11 years old. I am now 59. If you started as a pleasure hunter and not as a comp hunter l think that reflects longevity.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

Hide season was very important to our family. But the first one I skinned by myself did not bring much lol.


Tar

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Registered: Mar 2009
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 224

First hound i hunted with was also a bluetick Hobo. To this day, one of the best pleasure hounds I've hunted. When he hit a track, i loved listening to that huge bawl. Listened to him many a night, seemed like forever before the other hounds would open on the track. He could sure get one moving.

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Registered: Jun 2012
Location: McRae Ar
Posts: 3701

That is certainly part of it Hobo, other reasons are to numerous to list. Normally I think it is just life, jobs and marriage mostly. I have known a lot of people that have hunted all there life but have taken a break from coonhunting for a while. For one thing to have a really nice dog it is time consuming. I can hang my bow or rifle up till next year and not worry about it. The dog needs constant care and hunting. That gets in the way of a lot of things.

I started hunting around 10. Just me and a buddy. A old blue tick without a collar come walking across the yard one day and we caught it and hunted every night we could there from the house. We had never met a coon hunter and didn't have a clue what we were doing. We were afraid that if we cut the dog loose we would loose it. So we kept him on a 10 foot horse lead. He ran deer and armadillo every night. He made two trees in that year. One was a house cat and the other was a big oak. We were so beat up from leading that dog through the woods it was pitiful. We decided we were going to cut him loose and just follow him. He struck a deer and we never seen him again.

We got a job at the sawmill and we both bought a pup from the local paper. He got a blue tick and I got a walker dog. When we went to pick my pup up the old man that had them gave us its daddy. He was an old dog but to this day probably one of the best I ever had. He taught us what a dog was supposed to do. I've never even taken a break sense then.

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Registered: Nov 2008
Location: London, KY
Posts: 2122

Been at it for 50 years we use to have groundhog dogs I dug a many of one out they would just about kill a dog twice as mean as a coon cut a dog up twice worse but possum hunting and coon hunting was what I enjoyed most my uncle would take me coon hunting every weekend I use to ride behind the seat of an old elcamino for an hour when we would to Lexington Ky to hunt horse farms them was the good old days. I tried to quit a few times but just can't kick the habit.

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location:
Posts: 1514

If I make it thru this season, it will be 55 yrs for me. I get the same feeling today as I did the first time I heard a dog locate (he did not stay long). Some things has changed for the better and some not. Got better hounds, but less places to hunt. I saw a t shirt at AO sums it up best. Coon Hunting..a sickness with NO know cure. I am terminal.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 1542

Had my first dog, a Cocker, 67 Year’s ago. Went to my first tree 62 Year’s ago and this fall was my 61st year enjoying “the chase” with my own hounds! Within those 61 years I have had Blueticks, Treeing Walkers, Black and Tans, English and Redbones and mixes of those breeds. Also nothing better then a good chase of a rabbit ahead of a nice pack of Beagles which I have been lucky to feed. And this winter will be the 60th year I have enjoyed many miles behind a Running Walker, the first 20 years was the chase of the Red Fox, but the last 40 it’s been the coyote that can get the heart beating👍

Why you ask? Because for me, it could be the team work of my hounds and me, or maybe the beauty of nature on a frosty night and then also the blanket of fresh snow. But what I really enjoy the most is the MUSIC of the chase. I feel to many miss that with wanting the “best score” on a piece of paper or the “number game” with who harvest the most fox/coyote!

It was like my 40+ years of softball, never really cared who won, as long as I played the best I could and was having fun.

Just like I like your videos, it’s the team-and the music

Merry Christmas and never take a minute behind your hound for granted 🎅🏻

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OLD TIMER

Last edited by OLD TIMER on 12-08-2017 at 05:12 PM

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Registered: Jun 2005
Location: North of Panama City Florida
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although i havent been at it as long as some of yall, i still love it... but did get out of it for a few years... i had 2 good dogs that i lost in the same year and it took the want to right out of me. it took me a while before i really wanted it again since those were the first dogs i had that were good.

i was probably 4 the first time i heard a dog treed, started hunting with deerdogs when i could drive and got a coondog not long after that.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
Posts: 6539

Passion! In fact, how many people do you know who hunted 2 years before treeing a coon stay with it? I know that 2 years was more than enough to permanently break my father from going into the woods at night.

I have had a dog since I was 4. First dog was a German Shepard mix. He didn't hunt. My next dog was a fox terrier, cocker spaniel/beagle mix. I picked him from the litter because he was colored like a black and tan. In fact, he look like a miniature doberman. He is the first dog I heard tree. He would tree squirrels and woodchucks. I started coon hunting (night time wood walks) in 1973. It wasn't until my father introduced me to ole Mac 2 years later did I see a dog tree a coon.

When I listen to a dog strike a feeder track drift it out and heat it up, locate, and tree it is like I am wrapped up in a blanket of excitement and contentment at the same time. It is a lot like the feeling I get when I hug my wife. It just feels right.

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Registered: Nov 2008
Location: London, KY
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Also made some of my best friends coon hunting you meet a lot of people in 50 yrs sometimes coon hunters get a bad wrap but some of the finest guys and gals I met are hunters they got each others back regardless.saw some of the meanest honery guys you ever saw give their life to Jesus some right in the woods made it worth every bad talking and laying out all night just for one more drop we made. Got a nephew I took him hunting for his first time a month ago he was hooked after first tree for real you can tell from his reaction he will be a coon hunter he has hunted every night I went since he is learning fast. He just turned 14 yrs old he is 6 ft1 all legs he will sure come in handy I got him boots and chaps and light for his birthday.

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Registered: Aug 2011
Location: Perrinton, Michigan
Posts: 632

I'm 62 have been following hounds since I was about 6, other then when on Active duty military. My Brother is 56, he only did for his short time when coon were high dollar. For me it is the dogs not what the price of coon are. It's in my blood , every time I say I'm cutting back I get more dogs I'm addicted, they probably will find me leaning up against a tree still trying to listen and enjoy the music.

I have made a lot of friends all over the midwest just from coon hunting.

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Registered: Sep 2017
Location: W.V.
Posts: 50

I started out hunting beagles for 8 years then went coonhunting with my brother in law one night & that's all it took. Sold the beagles & bought 2 coonhounds. Coonhunting is a lot less stressful anyhow, lol. I was coonhunting for 6 years then it all came to a screeching halt due to a broken back. I thought I'd never be able to hunt again so I sold everything except for my light. Truck box, 1 good hound & 2 mediocre pups, kennel, boxes, even my chaps!! I was down for 11 months before going back to work full duty. A year later I tried it out with my brother in law & I missed it A LOT & I was getting around pretty good surprisingly. I bought everything new again, all different. Was back on track & hunting good again until 2012 when I crushed my foot at work. I can't win for losing!!! But this time I didn't sell everything like I did the first time, lol. I've had a longer recovery this time & still have a few problems as far as walking up & down hills because they fused my ankle together. But I bought a few hounds 7 months ago & gonna give it another shot. This time I bought a 6week old pup & an 8 month old that's raw. I plan on having the older one going good by the time the pup is old enough to start. That the plan anyway, lol.

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Wish you the best, it takes a tough man to do what you have done! Dave

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quote:

---

Originally posted by OLD TIMER
Had my first dog, a Cocker, 67 Year’s ago. Went to my first tree 62 Year’s ago and this fall was my 61st year enjoying “the chase” with my own hounds! Within those 61 years I have had Blueticks, Treeing Walkers, Black and Tans, English and Redbones and mixes of those breeds. Also nothing better then a good chase of a rabbit ahead of a nice pack of Beagles which I have been lucky to feed. And this winter will be the 60th year I have enjoyed many miles behind a Running Walker, the first 20 years was the chase of the Red Fox, but the last 40 it’s been the coyote that can get the heart beating👍

Why you ask? Because for me, it could be the team work of my hounds and me, or maybe the beauty of nature on a frosty night and then also the blanket of fresh snow. But what I really enjoy the most is the MUSIC of the chase. I feel to many miss that with wanting the “best score” on a piece of paper or the “number game” with who harvest the most fox/coyote!

It was like my 40+ years of softball, never really cared who won, as long as I played the best I could and was having fun.

Just like I like your videos, it’s the team-and the music

Merry Christmas and never take a minute behind your hound for granted 🎅🏻

---

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

quote:

---

Originally posted by joey

I started hunting around 10. Just me and a buddy. A old blue tick without a collar come walking across the yard one day and we caught it and hunted every night we could there from the house. We had never met a coon hunter and didn't have a clue what we were doing. We were afraid that if we cut the dog loose we would loose it. So we kept him on a 10 foot horse lead. He ran deer and armadillo every night. He made two trees in that year. One was a house cat and the other was a big oak. We were so beat up from leading that dog through the woods it was pitiful. We decided we were going to cut him loose and just follow him. He struck a deer and we never seen him again.

---

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Registered: May 2008
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 3145

Started when I was 5. Been chasing dogs 36 years. I couldn’t imagine not having a hound and couldn’t imagine not hunting 3-4 nights a week. Have made great friends and blowed a ton of money. Nothing beats being out at night and hearing that hound roll up treed. Like Herman I remember that road to Lexington well. I used to ride in back of truck between dog box and cab and cover up just to get to go. It’s a disease lol

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