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I appreciate the feedback and respect your opinion and honestly I had never even considered that. Truth be told I thought she was guessing, until the other dogs confirmed it on the way back out. I know den trees happen but I still don’t like them. In my mind if the coon isn’t on the outside that tree isn’t much good to me. But I see your point and will definitely keep that in mind. I wouldn’t think that doin this to her 1 time would make her change her ways, but I won’t make a habit of it and see how things go. I am primarily a bear hunter and even the dogs I coon hunt year round are bred differently, hunt differently, and act differently than Cindy so I’m kind of learning as I go with her and I value the opinions of those that handle dogs like her regularly, there is no replacement for experience. So thank you both for pointing that out.

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Cedar Ridge Kennels

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Love reading you hunt trips I check it daily lol, I also live in VA the rain has ben bad last week i no what you mean , but keep posting deff enjoy it

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pdillon

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Enjoy reading your posts. If it was me, and I felt she was on a legitimate den tree, I would have tied her up, went to the other dogs, and shot their coon out. Then I would have kept those dogs at their tree, took the coon to Cindy's tree, shot up in the air and then thrown her the coon the other dogs coon that had been shot out. I've done that several times over the years and it doesn't seem like young dogs know the difference, they just like munching on the fur.

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John Smith
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Good idea thumbs ☝

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pdillon

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Good stuff!!
Wouldn’t mind sending one to you for bout a 15 day tryout

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Scotty Willoughby

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quote:

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Originally posted by 5thgearwide
Truth be told I thought she was guessing, until the other dogs confirmed it on the way back out. I know den trees happen but I still don’t like them. In my mind if the coon isn’t on the outside that tree isn’t much good to me.

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Dan

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Ov_blues

Thanks for the input, I had never considered that but I agree with you and I think it’s a smart thing to do! I will definitely keep it in mind in the future.

Country AintBad

I’ve already got too many mouths to feed or I would consider it!

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Night 12

I missed a few good nights out due to a few different things since last week but we got to hit the woods tonight and it was a beautiful night for it. Low 40’s, no wind, clear skies, a beautiful still night, just begging to have the sound of the hound breaking the silence. We got in the woods right at dark and ran into another hunter on the other side of the fence, after a brief conversation we decided to venture on together and see what the dogs could come up with. Tonight we just had 3 young dogs... we’ll call them dogs A B and dog C, C can be Cindy for simplicity. We were hunting some nice timber with some deep hollers and most of them held water. From the first cast Cindy didn’t leave as hard as she had been and for awhile she wouldn’t get out much further than 100 yards. I’m not sure if it was the new dog, new person, or new ground but she eventually went on to hunt. Dog A came treed, dog B trailed into dog A and Cindy peeled out 180 degrees from the bawls and chops of A&B. We shined the tree, determined it slick and sent the dogs on. At this point Cindy was about 380-400 yards and appeared to be checking a tree on the Garmin, but she never opened. We pushed the others on and eventually Cindy came back. Dog B struck a track on a stream as we pushed on, dog A cane trees after a couple minutes, and Cindy peeled out again. Dog A was slick again, Dog B was still pecking away at what appeared to be a pretty thought track. Cindy was getting pretty deep and I could tell she was pushing a good track by her GPS line, she started circling, I was anticipating the sound of her chop to break the silence as she locked down on the tree..... but then she backtracked out. I smelled her about 40 yards before she got to me. Not the track I had in my mind that she was running, but on one hand I guess it’s good to know she took the track the right direction. It was a stinky situation to say the least. In case anybody was wondering, personal research has shown me over the years that there are 3 different levels of skunk stink. I like to call them Stink, Stank, and Stunk. Stink is the smell that the majority of the public associates with a skunk, this is what most people smell when they’re driving down the road and pass poor Pepe LePew on the Double yellow. Stank is when you’re just out of range when a skunk releases his arsenal of aroma towards your hound in the darkness, this one is much stronger than stink and will cause you to lose your lunch. Stunk is the epitome of all skunk smells, once you’ve got to the top tier the smell is actually so bad that you can no longer smell it, no bueno amigo. The good news is that your wife CAN still smell it, from 20 yards away, before you get to the door.... but that’s the way it goes. We had a beautiful night, Cindy hunted alright, she covered a lot of ground, she wasn’t worried about the other dogs at all, she caught a skunk, and checked a couple trees but never committed. I would rather see her do that than to be slicking on anything with bark, so maybe getting skunked tonight wasn’t so bad after all... I guess it could always be worse? Yal stay tuned!

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quote:

---

Originally posted by 5thgearwide
Ov_blues

Thanks for the input, I had never considered that but I agree with you and I think it’s a smart thing to do! I will definitely keep it in mind in the future.

Country AintBad

I’ve already got too many mouths to feed or I would consider it!

---

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Scotty Willoughby

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Night 13

We had a foggy and soggy night here in VA but I wanted to give Cindy a chance to redeem herself from getting skunked the night before. We got in the woods about an hour after dark as the rain was letting up, low 40’s, little to no wind, but the fog mist and rain were there to stay. I believe tough conditions in turn can make tougher individuals and when you reach success in adversity, it makes it that much sweeter. I hunted Cindy solo tonight and I’m seeing a pattern that she appears to hunt harder on her own. From the first cut she got 3,4,500 yards deep made a nice circle then came back through in the other direction. I never had to snap her back on the lead for standing at my feet, she hunted hard our entire time in the woods and every time I saw her she had her head up and was moving. She seems to be catching on to where we have been finding coons because she was hunting where I would be hunting if I was a hound, she checked all the side hollers on our way down the main draw to the river, once we hit the river she stayed in the woods along the river bank till she found another small stream to check out. I walked 2.4 miles last night according to the alpha and Cindy covered 6.81. I felt like she did her part in the hunting department even though we didn’t see any coon. There were 3 instances where she showed interest in a track of some sort last night, the first was a good correctional exercise. We were on the river bank and I noticed her checking trees then running 75 yards downwind into the field beside us to check the slight breeze then back to the trees. She did this 5 or 6 times so I walked in, shined a grinned that she was about to locate, and I walked right past them started stimming her with the alpha. I never got past 5 and that was all it took. My goal isn’t to fry a dog, just to make them feel uncomfortable enough with what they’re doing to move on and that’s what she did. She never opened on the possum and I don’t know that she would have treed on it, or just stared at it like the one earlier in her tryout. She is getting to the point where she should have an idea of what I want, so I’m also going to start giving her suggestions on what I don’t want. We had another similar situation farther in where she stopped to chew on a deer leg, normal behavior for most any dog but I walked past, made her feel uncomfortable, and she hunted on. The 3rd situation we had last night was what I believe to be a legitimate den tree, but she never would commit. She winded it, I never saw her put her nose down to the ground she found her way to it mostly on her hind legs, she checked it over and over again, stretching as high as she could on that gnarly old tattered and hollow maple, but never would commit. Honestly that doesn’t bother me either. I’d rather her keep her mouth shut until she’s sure, than go around guessing all night. She left good last night, hunted hard, covered ground, got a few simple corrections, used her nose and brain, and came when called when all was said and done. It wasn’t a real successful night but it was productive. If we caught em all it wouldn’t be called hunting anymore. Yal stay tuned!

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Awesome ! ☝

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pdillon

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Night 14

I’m a few days behind on this update, got Cindy in the woods right at dark. We had a skiff of snow throughout the day temps in the low 30’s little to no wind. I had a goal of killing one coon to Cindy, and letting her get a good look at it. In my experience it’s very rare that things go as we plan , or hope they will go when we turn a hound loose. Especially when we’re in the “lightly started” phase. But tonight was a good night to be in the woods, Cindy seemed a little extra excited to go tonight, led and loaded better than normal. We collared up, hopped off the tailgate and sent her into the darkness up a grown up creek where some big oak timber and a field edge meet. Cindy struck at 180 yards, opened again at 320, made a real tight circle about 5 times at 408, and committed. She locked it down, beep buzz buzz Cindy Treed. Beep buzz buzz Cindy is barking 80 barks per minute. The wonderful updates were provided by Garmin. I got to her fairly quick, she was standing in a briar patch holding onto a big wild cherry and just letting ol Ricky have it! She looked good, sounded good, and was confident. I tied her back after about 10 minutes of letting her tree, petted her up, knocked it out, and didn’t let her have it. She lost her mind, she wanted nothing more in this world than to get a piece of the fur and that was my goal for the night. I petted her up some more and took her back home, she barked the entire time I skinned it out, the ride home, and for 30 minutes when I put her on the chain. That’s coming from a dog that I have never heard bark on the chain, or in the box. My hopes are that she will have that much more desire to catch a coon next time I cut her, but I guess time will tell. Tonight she left hard, struck her own track, ran her own track, located the right tree, committed to the tree with ample confidence, and showed an absolute hatred towards the coon when I wouldn’t let her have it. In my opinion it was a textbook night, some believe that a dog deserves every coon it trees, some believe they don’t need any, some people are in the middle. I think it depends on the hound and with what I’ve seen from Cindy this far I think this may be the gas to her fire, at least I hope. Time will tell and ya don’t know till ya go, so yal stay tuned!

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Cedar Ridge Kennels

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You'll sleep good tonight! Sounds like she's getting what she's suppose to be doing. I'd be encouraged for sure!

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Dan

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Awesome!! Ready for more tuned in

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pdillon

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Night 15

Stink, stank, stunk... Cindy caught another skunk. We got in the woods 3 hours after the sunset in the western sky. Unseasonably warm tonight, low 50’s last time I checked. Cindy was rearing to go tonight, it was a short ride to our destination and Cindy came out of the box quivering with anticipation. I cut her up a small creek that flowed from a spring head in some mature oak timber. As Cindy was getting into the woods I had a minute to take in the beauty and simplicity that it seems you can only find on a dark still night. Cindy made a good 600-700 yard loop and checked back in so we pushed deeper. The sound of the peep frogs cut the silence as they were singing their songs tonight. They obviously listened to Punxsutawney Phil because they too thought it was spring time. As Cindy was hunting out I was easing down the oak ridge when I heard a critter coming through the woods so I stopped and listened as it got closer I flipped on the red light and gave my best impression of Kaw-Liga the wooden Indian as a stinky black and white stripe waddled on past. Cindy had been pushing out for awhile so I checked the garmin just to see she was checking back in. About the time she was crawling under the woven wire fence that Mr Stripes had just waddled past a few minutes before she couldn’t resist, she turned and burned down the track and before I could flip my white light on she came barreling back smelling a lot stronger than before. In all the excitement she forgot that woven wire fence that she just crawled under seconds ago was still there. She slammed the fence so hard that she got her head stuck in one of the squares. I was trying to decide if I should help her get out, attempt to just get my collar, or just leave her all together when she finally got out on her own. Normally I would try to make a trash race an unpleasant experience for a dog via electronic stimulation, but because I didn’t catch her in the act, and the fact that she already turned it into an unpleasant memory, I am hoping that she has no further interest in this particular specimen. She went on and hunted after this, got about 250 yards, struck, opened on the track, multiple times up to 420 yards and slammed a tree, then came off 10 yards and treed again, then bounced back to the first tree, and back, and forth. She moved the track with good speed and judging by the excitement in her trail barks I’d say it was red hot. When I got there she was bouncing back and forth between 2 pines, both of which had coons in them. I was toting an old sears 22 tonight with open sights and I brought 15 shells. The coon on the right was in the thick but the top of the tree was bare, I devised a plan to try and walk him up till I could get a good shot, not the best plan but I was using what I had. I tied Cindy off and praised her up really good despite all the stink. My plan worked quite well, shoot just under the coon, he’d climb a little and repeat. When he finally worked his way into the bare area of the big white pine and I had him dead to rights for Cindy, CLICK. Should have brought 16 rounds, or learned to count in school.... either would have worked better than my genius idea tonight. I apologized to Cindy and walked her 50 yards away from the tree and cut her again, the civil war behind us didn’t seem to phase her as she headed down the creek. She struck again at 280 yards, opened on the track several times, and locked down at 395. She had a coon on the outside of a big poplar on the creek bank. I praised her once again and sent her on after a short lead and she hit another creek. I have a bad habit of trying to predict where a track is headed once a dog has started it. I guess I developed this habit bear hunting a lot, but sometimes by staying in front of the dogs you get to see the game.... or the trash. Cindy struck on a tight spine of a ridge that rolled down into the creek after a couple hundred yards. I got to the intersection in time to hear something running up the shallow creek, red light, annnndd it was a weasel. I thought surely she not running this little joker... a few minutes later sure enough here she comes step for step. The alpha came in handy with a few low level stimulations which proved to be enough to make her feel uncomfortable enough to quit the off game. That was where our night ended, she left good tonight, hunted out good, got 2 bad experiences with off game, hunted after accumulating a nose full of stink, treed 2 coons side by side, waited out a civil war that amounted to no meat, and treed another coon after the battle. All in all a very productive night in the woods, a beautiful night, and I would consider it successful to a certain degree. We still have a long way to go, but we’re a lot better off than night one. So Yal stay tuned!

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Cedar Ridge Kennels

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Enjoyed that! You do a good job capturing the hunt. To bad you couldn't of got that coon down. That would have been a nice confirmation of what she's suppose to do. Though I suspect her genetics are already telling her that.

I probably would have called it a night after the 2nd treed coon. I always like to end on a good note with a young dog.

Thanks for doing this! I really enjoy reading it and you seem to have a talent for retelling the story.

Here's a thought.........just before you post each of these you might want to copy what you've written, open a Word document on your computer and paste it and save it. You might find you'd enjoy keeping it as a journal to revisit down the road!

Looking forward to the next one!

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Dan

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I sure enjoy these posts, laid up with a bad knee and these posts makes me feel like I was with you and Cindy. I am so pleased she is doing this great with limited hunting. She is definitely on her way to making a coon dog. Until next time. Dave

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

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Mr Richards

I wish you a speedy recovery, maybe one day when you’re healed up I could make it out your way and we could share a hunt. Until then I’ll keep ya in my prayers.

Dan

I’m like you and I would ideally like to end every night in the woods on a positive note and I take the blame last night. Cindy did her part and I came up short. My last drop was semi close to the house in hopes she could make one more tree and I could replenish my ammo and reward her. Despite my attempt we ended the night with a lesson on correction which I view as an ample end to last nights chapter. What I like the most after my poor shooting/counting escapade was how she was still willing to hunt. I think that is going to develop into one of her strongpoints. But ya never know till ya go. Thank you sir for the feedback! Yal stay tuned!

P.s. I forgot to mention that I keep a paper copy journal for all my hunting/training outings with the hounds for what it’s worth. I lost my 2019 journal at a bear tree last October, so if anybody finds it in the mountains, I’d love to relive some of the hunts! But I think the copy and pasting to a word document would be the way to go, I’ll have to give it a try!

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Man, I would love to hunt with you sometime, you are always welcome. Thanks for the kind words. I know the ammo thing very well, once while hunting with a buddy who did not coon hunt, just went with me a couple of times, I forgot my shells and clip for my rifle. My dog treed and my buddy went home, a short distance to get some shells. He came back with 5 shells, I Saud why didn't you bring a box of shells? He replied that I only needed 1 shell the other time he hunted with me. Well, I lost the first shell trying to load in the gun without the clip, missed my next shot and only had 3 shells left. I told John, come over here and hold my light, he did and I was able to shoot the coon out with 2 shells left. Lol. Dave

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

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I am a baseball coach and one thing I have learned is this! There are many different winning philosophies when coaching baseball. Some maybe better than my way sometimes for sure. Training a pup is the same way. I don't train pups the way that 5thgearwide does but dang it sure is working...I would not worry about the skunk or the weasel but 3 separate coons in one night this quick is awesome. I love to hear the feedback also from other experience hunters on different strategies. But I think one thing we all can agree on is that Cindy is gonna make a very nice hound. Great Thread! P.S. I shot 25 times at a crazy monkey coon the other night in a tall tall pine before he hit the ground. The bullet thing has happened to all of us...

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Roy Jarman

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Night 16

Last night was a short night and honestly was not very productive but it was time in the woods nonetheless. I got sick last weekend and didn’t get to hunt till Wednesday night and I chose to hunt one of my bear dogs that had been cooped up in the kennel for the last 28 days. I crossed her on my top male and decided to let her stretch her legs Wednesday night and I plan on hunting her the next few weeks to keep her in shape throughout her pregnancy. This will also work out well because Cindy just started her heat cycle this morning so she will be in kennel jail for the next month or so. I’m not sure if her heat cycle affected her hunt last night or if it was other conditions. We got in the woods a little before dark last night, it was the earliest I’ve gotten in the woods all season. Me and a buddy walked into the timber silhouette as the sun painted the western sky on its way over the horizon. Warm last night probably low 50’s, all of the conditions were in our favor minus the fact that we brought 2 green pups along, and I had a time constraint. Cindy was chomping at the bit at the first cut she left hard, hunted hard, hunted the right spots like she had been here before, but she hadn’t. This was new timber to her, but old timber to the local hunters. She was probably the 15th or so hound to touch this parcel this season and I’m afraid the 14 before her were probably a little more experienced. She made a few nice loops, when she would check back in we would push deeper. I never had to put her back on the lead, she hunted hard we may have just been early for the local ringtails evening routine. Every time she would check back in one of the pups would go into full play mode, and Cindy did not like that. I was expecting her to just get deep and avoid the pup but she did the opposite she would come hide behind me. This was towards the end of our allotted time for the night so I just encouraged her to go hunt. She got away from the pup as we got within a couple hundred yards of the truck, got struck, took a track, opened twice.... double triple quadruple checked, and committed. Beep buzz buzz Cindy is barking 80 barks per minute goes the Garmin. She just didn’t sound right, she was muffled. I walked to her and as I got close she was treed on the edge where the timber and pasture meet, I started looking for eyes as I closed the gap under 100 yards but she still didn’t sound right. She wasn’t looking up. When I got within 30 yards I could see why. The next 5 minutes consisted of me trying to walk, crawl, somehow get to Cindy without smashing her or causing the (brush pile/ old fence posts and wire), to collapse on top of her. I never got a good look at what she had in the pile, she was wedged in tight and it was tighter. It was hissing and growling back some and I would like to say it sounded like a coon, but I know of several varmints that all sound similar. I finally got her out and handed her off to my buddy as I tried to wiggle my way back out of the old locust posts and rusty wire. We got back to the truck and I had to be headed on my way. Cindy left good, hunted hard, had no interest in playing, struck a track, opened on the track, and “treed” last night. It was not a real productive night in the aspect of getting a coon out to her but it was a good night to be in the woods. Like I mentioned earlier Cindy has started her heat cycle and will be laid up for the next month so i guess this is our end of the first chapter. When she gets done with her break I plan on hunting her hard and consistent before the leaves start hiding everything, then reevaluating her situation before my bear dog litter reaches weaning age. So Yal stay tuned!

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Man hard to believe you still have that many guys that coonhunt around you

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TEAM HOGBACK MAFIA

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Great posts, I have enjoyed each and every one, can't wait for the next update. Dave

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

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I apologize for the delayed update. I saw the date on my last post and it appears that this one has been 6 months coming. After Cindy came out of heat things got really busy in my world. I had a litter on the ground out of my two top bear dogs, work got super busy, and I started making major progress on my house remodel (that I still haven’t wrapped up as we speak). I have been spending a lot of time with 1/2 of the litter that i chose to keep, and bear chase season came in in August and we have been running every chance we get. Long story short I didn’t feel that I was going to have the time to give Cindy the fair chance she deserved. A buddy of mine was looking for a young dog, Cindy had just came out of heat, and he had the time to dedicate to Cindy. So she now resides in Tennessee where she has changed hands one more time to a young man that hunted with my buddy on the regular, and she really took a liking to the young man. She has a warm dry bed, fresh water and food, and takes to the woods several nights a week and I think she is enjoying it as much as the young man. So I guess this is a final close to the “10 night tryout” I hope that you all enjoyed it, I know I did. If the opportunity presents itself I may do another training thread in the future. Until then, keep em in the woods!

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