Anyone else have coon hounds that they chase around too? Once the ruts gone and deer hunting begins to slow down, me and a friend here are in the woods nearly every night we get the chance. Hunting with a good dog, can make for some great and eventful nights spent in the woods.
Haha I've actually skinned a few road kill coons before. Unfortunantly though, the price of the hides aren't really any motivation to hunt them anymore. I will sell my hides after the season, and not even come close to making money back for the dog food and gas I put into it. I'm lucky enough to be able to hunt a lot of different farms in the area after the gun seasons close. This allows me to leave our farm alone for the most part, so the dogs aren't bumping any giant bucks out of the area.
Haven't gone in over 20 years. Loved it when I did go. I never had my own dogs, just went along with others. There's only a handful of coon hunters around here anymore. Good to see someone keeping the sport alive.
Yea a lot of the old timers around here have either died, or got to old to get out anymore.There are just a few of us in my county that I know of that still hunt 'em.
I hunt in Brown County and the owners nephew is big into Coon Hunting. They do Coon Contests at night and he uses Blue Tick's. The last time I hunted down there, he and the dogs took out 12 Coons in the contest. I have a rescue that is half Black and Tan Coonhound and Half Black Lab, she could care less about Coon Hunting
The PKC coonhound world championships were held in my hometown last October. Thats about the extent of my coonhunting knowledge lol.
I started coon hunting when I was old enough to set on my dads shoulders and he carried me around in the woods. Owned some top notch dogs too. Got out of it in the late 90's when the fur prices bottomed out and competition hunting got to be more of hassle than what it was worth. IMO... PKC took all the fun out of competition hunting.
That's the same with me. I can remember my dad carrying me out of the woods in the middle of the night after. He used to do some of the competition hunting before I came along. From the stories I've heard him and some of the older guys tell, it's a pretty cut throat hunt anymore. He had been doing a lot of showing in the UKC over the past 10-12 years, including an old male dog he won a truck load of shows with. We have owned nothing but Plotts. I had a female dog I hunted all through my childhood up until she died last year at age 13. She was one of the best dogs I ever hunted with, and always had fur when she treed. Been trying to find another dog to replace her over the last few years, and have a young female tied up that just might do that.
I remember when I was a kid we got around $40 average for extra large good silver fur. About $20 for the rest. Kill a 100-150 a season (which is easy to do) and that is some pretty good loot for having fun. Now your lucky to get a $2 average for all your furs combined. Yes... a .22 is the best gun for coon hunting.
Like 2 Lunger said, $3 is about the average this year from what I've heard, with some of the better ones are going for a bit more but not near of what it used to be. We use a .22, with the best shot right between the eyes. The rifle I use now, was one that I bought from a pile of furs I sold when I was probably 12 or 13. Up until this year, I had been giving my hides to the friend I hunt with, since his dog was the usually the power in our hunts. However, this past year, I have been skinning them and keeping them since he doesn't want to mess with it.
