66 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[i^EB. 13, 1891. 



COONS BY DAY AWD WIGHT 



METING OUT JUSTICE TO A COON. 



YOU folks have all been telling your stories of coons 

 and coon hunts; and now I want to tell mine. It 

 happened in Florida, and was entirely an impromptu 

 affair, and began by my being kicked out of bed. Henry 

 did that sometimes, and often remarked that when it 

 came to kicking people out of bed I wasn't in it. But, 

 however, this particular night when I landed on the floor 

 I realized that this kick was for some other reason than 

 pure cussedness. Somebody outside was calling "Helloa!" 

 at the top of his voice and the dogs were evidently bent 

 on his destruction, judging from the racket they made. I 

 found Henry's shoes and put them on, struck a light and 

 opened the door, "Well, what's up?" "Well, you be up at 

 last, and I'm glad of it, for I ben a-hevin' a regular time 

 callin', me and the pups. Call 'em in, will youl Where's 

 Henry?" "Inside," said I, "looking for his shoes. What 

 can we do for you'r' "I'm the sheriff." "Come looking 

 up a coon?" "Yes; somebody's broken into the section 

 house domi the road, taken a rifle, a coat and himself a 

 kitin'. One of them niggers from the 'sap camp,' I 

 reckin. I know he came as far as here; seed his tracks 

 yonder, and I got my mule, so what do you say to saddlin' 

 and runnin' him?" 



At this point Henry made his appearance in a pair of 

 boots wdth iire in his pips, and of course, as always, ready 

 for come what might. 



Now, our dogs were the pride of the ranch, and what 

 they wouldn't trail couldn't run; so Henry and the sheriff 

 thought that if once we could get old Julia "straightened 

 out" after the erring dai'ky, it was ail over but the shout- 

 ing. 



Henry and I went out to saddle up. It was certainly 

 the witching hour of night. A bulk in the darkness, a 

 voice — that was a man. A form under foot, a step, a 

 howl— and that was a dog. At last, after more saddling 

 than was usually necessary, we were ready to mount. A 

 blast on the horn brought a yell of delight from the 

 hounds, and with Brag and Julia in the lead they bounded 

 out of the gate down the road. 



Down through the pine woods to where the railroad 

 crossed the branch the sheriff led us, there we dismounted 

 and with matches and a piece of "light wood" searched 

 for the footprints. • A man, and evidently a savage from 

 "darkest Africa," had been here, and not' liking the looks 

 of our "light in the window," or hearing Henry breathe 

 (he does heavily sometimes), had taken to the woods. 



"Here Julia! here Brag — hunt 'em up! fetch 'em out old 

 boy!" Blasts on the horn, encouraging yells, every man- 

 ner of affectionate persuasion we wasted on those dogs. 

 No go. "Well Sheriff!" said I, "we had better give it up 

 until morning. Dogs don't seem to"— o?.(j, o/r— "hold on, 

 Julia 'U fetch him. Hunt 'em up, old maid." Running 

 down to where Julia was holding forth in a clump of 

 tnetto, I struck a match; and there in the center of the 

 t tx'ack was the hand-like print of a big coon, "Here 

 you go. Sheriff! Here's the trail. Yes! boot prints, gone 

 this way. " That was enough — however tardy j ustice may 

 be on occasions, this time the Sheriff was up with the 

 hunt, and already well on toward the SAVamp where the 

 dogs were now evidently going. 



"Harry," said I, as we came together, "it's a coon. Up 

 a tree." That was enough, the fun was on. Ati old owl 

 down in the swamp ended his hoot with a chuckle as the 

 sheriff and his mule crashed through the palmetto in the 

 wake of the hounds. Along the branch through the thick 

 bushes we forced the ponies, our only guide the swelling 

 chorus chanting the coqu's requiem. At last we reached 

 the edge of Turnbull hamak, and from here on we must 

 go on foot. 



The gallant constable v/as evidently out of the race, for 

 we could hear his halloo away back through the pines 

 where the trail had turned, but from the vei-y forcible 

 arguments Julia and her consorts were just then, making, 

 it was about time for "summing up." The moon was 

 coming. What a glorious sight it was. Sheltered by the 

 thick growth of swamp, on the edge of which we stood, 

 I could glimpse the dodging shadows away yonder through 

 the trees and almost seem to see the goblins of our child- 

 hood scamper across the moonlit glades. Turn and peer 

 into the swamp. There are curious shadows of stalwart 

 sentinels, swinging shapes amid the moss, and where the 

 moon beams dodging the shelter of the trees fall on the 

 water, bits of mirror create the fantastic shapes anew. 

 Not a sound save the faint and eager baying of the dogs, 

 and an owl making big eyes at his lady love, as he tries 

 her "To whoo," 



I wondered if Henry saw the beauties of the night. 

 He said he didn't see" anything, not even the sense of 

 getting out of bed at such an hour, I proposed going 

 back and leaving the coon. But no, that coon had to be 

 treed; he didn't intend coming out for nothing. So 

 without more delay than was necessary in extracting 

 each other out of bogs, and persuading briers and vines 

 to believe they were too clinging, we reached the foot of 

 a big cypress, around which night was surely hideous, 

 Undoubtedly a pair of bright eyes watched the welcome 

 the dogs gave us and the building of a iire, but except 

 for the sight of an occasional star winking at the jolly 

 face of the moon, all overhead was as vague as a poUtical 

 argument. 



There was only one thing to do, and that was to wait 

 until day came and threw some light on the subject. 

 Henry got his back up against a tree and his feet to the 

 blaze, and then commenced an emphatic argument with 

 Julia, as to the necessity of so much noise. I think I 

 must have dozed, for suddenly the fice seemed less bright, 

 the shadows were stealing away their vigil spent, and 

 through the trees came a stronger light that seemed to 

 glide from tree to tree, waking all nature by its subtle 

 touch, A gentle breeze rustled the leaves as though bid- 

 ding them be up and stirring. Away through the hamak 

 au old gobbler heralded the coming dawn; I could fancy 

 the hens of his harem waking at this breakfast call, and 

 soon after heard the united household leave the roost. 



Henry at this roused himself and blew a blast on the 

 horn, which brought the dogs about the tree with a rush. 

 There he is! See him! That ball of gray with a glimpse 

 of black nose over the edge of that limb. 



Poor fellow! What a terrible night for him! Henry 

 expressed deep pity for him once he fell among the dogs. 

 I said it was a pity to let the poor fellow go to the dogs. 

 To be sure he was a midnight desperado, a deseorater of 



peaceful roosts, but might it not be -well this time to simply 

 reprimand and bid him beware. Henry agreed, doffed 

 his hat, faced the tree and cried: 



"Criminal at the bar. You are a fugitive from justice. 

 This night the sheriff was on your track: but knowing 

 the virtue lying in a piece of chicken, we sympathize 

 with you. Depart in peace — but be warned in time. 

 Desist from breaking into section houses, or you yet will 

 bring your gray hairs in sorrow to the grave." 



We found the ponies anxious to end the trip in a meas- 

 ure of oats, and after a pleasant ride in the dew-washed 

 woods we reached our door. The sheriff" had arrived an 

 hour or so before, having bogged his mule and been 

 obliged to lead her home. 



The criminal was unfound, and over a warm breakfast 

 we told him of our sylvan court and its mercy. D. K. 



COON HUNTING IN TENNESSEE. 



[ATTENDED school for two years at Sewanee, Tenn., 

 which is situated on a spur of the Cumberland 

 Mountains designated as the "Cumberland Plateau," with 

 an altitude of two thousand feet above the sea. Sewanee 

 is the site of the "University of the South," and a rather 

 popular summer resort. The surrounding country, or 

 mountain, more properly speaking, is thickly wooded for 

 the most part with large oak, chestnut, black gum and 

 other trees native to that region, and the pedestrian's 

 progress is very much impeded by a rugged surface 

 covered with a vigorous undergrowth and broken here 

 and there by sinnous ravines and dales, which mark the 

 descent of the meandering mountain streams to the ad- 

 jacent valley; these, and the semi-civilized mountaineer's 

 corn patch, comprise in that locality the habitation of the 

 raccoon. 



The school session extends from the middle of March to 

 the middle of December, and on Saturdays and holidays 

 during the summer and early fall I used to frequently 

 visit the coal mines, about three miles distant fi'om the 

 school, in company with four of my most intimate school- 

 mates and have a pow-wow with the miners. In this way 

 we made the acquaintance of an old veteran coon hunter, 

 who, while the nunting season lasted, used to hunt coons 

 nearly all ni^ht and dig coal all day. This old hunter's 

 name was BillFarrest. He kindly invited us to "come 

 out an go a coon huntin' this fall," and of course the invi- 

 tation was readily accepted. Accordingly, about the first 

 of October, after several pretty heavy frosts, and Farrest 

 sent us word that ' ' the coons was a gittin' in eatin' order," 

 we obtained the school proctor's promise not to insppct 

 our rooms the following Friday night, and ventured forth 

 when that time arrived on our first coon hunt at about 8:30. 



After losing our way two or three times and falling in 

 half a dozen mudholes, we reached our chieftain's house 

 (if I may be permitted to apply to it that term) about 

 10 o'clock. The hut was built of chestnut logs, roughly 

 hewn with a common axe, and chinked with blocks and 

 strips of wood, secured by clay. The roof consisted of 

 saplings laid crosswise and covered with cornstalks, leaves, 

 etc. , which were held in place by logs. The door was made 

 of plain boards rudely constructed, and a clumsy swinging 

 shutter stood proxy for glass in the windows. After 

 kicking and pounding on the door for some ten minutes 

 or more, we heard a voice within cry out, "Hellow, thar," 

 followed by the sound of footsteps moving about the 

 room. It turned out to be Farrest, and he ga^ve us a 

 hearty welcome, saying: "Come in, while I chuck up 

 ther fire; we are goin'togit a coon to-night sure," On 

 entering we found that there was but one room in the 

 house, with a large open fireplace, which, when it glowed 

 with a big wood fire, counterbalanced to a great extent 

 the discomforts above mentioned. After poking up the 

 fire our hunter began putting on his socks and boots, that 

 being mainly the preparation necessary for him to make, 

 as in other respects his day and night attire were very 

 much the same. In one corner was Mrs. Farrest reposing 

 on a low bed made of stray boards supporting a straw 

 mattress, with coarse and heavy blankets for covering. 

 In another corner was Mr. Farrest's brother-in-law wrapped 

 up in blankets and lying on sheepskins, and in another 

 were the coon hunting dogs Sing and Matj which were 

 the very sublimated essence of our hunter's pride. After 

 we had been sitting before Mr. Farrest's large open fire 

 for an hour more talking, singing and getting ourselves 

 thoroughly warmed and our clothes dried, our host pro- 

 posed that we should start for the woods; so after releas- 

 ing the dogs we were ready to penetrate the dark, black 

 forest in quest of the crafty raccoon. 



Before going any further, however, permit me to ob- 

 serve a rather perplexing mistake on my part while under 

 the roof of our leader's mansion. When we arose from 

 our seats I happened to glance into a flour barrel that was 

 by the door and in it I perceived something which 

 appeared to me very much like a puppy, and after careen- 

 ing the barrel a little toward the fire, in order to get a 

 better view of its contents, I inquired of our host if the 

 "puppy" had the material in him for a good coon dog: 

 but much to my astonishment he replied, "Ikod, that's 

 the baby, he has better material in hmi for a coal digger 

 than a coon dog." I discovered later that the flour barrel 

 superseded, in many of the isolated houses of the Cum- 

 berlands, the baby's cradle and, indeed, seemed to be pre- 

 ferred, for when the youngster fretted or was sleepy the 

 barrel was laid upon its side and rocked till baby's cries 

 were lost in slumbers. But enough of this, let us see 

 about that coon. We hunted through corn patches and 

 strayed along branches for several hours without even 

 striking a rabbit trail, until we were quite disheartened 

 and finally seated ourselves upon an old fallen tree to en- 

 deavor the detection by lots of the "Jonah," when hark! 

 the dogs struck a trail, and oh how their clear and musi- 

 cal voices rang out upon the frosty air! Away they 

 started in hot pursuit of the ill-fated coon, encouraged 

 and incited by the shrill and keen yells of their master. 



Gradually their voices began to die away in the dis- 

 tance, and ere an hour had passed, were almost inaudible, 

 when our conductor sprang to his feet and ejaculated, 

 "Ikod boys, we must follow the dogs or say good-night to 

 the coon !" With one voice we replied, ' 'follow the dogs," 

 and accordingly we were soon bending our way in the 

 direction from whence then- distant yelps were wafted; 

 Farrest in the lead, of course, with his mining lamp hooked 

 in his large slouch hat and it was to that lamp we owed 

 our ability to keep the striding coal miner in sight. Sud- 

 denly he came to a dead halt, and placing his hand to his 

 ear in a shape adapted to catch ttie faint sound of the 

 dogs, exclaimed, "Ikod b«ys, they have treed, come onV 



Flushed with new anticipations, we accelerated our g;iit 

 to the utmost speed consistent with a long and rough 

 tramp ahead, and trudged along first through briers, then 

 undergrowth, then swamps, sometimes falling in a blind 

 ditch or sink hole, but encouraged and stimulated by the 

 nearer bark of the dogs at every step we took. Finally 

 emerging from a dense growth of young trees we came 

 upon the dogs in a swampy and shady plac3 jumping and 

 barking around an old broken off and ho'low tree. The 

 first thing we did was to build a good fire, and then set to 

 work to capture our prize. The old decayed tree was not 

 a formidable one, either to the axe or to the climber, 

 which is not the kind that a coon will usually take to. 

 This was evidence that the dogs were close upon him, 

 and it was his last resort. A coon will never take refuge 

 in a tree when pursued until it is absolutely necessary in 

 order to avoid a rencounter, but prefers to exercise that 

 strategy for which he is so renowned in making his 

 retreat. 



After building a fire we all loaned our coats to Farrest, 

 who climbed the old remnants of a tree and stuffed them 

 in the top of it. He then descended and began work 

 with the axe. In about fifteen minutes the tree com- 

 menced to sway to and fro, and we boys stood around 

 with clubs in our hands so as to attack the coon should 

 he jump before the tree fell, as Farrest informed us they 

 would frequently do. But our coats proved equal to the 

 purpose for which they were used and kept the coon our 

 prisoner. In a few minutes more Farrest yelled "Look 

 out!" and the old trunk of a tree was precipitated with a 

 crash to the ground. 



We then cut a hole in the log about midway of its 

 length, and after removing our coats from within the up- 

 per end ran the coon out with a pole. The instant the 

 dogs sprang at it the coon rolled on its back, and with its 

 teeth and claws "made" (as Farrest exclaimed) "the wool 

 from the dogs fly." For some moments the excitement 

 was intense. The coon seized one of the dogs by the 

 lower jaw with his teeth and a heartrending howl from 

 our favorite canine made us fear that the coon would 

 come out victor; but with a quick and sudden jerk the 

 dog extricated herself from the grasp of the coon, and 

 crazed with pain and rage made a desperate lunge for 

 the coon's throat, and secured a hold which she did not 

 relinquish until compelled by several kicks and cuffs 

 from her master. In the din and confusion that pre- 

 vailed during the fight one of the boys had his hat 

 knocked in the fire and could find only a smouldering 

 remnant of it when we were ready to resume the march. 

 This, however, was soon replaced by a handkerchief with 

 a knot in each corner. After the smoke of the battle bad 

 cleared away and we had regained our senses some one 

 inquired the hour, when much to our amazement we 

 learned it was nearly 8 o'clock and we were about ten 

 miles distant from our abode. Unanimously agreeing 

 that we had done well enough for the initiatory night we 

 began to retrace our steps. 



We reached Farrest's houSb about 4:45, and after mak- 

 ing arrangements for another hunt the ensuing Friday 

 night, we bade him adieu and steered for our quarters, 

 where we arrived about 5:30 in the morning. We then 

 retired to our rooms and had the proctor to put our names 

 on the sick list, and enjoyed a good rest until Monday 

 morning. 



The fun we had that first Friday night sealed our devo- 

 tion to coon hunting, and it is needless to say that every 

 subsequent Friday night during the session was spent in 

 the same diversion; usually with better results, yet some- 

 times with not so good, as one little opossum about the 

 size of a baseball would occasionally be the fruit of our 

 labors; and there is no telling how many hours we have 

 spent in digging for an opossum, which would invariably 

 prove to be that little bushy-tailed animal that plays 

 havoc with the hen yard and terrifies mankind Avhen its 

 presence is perceived. But Farrest maintained that his 

 dogs would not "run a skunk," and whenever they denned , 

 it was either "a possum or a groundhog;" and only when 

 we had dug far enough to reach the inmate with a pole 

 our point would be carried. The largest number of coons 

 captiired by us in one night was five, average about two. 



Before closing my remarks I wish to observe a few 

 characteristics of the raccoon. He is remarkable for his 

 cunning. When discovering himself pui-sued by a dog 

 he takes the shortest course to a stream of water, if such 

 is near enough, and wiU cross and recross in order to 

 thwart the endeavors of the dog to trail him. The coon 

 seems also to have a predilection for a watercourse when 

 seeking sport. This inference is drawn from the multi- 

 tude of tracks I have often noticed in the mud along the 

 edges of mountain streams. When there is no water 

 near by, a coon, when trying to evade a dog, will resort 

 to his ingenious method of "barking trees." That is, he 

 will climb a tree and jump from the end of its most pro- 

 jecting limb to the giwnd. By sticking his head under 

 his belly he can assume the shape of a ball, and when he 

 jumps, alights upon his shoulders, and will roll over and 

 over for quite a distance, then continue upon his course 

 for some length of time, when he will repeat the per- 

 formance, and so on until overtaken by the dog. Natur- 

 ally, when the dog goes up to the first "barked" tree he 

 thinks the coon is there, and sets up a slow and steady 

 bark to inform his master to that effect, and only when 

 he has circled out from the tree and strikes the trail 

 again, he finds how he has been circumvented. The 

 time thus lost by the dog is of course advantageously 

 employed by the coon in eft'ecting his escape, and were 

 it not for the much greater rapidity with which a dog 

 travels than a coon , coon hunting with dogs would be 

 profitless. 



VuaaiNiA Game. — Lexington, Va., Jan. 31.— To-day is 

 the last of our open season for liirds. In consequence of 

 the mild winter of 1889-90, our fields were in the begin- 

 ning of the season better stocked with birds than at any 

 time for years; and large bags were made. As our open 

 season does not begin until Nov. 1, fewer small birds were 

 killed than when the shooting began on Oct. 1. This is a 

 good change and will, I trust, be maintained. Hares 

 abundant, and in my opinion a great nuisance, unless the 

 hunt is for them and for them alone.— T. M. S. 



North Dakota Game.— Mandan, N. D., Feb, 3.— Never 

 have prairie chickens been so thick at this season as this 

 year. We have had no cold weather yet, and they are in 

 prime condition. — F. S. L. 



A TRtv TO THE MBeAi^LOWAT.— 0. M. advertiseB In Rnotber 

 column iov companions in a trip to rough It on the Me5aJlo^»y 

 nejrt October. 



