94 
Forest and Stream 
Our 1923 Offer 
FOREST AND STREAM] Both for 
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Magazine J 
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THE MAGAZINE that for 
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“The Story of the Bible,” by Hen - 
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“Eris,” a motion- picture novel, by 
Robert W. Chambers. 
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Vance. 
Another Great New Love Story by 
Ethel M. Dell. 
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simple, understandable narrative of the 
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COON HUNTING IN 
NEBRASKA 
(Continued from page 59) 
the coon. A man equipped with climb¬ 
ers, such as are used to climb telephone 
poles, is then sent up the tree, carrying 
a long switch to drive out Mr. Coon. 
As he approaches the coon, he uses the 
switch to make him jump and the coon 
usually jumps; but when he does not so 
choose and starts toward the hunter, 
then is the time for the hunter to lie 
down close to the limb, and allow the 
coon to walk over him. Otherwise there 
is going to' be a fight up in that tree, 
and a coon can put up a nasty fight, for 
the hunter is at a disadvantage, while 
the coon is right at home. I have known 
a coon to bite through heavy clothing 
and inflict serious wounds, before the 
hunter was able to pull him loose and 
throw him to the ground. 
The coon will sometimes, however, 
jump to the ground, a distance of 40 qr 
50 feet, without apparently hurting him¬ 
self. If the coon is not caught upon_ 
alighting, he will run at such speed as 
will give the dogs a lively race to put 
him up again. In jumping from the 
tree, the coon appears to spread himself 
so as to engage as much air resistance 
as possible. Thus, the fall is compara¬ 
tively slow and he is not hurt upon 
alighting. When caught by the dogs, 
the big event begins to take place rapidly 
and the hunters quickly form a circle, 
throwing the reflected lights into the cir¬ 
cle, to light up the scene. 
It takes a good dog with plenty of 
strength and grit to whip and kill a coon, 
and to one not accustomed to big game, 
hunting, the fight furnishes a sight and 
thrill, that one seldom forgets. It may 
look brutal, but it is the only way to 
keep a good pack of coon-hunting dogs, 
as the dogs will trail all night to get a 
fight, but if the coon is shot out of a. 
tree, the dogs are disappointed, and if 
the practice is continued, they will in 
time lose interest and refuse to stay on 
the trail, when they bedome tired. But 
grveTThem a good fight and they will gQ 
out eagerly in search of a new trail, no 
matter how tired they are. The coon 
prefers the tree overhanging the water, 
and when he is up in such a tree, he 
can be depended upon to jump into the 
water, for he is thoroughly at home in 
water, having a whole bag of tricks at 
his command and is often successful in 
eluding the dogs and making his escape. 
In the water is where the coon makes 
his best fight, and as the first dog 
approaches him, he will suddenly dart at 
the dog and push his head under the 
water; he then climbs upon the dog’s 
head and threads with all four feet, and 
in this manner keeps the helpless dog 
under the water, until without aid the 
dog would soon drown. As the second 
dog approaches, he will jump upon him 
in the same manner and hold him under, 
while the first dog is out on the bank 
coughing up water and getting his 
breath. " So successfully is this trick 
worked, that often the third dog must 
be turned loose to bring the coon to the 
bank. However, the coon dog soon 
learns the trick, after a few duckings, 
and the two dogs will circle the coon 
in the water, grabbing him at the same 
time and bringing him out in a hurry. 
The coon dog must educate himself 
in the killing of the coon, and few are 
able to master the trick. The best killer 
I have ever watched threw the coon on 
his back, catching him either by the 
throat or just back of the front leg, and 
lying down close to the coon to prevent 
being scratched by the sharp claws; he 
holds the coon in this manner and either 
"cfiokes him or bites him through the 
heart. The hold just back of the front 
leg is the quickest kill, for as the. ribs 
break, the heart is crushed. The neck 
hold is slower, allowing the coon to turn 
in his hide, as the skin is tough and 
loose, thus making it hard for the dog 
to hold him. The dog who chooses the 
neck hold is often badly cut when the 
fight is over. 
Coon hunting is hard work for the 
dogs, as the hunt usually lasts all night, 
and the dogs must not be fed shortly 
before or during the hunt, as it would 
make them slow and lazy. Coon dogs 
must be well fed and housed and given 
plenty of exercise in order to keep them 
at their best, for they are to measure 
wits with one of the most cunning, 
crafty and hard fighting animals that 
roam the woods, and no hunter who 
loves the sport cares to follow unde¬ 
pendable dogs, who don’t know a skunk 
trail from a coon trail. I think the 
maddest bunch of men I ever saw was 
under a tree when they found out that 
the supposed coon was a skunk. They 
didn’t have to shine his eyes to find it 
out, and the stock on that pack of dogs 
went down pretty fast. 
S OME three years ago I visited at the 
home of Dr. A. J. Cobb, a dentist 
of Lincoln, Nebraska. Dr. Cobb was a 
classmate of mine and we had been real 
chummy during our school days. I had 
always regarded the doctor as being 
honest and having a well-balanced mind, 
but when on this particular visit he in¬ 
vited me out to see his coon dogs, telling 
me the price he had paid for them and 
of their ability in hunting the coon, he 
elaborated upon the story with so much 
feeling that I began to doubt his sanity. 
I began to think back over our past 
lives, trying to recall any other signs of 
an unbalanced mind, that I might have 
overlooked. I, of course, asked all the 
questions I could think of regarding the 
dogs, and learned that they were no 
good as watch dogs, and that they would 
not hunt either rabbit or squirrels, but 
were just real coon dogs. I was then 
and there invited to go with the doctor 
on his next coon hunt. I accepted the 
invitation and* would have accepted an 
invitation to help him pick cherries from 
his box elder trees, had he asked me to 
do so. I learned that the dogs’ names 
were “Polk” and “Dewey,” and that they 
were of the Walker breed. 
The night of the hunt arrived and 
with it Dr. Cobb and his dogs. To- 
LEV? 
