Sport with Raccoons. 
If you have ever hunted raccoons at night with 
a good dog, you have enjoyed rare sport; if not, 
3'ou have missed much. 
Jim was a black and tan hound of large size, 
said to be quarter-bloodhound. He came into 
our family when I was about seven or eight 
years old. and we were raised together. As an 
all-round hunter he' had few equals and no su¬ 
periors. Like humans who excel he had a high 
degree of common sense. Any person that as¬ 
serts that animals do not reason ha$ my sin- 
cerest sympathy. He has never been associated 
with a really intelligent dog, or he is a very dull 
person. 
We had a patch of sweet corn in a field next 
the woods. One night in early autumn Dan 
went to carry in a bag of this corn, and Jim 
went with him. While picking corn, Dan heard 
a squeal and a scuffle at the far side of the 
fielfl. Upon investigation he found that Jim had 
killed a young raccoon which he had surprised 
on the ground. 
The following night we set out after dark 
armed with an axe and a lantern. Jim stayed 
with us until we reached the log fence between 
the cornfield and the woods. We seated our¬ 
selves on the fence and told Jim to “go hunt 
’em out." Presently something whisked through 
the fence and Jim bounded over, hot on the trail. 
By the time we had lighted the lantern he had 
treed the 'coon, and when we came up Jim was 
trying to climb a small bushy-topped maple. The 
’coon had been so hard pressed that he had taken 
the first tree he came to. A few blows from 
the axe in Dan's skillful hands find down came 
the tree. The fight was short. Jim soon got a 
throat hold that settled that corn stealer quickly. 
The ’coon was very fat. 
When we reached the house and showed our 
capture to my sister, who had retired, she ex¬ 
claimed : “What a monster! He looks like a 
bear.’’ While considering whether or not to 
wait till morning to skin the ’coon, Dan said: 
“I believe there was another. I heard some¬ 
thing go through the fence on the other side 
of us.” 
“It’s only a little way. Let’s go back and 
see,” I urged. 
Sure enough we found fresh tracks where an¬ 
other had hurried out. Jim gave his tail a 
pleased wiggle, snuffed loudly and disappeared 
in the darkness, but he did not bark. He had 
a fine voice, and after rabbits, foxes or deer he 
made good use of it. Why did he not bark on 
a ’coon trail? I keep still, too, when I wish to 
approach anything without alarming it. Call it 
what you will, it is the same, a<td some men 
have less of it than some dogs. 
We waited a long time. Finally, deep in the 
woods, we heard that long drawn “Boo-woo-oo” 
which said as plainly as words, “Come on; here 
he is, but I need help.” 
If you ever try to follow a lantern through 
the woods at night in a hurry, keep close to 
the light or you may get a bad bump. The mov¬ 
ing shadows make obstructions appear to, be 
where they are not, and hide those that are in 
your path. 
The ’coon was- dimly visible far up a tall ash, 
silhouetted against the sky. When the tree was 
nearly read}' to fall I caught Jim and held him 
so his impetuosity would not get him under a 
falling limb. That is what I intended to do. 
What I really did when the tree began to crack 
was to take a header into the brush, impelled by 
that impetuosity which I sought to restrain. The 
tree fell into the creek with a great splash. 
"Blast it all. I forgot the water,” said Dan, 
as he rushed away, leaving me groping blindly 
in the brush. Suddenly a great uproar arose. 
Dan had fallen and put out the light, and Jim 
had found the 'coon at the same time. I reached 
the scene of combat first, for with the light out 
I could see but little. 
"Come on, lie’s fighting hard; he’ll get away,” 
I yelled. 
"I can’t make a light,” followed by some re¬ 
marks about the. matches and the lantern which 
I fear to write, although they sounded very 
fitting at the time. Dan finally did get a light, 
which was well, for we would have hindered as 
much as helped in the dark, and probably have 
been bitten by the dog or the ’coon. 
Jim once whipped a bulldog, the bully of the 
neighborhood, and would have killed him if they 
had not been pulled apart. It took much less 
time than it did to kill that ’coon. I have no 
doubt but that he would have finished the ’coon 
alone, but I became alarmed when I saw that 
his long ears were bleeding, and stopped the 
fight with a club. This diverted the coon’s at¬ 
tention, enabling-Jim to get his throat hold, 
which was the beginning of the end. 
In the morning we weighed those two 'coons. 
The first, a female, weighed thirty-eight pounds. 
The second, a male, weighed thirty-two. He 
was not nearly so fat as the female, but had a 
larger frame. I do not know if this is an un¬ 
usual weight or not, but out of many taken I 
have never seen a larger. 
One night in the following year a dozen or 
more of us were out. We had ranged consider¬ 
able territory without finding a 'coon, and were 
stopped on a hillside in a field, while Jim beat 
the creek bottom in the valley. Suddenly there 
came a squeal, a deep roar, and the fight was 
on. 
The lights were flashed on and we dashed 
down the hill on the run. I was running'just 
in front and to the left of Dan who was carry¬ 
ing an axe and a lantern. A forgotten pole 
fence loomed up in front. There was no time 
for consideration ; I leaped. It was not a hard 
jump to make, but it was a foolish one, for it 
was a long way to the ground on the down-hill 
side, and there were many obstructions there. I 
landed, unhurt, in a little pile of brush. As I 
rolled I saw Dan poised on the top of the fence 
like a great bird, then he seemed to take flight. 
The axe went one way, the lantern another, and 
Dan came tumbling into the brush with me. The 
brush let him down easily. 
“Are you hurt?” I asked. 
“No,” said he. “What did you jump that 
fence like that for? You might have been 
killed.” 
“What did you do it for,?” I retorted. 
“I didn’t want to,” said he, “but I didn’t know 
it soon enough.” 
We found the lantern battered, but still ser¬ 
viceable, and the axe buried to the eye in the 
dirt. It certainly would have gone hard with 
anyone in its way. Jim was fighting with a slim, 
black-legged swamp ’coon in the creek, which 
was an advantage to the ’coon. The boys were 
standing by and yelling advice and encourage¬ 
ment to Jim, who needed neither. The dog and 
’coon would separate four or five feet and rest, 
then resume the fight. The ’coon made no effort 
to escape. Perhaps he realized that it would 
be useless. He was game to th<? core. He met 
Jim’s rushes half way. 
A raccoon has no yellow in his system. He 
will fight anything when cornered. For cool 
courage in the face of overwhelming odds the 
raccoon has few equals. 
Dan got out on a six-inch pole that lay across 
the creek, and during a lull in the fight he swung 
the axe. He missed the ’coon and struck the 
pole with the helve. The axe broke short off 
above the eye and sank. 
“Throw me' the axe,” yelled Harry. “I can 
reach him.” Dan threw what he had left of 
the helve. Ffarry hit the ’coon a smart whack 
on the head. “I’ve got him,” he said. Hanging 
to a tree for support he reached out and seized 
the ’coon by the foot. He had him half up the 
bank when the ’coon awoke. He fastened his 
teeth in Harry’s hand, which caused Harry to 
drop him with a yell. Then while Harry sat 
back and sucked the wound, the fight went mer¬ 
rily on. Jim got a grip that held and dragged 
the ’coon up the bank, where he soon finished 
him. 
We never shot a ’coon and never but once got 
more than one the same night, but that fall we 
sold thirty-two ’coon skins. With his magnifi¬ 
cent powers unimpaired by age, Jim met a pain¬ 
ful accidental death without a whimper. 
Henry S. Winter. 
Poodle Adopts Kitten. 
A French poodle belonging to Mrs. Edward 
E. Leach, of Montclair, N. J., has adopted a 
Maltese kitten. She is also caring for three 
puppies. 
Mrs. Leach’s son Edward found a litter of 
kittens in the barn and was about to drown them, 
the dog saw the kittens, picked one of them up 
and deposited it in the box with her puppies. 
The puppies trampled it under foot. Fido saw 
that the kitten was at a disadvantage and carried 
it to another place, where she made a bed. The 
poodle now divides her time between the puppies 
and the kitten.—World. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from any 
newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to supply you 
regularly. 
