the bunks made up, 
the lantern filled, 
new batteries in- 
serted in our flash- 
lights, and a few 
other necessary ar- 
rangements complet- 
ed, the night was 
settling over the 
hills. We cooked a 
good supper, and 
about eight o’clock 
rolled into our bunks 
with the intention of 
sleeping a few hours. 
Even though we 
were very tired and 
sore from the long 
trip in the Ford we 
did not sleep a wink, 
for the old hunting spirit was growing 
too strong in our hearts. 
| ae dogs were howling and pulling 
on their chains, knowing full well 
what it meant to be in that wild coun- 
try on a dark, sultry night, with the 
owls making the hills ring with their 
Ho-o-Hoo-Hoo-Ho-0-o-s. 
At eleven fifty we were standing at 
the door of the cabin with the dogs 
jumping, and eager to start. Our re- 
spect for the hunting laws made us wait 
the few short minutes until the season 
opened. I can truthfully say that we 
never violated the law by hunting out 
of season, except a few times for the 
purpose of training a young dog to hold 
tree, at such times we never made any 
kills. 
The hunt started at exactly twelve 
o’clock, as we covered the short dis- 
tance between our cabin and the woods. 
It was an ideal night for ’coon and we 
found that they had been out early be- 
cause the dogs were working on cold 
trails. They eventually struck a fresh 
trail and began some actual driving up 
and down creeks, and over the hills. In 
less than thirty minutes we heard the 
old familiar tree bark, and after end- 
less running through brush, briar, and 
entangled grape vines, at a breath-tak- 
ing speed, we located the position of 
the dogs. 
The tree proved to be a tall slim ash 
standing on a steep bank. As was our 
usual custom we decided to shake out 
the ’coon, both to encourage the dogs 
and to provide a good fight. 
N the excitement of the hunt I volun- 
teered to scale the tree. As the ’coon 
was pretty well tired out and hard to 
shake loose, I had to follow him right 
up to the top of the tree. Finally I 
managed to break his hold, and he 
dropped. This being the first one I 
hurried down to the last limb, which 
was about thirty-five feet from the 
A404 

Ready for the night’s sport 
ground; then, at the first stab, my spur 
slipped out of the soft ash, and I slid 
to the ground, scraping off most of the 
skin from my wrists and knees. If I 
had not been wearing long leather 
gloves, and high laced boots, my hands 
and ankles would have been lacerated. 
Anyway, I was down to see the fight. 
The two dogs made such quick work 
of the ’coon that the struggle did not 
last long. 
PROM that time on until morning it 
was just one continual ’coon hunt. 
The dogs seemed either to be driving or 
at a tree the whole time. We found 
upon arriving at the cabin in the morn- 
ing, leg weary and hungry as she-bears, 

fo 

that we had _ six 
’coons, one mink and 
eight opossum. 
After breakfasting 
on ham, eggs and 
strong coffee, rub- 
bing the dogs down, 
and stretching the 
skins on the boards, 
we rolled into our 
needed rest. 
At four P. M. we 
were up, ready for 
the first all night, or 
the second hunt, 
which proved to be 
equally as success- 
ful as the first. It 
was dark, and a 
heavy fog hung thick in the valleys. 
Although we left the cabin about nine 
o’clock, the dogs did not locate any 
trails until after ten o’cock. We were 
sitting on a fence waiting for the dogs 
to work a deep wooded hollow, when the 
sound of their music began to make the 
woods ring. They had struck a hot 
trail and started to drive directly away: 
from us. 
- They went out of hearing around the 
hill, and by the time we had worked our 
way to the top of the rise, we could 
hear them about a mile from where 
we were, but not plain enough to dc- 
termine if they were running or at a 
tree. However, as they d:d not change 
their location, we finally decided thcy 
were barking up, and it did not take us 
long to reach the tree, a large oak, dead 
on one side, where lightning had struck 
it. We could tell by the action of Bibby 
that it was a den tree, and we decided 
to get the ’coon if possible, thinking 
that it might be the only one we would 
get that night. 
Sam scaled the tree and found the den 
which started at the top of the dead 
streak and ran down the tree. He 
smoked Mr. Coon out by setting fire to 
rags, sprinkled with coal oil, and drop- 
ping them down in the den. 
As a ’coon cannot stand smoke from 
burning rags, this one, within ten 
minutes, came tearing out of the den 
and leaped to the ground, where I had 
the two dogs waiting for him. 
ROM that time on until about two 
o’clock we bagged five ’coon and six 
opossum. Then, being quite a distance 
from the cabin, we decided to swing 
back in that direction. 
About one o’clock the wind came up 
so strong that we could hardly hear the 
dogs. Our route took us back in the di- 
rection of the tree where we had caught 
the first ’coon. When we came up on 
high ground, about a half mile from 
the tree, we saw an unusual thing. 
bunks for a much | 
: 
fy 
