A Foggy Night

This is our latest photo taken January of 2015. The kids have been excited all day. I have answered the question, "We still going coon hunting tonight," 85 times. The dog pens have been cleaned, gear is ready and all we needed was dark to set in. At that, we assembled at the gas station in Oakman, got a few snacks and drinks, then headed out to a coon hunt. Arrived at the property....I bought 42 acres to deer hunt....it has now turned into the coon hunters base camp. We have made agreements with the hunting club that surrounds our property, 2500 acres - to trade turkey rights on our 42 for coon rights on their 2500. Not a bad trade. I will admit they are happy with it because the 42 is a turkey paradise and in the spring it is amazing to see the turkeys out there. We on the other hand have unlimited access to the creeks and hollers surrounding our land. On this night we turned out 5 hounds. Jett, is a Black and Tan, and Buddy a Redbone. Both are coon killers and hard core coon dogs. Next is Hank. He is a huge, 8 month old Black and Tan that is showing all the potential in the world. He is going with Jett and Buddy and is improving every hunt. Last hunt he treed so hard that when I got to the tree, I thought it was Jett. Then there is Gunner, a Black and Tan. Storm, a Black and Tan and Masi Masi, an English Red Tick.  Gunner and Storm are newcomers but Masi Masi is a very good pup. She is also about 8 months old and has mixed it up with a few coons. She is running with the big dogs and holds her on in the fights. I'm proud she will fight so hard. The kids are proud of her to. This team of dogs is a perfect set up. We have the two that will put a coon in a tree, two that will assist and are learning every day and two that.....well they are just young and inexperienced but each drop of the tailgate is a plus for them. We collared up the dogs with the tracking systems. The night was very dark as thick clouds and fog, so thick it was almost rain, set in. We held the dogs and one began to bawl out in excitement. "Turn em loose!" And with that they ran for the edge of the woods. Almost immediately Jett let out a bawl, it was a coon! Buddy chimed in and the race was on. It got loud. The kids were excited and it sounded like the dogs could bark no harder. Masi Masi was yipping as hard as any dog on the trail. Hanks hoarse big bawl is unmistakable, he was in there. The race went on through the hills and hollers and finally we heard Jett tree...Buddy backed him up and big Hank was treeing to. It was aggressively beautiful. The bawls and barks of the dogs echoed out through the woods. I checked the tracking system and we started in. It was a straight line of hunters with lights on heading down the holler almost like miners descending into the mine. Arriving at the tree the kids knew what to do. They surrounded the tree and lit the limbs up with their lights. Then I heard one say, "I got him. He's on the big limb!" I looked up and saw a huge coon climbing to the top of the tree. We cleared the people from under the tree so the coon would not fall on any one and Luke took aim with his new 22 rifle. A few shots rang out and the coon started to falter. Falling from the tree, the coon hit the ground but came up ready to fight. We turned Hank out on him but the coon grabbed his ear and went to work. Seeing Hank in distress we sent Masi and the two killers in. The coon was no rookie. Though injured he took his toll on the dogs. So proud of Masi Masi for putting herself in harms way. All the dogs made us proud and the coon was a real champion himself. But in the end he had no chance. Although a heavy weight fighter, he went down We started catching dogs. Hank was bleeding from his nose and his ear. Jett and Buddy looked good and Masi Masi had a crazy look in her eye. It was over. Cheers from the hunters rang out. What a coon. There was a second coon in the tree just as big as this one but there was not talk of taking it to. It was free to go and everybody was in agreement with that. Walking out of the woods we went the same way we came in. Again, this time we looked like the miners climbing out of the mine. We had a large coon in our hands. Arriving at the truck we tied all the dogs back. It was all smiles and I heard something we should all hope to hear more. The greatest words...."Hey, can we go again tomorrow?" Ahh Haa!