I used to hunt year round. If I wasn' t actually killing them in the kill season, I was just working my dogs during the off season. I had a real nice little walker female. Hunted her for about 8 years and then I lost her about 2 years ago. She got loose one day when my daughter wanted to let her out to " play" . I never saw her again.
Since then, I just haven' t had the desire to go through all the work it takes to train another good one. I' d say there' s really 2 reason why Coon hunting is not as popular as it once was. #1 Hides aren' t worth the time it takes to skin them. #2 It seems like anymore, if a landowner hears a dog running he automatically thinks it' s running deer. I' ve had more friends get their dogs shot at or actually shot in the last year than you could shake a stick at. If you figure all the time you spend, all the miles logged on your vehicle, and the pairs of LaCrosse rubber boots you wear out, just to train 1 dog to hunt the way you like it, you can' t afford to take the chance that some jackleg will stumble out his door in the middle of the night, and pop off a couple of shots at your dog.

I still hunt my uncle' s dog occasionally. He' s got a nice little 1/2 Mountain cur, 1/4 redbone, 1/4 walker that I hunt when I go. She' s no competition dog, but she' s a super nice pleasure dog. Locks up on a tree like a vise, and she' s pretty good at treeing squirrels in the day too. When you shoot the coon out, she just watches it. If it gets up and tries to run off, she' ll grab it and give it a shake or two. What I really like about her is, she cares very little about the coon or squirrel she trees. She lives for the petting she gets when she trees one solid. She' s a fine dog, and if he ever breeds her I' ll probably try to wrangle a pup from him.


GH