Cnhntr

Shooting coon out to him isn't the answer. Any good dog worth the feed you pour to him doesn't need to see a coon a night. You mention shocking collars. If he's 8 years old and you need a shocking collar, you probably need another dog as well. I would say hunt him even more. Once a week isn't much for a hound and practice makes perfect. Try this.
If he quits when your walking to him, and he's still a ways off, just shut off your lght and wait him out. If he doesn't know your there, he should start treeing again. When he starts again, walk to him. Once your close enough to see what tree he's on, walk in tie him up and shine the tree, whether he's barking or not. Don't pet him, don't even speak to him until you shine the tree. If you see the coon, praise him and shoot it out if you want. If you see a hole, you have to use your judgement on that. If you think he's got the coon, praise him. If you don't see the coon, lead him to another spot ( no praise maybe even just a tad of scolding) and turn him out. If he goes back to the same tree, shock him and tell him to come on.

Two more things that might be variables to consider: The closer to january& Feb. you get, the more den trees you'll tree because the boars start checking them for the sows.
You're a little farther north, so I assume it starts even earlier there.

Second: If you dog is treeing a bobcat ( I suppose you all have those too) you probably won't ever make it to the tree. A cat will jump out 9 out of 10 times as soon as he sees your light. If this is the case, you should hear your dog barking like he's running a sight-chase over to another tree, cause that's exactly what he's doing.

Hope this helps.


GH