Pennsylvania Game News - October 2010 - 32

of Irish hounds, with its present stock rooted in Georgia. The bluetick is principally from the Quick foxhounds of England, and with blood from French hounds that were used to hunt big game. We headed down the path to an area that I knew held stands of century old maple trees and acres of other species of mature mixed hardwoods that bordered the lake. These older trees often have den holes in them, leaving a cavity for wildlife, including raccoons, to take up residence. We unleashed the hounds and let them work the area for scent. It had rained some the previous few days, so the ground was moist, allowing the dogs to suck up scent like a vacuum cleaner. After not finding any scent, though, we headed for higher ground. SGL 270 encompasses elevations from 1,200 to 1,300 feet. Christine was ahead of me with Jessie, as I followed with Nikki. Nikki, being younger and less experienced, was not as focused, whereas Jessie had been hunting coons for more than 10 years. We hadn’t gone far when Jessie began whining. We checked our compass to get our bearings, and then released the dogs. There was an explosion of excitement, as the dogs began their barking zigzag ascent up over the hill and back into a ravine. Even with headlamps, tracking dogs that are headstrong to locate a raccoon can take you into and through those painful “slap face” brushy places, but where the coons go, so do the dogs. This particular tract of Game Lands is not too expansive, but the topography and ground cover are diverse and can quickly change. The section is tri-

angular in shape, wedged between the lake to the west and south, with Milledgeville Road bordering the north and Interstate 79 bordering the east. I don’t use a GPS dog tracking system because of the expense and infrequency that I get my dogs out. My hounds have always been trained to come to my voice and command. They respond well, but I’m always concerned they could get too far ahead if the coon doesn’t tree right away. The dogs didn’t get that far, though, before they began bawling just up a ravine and over the bank. Once we cleared our way through the brush and scaled the ridge, we could see their lighted collars circling round and round. From a distance it looked like kids on the Fourth of July twirling sparklers. When we made it over to them the dogs were jumping up and down beside an old maple tree. Shining my light up the tree we spotted four glowing eyes about 70 feet up in the fork of a limb. Watching a coonhound attempt to climb a tree is always interesting. Coonhounds have very thick nails, and leg muscles and tendons that are extremely strong. They resemble a free-style rock climber scaling a wall, grabbing each small crevice that protrudes out far enough to support their weight as they inch their way up its face. The hounds usually don’t get very far up, unless there are branches for them to grab onto to pull themselves up. We leashed the dogs and praised them for their skill and perseverance. Just treeing the coons was good enough for us. It was a good hunt shared by all. I suppose that taking your spouse out for a “night on the woods” is not for everyone, but it works for us. There are times to do the night on the town thing, but going on a coon hunt date night is something you’ll both remember.

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Pennsylvania Game News - October 2010

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