This is topic Bandit tallies up four more bandits in forum Predator forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
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Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on December 16, 2006, 07:22 PM:
Matt and I were up bright and early this morning, ready to implement our new strategy of working the river bottoms for 'cats going one way for several miles, then flipping things around and calling den trees back to the truck. In theory, it sounds like a workable idea. In reality,... not so much.
We "put in", if you will, south of Abilene on the south side of the Smoky Hill River. Big trees and a big flat area of farm fields reported as being some of the most fertile farmground in the world. After five stands overlooking what appeared to be primo bobcat timbers, we had exactly nothing to show for, our trouble. We did have a coyote come busting in from behind us across a deep creek on ground we didn't have permission to hunt on but I couldn't get him to swim the creek to come on in. LOL
At about 10:30, I suggested that we cut to the chase, go to calling den trees and get some fur dead. Sounded easy. Again, not so much. Twenty-plus den trees, ten miles of river timber, and two hours later, we were still empty handed. On nearly the last little pocket of trees before we got back to the truck, we went into the trees to survey one prospective den tree only to find a hole in another with fur visible. We positioned, and turned on the bandit. Using kit chatters at first, he stirred but just tucked his head back down and out of sight. I cranked up the tempo to fighting sows and out he came. Out and up. Matt had my 12 gauge and one shot bounced him off the side of the hackberry tree and to the ground. Finally.
After some discussion, we decided to go check out a huge cottonwood tree we found last year that rarely fails to produce. A buddy of ours is deer hunting in the area and the coons are wreaking havoc on his feeders and trail cams, sometimes getting as many as 14 coons at a time in a picture! He wanted them cleaned out. After a rough ATV ride across a half mile of freshly disked milo stubble, we set up beneath the tree, me with the 12 and Matt with the .17HMR, and hit the button. It took most of a minute, but two heads popped out, one on either side of the tree. 'Coons!
I took the one on the left and Matt took the one right above us as we waited them out. Mine cooperated much sooner and came out with inspiration before disappearing behind the huge tree trunk. I held my ground and a few moments later, she reappeared and I could see the top half of her body alongside the tree. I aimed and fired. She swung out off the tree as the load of 00 buck took her from her right side and swung back onto a tree branch going out to the left. A second round of buckshot peeled her neatly off the branch and sent her flipping and flopping down into the dry creek channel beneath. The way she fell told me she wasn't quite DRT yet, so I jumped up and took off running. During all this, the other one came out and went back in after Matt got a piece of him with the HMR.
Meanwhile, down the creek, I was trying to get a bead on the bouncing fur ball as my coon bounded down the dry creek channel, skirting a water hole and disappeared into a bank hole. Damn!
I returned to where Matt was and we were both disgusted that we had two coons and managed to lose them both. Then, Mat (being young and, er, bold) offered to climb the tree and see if he could spot his coon in the hole. He did, and he did, and he shot it. Once assured it was dead, he held onto the tree and blindly reached around and into the hole where he grabbed the coon, pulled it out and threw it onto the ground. Looking into the hole, he found yet another coon, wounded from his pistol shots earlier to finish off its littermate. So, he shot that one to put it out and pulled it out as well, clearing the tree for good. (We still had one coon inside the tree that we could hear climbing and scratching, but it was inaccessible.) That was two.
Once on the ground, he offered to go gather up the one I shot and I never refuse a volunteer. Hahaha Gathering up a flashlight, a rope, some big sticks and a pistol, we went down the bank where Matt started enlarging the hole we thought the coon went into with a big stick. After a bit, we checked another nearby hole and found that it dead ended about three feet in. As luck would have it, so did the hole Matt was digging in. Then, he found a third hole, partially hidden by grass, and when he peered inside, there was my coon. Alive and pissed. (Oh, it gets better.)
Normally, we would let them go once they've found sanctuary, but again, the owner wants them cleared out and this one was wounded and needed to be out down.
AN hour later, Matt and that coon have gone round and round. Matt's boots are full of mud and cold water. Every time he touches the coon, it starts to dig in further and he tried valiantly to grab it by the tail and haul it out. Meanwhile, I stand high and dry on the creek bank, shotgun in hand, waiting for him to throw that coon out behind him so I can dispense the coop duh gracey to him. Ended up, I didn't have to. Matt managed to get her worked up enough that she would turn around and try to bite him. Pretty intense since Matt was pretty much stuck in that mud. One time, with the coon snarling in that hole, Matt tried to make his way up that embankment, all the while pleading with me to "Pull me up! Pull me up!" What a funny guy.
This pic shows Matt up to his elbows going hand to hand with that live coon in the hole. The bigger hole to his right is the one he initially enlarged.
And here's a pic of Matt with his hard earned coon, muddy and bloody. The coon's looking a bit rough too. What a crazy bastard.
People ask me what it takes to be my hunting partner. A willingness to do this kinda shit is a good start. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posted by The Bandit (Member # 960) on December 16, 2006, 10:17 PM:
WOW ! Nice story maybe you should write articles for a magazine or something ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
That is a very dedicated hunting partner you have there.
[ December 16, 2006, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: The Bandit ]
Posted by Andy L (Member # 642) on December 16, 2006, 11:24 PM:
Great story Lance. Sounds like some shit I get into. LOL
Hey, Ive been doing some coon calling. Mixed results so far. Got a few. Saw a few more. Had several that will sit with that bandit face in the hole and not come out. Good fun when they do though. Thanks for the tips.
Posted by The Bandit (Member # 960) on December 17, 2006, 03:25 AM:
quote:
Had several that will sit with that bandit face in the hole and not come out
I know what you mean sometimes they just don't come boiling out of the hole ready to kick some butt.
Crumblin Coons Intro
Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on December 17, 2006, 04:19 AM:
Andy,
Give it a few more weeks and things will really start to pick up as they get into their rut. When that gets here, you just can't beat it for good clean fun. LOL
Posted by Tim Behle (Member # 209) on December 17, 2006, 08:03 AM:
It amazes me how good of a responce that Lance gets in the daytime. When I was calling coons, day time stands generally got them to look at me from the safety of the dens, but they rarely came out until dark.
Sounds like you guys are having a great time!
Posted by varmit hunter (Member # 37) on December 17, 2006, 10:18 AM:
Lance. Have you given any thought to hand grenades?.
Posted by Tim Behle (Member # 209) on December 17, 2006, 10:34 AM:
Or even a hand gun?
One of these days, that kid is going to be big enough to kick your ass.
Now you are teaching him to out fight a coon.
Are you ready for what's coming down the road?
I hope that's going to be on a PPV video!
Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on December 17, 2006, 12:58 PM:
Oh, there were several times hewanted to give up and let the coon have the hole, but I just told him that nobody likes a quitter, quit being such a pussy and that no self-respecting man would ever let themsleves be bested by a silly little old coon. LOL And we did use a handgun - he had my .22 revolver in his hand most of the time he was in that hole.
I think he might not have followed thru had it not been for my cheerleading. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Posted by Andy L (Member # 642) on December 17, 2006, 01:04 PM:
Lance, I just got back from calling at least 20 den trees. River bottom, big trees, corn fields and tracks and shit everywhere. Nothing. Maybe in a couple weeks? I know they are in there big time. Always have been and lots of sign.
Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on December 17, 2006, 07:25 PM:
We hit some phenomenal country today. All virgin territory and, according to the landowner that lives right there, no one else had called it this year. And,... nada. Not even a coon. This is just one of those years. Maybe next weekend. One thing is always in the back of my mind - how quickly it can all turn around. Fingers crossed.
Posted by JoeF (Member # 228) on December 18, 2006, 10:22 AM:
Wildness.
Coon bites hurt like hell.
Cut yourself a 3-4ft chunk of barbed wire and a matching length of heater hose to make a scabbard. Insert said barbed wire in den, bend an "L" shaped handle in the wire, and twist until snug. It normally wraps a coon up tight and you can just pull him out. I've never tried it (and never will)with a live one.
Posted by smithers (Member # 646) on December 18, 2006, 06:03 PM:
The bite force of a raccoon is amazing. I had one cornered under my shed and tried to see if i could get it mad enough to come out. I gave it a good poke in the ribs with a piece of J-Channel. That raccoon latched onto the end and it took a pretty good bit of pulling to make it release. I then decided it wasn't worth losing a finger over and gave up.
Bandit, that's some great video.
Posted by Andy L (Member # 642) on December 18, 2006, 06:26 PM:
I used to run traps by canoe on local rivers. I was floating my line one morning, cold as hell, and had a coon in a dirt hole set along the edge of the water on a steep bank. I wore hip waders. All I could see of the coon was his nose stickin out of the water and I thought he had the chain hung on the bottom. In my brief moment of insanity, I thought I would save a bullet hole and drown it. So, I grabbed the back of his neck and pushed down. He wasnt hung on shit but my arm. He wrapped around my arm and it was one hell of a battle with me in the canoe full of animals and supplies, one foot trying to hold and steady on a mud bank to keep from turning over and shake this friggin coon loose.
Thank god Carharts are tough. It didt break the skin, but I can damn sure vouch for the strength and sharpness of coon teeth and claws. He was mad as hell.
I shot him.
Posted by smithers (Member # 646) on December 19, 2006, 04:53 PM:
House cats in foothold traps aren't very nice either. Never, and i mean ever! Under any circumstances think that a cat wants to be released, alive, from one.
Posted by keekee (Member # 465) on December 19, 2006, 09:30 PM:
CDog,
Shoot me a e-mail. I got some sounds for you to try on the coons and cats.
keescalls@keescalls.com
Brent
Posted by canine (Member # 687) on December 20, 2006, 08:51 PM:
That's a good one now Andy. But i'm sure at the time it wasn't funny.
I watched a dipshit release one bare handed when i was a kid trappin my grandads sweetcorn patch. This guy had on a t-shirt and grabbed the coon by the back of the neck just like you did and it tore his ass up. Put him in the hospital, repairing the shredded forearm. Tuff little grizzlies.
Edit. Congrats Lance on what sounds like a fun day with the kid.
JD
[ December 20, 2006, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: canine ]
Posted by Jrbhunter (Member # 459) on December 20, 2006, 11:06 PM:
I have 55 gallon steel drums in the barn with various amounts of corn and sweet feed in them. When they get down to 10-20% full a coon can get in for a snack but can't get out. I have reached in and grabbed 3 coon this way bare handed without incident... likewise I have been bitten by half a dozen conibears while tryin' to trap coon.
Oh the irony. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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