A NIGHT HUNT
A coon hunt is always interesting to me. Just as soon as night
approaches and you call old Stump, who has lost the tip of his tail in a
battle royal, he pricks up his ears, begins to whine, and seems to know
that the boys are out for a coon hunt. As you approach to loosen the
snap that ties him to the kennel he begins to wag what is left of his
tail and seems to say, "Boys, I'm happy to be with you to-night!" The
wrinkles in his face twitch as the excitement grows. His face and head
indicate that he has been in many a coon fight. On one occasion he
tracked a ground-hog into its hole underneath an uprooted tree. Being
then of tender years and lacking experience, as the ground-hog came out,
Stump made a grab and at the same time the ground-hog snapped Stump by
the nose and held on like grim death. It took the combined efforts of
men and dogs to separate them. Finally in the mix-up Stump made one
desperate struggle to get away and lost the tip of his nose. Thus with
the two tips gone Stump entered the arena as a full-fledged--shall we
say?--and experienced coon dog.
[Illustration: The Hunting Party]
We gather at the country farm, boys and girls ready for the outing.
Stump, Fan, and Towser all are anxious for a night out working the
ravines and watercourses. Lanterns and "pit-lamps" are shining brightly
as we start across the meadow. The dogs disappear in the darkness. The
fireflies flash here and there as though to light our way across the
fields. One of the party, and by the way a fair one, steps into a pool
of running water and the night air is pierced--in fact, sadly rent--by
the shrill screams of the miss, for this is her first experience
"trekking" in the dark. As we approach the woods the weirdness of the
scene is enchanting. Shadows play on the trees and leaves, as though in
imagination one were transplanted into some fairy-land. Away off among
the timber the great horned owl can be heard calling to its mate, "Waugh
ho! waugh ho!" just before it makes an excursion into the fields in
search of some hapless rabbit or bird. The crickets are fiddling away,
making music for their mates while they gather blades of grass for their
burrow.
Presently our eager ears catch the low grunt of a dog as he gets the
first whiff of the trail, not fresh, but spent. By the reflected light
we see Towser wag his tail, slowly at first, but as the scent gets
warmer the tail wags more vigorously. Soon one long, loud wail resounds
in the stillness of the night and ere the echo dies away in the distance
it is repeated, and we know the chase is on. Everybody runs toward the
sound. The quarry has taken to the tree and the dogs bay up, but before
the party reaches the scene of action the dogs are off again. They find
the trail where the coon has followed a grapevine for some distance,
taken the ground again, and "put one over" on the old dog. After
considerable delay the dog finds his mistake, picks up the scent and
away he goes, and directly, on the other side of the ridge, bays up.
Then the party goes pell-mell in that direction. And so the hunt
proceeds, now here, now there, up hill and across ravine, until at last
the coon is treed, and the dogs by their change of voice tell the news
and summon the party, which arrives in installments, out of breath, at
the foot of the tree where the dogs are panting after their long chase.
Every one is eager for the finish. The tree-climber of the party takes
off his coat, hat, and shoes and begins the ascent to shake Mister Coon
from the tree. A shout comes from the tree-top, "Here he is; look out
below!" then follows a shake or two and a large house cat disappears
into the darkness before the dogs can take hold. When the cat came down
it alighted on all fours near the girls, and what with the girls
screaming, the dogs barking, and the cat spitting, night was made
hideous. We soon called the dogs off and "hied" them on for a fresh
trail.
By and by the dogs took another hot scent. Down the hill, clambering
over a stake and rider fence,--a ruse which for a moment confused the
dogs,--then across a cornfield to the creek went the coon with the dogs
in hot pursuit; he followed the course of the creek for several rods,
then dashed through at the shallows and bid fair to make good his escape
to the woods beyond. But old Stump had been through that maneuver
before; the rest of the dogs knew it and followed him over to the other
bank, up the hill, under the cliff, and erelong bayed up. Following as
fast as possible over and under dead trees, a jump of several feet over
an embankment, a slide of several feet more, a brief climb and we
reached the dogs, who, excitedly voicing their triumph, formed a circle
around the tree as though appealing to us for action.
The night was dark and just such a night as was well suited for
"shining" the eyes of the coon. Lying flat on the ground and staring
into every part of the tree, I finally descried two objects shining like
stars near together in the zenith. We knew they were the eyes of the
treed coon. Calling the dogs we prepared to photograph them and the coon
in the mix-up. Setting up the kodak about twenty feet from the spot
where we figured the coon would drop from the tree, we fixed the pan
for the flash, loading it with an ounce of flash-light powder. One of
the party held the dogs and another lighted Roman candles and shot them
towards the coon. Thus we had the artist at the kodak, the man in charge
of the flash at the pan, the coon hunters holding the dogs, and one of
Payne's pyrotechnic men setting off the fireworks. The combination was
too much for the coon. About that time the big dog began to jerk at his
chain, and the pit-lamp in the hands of the man who held him registered
on the exposed sensitive film a sort of stylographic record of the
efforts of the dog to get at the coon as soon as the latter landed on
the ground. As the coon dropped we set the flash off, and caught both
the dog and coon about the time they came together at the very spot on
which we had focused the lens.
The chase ended, the quarry caught, we straggled back over the hills to
the distant trolley line, as Orion rose high toward the zenith. A few
hours more, and the eastern sky would grow gray. Tired, but happy, we
jogged along, most of us in silence, for about that time in the morning
after a coon hunt, the songs and jokes of the early evening are stale,
and our spirits, with the night, are on the wane. Like an exploded
skyrocket, we are getting back again to earth as fast as we can after
our excursion into the realm of darkness.
[Illustration: Dog and Coon in the Mix-up
Note the forefoot of the coon between the dog's hind legs; his banded
tail to the right of the dog's right forefoot. The zig-zag line in front
of the man at the left indicates the movement of his hand in which was a
pit-lamp and the end of the dog's chain just prior to the flash.]
Another denizen of the woods is frequently interrupted in his night
prowlings by the dogs hunting for coon. I refer to the oppossum, who is
himself frequently the object of the quest. In the Southern States the
negroes are very fond of hunting for 'possum. A successful hunt means a
good dinner, the _pièce-de-résistance_ being the trophy of the chase
stuffed with sweet potatoes. Roasted and served as only an old "mammy"
can roast and serve it, 'possum defies comparison. Perhaps roast
suckling-pig comes the nearest, but even this lacks the flavor of the
woods. We are used to thinking of the 'possum as a lethargic animal, but
that is only when he is "playing 'possum." He is really quite agile, and
when treed by the dogs, furnishes no end of excitement by climbing, not
into the tops of the trees, as does the coon, but merely far enough to
be safe from his pursuers. I have yet in anticipation the pleasure of
obtaining a flash-light of the hounds on their hind legs, pawing and
clawing at a tree on which, just beyond their reach, the 'possum lies
stretched indifferently on a horizontal limb. One really ought to have a
dictagraph, so that when the picture is thrown on the screen, it may be
with the appropriate accompaniment of the baying and barking of the
hounds and the shouts of the hunters.
The little animal is very prolific and rears several families in a
season. How interesting it is to watch the antics of the young clinging
to the mother when disturbed! I have known cases where an old 'possum,
presumably alone, was shaken out of a tree, and as she fell, strange,
plaintive cries were heard on all sides. The rays of the lantern
disclosed perhaps a dozen young 'possums, who had been ruthlessly
dislodged from the pouch or marsupium of the mother as she struck the
ground. On such an occasion, if the parent is allowed an opportunity,
she will gather up the young and hunt cover.
There is something quite comfortable and clinging about the young
'possums and their mother (Frontispiece). The little fellows are very
roguish in their ways, and I have no doubt would in time become
friendly. The 'possum has very sharp teeth, and can do good execution
upon occasion, but as a general rule he may be said to have a "retiring"
disposition.