- Joined
- Jan 22, 2009
- Messages
- 1,114
Tonight at work I looked through a thread started by Indian George named"coon hunter" and it brought back some font memories of growing up. I was a coon hunter most for my life along with my father and grandfather. I can remember swimming creeks, getting cotton mouths wrapped aroung my legs and hearing rattlesnakes rattlin in the dark of night while trying to find our dogs. I have some stories about coon hunting that could seriously be made into a book,LOL.... People falling into wells, just all kinds of crazy things that at the time seemed normal? but one story has always stuck into my memory and its the story of Louis and Lady.
Now my father lived coon hunting, he had 3 grand night dogs, over 400 trophys, most of them first place. Now when I was little I would go out into the shed where they where all piled up and steal the bottoms off of them to sharpen knives on. It was some kind of marble and I could sharpen the hell out of a knife on them. On day I got caught out there and my father just laughed, he didnt mind me taking them apart except for one, and it was this huge trophy, it looked like it was 6 foot tall. Now when we got to talking about dogs he would always tell me " Out of every hundred dogs that become good coon dogs theirs always one thats a notch above the rest, that one dog is perfection.He told me he only ever had one like that and her name was Lady.
Lady was the runt of her litter, shunned away from her mother when she was young because their where to many born. The previous owner had lady till she was a year old and swore she would never become anything other than a deer dog. Now my Father was a trading kind of guy. He went hunting with Lady one night and she wouldnt even get out of the dog box and the owner traded her to my father for a 22 rifle, I believe. My Grandfather had a fit!!! He got all over my dad for trading a good gun for a dog that wouldnt even tree a coon, but all the while my father protested she would be a good dog. He often told me he could see something in her that he never seen in another coon dog,So Lady became his project, He worked with her day in and day out, every day after school he would train her and ever single night they would go hunting. Lady also slept in the house from what I was told and was treated just like a member of the family. SO after months and months of training my father asked my Grandfather to go hunting one night with him. I remember my grandfather telling me that Ladys bark was the damnest thing he ever heard, " She would yelp running and when she sit on the tree she would howl like a damn train",LOL so as time went on Lady became a amazing coon dog and her and my father would soon find out just how good she was.
In 1979 my father loaded up to go to the state championship coon hunt in Opp Alabama. My grandfather didnt think it was a good idea because my dad was young and Lady was new on the tree as they would call it and was pregnant. Now Lady had won a bunch of trophys and had a lot of points but had never been in competetion with Champions, but my father went anyways and walking out the door told my Grandfather he would be bringing back a 6 foot trophy,LOL So they made it to Opp, in and old run down Jeep without a dog box and a little tent to sleep in all weekend, and something I will always remember my Father telling me was he felt akward around all those Big money hunters down their. Of course they looked at Lady and she was a very small black and tan, they didnt have a big nice outfit or even a box for Lady. SO they waited and pushed through all the snickering and the night of the hunt my Dad looked down at Lady and said" lets show them what were made of" and she took off like she was running through 40 acres of hell, treeing coon left and right. My dad said after it was all over the striker told him he was glad it was done because he was tired of stricking his dog,LOL Lady beat every dog their by along shot, I cant remember the exact number of coons she treed but it was very high. After the hunt he stood in front off champions holding his first place trophy.SO He did come back with that big trophy and he was offered aloy of money for Lady but never sold her. When she got old she still had her bed right beside my dads and when she passed he never went to another hunt. He told me once you have witnessed perfection in a coon dog you have seen exactly what you looked for all those nights of hunting and after Lady died he thrill went with her.I figured if I could put into knife making what they put into coon hunting I might just do alright,LOL Anyways I hope you enjoyed this little story, I have found it insperational when sometimes I think about a little dog that was stamped worthless that became the best in the state at was she done, Louis was my Father and Lady the State Champion Coon Dog was his dog, Godbless Charlie
Now my father lived coon hunting, he had 3 grand night dogs, over 400 trophys, most of them first place. Now when I was little I would go out into the shed where they where all piled up and steal the bottoms off of them to sharpen knives on. It was some kind of marble and I could sharpen the hell out of a knife on them. On day I got caught out there and my father just laughed, he didnt mind me taking them apart except for one, and it was this huge trophy, it looked like it was 6 foot tall. Now when we got to talking about dogs he would always tell me " Out of every hundred dogs that become good coon dogs theirs always one thats a notch above the rest, that one dog is perfection.He told me he only ever had one like that and her name was Lady.
Lady was the runt of her litter, shunned away from her mother when she was young because their where to many born. The previous owner had lady till she was a year old and swore she would never become anything other than a deer dog. Now my Father was a trading kind of guy. He went hunting with Lady one night and she wouldnt even get out of the dog box and the owner traded her to my father for a 22 rifle, I believe. My Grandfather had a fit!!! He got all over my dad for trading a good gun for a dog that wouldnt even tree a coon, but all the while my father protested she would be a good dog. He often told me he could see something in her that he never seen in another coon dog,So Lady became his project, He worked with her day in and day out, every day after school he would train her and ever single night they would go hunting. Lady also slept in the house from what I was told and was treated just like a member of the family. SO after months and months of training my father asked my Grandfather to go hunting one night with him. I remember my grandfather telling me that Ladys bark was the damnest thing he ever heard, " She would yelp running and when she sit on the tree she would howl like a damn train",LOL so as time went on Lady became a amazing coon dog and her and my father would soon find out just how good she was.
In 1979 my father loaded up to go to the state championship coon hunt in Opp Alabama. My grandfather didnt think it was a good idea because my dad was young and Lady was new on the tree as they would call it and was pregnant. Now Lady had won a bunch of trophys and had a lot of points but had never been in competetion with Champions, but my father went anyways and walking out the door told my Grandfather he would be bringing back a 6 foot trophy,LOL So they made it to Opp, in and old run down Jeep without a dog box and a little tent to sleep in all weekend, and something I will always remember my Father telling me was he felt akward around all those Big money hunters down their. Of course they looked at Lady and she was a very small black and tan, they didnt have a big nice outfit or even a box for Lady. SO they waited and pushed through all the snickering and the night of the hunt my Dad looked down at Lady and said" lets show them what were made of" and she took off like she was running through 40 acres of hell, treeing coon left and right. My dad said after it was all over the striker told him he was glad it was done because he was tired of stricking his dog,LOL Lady beat every dog their by along shot, I cant remember the exact number of coons she treed but it was very high. After the hunt he stood in front off champions holding his first place trophy.SO He did come back with that big trophy and he was offered aloy of money for Lady but never sold her. When she got old she still had her bed right beside my dads and when she passed he never went to another hunt. He told me once you have witnessed perfection in a coon dog you have seen exactly what you looked for all those nights of hunting and after Lady died he thrill went with her.I figured if I could put into knife making what they put into coon hunting I might just do alright,LOL Anyways I hope you enjoyed this little story, I have found it insperational when sometimes I think about a little dog that was stamped worthless that became the best in the state at was she done, Louis was my Father and Lady the State Champion Coon Dog was his dog, Godbless Charlie
