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For coon hunters

Raccoon hunting in Galion, Ohio during college days (actually nights) was a hoot. I’ve never run so far, so fast than when trailing after hound doggies. Quintessential ‘farm truck’ three of us in cab (no dual cabs then) with two hounds, and more dogs in the truck bed howl’ing and yowling. Floor rotting through, sparks from a dragging exhaust pipe, guns, spot lights. Everyone needs to try it at least once! Running in the woods from sun down to 6AM. Fantastic. I’ll never forget that experience. Thanks to the Denman Brothers!
 
Raccoon hunting in Galion, Ohio during college days (actually nights) was a hoot. I’ve never run so far, so fast than when trailing after hound doggies. Quintessential ‘farm truck’ three of us in cab (no dual cabs then) with two hounds, and more dogs in the truck bed howl’ing and yowling. Floor rotting through, sparks from a dragging exhaust pipe, guns, spot lights. Everyone needs to try it at least once! Running in the woods from sun down to 6AM. Fantastic. I’ll never forget that experience. Thanks to the Denman Brothers!
Nobody livin' any better than you...
 
Those are some big ass coons guys! I’ve never seen one that big in Louisiana, but then I haven’t been coon hunting for quite a while either. I remember running them with my dad and his dogs. Great times they were indeed!
 
My family runs pecan orchards and cattle on some decent sized acreage in Texas; we also happen to lease to deer hunters etc., so there's a constant year round supply of corn, protein, livestock feed, or pecans for them (depending on the time of year).

I wouldn't classify it as "hunting, more "systematic eradication", but I've probably shot a few thousand of them over the course of my life (used to go spotlight for them almost every weekend in highschool), and a few of them have been absolute monster coons. I'd guess the biggest ones got as big as ~30-40lbs; think as big as a medium size dog. That's not to say these were common, but they were absolutely out there.

If you don't keep them under hunting/trapping pressure for a while, they can get huge. It's a lot like any other animal population out there; probably be a lot of 170+ class bucks running around if they procreated at the rate coons do, and didn't have any hunting pressure.

Best to get after them when grasses are lower/grazed, and the trees don't have so much foliage. In a pasture that hasn't seen pressure, under the right conditions, you can spotlight rows of pecan trees and see 10-20 pairs of eyes glowing back at you. I can recall a few nights where "we just got tired of killing em"; stopped counting at the 50 mark, and stopped hunting/killing em an hour or so after hitting 50.

Also, centerfires work best; the 22lrs don't kill them all that well.
 
This my coonhound, got him in 74 when I was 14. That dog loved to hunt, he was a rough Character, still have my wheat light too.

Most folks on this forum probably don't know what a Wheat light is...I carried one for many years back when they were all we had. First in a mine and always when coon hunting. You had to drag one around half the night {or thru a 7 hour shift} to realize how lucky we are to have the technology today. For those that aren't familiar with a Kohler Wheat light, it's a 4 volt, deep cycle, lead acid, wet cell battery that was worn on your belt and weights quite a bit. probably 4 pounds or more...now consider the LED lights and lithium ion batteries of today. The one I hunt with now is way brighter than a big cigarette lighter jack light, but the battery is the size and weight of a pack of cigarettes!!!
My brother-in-law has trail camera pictures of a very dark "black" coon {they are beautiful} on his farm. This thing is so dark you can just barely make out faint rings on his tail. Definitely on my "to do" list come December when the hides are prime. They just don't get that big around here. Biggest I've killed might have been right at 20 pounds.
 

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