Calling Coon

[stickbowhntr]

was hoping to get out this week but this cold snap put it on hold, this sounds like fun got all punped up last few weeks and finally got the time now but weather has things here on hold......may try anyway as need to do somne calling anyway .

[motrapperjohn]

the weather shouldnt be a factor in this type of calling.

[robertw]

The weather IS a factor in this type of calling. The cold blustery days when it is really rough outside is very hard to call coons in.

Todays weather was just right. I took my brother (home from Quatar) and we called and killed 12 today.

[cdog911]

I don't know, Bob. Last Sunday, I had some time to kill before meeting a friend from Oregon who is back here to hunt deer, so I decided to call a few coons. The temps were right at about 34, 30 mph north winds put the windchills at OMG cold, and I got four coons from the five den trees I called in about thirty minutes. I've never been big about trying to casll coons after they're denned up and have always said that they won't respond worth dink once the temps fall below 30, but then I had a guy correct me (and I was okay with that) when he showed a handful of dead coons he'd killed in MN where temps had been in the single digits for more than a week. Your experience is, of course, very valid and I can't argue with what you've personally seen, but where I hunt, I've called coons on days when the conditions were so bad you couldn't get a coyote or bobcat to stick his head up.

Having said that, I think that if you experience a sudden drop in temps, like that seen with a strong cold front and blustery, stormy weather, I've seen where the drastic sudden change will lock them down for a day or two, but if the change is gradual, over a couple days, or the weather holds for a time, say several days, it doesn't seem to be that difficult to get one out of the tree. Either because they've had the chance to acclimate to the weather change, or they're just plain looking fro something to do, and a good fight is as good as anything.

[motrapperjohn]

Got a new caller and went out today and called 5 dens, had one stick his head out twice (caller in front of den hole) and moved to another tree 100 yards away and had 3 bail out and got 2 of those. Next time I will carry more shells. One of them I would have been better off with a hammer, He came running right down the log I was sitting behind.

[cdog911]

Understand why we like calling them now? LOL

[JakeLeg]

Went out for an hour or so last Sunday before daughters birthday party and shot a few.

[motrapperjohn]

Killed 5 more yesterday, seen several more that wouldnt come out.

[cdog911]

We spent the day focusing on coons only because of 35-40 mph winds, and temps that fell from 39 when we started at 8 am this morning to 11 degrees when we quit this afternoon.

Although responses did slow noticeably when the temps got below 25, we did still manage to kill three of these twelve coons although the temperature had fallen to under 15 with a windchill a good thirty degrees colder than that.

[RiverRat]

Ok I am hearing coon fighting and coon puppies in the day time whats your preference ?

I just downloaded some western rivers coon sounds , they were very WEAK . They might work dont know never tried them but after being around and raising several coons, I was not impressed with the quality.

Any of you use mouth calls ? All of this high tech -high dollar stuff reminds me of when I use to kill alot of crows in the spring , I found the best call to be a screaming crow under my foot. Them dang things would dive bomb you. Of course a good mouth call owl decoy and some black cloth got the game started.

[cdog911]

I use the Minaska sounds, and even if you don't have a Minaska caller, you can still buy their CD with those sounds. My sequence is Kit distress followed by Sow fighting over babies alternating with some Agitated Boar.

I've never tried hand calls but wold presume they would work. Having said that, I always note the safety factor as coons responding to the call are coming to a fight and to attack. You'll hold your own as long as you only have one coming in, but the first time you have a double or better closing on you, that call in your mouth might seem like a less than stellar idea. LOL I do know guys who have been gotten hold of by a mob of angry coons and they assured me it was disconcerting, at the very least. Maybe pinning a live one to the ground under your boot might work, too.

[Bristleback]

Shotguns?

[RiverRat]

Dec 15, 2008 9:41:53 GMT -6 Bristleback said:

Shotguns?

Thats what I thought , good way to ruin a pelt IMHO

[Bristleback]

.........you called in all 12? 3 after the temps dropped way down?

RR, the way you put up fur......I'm betting you're good with the ol needle and thread......and flip some coon fat over it..........."blend it".......

[RiverRat]

Dec 15, 2008 12:05:47 GMT -6 Bristleback said:

RR, the way you put up fur......I'm betting you're good with the ol needle and thread......and flip some coon fat over it..........."blend it".......

LOL I was just talking to a guy in my shop about blending

[cdog911]

Yep, shotguns. My fur buyer doesn't mind at all. No big holes, just little ones, and far better than a coon that's been wooled over by a cast of hounds.

Anyone whose called coons in the daytime knows that they come hard and fast most times. You're at point blank range with the set up and tracking a charging coon with a .22WMR or .17HMR is all but very, very difficult, especially when you're looking up through lots o' branches and brush. Of these twelve, only about three would have died if we limited ourselves to one projectile at a time. LOL

I guess if you wanna stick with a rifle, you can do like my gunner did yesterday and request a special trip back to town to get the scattergun since I was outkilling him 5:1.

[Bristleback]

Understand.......

so you called all 12 in then? 3 after it turned cold?

Curious, what are you using for "shot".........BB, 1BK, 4 BK?

[cdog911]

I use #4 buckshot in 3-inch magnums, whether I have the shotgun on a coyote stand, or we're calling coons. I don't like 00 buckshot at all, and have never used #1 buck. My gun is a Mossy 835 with a modified tube to replace the factory ulti-full choke. Way too close to send a column of lead that tight into a coon. Pelt damage is limited to a couple dozen tiny holes with no blowouts. But, get inside and the entire abdomen and chest are hamburger and most coons, if not blown right out of the tree, will clamp down, then abruptly peel off like Wile E Coyote peeling off a cliff wall. Last season, my gunner was to the right and I planted one on the side of a large cottonwood. It did the grab and hold thing for about three seconds before peeling off and my partner started laughing. When I asked him what was so funny, he said that after impact, that coon started sprouting fountains of blood out every hole and he looked like a raccoon lawn sprinkler. Doesn't take them long to bleed out when that happens.

[collins]

Been reading how you guys do this, It's been 20 degrees and we have two feet of snow. It warmed up a little today and I firgured I would give this a try with my foxpro. First two dens produced coon. Unbeleivable.

Thanks for all the info!

[cdog911]

And your first thought, just before, "SHOOT!", was, "Holy crap! This really works!!!"