Dale called & told me he had a hunt lined up at Gordy's. Picked him up around 7:30 & headed north. Wade was already there when we showed up. We had a one hour hunt for $5; Dale didn't have a dog so he was the judge...
We went to the approach on the south side of the curve for the first drop. Mabel struck, then Roy and a little while later Queen. They were in the swamp before too long, working in the same general areas but not really working together. I figured we would spend the entire hunt on this track. We were telling stories while they all trailed around, they sounded pretty nice tonight. I stopped listening to stories for a second 'cause it sounded like tree barking out there. Just then Wade treed Queen. I heard Mabel in there so I treed her too. Roy had been working off to the left of them but he didn't waste too much time checking them out & he treed with them right away. We walked out there & they had the coon. It only took twenty minutes for this one, it was one of the nicer tracks and trees I've had in quite a while.
We drove around for a while & finally dropped at the pothole behind Gordy's house. Roy struck pretty quick on the pothole, Mable struck a little later in the woods and then Queen kind of between them. None of them sounded like they had much to work with. Roy started treeing after a few minutes but Gordy didn't tree him. We started talking about the "dog treeing but not declared" rule. We all know there is an interpretation by UKC but we're still a little foggy about how to apply it. Gordy ended up treeing Roy, Queen came in and checked but didn't join him then Roy got quiet. Mabel was the only one barking now, just one bawl every two or three minutes. After a little while we heard Roy treeing, way out by the woods at the tree. Mable was just fumbling around the pothole, covering a lot of the general area but never putting anything together. Queen was out there with Roy treeing now, Gordy treed and then Wade.
On the way into the tree, Queen left, swung out into the corn and went back to treeing. Not much of an infraction but, we were standing in just the right place when it happened & she got "busted". It was a big tree in what looked like pasture.
We had a pretty good look at the whole tree & couldn't see a coon. We circled the tree even though I don't think there was a coon there. But... just the other night Mabel had treed out in a swamp on a much smaller tree than this. That coon never looked & I didn't think there was a coon there either. Just happened to catch sight of the body there. So with that fresh in my mind I didn't mind circling this tree, it was a pretty big tree.
We headed back to Mable; she was still just grubbing out a poor old track, bawling once every few minutes. I got lucky and she tried to cross the road right by me. We had all the dogs now and called it a night.
Mabel ended up with the cast win because Queen left that tree and swung out into the corn for a few seconds.
That first track was really nice but I would say the rest of the night was "sub par". I attribute this to the fact that it's been so dry in addition to the time of year. I figure in a few weeks we'll start popping up coons with style all over the place.
I'm a lucky guy to have friends that like to do the same things I do. Even though I was a little tired and the dog work wasn't real flashy, it's always a good time up at Gordy's. You just can't beat getting out for a few drops on a Saturday night.