I keep waiting for decent weather & being disappointed. Looks like Thursday night might finally be cool. I think I'll take Friday off so I can hunt late on Thursday.
Oh well, my new lighted collars were delivered today. I'll feel better about taking Nitro down to the river now. I'll have to check out the river this weekend for sure. When the coons are hitting the corn it won't matter what the temp is.
I've been laying low because of the hot weather. Dale called & wanted to hunt & I was ready to get out even though it still hasn't cooled off. We went to the Sand Dunes and sent Ruby, Nitro and the red pup in. Nitro struck and grubbed around a little then Ruby joined in. RUby located after a while & they both settled in. It was a big old hollow tree that Dale said he's treed on a few times before. We didn't see the coon a after a couple of minutes so we pulled them off. It could have easily been there but I didn't want to let them get all lathered up in the heat while we shined around. We moved and sent them all in along a lake. They opened and were running a pretty nice track. By the time we realized it was probably too good they were ready to quit it. Nitro came back first and Ruby a little later. I had the collars on both of them but it was one of those tracks that you don't know is junk until after the fact. Anyway, we're taking the Sand Dunes off the rotation until fall. It's too hard to control young dogs up there in the summer. If that had happened at the vegetable garden I'd probably have had a better idea what they were running.
Oh well, looks like the weather will get better Wednesday. I think I'll sit home a couple more nights and then hit the vegetable garden. Friday or Saturday I'll go down to the river and start looking for those early coons. With a little luck Nitro will be ready for the RQE in July. I'd sure like to get him qualified.
My father-in-law caught a coon at his bird feeder so I took it up to the kids. We let it loose and then sent Pearl and Roy after it. Roy treed after a while but Pearl was still out. She located after a while about 15 yards away. She was a little confused by Roy, so she didn't bark much even though she had the coon. I got Roy off his tree and sent him to Pearl. She started hammering then. Very nice job by Pearl. Roy just can't seem to figure it out in the summertime. He's OK in the fall and spring but really falls apart beginning around May each year. Just another reason it's nice to have Nitro to hunt through the summer this year.
Paul came up & we went to the vegetable garden. We sent Nitro north along the ditch & he kind of ambled out tonight. Lucky for him he didn't have to go to far to strike. It was a nice race, maybe 5 minutes. He hit the tree and started hammering pretty good. It was warm so we got in there, he had the coon. Leading him back to the truck he started pulling, he wanted to get in the ditch and wallow around in the water because he was hot.
We went to the schoolhouse & he struck right on the road but I can't let a dog go there. We walked him back to the north and sent him into the big woods. He swung wide & west & struck fairly deep. We walked to him and caught him as he was grubbing south along the big drive. When we got back to the truck he struck on the road again, too bad we couldn't let him run that one.
Paul left the easy entry card so if a nice hunt comes up I'll be able to take Nitro. I'd forgotten what Paul named him. Around here I let the kids name pups & I just remember him as Mr. Freckles. Now I see Paul kept the kennel name.
NT CH Credit River Nocturnal Nitro. Kind of nice to see the old Credit River kennel name still hanging around on a nice dog like this.
I had a coon so I thought I'd go to the vegetable garden and restock. I picked up Pete on the way. I sent it north and it ran in a straight line just where I wanted. I waited a few minutes & then sent Duke, waited, sent Josie, waited & sent Nitro. They were racing around and then got quiet. What I didn't know was that a wall of grass in the shape of a horseshoe had grown up at the end of the field. Before I knew it the dog had picked up the trail but they were southeast now and heading right for Georges place. I ran back to the truck a, backed out and headed for his place. I stopped at the end of his driveway and got out. Darn, the dogs had blown through his place, made hook and were southwest of me & screaming around Dougs place. I hopped back in the truck and headed back and took a turn on the Easy Spot road. I was able to nab Nitro & then Josie as they tried to cross the road & get into Earls. Duke was straggling a little so I drove away. There on the road Pete was by Dougs. He caught Duke following the truck. I would have liked to let them work this out but they were right in the middle of all the houses. Well, at least they got their exercise & Pete got a good laugh watching me fumble around. I guess I increased the population too.
Took Nitro up to Ben Barthel's again Tuesday.
We sent the dogs in and Nitro struck on a pond.
He was having to grub through the thick grass but he was still moving pretty well.
Ben's dog got in there ran a little behind Nitro and then treed.
Nitro didn't really tree but he couldn't get out of there & he finally did tree as we got close.
It was slick, I yelled at Nitro & he left and Ben led his dog off.
Ben sent his dog to the left and Nitro swung to the right.
Ben's dog snagged a coon down the treeline while Nitro was grubbing around out in the swamp grass.
Nitro's a pretty good dog, but so is Ben's.
So we had a good time & now we're even.
The weather looked a little better so I thought I'd give it a try tonight. Ben Barthel called with the same idea. I really wanted to hunt up there with Ben. His dog is pretty good and he has a lot of coons in his spots. We let the dogs loose in a WMA. Nitro swung to the left and Ben's dog went right. Nitro struck deep. It sounded like he hit the track on the run. He was opening nice, moving fast about 100 yards and opening again. It didn't take long and he laid into a tree. He treed hard and loud. I was thinking to myself "WOW!". Ben's dog got in there and backed him. It took a while to find the coon, it was there but it never did look. As soon as Ben saw the coon he went in and started petting Nitro. Ben's doesn't care who's dog it is, when they are good he like's them. It was Sunday night so we called it a night. I had a couple of bad nights last week so I was very happy with Nitro's performance tonight. Seeing him attack an area like this makes me glad I decided to hunt him this summer.
Waited till about 11 and went to the vegetable garden. I walked Nitro past the first woods and sent him north along the ditch. He struck after a few minutes and grubbed around in the second woods. He turned around and took the track back to the first woods. I let him work for a while but when it looked like he was going to have to cross the road I caught him.
I wanted to let him work so I went to the school house and sent him in. He got out about 1/2 a mile and struck. I could tell it was a tough old track. I walked about halfway to him and then stopped and stood for a while. The temperature and humidity had shot up. Just standing there I was getting soaked in sweat. I finally walked the rest of the way to him and leashed him up.
We worked on "leading" the rest of the way out. He doesn't like it but he seems like he's finally resigned to walking behind me.
It's hot, humid and stormy.
I'll take a break for a couple of days.
I met with Dale and Mark & we went up to the Sand Dunes. We sent Nitro, Ruby and the red pup in by a pothole. It was warm & had that stale air feel just before a storm moves in. Ruby struck after a while & ran a little track up the ridge. When she made a loop I was pretty certain she was running a fox. I walked in and found Nitro before he had a chance to join the race. Without any help, Ruby just quit it after a few minutes. We made another drop on a new pothole. The humidity had gone up noticeably in just the past 1/2 hour. Ruby struck and Nitro joined in. It sounded like a tough track. I was expecting a long run but Nitro located and treed after about 5 minutes. Ruby checked the area & couldn't take a track away so she joined Nitro on the tree. I didn't see a coon. It was leafy & had a little hole but I think it was really just a screw-up by the dogs. I would have liked to send them on but the Sand Dunes is a big bad place. I figured I'd just take my licks tonight and move on.
I guess it's time to get more discriminating with Nitro around trees. This is certainly nothing serious yet but... if let go it doesn't take long to ruin a dog.
Fixing things like this is what will separate a dog from the rest of the pack. Roy would be a top dog except for slick trees. I think lack of intelligence is why I haven't been able to break him off of slick trees. I can see in his eyes that he doesn't understand what I want. On the other hand Mabel was very easy to break off of slick treeing. She knew after only one lesson what I meant. Nitro isn't as smart as Mabel but he's smarter than Roy. I suspect he'll get the message.
Summer is in full swing tonight. Hot, humiod and the bugs are out.
Went to the vegetable garden about 11:00 and sent Nitro north along the ditch. He hunted out in a lazy manner for him but still got out about 1/3 of a mile in a few minutes and struck. He was grubbing on the ditch and heading west. I let him work for a while but decided to catch him before he went too far in that direction. I don't like them getting up by the road when they go that way. I walked him back to the east and sent him up the other branch of the ditch. He went in about 1/4 mile and opened up on a tree. He didn't sound 100% & checked around but came back to the tree. It was 50/50, I've treed on this exact tree a bunch and had the coon. The leaves are thick now, I didn't see the coon right away. I didn't want to spend time shining and I didn't want to send him out again.
I'd like to start making him hunt away from trees. I wish there were more coons around so I could have more confidence that a dog will be able to find a second track. Guess I'll just have to pace myself until the river is ready.