Late season surprises

Toad

Toad

Active member
Late season adventure!

Got permission to hunt some good looking quail cover this morning, so the dogs and I were there before sunrise. I was very optimistic because the farmer had reported seeing quail in this field earlier in the week.

It was 20 degrees, and the moisture from the creek had coated everything in a heavy frost, giving it the appearance of flocked Christmas trees. It was lovely.

1/4 mile into the hunt, Junie locks up on point and I head that direction hoping to see my first covey of the day. But it was not a covey of quail.

Instead, I walked up on a very large, very pissed off raccoon that was puffed up and posturing at us.

Side note: if you ever find yourself in this situation, the best choice would be to run in the opposite direction excitedly calling your dog and hope she follows. The second best option would be to level your shotgun and blow it's head off with no hesitation at all and keep walking like nothing happened...

Sadly, I did neither. I DID stand there like a dumbass, staring at the raccoon and thinking, "oh shit, this could be bad." And I was right. It was bad...

First, shockingly, Junie jumped on top of the very large raccoon and they started rolling. If you can visualize one of those inflatable exercise balls going round and round in a revolving door, you pretty much have the picture. At this point I really wanted to blow it away, but there was no safe shot. After a few good rolls, they released each other for a second, but didn't separate enough for a safe shot.

At this point, Daisy thought, "you all suck at wrestling, watch this!" And she grabbed the raccoon by the ass and started swinging it around.

Raccoons can double-back on their bodies very tightly, so within seconds the raccoon was clawing and biting back. Daisy, being the badass she is, refused to let go, and retrieved the raccoon to me, whining and howling the whole way.

Since the raccoon is still in her mouth, I still can't shoot it, so I did what any genius would do... I stepped on it.

Daisy let go and both dogs eased back, and I realized I was now standing on an angry raccoon. The raccoon, very wild with fury at this point, started (shockingly) biting my boot and pant leg while thrashing around violently.

Then I kicked my leg forward, flipping it a few yards ahead of us where it stood, sizing us up for a second tumble. At that point, I fired the gun in a dog-safe direction, and the raccoon, realizing he had been defeated, turned and ran off.

I checked my leg and thoroughly checked both dogs... Not a single scratch or puncture! So we resumed our hunt.

Within 40 yards, junie came racing back to me, and daisy was up ahead crying like I've never heard a dog cry.

I ran up to find her caught around the muzzle in a fur trapper's steel cable snare! I freed her, once again without injury and we pressed on for another mile and a half.

At that point, the dogs got birdy again, and I started to smell the warning shots of a skunk in the brush ahead.

"Fuggit, we're outta here!" You gotta know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. :laugh:

And that's my quail hunting adventure for today. Summary: 0 quail, but at least no harm done. :laugh:
 
The Trifecta!

Raccoon, cable trap, and skunk warnings...that would make an active season, much less a short morning. :)

Congratulations on coming out intact, but...that stepping on an angry raccoon business...might want to re-think that move.


Glad you guys got out ok.

:thumbsup:
 
Wow! Not only is that an incredible string of bad luck, that's an incredible string of good luck. :D
 
Haven't had a coon encounter but now I know what to do. Good post.

A few weeks ago while hunting alone we came across a big bobcat in a wire snare. My dog went over to it but somehow came away unscathed - except I noticed later that the long feathers on his tail stub were gone. Got lucky that my dog was not hurt.

My gone brit grabbed a porcupine once which necessitated a trip to the vet. My current brit pointed a porcupine but I got him away without contact.
 
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Quail 1 - Toad 0

Toad said:
Late season adventure!

Got permission to hunt some good looking quail cover this morning, so the dogs and I were there before sunrise. I was very optimistic because the farmer had reported seeing quail in this field earlier in the week.

It was 20 degrees, and the moisture from the creek had coated everything in a heavy frost, giving it the appearance of flocked Christmas trees. It was lovely.

1/4 mile into the hunt, Junie locks up on point and I head that direction hoping to see my first covey of the day. But it was not a covey of quail.

Instead, I walked up on a very large, very pissed off raccoon that was puffed up and posturing at us.

Side note: if you ever find yourself in this situation, the best choice would be to run in the opposite direction excitedly calling your dog and hope she follows. The second best option would be to level your shotgun and blow it's head off with no hesitation at all and keep walking like nothing happened...

Sadly, I did neither. I DID stand there like a dumbass, staring at the raccoon and thinking, "oh shit, this could be bad." And I was right. It was bad...

First, shockingly, Junie jumped on top of the very large raccoon and they started rolling. If you can visualize one of those inflatable exercise balls going round and round in a revolving door, you pretty much have the picture. At this point I really wanted to blow it away, but there was no safe shot. After a few good rolls, they released each other for a second, but didn't separate enough for a safe shot.

At this point, Daisy thought, "you all suck at wrestling, watch this!" And she grabbed the raccoon by the ass and started swinging it around.

Raccoons can double-back on their bodies very tightly, so within seconds the raccoon was clawing and biting back. Daisy, being the badass she is, refused to let go, and retrieved the raccoon to me, whining and howling the whole way.

Since the raccoon is still in her mouth, I still can't shoot it, so I did what any genius would do... I stepped on it.

Daisy let go and both dogs eased back, and I realized I was now standing on an angry raccoon. The raccoon, very wild with fury at this point, started (shockingly) biting my boot and pant leg while thrashing around violently.

Then I kicked my leg forward, flipping it a few yards ahead of us where it stood, sizing us up for a second tumble. At that point, I fired the gun in a dog-safe direction, and the raccoon, realizing he had been defeated, turned and ran off.

I checked my leg and thoroughly checked both dogs... Not a single scratch or puncture! So we resumed our hunt.

Within 40 yards, junie came racing back to me, and daisy was up ahead crying like I've never heard a dog cry.

I ran up to find her caught around the muzzle in a fur trapper's steel cable snare! I freed her, once again without injury and we pressed on for another mile and a half.

At that point, the dogs got birdy again, and I started to smell the warning shots of a skunk in the brush ahead.

"Fuggit, we're outta here!" You gotta know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. :laugh:

And that's my quail hunting adventure for today. Summary: 0 quail, but at least no harm done. :laugh:
Click to expand...
 
You should give a guy a warning here! You gave me flashbacks! Back when my son was hunting on the youth weekends, he's 27 now, we had a day like that! At the first WIHA, I shot my only triple on skunks! Second WIHA collected another striper! Was getting jumpy! Got to the third site and took the old man, Hawk, and his little half-brother Storm. We got in about 3/8 mile and both went on point. I had Storm on a check chord and walked out into the milo still holding the end of it. He had a coon pointed in the rows of grain. I did the about-face and pulled him off point and out of the food plot. My son had headed for Hawk with the intent of getting down to business. As I approached, the old man, 10 then, gave me his traditional over-the-shoulder look he always gave just before helping himself to a mouthful of fur, and dove in. This coon was over 20 pounds, and was quickly on top of the old dog's head taking liberties! Being a trapper since I was 12, the trapper in me took over. I went in kicking! I quickly separated the warring parties enough that my boy could shoot the coon. Hawk lay unconscious, he zigged when he should have zagged! Knocked the old boy out trying to remove the fur hat that was trying to shred his ears! I carried the old man all the way back to the truck and took him home. We went back to that WIHA and moved about 5 coveys and several pheasants. If I remember correctly, my son limited out with 4 quail and 2 roosters. I still believe today that Hawk died 5 years later thinking coons really could hit hard!
 
I have had two bad encounters with critters with my Britts, first was one of my first bird hunting trips with my dad. We were hunt in northern Indiana and I was carrying my topper jr 20 gauge, our Britt started to tangle with a woodchuck in the bush and they were a fur piece away from use and by the time we got to her location she come trotting out with what looked like a mink stol around her neck. She came over to my dad and I and the woodchuck basically died with a death grip on himself. We peeled him off of ol Nell and she was not injured.

The second I was quail hunting in Georgia and my young Britt got into with a coyote, again she was far from me and I could only her tHe commotion and some sounds still make my hair stand on end when I think about it. Fortunately my hunting buddy got to the fight first and when they separated was about to get a safe shot and killed the yote. My pup did sustain some battle wounds but nothing major and she made a full recovery.

Now just have to worry about porkies and knock on wood have had a dog tangle with one.
 
WOW...sorry for your bad day.....this just makes me feel blessed that it has been a very long time since my dog has killed a skunk or tussled with coon or such other beast....boy....hope I'm not posting a similar thread...I have one more trip to Kansas to make it through....fingers crossed.
 
ness said:
Wow! Not only is that an incredible string of bad luck, that's an incredible string of good luck. :D
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After the snare I was totally on edge. I just kept thinking that we had pushed our good luck too far. I was uncomfortable the whole time that there would be another trap ahead.

Crossing shot said:
Only had one britt who would attack small predators.
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I was shocked that Junie went after it. She is so submissive to other dogs, and non-aggressive with other animals. She will just stand on top of wounded birds, but won't pick them up. And she's the one that worked over by a squirrel on our last hunt of last season.
 
BritChaser said:
Haven't had a coon encounter but now I know what to do. Good post.
Click to expand...

I walked up on a stand-off. I shouldn't have waited to see what would happen. I feel like I should have made a swift and decisive move to either get the dogs away immediately or popped the raccoon when I had a safe shot.
 
only coon we encountered was acting real funny slow and confused so we killed it.
The worst are skunks for me.
Have had several encounters, seems GSP's love to play tug of war with them, or ours always did.
did figure out the best way to get fresh skunk off a dog is to let them run thick grass, seems all the friction of the dried grass cleans them right up, or so it has with me.
nice story glad the dogs are ok

:cheers:
 
Toad, your dogs sound like fun.:thumbsup: That's some bad luck for sure though. I once turned and left some very birdy looking cover when I saw not one but three large raccoons who weren't budging as the dogs and I approached.:D
 
Prairie Drifter said:
You should give a guy a warning here! You gave me flashbacks! Back when my son was hunting on the youth weekends, he's 27 now, we had a day like that! At the first WIHA, I shot my only triple on skunks! Second WIHA collected another striper! Was getting jumpy! Got to the third site and took the old man, Hawk, and his little half-brother Storm. We got in about 3/8 mile and both went on point. I had Storm on a check chord and walked out into the milo still holding the end of it. He had a coon pointed in the rows of grain. I did the about-face and pulled him off point and out of the food plot. My son had headed for Hawk with the intent of getting down to business. As I approached, the old man, 10 then, gave me his traditional over-the-shoulder look he always gave just before helping himself to a mouthful of fur, and dove in. This coon was over 20 pounds, and was quickly on top of the old dog's head taking liberties! Being a trapper since I was 12, the trapper in me took over. I went in kicking! I quickly separated the warring parties enough that my boy could shoot the coon. Hawk lay unconscious, he zigged when he should have zagged! Knocked the old boy out trying to remove the fur hat that was trying to shred his ears! I carried the old man all the way back to the truck and took him home. We went back to that WIHA and moved about 5 coveys and several pheasants. If I remember correctly, my son limited out with 4 quail and 2 roosters. I still believe today that Hawk died 5 years later thinking coons really could hit hard!
Click to expand...

Troy, I can totally see how you could knock out your dog on accident. The whole scene was just chaos that I can't really explain to someone who hasn't been there to see it firsthand. I was holding a shotgun the whole time, but never had a safe shot because of the creeping, diving, lunging, rolling, etc.. I was really relieved when the coon finally took off running.

Oh well, hopefully the dogs learned a lesson. Or at least hopefully I learned a lesson. :laugh:
 
You at least hope your dogs aren't sadistic enough to make this a game with you:) I can hear what is in their head: wanna see dad go nuts, watch this!
 
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