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“A Fresh Beginning”
By Jerry Moll
2/4/2007 11:34:02 AM
By: Jerry Moll
The freeway security lights flickered on and off as they traveled easterly along interstate seventy-four while the rising sun interrupted the morning’s darkness and the weary passengers’ slumber. Mike Jackson and his younger brother Paul wriggled about the truck seat, squinting and rubbing their eyes from the sudden burst of sunlight beaming through the windshield. The young boys had dozed off while riding home from a night of Competition Coonhunting with their Uncle Carl Stephens. Uncle Carl had retired from the local foundry a few years back and was now a full time pleasure/competition hunter that loved to invest his time in his younger sister’s boys, the youth of the sport. Carl sure enjoyed the boy’s company, especially on the weekends when they could hunt all night without the bother of homework or worry of having to get up for school the next morning.
As they turned off the freeway and started down the back roads toward home, Uncle Carl started pointing out the beautiful daybreak scenery one can only witness in the Midwestern springtime. It was an extraordinary time of year, the grass was greening up, the leaves popping out on the trees and the countryside was full of new life. Uncle Carl rolled his window down slightly to soak up that springtime smell and they all noticed the peepers were making quite a racket down in Jackson’s pond. Paul pointed out a nice Tom Turkey strutting his stuff down along the east fork of Frederickson’s Creek near their horse pasture. A little further up the road the boys laughed out loud watching Pete Sampson’s nanny goats butting at their kids while they jumped back and forth over them rambunctiously playing in the small pasture. Turning west on Ditch Road, just across the creek they noticed Fred Allen’s Jersey cows nursing their young calves in the morning sun while the bull stared at them from across the ravine in an adjacent pasture. The sight seeing tour came to an end as their old farm house can into view over the next hill. Yes, it was a beautiful morning, but right now Mike and Paul were looking forward to hitting the pillow for some much needed shut eye.
After the boys washed up and slid under the covers they began to reflect on their fantastic day and night attending the Friendship County Coon & Fox Club’s annual youth hunt and show. They could not believe the gracious hospitality extended to them, a vast departure from what they had previously seen and heard about the sport. Sure there were winners and they were recognized, but each and every youth felt as if they were winners. The show judge took time to explain how to position a dog on a bench and how to accurately evaluate a hound’s conformation to the breed standard. She explained the specific differences between one dog to the next and why she would pick one over the other. The remaining daytime events held between the show and hunt were filled with fun and excitement for the boys. They had sack races, watermelon eating contests, water races, egg toss and many other events with lots of prizes. The local Conservation Officer had a booth set up with lots of literature to help educate everyone on the latest rule and policy changes from the Department of Natural Resources. The C/O took the time to answer many questions from the youngsters as well as the adults about how to preserve the tree dog sports for future generations.
As the day wore down and the evening drew near, the club supplied a huge feast of fried chicken with all the trimmings. The boys ate until they were stuffed and with all the exercise of the day they felt ready to take a nap until someone mentioned the hunt. They jumped up and were ready to go as the hunt director went over the rules in a short seminar and allowing a question and answer period from the participants. He explained his role in the event as well as the functions of the judge, guide and the handler’s responsibilities. Paul and Mike both had great casts with outstanding sportsmanship; the best dog/handler combination won each cast. This was something they both really enjoyed and definitely wanted to do every chance they had in the future.
Paul soon drifted off to sleep, but Mike tossed and turned a while pondering a show and hunt they had attended of a much different flavor this past February at the Jonesburg Spit & Whittle club. He wondered how two events could be so different just a few months and fifty miles apart. Mike recalled the details as he drifted in and out of sleep. He remembered they drove up the muddy club driveway and as they reached the parking lot there were several trucks around with barking dogs tied to the tailgates. They pulled into a parking spot a little ways away from the others and sat there for a few minutes while Uncle Carl finished one of his long winded hunting stories. About the time the story reached its completion, a truck came speeding up the coon club drive, wheeled around and parked right next to them. The driver quickly jumped out, unloaded a big hound, tied him to his tailgate just a few feet away from them and headed toward the club house. “Just hold on a second there boys, don’t get out, I’m movin’ my truck. That Yea Hoo’s dog will have all the paint stripped off this thing before we make our way up to the club house. I just don’t understand how a guy can be so inconsiderate, heck there’s ten acres of parking here and he has to slide up right next to us.”
After moving to the other side of the lot, the trio made their way up to the club house and as they pulled open the old rusty steel door, clouds of cigarette, pipe and cigar smoke bellowed out like a chimney with a flue fire. As they stepped in the dimly lit room the boys spied a few men over at a table playing poker as they compared stories of their competition hunting exploits over the years. When the conversation became more and more rittled with vulgarity and questionable sportsmanship, Uncle Carl ushered Mike and Paul over toward the pot bellied stove for a change of scenery. The show judge announced that the deadline was up and that he was about to start the show, advising all entrants to bring in their dogs. Although it was cold out, Uncle Carl was hoping they would have the show outside so he could get the boys out of the smoke.
Two guys started setting up show benches as the dogs were being led in to the crowded room. It seemed to be hard for the handlers and dogs to concentrate with all the commotion and close quarters. The first dog called was a Bluetick and he had to pose him five feet from a guy eating a cheeseburger and a bowl of chili. Needless to say, the Blue dog was much more focused on the beef than anything else, with the rest of the dogs being subjected to the same at their turn. The show went quickly since there were only a few dogs and it wasn’t long before the defeated handlers were complaining of favoritism and cheating, saying the worst dog had won the show. Wanting to get the heck out of there, Uncle Carl asked what time they would take entries for the hunt and told the guy at the desk they would be back. Once outside they could actually breathe in some fresh air as they walked back towards the truck. Uncle Carl decided to take Mike and Paul somewhere else to eat since the conditions in the club kitchen did not look too sanitary or appetizing.
While eating their burgers and fries the boys started quizzing Uncle Carl about their very first nite hunt. They were excited and wanted to know what they could expect, sure they had been coon hunting a bunch of times, but never competition hunting. Carl cautioned them to keep their expectations low and to be very quiet on the event using the opportunity to listen and learn. He didn’t want to let on to the boys, but he was very apprehensive about taking them on a cast with the characters he had seen at this club. He really wanted to just go on home, but he had promised the boys their first nite hunt, so that’s the way it would be. After they finished up eating it was back to the club to get entered and to draw out. Mike and Paul noticed some strange looks on their Uncle’s face when he realized who was in his cast, but they did not know any of the men. It wasn’t long and they were driving down the road in the four truck convoy heading toward their first hunting spot.
After a short drive the cast pulled up to a big woods with a creek running right down the middle, it looked like a fantastic place to hunt. The dogs were unloaded and led a short distance to be cast and it wasn’t long before there were hounds barking and being struck. The boys didn’t understand everything that was going on, but it sure was exciting. One of the hounds let out a long bawl down along the creek and one of the handlers hollered out, “Joe treed”. The judge hit his stop watch and everyone listened intently. A few seconds past and another long bawl, this time the judge cleared his watch and said, “Joe minused, he moved”. Just then an argument erupted between Joe’s handler and the judge with Uncle Carl reminding them more than a few times that there were youngsters present. During the argument Joe’s barks became shorter and more frequent with Joe’s handler requesting the judge to re-tree Joe with a few curse words before and after the request. Uncle Joe was not to sure what to do, so he just kept the boys back a ways and quiet.
As the cast approached the tree they could see it was a big cottonwood spread out on the creek bank and the judge instructed Joe to be handled. All the lights came on in an effort to find Joe’s coon, but no one could locate it. When the judge announced that the tree was blank and he would be minusing it, Joe’s handler came unglued again cursing and swearing at the top of his lungs. About that time Uncle Carl’s Bo dog came walking into the tree as if he was wondering what was going on. The judge instructed Bo to be handled at which time Uncle Carl informed the cast he was withdrawing and leaving. “Let’s go boys”, he motioned as he headed out of there toward the truck.
The drive home was a long one; everybody seemed to be in a sober mood from the night’s events. Uncle Carl recognized these unfortunate events as an opportunity to explain to the boys about the good and bad aspects of their sport of Competition Coonhunting. He vowed to the boys that their next event would be much different and that he would not subject them to this kind of night again. He was also quick to point out that if they chose to pursue a life of Competition Coonhunting they were going to have to deal with situations similar to the negative ones they just witnessed. At the same time there were things as he explained to the boys, that he and they could do to change things for the better. He promised right then and there to go out of his way to make things better, to promote a more positive atmosphere around the Competition Coonhunter.
Every Coonhunter I‘ve known over the past thirty years has contributed to the image of our sport in both positive and negative fashions. No one thing or one person is all good or all bad. Personally, I wish I would have spent more time with constructive, encouraging activities and much less time on things that may have left a negative impact on someone’s mind. But, there is no need in looking back other than to reflect for the sake of not repeating mistakes. Our sport is declining among the youth of our nation and we need to determine how to encourage their participation as Uncle Carl has chosen to do for his nephews Mike and Paul. With the anti-hunting movements, the political landscape and a decline in available public and private hunting grounds, turning the tide will require a great deal of work. The first step toward a real solution may be to demonstrate a more open, welcoming attitude and by providing a more positive atmosphere. The current state of our sport did not develop overnight and the resolution will not come quickly or easily. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”--Lao-Tsu
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Last Updated by: Jerry Moll
2/4/2007 11:38:51 AM
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"Summertime and the livin¡¦ is easy"
By: Jerry Moll
The thick layer of grey haze floated between the hazy moon and the dark treetops reminded me it was mid-summer in Southeastern Indiana, as if I really needed another clue. An observable cloud of nighttime humidity seems to go hand in hand with summertime around here and really makes the corn grow; at least that¡¦s what Dad used to say. With every step forward I could feel the sweat trickle all the way from the base of my neck down to the small of my back. The once dry t-shirt was now fully saturated and the additional perspiration had no place else to go. Stopping to take a short breather, I instinctively reached for my S/C water bottle holder hanging by my side, but the container had been empty for awhile now. These hills were tough, but still much better than the perils of the low ground and cutover that lay ahead.
As I topped the last hill I could hear the hounds treed in the distant bottom, beseeching me to give them some type of relief. Both hounds were taking uncharacteristic but reasonable pauses in their tree barking due to the choking heat and humidity. While starting off again in their direction I mumbled to myself about the foolishness of hunting more than one dog at a time and of not driving around to get closer before heading toward them. I like to keep sending dogs off trees rather than patch hunting; I guess I¡¦m stubborn that way and sometimes I have to ¡§pay¡¨ for it. As I plodded along I recalled just five short months ago when the snow and ice covered ground was almost too treacherous to walk on. I remembered being bundled up in my old Carhartt coat and gloves, longing for warmer weather. ¡§Be careful what you wish for¡¨, I thought to myself while stopping to remove a pair of wood ticks crawling up my right arm.
The closer I came to the banks of Laughery Creek the more the local mosquito swarm went on the offensive, coming at me from all directions in full attack mode. Our annual bull nettle crop (itch weed) was growing well, towering well above my head making it nearly impossible to navigate without walking sideways stomping a pathway ahead of me. I knew from years of experience not to scratch the itch of the itch weed, no matter how uncomfortable, it only made it worse. I laughed to myself thinking about how my brothers and I used to play in the creek as youngsters with cutoff shorts as our only clothing without a care in the world. Now I¡¦m covered with jeans, boots and nylon trying to protect my ... more
“Now That Is A Coondog”
By: Jerry Moll
With every step the thick layer of crusted snow on the barren soybean field crunched beneath them like fresh tortilla chips making it extremely hard to hear anything else as they pushed forward. It was a cold Saturday night, in the single digits with no air moving whatsoever; yes it was still as a stick in northern Iowa. There was no need for a light; a man could have easily read a book with the bright moon and stars above reflecting on the white snow below. Individually Tony and Joe thought they were carrying on a conversation with the other, both totally oblivious to the fact they were completely muted by the situation. The hounds had been gone for a good, long while and the tracking system showed them way out of pocket to the north and definitely out of hearing.
Taking a break on a small ridge and cupping their ears Tony and Joe could hear the steady chopping of their two hounds Sally and Ranger. As with any houndsman this was music to their ears and brought smiles to their frozen faces. They were off again, crunching through the snow, still talking to one another without either knowing the other was speaking. There was still a mile or more to go and each time they stopped for a breather the treeing was louder and motivated Tony and Joe to press on. As they arrived at the tree they were surprised to see the forest floor around the tree covered with blood from the hound’s pads being cut by the crusted snow. There hearts filled with pride upon seeing a large raccoon perched up high in the mighty oak. They knew it took a lot of heart and determination from their hounds to tree a raccoon under these adverse conditions. Tony and Joe leashed the hounds and rubbed their ears, praising them for a job well done. As the two seasoned houndsmen started the long journey back to the truck they agreed, these were sure enough COONDOGS.
Bill and Mike pulled up to unlock the gate at the Melville deer club, nearly 1,000 miles to the south of our northern houndsmen Tony and Joe. After driving a quarter mile to the north they stepped out for another listen as the pungent smell of the swamp hit them in the face like a blast from a furnace. Above the vast acres of frog chorus they could hear Nell and Singer treed solid just a half mile to their east. The guys had to face the music; it was time to pull the boots up, no more driving from here.
They had originally cut the hounds to the north and after listening for an hour or so t ... more
“A Fresh Beginning”
By: Jerry Moll
The freeway security lights flickered on and off as they traveled easterly along interstate seventy-four while the rising sun interrupted the morning’s darkness and the weary passengers’ slumber. Mike Jackson and his younger brother Paul wriggled about the truck seat, squinting and rubbing their eyes from the sudden burst of sunlight beaming through the windshield. The young boys had dozed off while riding home from a night of Competition Coonhunting with their Uncle Carl Stephens. Uncle Carl had retired from the local foundry a few years back and was now a full time pleasure/competition hunter that loved to invest his time in his younger sister’s boys, the youth of the sport. Carl sure enjoyed the boy’s company, especially on the weekends when they could hunt all night without the bother of homework or worry of having to get up for school the next morning.
As they turned off the freeway and started down the back roads toward home, Uncle Carl started pointing out the beautiful daybreak scenery one can only witness in the Midwestern springtime. It was an extraordinary time of year, the grass was greening up, the leaves popping out on the trees and the countryside was full of new life. Uncle Carl rolled his window down slightly to soak up that springtime smell and they all noticed the peepers were making quite a racket down in Jackson’s pond. Paul pointed out a nice Tom Turkey strutting his stuff down along the east fork of Frederickson’s Creek near their horse pasture. A little further up the road the boys laughed out loud watching Pete Sampson’s nanny goats butting at their kids while they jumped back and forth over them rambunctiously playing in the small pasture. Turning west on Ditch Road, just across the creek they noticed Fred Allen’s Jersey cows nursing their young calves in the morning sun while the bull stared at them from across the ravine in an adjacent pasture. The sight seeing tour came to an end as their old farm house can into view over the next hill. Yes, it was a beautiful morning, but right now Mike and Paul were looking forward to hitting the pillow for some much needed shut eye.
After the boys washed up and slid under the covers they began to reflect on their fantastic day and night attending the Friendship County Coon & Fox Club’s annual youth hunt and show. They could not believe the gracious hospitality extended to them, a vast departure from what they had previously seen and heard about the spo ... more
Building Bridges-Mending Fences
By: Jerry Moll
It was that very special time of year, early November in Indiana. The leaves had long since turned and were absent from nearly all the trees by now, scattered to the wind they blanketed the forest floor as well as many of the creek banks and farm fields. Farmers had been fortunate this fall with dry weather and that beautiful harvest moon on the clear nights bringing us several early white frosts. The golden brown soybean fields had all vanished to barren farm ground and the remaining cornfields left standing were few and far between. Our raccoon season had just opened two days ago on Saturday and I felt very fortunate to take the entire family out on opening night. We stopped and bought snacks and drinks for the night out while on our way to a farm I’ve been hunting since I was just a young boy. We turned the dogs out and as we sat there on the majestic oak ridge listening and soaking up the night air it seemed as if the deadlines and stresses of the daily grind were long gone and we were in another world all to ourselves. By 11:00 or so the moon was up bright and the kids were cold and worn out, so we loaded up and headed back toward home. We had treed several raccoon, walked a few miles, ate a lot of snacks and had a great time laughing and cutting up. While driving back home I reflected upon how fortunate we were to have this great Hoosier outdoors to enjoy, the beautiful night, these lovable hounds and most importantly to be able to share it all with our children on this peaceful November night.
On Sunday evening after dinner, homework and bedtime I headed our once again, just me and a young female. It was a still, cloudless night with millions of bright stars and a huge moon lighting the sky. The kind of fall night where there is not a sound in the woods but maybe a faint trickling of water in the creek and a house dog barking several miles away. When you venture out on these clear nights you know Jack Frost is not far behind you. Beautiful yes, but not exactly the kind of night you would pick to work a young dog, but I was enjoying the gorgeous night and the time spent with the young hound even if I did need to keep my expectations low. We covered a lot of ground that evening, made some bad trees, caught a possum and even treed a few coon. For her age and experience I was content with the performance and had her back home in the kennel by 1:00.
Today was Monday and our local club had a one hour event scheduled ... more
Eight Men Out
By: Jerry Moll
My recollections of the AKC World Coonhound Championship Final Cast, September 30th 2006, Warsaw, Indiana.
Joe Newlin, member of Silver Lake, Indiana’s Sportsmen and Farmers Conservation Club, and I had been discussing possible final cast locations for months and the time was at hand to nail it down. It was noon on Saturday September 30th and the 2006 AKC World Championship Show was about to get underway. Joe, Ron Manns and I agreed to stay for the inspiring opening ceremonies. It was complete with the presenting of the colors by the local American Legion and the twin trumpeted National Anthem. I had to shake off the chills before we headed out for a final inspection of the proposed hunting grounds.
While preparing to leave the fairgrounds we called and invited Mike Nelson to be our lead judge for the final cast. We all have known Mike for years and he’s a top houndsman and judge, so we were very excited when he said yes. To my delight Joe and Ron agreed to serve as Mike’s back up judges, I sure didn’t want to hold this final cast without them beside me.
Once my Ford was pointed south on State Route #15 we went about twelve miles to check out the first spot. What a great location, lots of timber, corn and beans for the dogs to scatter into. The country block was situated in a one by two mile square with a farm road running south from the north side taking us very near the center.
Many of the soy bean fields had harvesting equipment setting around and there were lots of grain bins and dryers, none of which were operating at the time due to recent rains. We spent some time checking out cell phone reception, establishing landmarks and talking with several adjoining landowners. The three of us quickly agreed this was THE place and briefly discussed needing a back up plan if we needed to move for some reason. Ron suggested we use a spot he had guided me to several years ago and as I recalled the hunt I remembered that Jenni and I had gotten a sound thrashing from Ron and his fine hound Tree Grippin’ Joe. If I remember correctly, for every coon Jenni treed, Joe treed two. That spot sounded good and it was back toward Warsaw, so we headed back north. I checked in with our friend, Don Weisehan with the Kosciusko County Sherriff’s Department and he knew exactly where we would be and said he would be glad to patrol the area between 9:00 and midnight.
From this point things moved very quickly through the fantastic top ... more
“To Everything, There Is A Season”
By: Jerry Moll
The wood floor creaked loudly in the early morning silence as I slid one leg at a time from under the covers and stepped out of the bed. I grabbed my pants and shirt from a nearby chair and tiptoed toward the staircase trying not to wake anyone. It had been a long night of tossing and turning without much sleep, but I was now wide awake quietly closing the bathroom door behind me to finish getting dressed. “Quiet as a church mouse”, I kept reminding myself as I gently pushed open the screen door going out to the summer kitchen where I would find my work boots. Everyone in the house was sound asleep as far as I knew and I sure didn’t want to awake anyone this time of morning.
Bruno, our mixed breed farm dog jumped up to follow me, wagged his curled tail and looked up as if he was wondering what in the world I was up to this time of day. We startled the sleeping chickens and they cackled loudly while frantically flying down from their nightly roost in the hen house. I doled out their morning feed and water and using my two cell flashlight scanned their nesting boxes for fresh eggs, grabbed them up and headed out toward the hog lot. Luckily the pig feeders and water troughs were nearly full, so topping them off went rather quickly. Filling of the cow tanks near the barn was the only task yet to complete before I headed back toward the house. I normally didn’t work my chores before sunup in August, but Dad had agreed to take me on my very first squirrel hunt before he went to work this particular morning and I wanted to keep my end of the bargain. Before I could squirrel hunt on my own, Mom required me to have a least one hunt with Dad, so this was a very important day for me.
I could see well enough to cut off the flashlight as I walked back toward the house with my work boots and pant legs now sopping wet with the morning dew. Easing onto the summer kitchen, I noticed a light or two was now on and I could hear Mom and Dad talking quietly over their breakfast coffee. Reaching into the corner behind the old cupboard I pulled out Dad’s Ithaca Model #37 Featherlight 20 Gauge, soaking up the fresh smell of 3-in-1 oil I had just coated it with the night before. I opened the cupboard door and grabbed the new box of Federal High-Power #6 shot shells, just purchased the day before at the Gambles store in town. As I stuffed several shotgun shells in my pocket Dad emerged from the Kitchen and grabbed up the Ithaca, “Let’s go, we ha ... more
“Time Marches On”
By: Jerry Moll
Over 300 years ago Irish, French and English fox and scent hounds were first brought to America by the most affluent settlers of the new world. For centuries the ancestors of these hounds had used in Europe to hunt for fox, deer, rabbit, wolf, and bear. Some say their lineage dated back to hounds used in battle by and against the Great Roman Empire. The majority of these early scent hounds varied tremendously from one to the next in appearance and ability because breeding up to this point had been exercised strictly on ability and performance factors. Distinct from the majority was a running hound being bred “true to type” and consistent in appearance and performance was the English Foxhound. These hounds had been designed specially for their noble sport of foxhunting by English Nobility and to this point had not been available to the average citizen.
Although the more wealthy settlers imported these hounds from Europe for sport and enjoyment, they eventually spread out among the countryside. In the new world anyone could hunt and own hounds and soon the average settler was enjoying fox hunting, the sport of kings. These foxhound packs flourished in Virginia and surrounding areas and gradually moved west into the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee before making their way to the South, West and Midwest. The very best foxhounds were bred to the very best foxhounds regardless of color, so the size and color of individual hounds within these newly created packs was wide-ranging. As this process evolved there were hunters who personalized their foxhound pack by selective breeding toward specific color and type, culling those not fitting the profile and not allowing anything outside these specifications to be mixed in. There specific packs were normally given the family name of the breeder or the region in which they lived.
A more pressing need for the average settler in these early days of our country was a dog to assist in making a living and providing for the family. The typical scent hound, foxhound or running dog would simply not fill the bill. These pioneers needed a dog to serve numerous purposes for the household, such as guard dog, livestock protection and putting food on the table by catching game. There was no room for mediocrity with these dogs of high utility, the family simply could not feed a useless dog and they were culled immediately upon this determination. The family farm dog prospered t ... more
“Where Eagles Fly”
By: Jerry Moll
The dawn’s bright sunlight burned my bloodshot eyes as the flight attendants pulled up the window shades and handed out warm lemon scented wash cloths. Each of the 260 passengers were awakening one by one to their multi-lingual morning greetings and the once dark and quiet airplane turned into an intense, hustling and bustling crowd. I had dosed off just a few hours prior while watching the in-flight movie, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s “Sleepless in Seattle” and as I washed my face and tired eyes I can remember thinking how I sure could relate to the sleepless part. While the morning coffee and bagels were being served, they announced we would be touching down in Frankfurt, Germany in just a few minutes. It had been a long nine hour flight from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport but it didn’t seem like we had traveled 4,350 miles, but I guess time flies (pardon the pun) at 37,000 feet and 530 miles per hour.
From the appearance and chatter among the English speaking passengers I concluded most of them were traveling to Europe on business just as I was. The company I worked for at the time had purchased a building site in the small town of Ko³o (pronounced Co-wa) in central Poland to build a manufacturing plant. I was to meet with several companies concerning the architectural design, the purchase of manufacturing equipment and to develop a contemporary plant layout. I was very excited about the assignment, but was more than a little uncomfortable with the situation; I had traveled a good deal for business before, but never outside the continental United States. My flying experience had been limited to several day trips in a co-worker’s single engine Cessna and several longer trips to the western and southwestern U.S. on standard commercial aircraft. This airplane was unlike anything I had experienced; it stretched over 200 feet long with a wing span of 170 feet, weighing in at about 450,000 pounds. On a more personal note, I didn’t like being out of contact with my wife Brenda, her being eight months pregnant and having two-year old Nicholas to care for. As if that all were not enough, it was just a few weeks prior to Christmas 1993 and I really didn’t want to be away, especially more than half the world away.
After an uneventful landing in Frankfurt, we were delayed on the runway for a good while before we were asked to deplane out in the middle of the tarmac. I was unpleasantly surprised when armed guards ushered us ... more
"The Path Less Traveled"
By: Jerry Moll
Jeff’s heart nearly leaped from his chest as he impulsively threw back the covers, jumped out of bed and hit the floor running. What he was running to or from he had no idea, still blurry eyed trying to determine the source of this awakening commotion. “Up and at-em boy, it’s time to get ready for church”, came the stern words of his Mom as she slung open his bedroom door while hurrying about her Sunday morning routine. Jeff had been sleeping like a rock, dead to the world but for only about three hours before this morning reveille call. As he sat back on the edge of the bed pulling up his jeans and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he stopped to reflect upon the events of the past evening and early morning hours. He tried to piece together all that had happened at the Nite Hunt he and his hunting buddy attended, but at this point sorting out all those details was like trying to see through an early morning fog. Jeff eased his way the hall to the bathroom washed his face, brushed his teeth and headed to the kitchen for some breakfast. Now that he was starting to feel somewhat human again his only hope was to stay awake through the preacher’s sermon so he could continue in Mom’s best graces. Hopefully after lunch he could curl up on the couch for an afternoon siesta leaving some time in the evening for catching up on homework before school tomorrow.
It all started at school on Friday when Tommy Neal asked if he wanted to ride down to the Jackson Creek Fox & Coon Club coonhound event on Saturday. Of course Jeff said yes immediately, not wanting to miss a chance at showing off his nice young Redbone female, Dolly. “Sounds good, I’ll pick ya up around 5:30 and we’ll be there in time for the show too, said Tommy as he headed down the hall to biology class. Jeff really appreciated the invite as he was still a year away from having his driver’s license and didn’t have a ride to the Coonhound events without Tommy. Jeff’s Dad had not been very supportive of the Nite Hunts since he had a few coworkers down at the steel mill give him the “low down” on how those things worked. It wasn’t long before he was passing the details along to Jeff about the lying, cheating and bullying that goes on and warning there was no need for him to get caught up in all of that. Jeff really didn’t want to buy into all the negative stuff, he just enjoyed hunting his dog and the idea of meeting new people who had similar interests of Coondogs and Coonhun ... more
"A Slick Treein’ Idiot?"
By: Jerry Moll
Sam was so comfortably snuggled into his old hunting coat with his back against a huge tulip poplar that he had nearly dozed off to the lullaby of the sweet early morning sounds of the woods. Dew drops dripped from the green leaves of the nearby bushes and filled the air with that April Springtime smell as the peepers maintained their constant chorus back and forth between Jackson’s pond and Wilson’s swamp across the ridge. Every now and then a lone gobbler would strike up a cord down in the meadow below Pipe Creek Bridge, but so far his persistence was ignored and unanswered. An unpleasant roaring sound startled Sam as he quickly jumped to his feet, looked at his watch and instinctively reached for his tracking system. Those lulling sounds of the springtime woods had been abruptly interrupted by the roaring sounds of rubber on asphalt as one car then another traveled down the back roads on separate sides of the timber toward the factories in town. Soon these roads would be full of morning travelers in a hurry headed for work and Sam was feeling the urgent need to round Sugar up and get on outta’ there before she became someone’s new hood ornament.
It had been a long night for the pair, starting out at a local coonhound event against a cast of proven winners and seasoned handlers. Sam felt very confident and initially unconcerned despite the obvious competition he was facing. His new prospect, Sugar, had been turning in consistent quality performances out there in the dark alone for the last several weeks. Tonight she had looked up to par early on with two split trees boasting “Rickies” in plain view of all before the wheels completely fell off. For the first forty-five minutes Sam was on cloud nine until his lead completely evaporated due to Sugar scoring 200- on a blank while the remaining dogs in the cast were split with plus points. Sam could not understand how his nice young female could look so good and perform so well, then just have a “stupid attack” right there in the middle of an important nite hunt cast. He wondered what caused her to come up short like that for no apparent reason. Was it something he was doing wrong as a trainer, was Sugar short on ability, short on brains, or was it all a genetic throwback? Sam even wondered if he had one of those “slick treeing idiots” the inexperienced cyber coonhunters banter back and forth about on the coonhound message boards.
As the cast members signed the back of th ... more
“Back Home Again”
By: Jerry Moll
A huge cloud of grey filled the air behind school bus #16 as it bounced along the rarely traveled dirt road past Herb Miller’s field of hand tied corn shocks. Now about half way home on my hour long bus ride, I was getting impatient and anxious to get the trip over with. Trying to pass the time away, I crossed my arms on the back of the seat in front of me for a place to rest my head while making a halfhearted attempt at taking a nap. The nap idea was proving to be quite unsuccessful as the remaining kids on the bus were making quite a commotion. Bob, our bus driver flipped back and forth from Cincinnati radio stations W-L-W and W-S-A-I trying to find something more to his liking. I perked up a little as he caught the end of “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, but after a few more channel selections he seemed to settle on the news. Great! Just what I wanted to hear, more political analysis of President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation a few months prior and his recent unconditional pardon granted by current President, Gerald R. Ford. Luckily Bob switched back over to W-S-A-I just in time for John Denver’s "Back Home Again”, now that was soothing to the ears and I finally started to relax.
It was Friday, November 8th 1974; the opening of coon season here in Indiana and not much else really mattered to me at the time. I truly believe I did not hear a single word spoken to me by a teacher or fellow student this entire day as my mind was 100% focused upon turning my hound loose once it got dark. I had been working hard trying to save money for a hound since the previous winter. Mom and Dad were a little unhappy with me considering the work needing done on the farm; they didn’t want me wasting valuable time and money on an ol’ hound dog. Since I had worked and saved the money on my own, they reluctantly said it was my decision, but I could tell they sure didn’t like it much. Dad reminded me several times that year, “Son if your chores get to slippin’ on account of that dog, he’s gonna’ have to go, that’s all there is to it”. Up to this point everything had been going along smoothly along those lines as I made absolutely sure nothing was left undone. The more I thought about it, I was admittedly unsure how I was going to keep all my chore responsibilities covered and still spend all the time I wanted to in the woods.
I kept my savings folded up in one of those old Prince Albert tobacco tins; you know the red ones that w ... more
“The Good Ol’ Days
By: Jerry Moll
The cigarette smoke obstructed Dale’s vision like an early morning fog as he opened the rusty steel door and stepped in to the Greenbow County Coonhunters Club. He concluded he must be the first one back from the Nite Hunt as the usual guys were still sitting around playing cards or warming themselves by the old pot belly stove. The club cook Henry Petri hollered over from one of the card tables, “Sonny, a man sure hates ta’ get up when he’s a-winnin’, if’n ya need anything from the kitchen, jus’ help yourself and leave the money right there on the counter”. That advice sounded pretty darn good to Dale as he was cold from the night air and getting a might hungry to boot. Taking Henry up on his offer, he stepped back into the kitchen to find a big slow cooker full of chili soup, you know the kind with lots a meat, maters’, plump macaroni, bits of green and red peppers along with several different kinds of beans. Dale filled up a bowl to the brim, poured a styrofoam cup of steaming hot coffee, grabbed some saltine crackers and laid $2.75 on the counter. This night hasn’t turned out half bad after all, he thought to himself as he found a perfect spot to sit down next to the wood stove to warm up and wade into that bowl of beef & bean chili.
Chester McFarland, the coon club’s resident old-timer, was sittin’ there by the stove and noticed Dale at the table eatin’ his chili. Chester says, “hey youngun’ looks like you must not have done to good tonight since your back so early, huh?” Dale, not really wanting to talk about his night, begrudgingly answered, “yeah, I had the big end of two blanks and the other dogs had scored on a coon and felt my chances were pretty darn slim, so I hollered “uncle” and went to the truck.” Chester chuckled a little and said, “yep, them tree dogs are a dime a dozen these days, but a good track dog that’ll have a coon when its treed is scarcer then hens teeth, I tell ya.” Dale grumbled a little as he crushed the remainder of his saltines to spread over his bowl and looked at Chester and said, “you outta’ get ya’ some of this here chili, sure is good”, trying his best to change the subject. Chester not being one to give in that easily, said “I can remember them ol' runnin' dogs Bubba Baker use to raise over on Hoot Owl Flats. Every once in a while one would fall out of the pack and start to treein’, if you’d latch on to one of them, man you had somethin’.
Dale polished off his chili, picked up his ... more
“What You Breed Is What You Get”
By: Jerry Moll
It was an exceptional winter evening to be out in the woods, late January and thirty-five degrees with a soft westerly breeze keeping the tree branches busily smacking each other overhead. Remaining patches of snow lay deep on the north face of each ridge while the south hillsides were thawing and slick from the day’s warming sun. A slab rock creek at the far end of the hollow below produced a continuous roaring sound as the water rushed within its banks from the vast acres of snow melting by the minute. The sky was alive with millions of stars seemingly at arms length and a beautiful crescent moon reminiscent of that huge grin on Alice’s Cheshire Cat.
Being outside in the night air was a welcome change for Harry and Larry and they were enjoying it as well as each other’s company for the first time in several weeks. Old Man Winter had settled in on their corner of Indiana and the two had been confined to their respective homes for quite a while. It had not been fit outside for man nor beast with the daily temperatures bouncing around in the lower teens on the good days and in to the single digits or negative numbers on most nights. But, tonight the duo’s expectations were extremely high with the change in weather and the prospect of running one of those late winter love sick boar coons seemed almost a certainty. As the pair sat on the remains of an old poplar log their two females Flossie and Fannie seemed to be taking turns giving tongue as they struggled on an old track below, working it back and forth over the hillsides about a quarter mile to their east. The gyps could run the track well on the south banks but would stall out and run in circles or back track on the frozen north sides. It seemed they were taking two steps forward and three steps back as the wait on the log grew longer and longer.
Both Harry and Larry had bought these females of “good” lineage with the intention of breeding and raising some nice puppies from them. Their theory was to keep and train the ones they could not sell off the teat and make themselves some extra spending money, maybe even enough to run a few nite hunts in the area. As was the usual case when these two friends got together the discussion soon turned to the philosophical aspects of coonhound breeding. “Ya know Ol’ Flossie ain’t too bright, maybe I’ll just breed her to one of them studs with the dew claws and glass eyes, they say them dogs have the “good stuff” in their backgrou ... more
"Prepare To Win"
By: Jerry Moll
There were but a few numbers remaining on the countdown of Dave’s trusty Timex Ironman™ wrist watch as the knots began building in his stomach. He and his hound Matilda had won their qualifying cast earlier in the evening by treeing the only two coons scored and were now attempting to make through the late round for a berth into the semi-finals. This second cast proved to contain much stiffer competition from both the dog and handler standpoint, but as the cast progressed Matilda had secured the deciding lead. There was just one “minor” issue that was eating at Dave and causing him to squirm in his nylon bibs and shuffle the leaves beneath his Mucks, three minutes were remaining in this cast, but only two minutes left on the stationary rule.
This severe anxiety attack of Dave’s actually stemmed from Matilda’s high point in the cast when she slammed a red hot coon by herself with the other three dogs completely out of pocket. This coon put the duo way out ahead of the pack; nothing could take away the cast win from them, well almost nothing. This one coon had Matilda so excited that she just had to return and tree some more until Dave had to re-tree her only to be handled and re-cast again. The thought of her returning the second time never even crossed Dave’s mind as he strutted through the regulation one minute walk. But return she did and it was the moment of truth, Dave had to tree her now to prevent the scratch. Could she be on a different tree? Would she leave the tree before they arrived? These two unlikely scenarios seemed to be their only possibilities at this point. But, no Matilda was locked down tight; right below the same “Mr. Ricky” that gave her such an impressive lead just moments before. Dave’s heart sank as he snapped the lead on her knowing full well a less capable hound had just won his cast and advanced toward a major title and some major bucks.
The cast members quickly congratulated the winner, signed the scorecard and scattered to the winds in search of their hounds. Meanwhile Dave and Matilda were heading back to the truck, one down in the dumps and one bouncing around as proud as a peacock, just happy to be alive. As Dave walked along he kept asking himself, “How in the world can a dog like this get beat when she’s the best out here”? Dave recounted in his mind the number of nights he hunted her, the coon they had treed, the lost sleep and sometimes the lost work over the last two years. He ... more
"Always Hoe Out Your Row"
By: Jerry Moll
The frost glistened in the moonlight illuminating the green winter wheat as I stepped over the last woven wire fence into the field, now within a quarter mile of her. She had been treed for quite a while and was sounding more convincing with each step I took. The long walk had finally eliminated the chills I had accumulated from waiting while she worked the cold feed track out of the creek bottom and up onto the oak ridge. It was getting up into the morning somewhere after 2:00 am, but the night sky was bright as noon. I believe you could have sat down and read the wall street journal with no additional light. As I looked out over the landscape I took note there was not a cloud in the sky and not a noise to be heard but the rhythmic ringing chop of my hound off in the distance. Immediately I paused and gave thanks to our God for providing such scenery, such an opportunity to be one with nature, just me and my hound.
As far as December nights go, the young gyp and I had started out the evening pretty well, treeing two coons early on before things started to backslide. The afternoon had been overcast and the coons seemed to move right at dark, if not before. Directly after our short lived success the skies began to clear showing a spectacular full moon, followed by the temperature dropping quickly into the low teens. As I continued on my trek toward her I pondered how this next event of our night would set the stage for the next several hours. Would I wind up in bed all warm and cozy like “normal” people, or would we be out here for the duration trying to end the hunt on a good note? I had been working steadily on this female for treeing wrong and depending on what she had to show me in this tree of hers, we could be in for a long night. The idea of leashing her up and heading for the truck regardless of what she had did cross my mind. It was cold and I was tired and boy did that nice warm bed sound good to me. But as the tree line came into sight I could hear Dad’s voice in the back of my head, “always hoe out your row son”, “always hoe out your row”.
What in the world does hoeing rows have to do with coonhunting you might ask? Well, I had somewhat of a unique childhood, growing up on a small Indiana farm the youngest in the family with twelve brothers and sisters. No, this is not a misprint; there were actually thirteen children in our family, six boys and seven girls. The trips to the grocery store much less anywhere else away f ... more
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