[slabtownhunter]

Newbie Coon hunter question. How hard is it to actually see coons in trees? I've been going with different people and different dogs and dogs are getting treed but I'm having a hard time telling if there's a Coon in the tree or not. With the leaves off should you be able to spot one pretty quick or are they hard to see?

 

[ldmw1334]

To be honest I was the exact same way when I first started Ben with the leaves off. But the more I went the better I got and after awhile I was the one findin the coin first. U just have to figure out what to look for and where.

 

[englishdawgs]

It all depends on the tree a big tall oak that has alot of limbs and forks for a coon to hunker down and hide in they can be really tough to spot at times certainly when they want look at you. There are times even with the leaves off the trees you want find the coon till you walk away from the tree and turn back around and look after you are aways away. If its a pine or cedar you may never see the coon for some reason they are hard to get to look or ssee in them. Also a good qaulity bright lite made for coonhunting or a good spotlight will up your chances of spotting the meat if they are not looking down. Might be your light isnt bright enough to lite the tree up were you can see. Coons will lay flat on the tops of big limbs and hide, They will hide in forks, Squirrel nest basically any were to stay out of sight. These are the places you need to concentrate on when shining a tree to look for the coon. In my experiance coons look better when the leaves are on the trees then they do when they are off. I would say 80% of the time when the leaves are off the coons we tree never look.

Let me ask you this though are you seeing the coons that the people you are hunting with are saying they see or are you just taking there word for it thats its a coon. Could be that the dogs are treeing slick and the guys you are huntin with are telling you a big one tryin to make their hounds look good. LOL!!! Best way to prove this is if the tree is almost straight with no limbs if they are telling there is a coon there and you still are not seeing it chances are its not there.

 

[j. english]

Its hard to spot coons when they don't look. Get u a pet monkey train it to go up tree & find coon for u just don give him a weapon cuz after a few slick trees he may hurt dogs! Joken aside I find most coons by rubbing a plastic coke bottle on tree or simply walking off & return to tree shinning the way back they seem to look at u when u walk off better good luck

 

[Doug Hodges]

just make "the" sound when shining the light.

 

[newdad]

i went about a month ago with dwight from this forum, his bluedog treed way up on a high ridge and when we finally got there he had two in the same tree. he tied his dog back and dwight started squalling and one coon came right down the tree and jumped out over the dogs head. he turned his dog loose and he left out after the first coon, dwight squalled again and the second coon bailed out and hit the ground running in the oppisite direction from the first. ive heard of people squalling to make a coon look down, but thats the first time ive ever seen a coon come down a tree with a barking dog waiting at the bottom.

 

[Doug Hodges]

I figured Dwight could talk to coons. I need to get over there and go hunting with him.

 

[newdad]

yeah we go together pretty often, your welcome to go with us anytime.

 

[dwight]

lol that was a long steep walk to that tree and doug you can come any time you want

 

[englishdawgs]

I have seen coons jump, climb, and cross out like a squirrel when being squalled at. It depends on the time of year and the coon. Some are crazy. We got treed one nite and was squalling trying to get the coon to look. I turned a looked up the creek and there was three coons coming straight at us on the ground with two dogs barking treed not 30 yards from them. Coons will do some crazy stuff at times.

 

[slabtownhunter]

Part of my question was to try and figure out if the dogs were slick treeing or we just weren't checking the trees good. Me and my son went tonight and treed twice, both times saw the coon. One was in a big cypress in about three foot of water, coon was way up in a fork. Trey squalled and saw him look, I came around around and could see him plain as day even not looking at me. Second one was in a smaller cypress in a mess of vines and leaves, Trey just barely started squalling and I saw its eyes, if it hadn't looked we'd have never seen it. It was well camoflauged. So at the moment I'm feeling better about the dogs and my ability to see the coons.

 

[englishdawgs]

Congrats on seeing the coons. Sounds like your hounds are doin their job.

 

[salinerivercoondogs]

To be honest I was the exact same way when I first started Ben with the leaves off. But the more I went the better I got and after awhile I was the one findin the coin first. U just have to figure out what to look for and where.

I agree with IDMW. After awhile you get use to seeing coons and can spot them quickly. A good coon squaler and/or strobe light helps to get the coon to look at you. Sometimes having a different color lens helps. I would say squalers work the best. When I first started coon huntin on my own at 13 all I could afford was a mini mag light that took AA batts. I never could see the coon but most of the time got the eyes. I finally got a nite light and thought it was gold after using that mini mag for almost a year.