A cold rainy night I’ll never forget!

I tend to sit back and reminisce on past hunts frequently. I love the memories and friendships I have made following hounds. I have made memories that will last a lifetime. In my high school and college years I hunted most every night. It didn’t matter if it was storming, snowing, or scorching hot, I was going to be in the woods when it got dark. I’ve learned that I’m just not mad enough at the coons to go in undesirable conditions anymore if I don’t have to. Last night as SOC ran and treed a coon I was reminded me of a hunt with a great man who has went on to be with the Lord. I was hunting my old redbone Charlie and two English dogs named Bruce and Fancy. My friend was hunting a bluetick gyp. Well, we let loose and it started to thunder. Charlie wouldn’t hunt if it thundered so him and the blue dog came back. I wasn’t mad about it since I was ready to go home. About the time I got Charlie loaded up I heard Bruce open up. About that time the bottom fell out of the sky. It was raining so hard I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. That rain poured hard for about an hour. The dogs weren’t coming back, so I just sat in the truck to wait out the storm. Finally, it quit. They were treed about half a mile away. Bruce was one of those tree dogs that you weren’t calling back. Only way he was coming off that tree is if you hooked the leash to him. I had to go get him. I got about 500 yards away and came to a huge beaver pond. My only option was to swim. I had to swim this pond and never touched the bottom. Then I got the dogs and found the coon, but left him for another night. When I made it back to the truck, I was cold, wet, and miserable. I promised myself I’d never go hunting again. Ha! We see that worked out well because I unsnapped those dogs again the next night. We are crazy to do the things we do for a coon that we don’t even care to get out of the tree. I wouldn’t trade hunts like these for anything. These hounds have taught and given me so much to be thankful for!