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I'm not mass producing coon dogs here but what I am doing is trying to give your hound the opportunity needed for the ability God has given it to flourish. If you may be interested in having 1 hunted get with me and I will save you a spot. Call or text 573-712-8173

This was a warm night on 4-22-2022 when I took Vixie down to the creek. She struck and trailed fast right up the creek. Soon she began to bay at 195 yards. I waited to see if she would take it on but she quit pretty quickly. When she came back I headed up the creek to see what it was and I saw a possum just past where she had been. The possum ran in front of me in my light so I know she saw it but she didn't bother it. Then she went back to the hole in the creek bank and began baying again. When I looked in the hole I saw an armadillo. She left it again so I cast her on up the creek where an old campsite is and she struck at 162 yards. Then she trailed up the creek and turned up an old fence row, where I have treed many coon over the past years. She treed in the fence row for just a moment, then crossed the fence over into the joining cow pasture which joins the owners yard. Vixie was 436 yards when I heard their yard dog, Bear (a rottweiler), meet her in the field. She quieted and turned back to the creek to follow it back to me. From there we headed over to her favorite little pond. I turned her loose and she struck at the pond to begin trailing. She was moving fast at first, so good in fact that I thought this was going to be quick and close. But as the track went on it had many double backs and circles almost running back over itself. There she trailed down to an old creek bed and gave the prettiest locate you've ever heard, before rolling over to a nice chop. I waited again for her to check herself and when she did she went on with it. Now the track got slow and quiet with Vixie seldom reporting. Finally, at 457 yards, she began to tree, though not as good as the first time. I waited again and she checked herself more than twice but she still didn't tree her best. I decided to walk on into her and as I got closer, her treeing became better. When I got there she was treed on a swell butted hickory. It had another smaller hickory growing off of the same stump. I looked both trees over good but found nothing. Finally I noticed a hole just bigger than a baseball about 7 feet up. The hole went down into the swell butt of the bigger hickory. I decided I had seen enough dens and this was 1 I could check. I climbed up to peek in and when I shined down in the hole all I could see was a big gray ball of fur about 2 feet down. It boosted my confidence in all her other den trees! I led her out and we called it a night.

A few nights later I took Vixie out to the pond where she keeps striking coon tracks. I turned her out and in less than 2 minutes she struck a track. She trailed it half way around the pond then across the pasture to the fence row. She then trailed down the fence row to a dry creek bed, crossed it and went up on the side of the hill. She treed pretty good and I wanted to listen to her a little bit. She checked herself as usual but didn't circle as big as she normally does, like she knew she had it! When she got settled back in on the tree, her bawling tree bark began to roll over to a pretty nice chop. I went to her then and found her on a great big hickory with a coon setting in the top. I worked her on the tree and we called it a night.

The next night I took Vixie back up to the pond where she circled it and picked up a track. She trailed out of there quick taking it across the pasture then up the dry creek. She then crossed the creek bed and went up on the hill side while beginning to circle back. She ended up at the creek to trail up further but on the opposite bank. As the creek turned it split the upper pasture in half long ways, and that's where Vixie trailed away from the creek. Now she took the track up along the timberline that led to a big hollow that we have treed in a lot this winter with other dogs. So as this track went on it looked better and more promising with every turn, and then at 264 yards she gave a locate bawl. I really expected her to tree then check and possibly go on, but instead she didn't waste any time here. She got down and went on trailing to the mouth of the big hollow. She crossed the mouth of the hollow to trail up on the other side where she gave another locate. Again she didn't waste any time treeing or checking, she just got down and trailed on. Now the track almost doubled back and went down the hill into the bottom to turn up the hollow. I listened to her trailing bawl become more faint, as I watched her on the Garmin seemingly fly up the hollow before turning to the side towards me. I couldn't hear her locate but she fell treed and I could hear her treeing chop good at 647 yards. I got on my side by side and headed to her. I drove with in 320 yards to walk the rest of the way. As I walked in I came to a place near enough that I saw 2 eyes looking back at me from the tree. I was already confident she had a coon, now my spirits were even more lifted knowing that it's on the outside! She did a very good job and was nearly a perfect performance except for 1 thing. When I got where I could see the tree clearly, I found the 2 eyes had a file tail sitting just out of her reach if she jumped. I looked that tree over good knowing that there had to be a coon up there too. I couldn't even find a hole in the tree! I have had plenty of good possum dogs in my younger years and I have never had 1 trail a possum 647 yards. I almost have to believe something else happened, but I don't have an acceptable explanation.

On another night I took Vixie back out and cast her at the pond. She was smelling around the pond and just going all over, grunting every step she took. I knew she was on to something but she never opened. I went over to the opposite side of the pond and turned off my light to let her work. I waited quite a while expecting her to strike any moment, but she never did. She quit, came over by me and went on down to the creek checking around. As I stood there with my light off watching her on the Garmin I noticed she wasn't moving much, just kind of sitting out there. I looked away from her and flipped my light on. When my light came on I could see a coon eye looking at me from a tree in the opposite fence row. I let her continue checking down at the creek but I walked over to the tree thinking she might come check it out, or happen across the track. Eventually she came over by the tree with in 10 feet or less and began smelling. Soon she headed away trailing, and I thought it might be another coon track. But as I listened to her trail and tree, then trail on some more, her barks became fewer. Finally at 465 yards she seemed to realize that she had the back track, and then she started back staying silent. I expected her to start back at the same place she began or go to the pond and pick it up there, but she didn't go back to it. I suspect it was a little bit older track than she could work, and I was not going to do it for her. As I was going to catch up with her it began to rain so we just called it a night.

After a night's rest I took Vixie up to the pond and she was smelling the air as I was getting things ready to turn her loose. When I unsnapped her, she headed right for the pond but with in 15 feet she did a 360 and ran right past me going in the opposite direction. With in 10 feet past me she opened and began trailing. She went down the fence row, then under the fence to the pond, around the pond, across the pasture, and across the creek. She treed at 111 yards but went on up the hill to make a half circle and tree again at 395 yards. She treed here about a dozen different times in a 20-30 yard circle, leaving tracks all over the screen of my Garmin. At one point she trailed down near the creek and I thought she had it but trailed up the hill to finally take it over the point. When she made it over in the next hollow I could hardly hear her, so I just sat at the truck and watched her on the Garmin. She treed 2 more times before going on to settle in treed at 668 yards. She stayed there for over 3 minutes before I drove around within 400 yards to walk the rest of the way to her. She sure sounded good and by the time I got to her she had the bark wore off the tree in 2 places where each front foot was dug in. I looked the tree over good but the leaves were just too thick, and it never did look at me. I worked her at the tree and when I led her off she seemed satisfied as her tail was wagging every step of the way back. By the time we made it back to the truck we loaded up and called it a night.

After Vixie went back home the owner texted me as they hunted her the first night back. In 5 minutes went 177 yards, treed with a coon! The next message: treed a second one under 2 minutes at 56 yards had it on the outside! A satisfied customer.

I had couple more dogs here I had been hunting. 1 was a much older female dog named Luna that her owner's complaint was she wasn't treeing good. The other was a 10 month old male named Tuck. I had been hunting Tuck by himself some and then a time or 2 with my old dog. On 1 night I took Tuck with my old Smokey dog and Smokey struck to begin a cold track he worked for quite awhile. He isn't fast so Tuck had no trouble keeping up but he didn't open much on track. Soon Smokey was taking the track on and by the time he reached 602 yards away Tuck decided to come back with me. We sat at the truck and listened to my old dog work and then he finally treed at 865yards. I loaded Tuck up and we drove around closer so that I only had to walk about 350 yards in to him. When I got out of the truck Tuck didn't want to get out of the box so I didn't force him to. He is young enough that there is time for him to get used to all of this night hunting. I went to Smokey and found his coon sitting up the tree. I pet him up good and we came home for the night.

After several nights of hunting Tuck and Luna solo I had seen a little progress in Tuck and almost none in Luna. So I decided to hunt them together 1 night. It was pretty neat to see Tuck transform when he felt there was competition. I turned them both out at the same old pond I had been hunting them on all along and Tuck almost immediately ran over near the fence row and struck. He trailed across the county road to trail up on the hill about 60 yards, went through a brush pile, crossed a small drawl grown up in briars, then treed in a big oak at the edge of the timberline. Luna and I watched in amazement as this low key young dog took this hunt serious! Finally Luna headed up to him and she showed very little interest in treeing but she did check around the tree. I shined it over good but it was too leafy to find anything. I leashed Tuck and led him out as Luna followed along. This time I led Tuck over to the pond and cast him. He didn't go back to the track or tree, instead he took off to find another, and did. He struck just on the other side of the pond bank and trailed out in the pasture to a cross fence that was growing some young walnut and wild cherry in a row. About half way down the fence row Tuck treed in 1 of the small trees but they were so leafy and growing together it was hard to see all of the tree. I don't think it was there because I feel sure I would have seen something but with the way the trees grew together it would be tough for a young dog to figure out what tree the coon would have climbed down. But while I was looking the tree over Luna came in and began to tree, which was the first time she had treed since I had started hunting her. Tuck was starting to get a little hot so I took him to the pond for a drink and we called it a night.

Later on I took Tuck out alone again and he wanted to find a coon. He cast out pretty good and picked up a track within 60 yards to begin trailing. He trailed around out in a pasture then over to a web wire fence that ran along side the county road. He couldn't figure out a way over or through the fence so he went around it at the gate. He ran down the fence row and picked up the track again only to find it crossed the fence back into the pasture. He tried again to go through the web wire fence and got his head hung, so I went and freed him. Then he ran around to the gate and picked it back up to trail down the fence row toward an old barn. As he came near the barn he treed up a small tree in the fence row then checked around the tree. He even went around the gate again checking on the out side of the fence and treed on the same out there. I let him tree for a little while to see if he could take it on but he couldn't. I went and looked the tree over real good but found nothing. However when I stood back shining my light I caught an eye in the rafter of the old barn looking back at me. I thought it might have been an old barn cat , but when I went to investigate it was a grown coon setting up there watching us. I'd say the young dog has some tricks to learn yet! I caught the dog and we called it a night.

Luna had started to come in heat so the owner took her back home and I called another man that was on the waiting list. He brought me his little 2 year old female named Sally. One of the first times I fooled with Sally I worked with her on a caged coon. Her owner made it clear that she hated a coon but staying treed long enough to get to her was the problem. I had seen her get very excited about the cats around the house before and when she saw this coon she got wound up. I tied her back and turned the coon loose up the hill behind the house. When the coon was about 30 feet ahead of her I cut her loose and she quickly went after it by sight. She saw it climb a tree and did a good job treeing. She was staying on the tree good but chewing some. When I walked in to her I spent some time to work her on the tree and she began to get more excited. The tree the coon was in was close enough to the yard that we had a clear shot at the coon from there so I recruited my wife to do the shooting while I worked with the dog. The first couple of shots seemed to scare Sally but soon the coon started squalling up in the tree as blood was dripping down near Sally. By now she was ignoring the gun shots and was getting more excited. Soon the coon fell out with a few more squeals left in it but very little fight. After she was finished with it we called it a night.

1 day I had another caged coon, it was a kitten but it was a mean little booger. I thought it might climb really quick so I turned it out for Sally and Tuck. I turned it loose and it went up the hill as my 6 year old boy was supposed to be watching which way it went or what tree it climbed while I went to turn Sally loose first. She took off up the hill then came back to bay on the cage, then I put the cage away as I went to get Tuck. This time they both went up the hill and picked up the track. Then my son assured me "that was the way the coon had ran off. He thought. It could have. It might have turned the other way. Or it went that way too." They trailed 330 yards then I could hear Tuck treeing and Sally showed treed on the Garmin. They were just over the hill and as we climbed to the top Sally came to us then went right on past us to leave. Then just behind her came Tuck but he went back to the general area where they had treed. We watched Tuck for a while but he didn't do anything to show us a tree but while we waited Sally came back to us. Now both dogs were around there but neither 1 would go back to the tree and I didn't mark it on the Garmin. As we stood there waiting for the dogs to pick a tree I caught a glimpse of the coon's eyes. They had treed the coon but wouldn't go back after they left it. We led the dogs back home and called it a night.

I had another caged coon to turn loose so I gave it a 5 minute headstart. Then I went to get Sally to lead her up the hill as to go hunting. When we crossed the coon track she let me know it and I let her go after it! She trailed about 60 yards and treed just a bit then went on. From there she went 120 yards trailing pretty fast and she fell treed for just a little while. Then she got down and started going away but staying silent as if she was checking herself. She made a loop and started back towards me instead of the tree. When she was about 30 yards from me I flipped on my light and started to the tree. She stopped and turned around to beat me there. I walked the ridge top until I was just up the hill from her and she was winding up that chop on the tree. As I started down the hill she quit and came to me but I just pet her and kept walking. She bounced down the hill a ways then jumped up on the tree like she was going to climb it and began treeing again. She was proud and as I spent time looking over this leafy, tall white oak full of grape vines, she treed till she had to catch her breath. I never did see the coon but she didn't seem to need much encouragement. I pet her up good before leading her home and calling it a night.

I took Sally up the road in the side by side to the pond near the big barn. She didn't like the ride and didn't want to unload, but she did with my help. I turned her loose and she didn't spend any time under my feet. She ran down the road a bit then dropped off into a dry creek and went 165 yards. She didn't find anything or open before she checked back in to head up the road along the pasture about 80 yards to the neighbors house and bayed under their deck. I assume it was a opossum because we saw some on our way out and also she left it pretty quick. When she came back she still wouldn't go check around the pond with me. I think she was afraid I wanted to catch her. She went across the road and ended up in a big tree top that had blown down about 3 weeks ago. It was full of leaves but they had all dried out and turned brown. The tree top surrounded a wild cherry tree and she began smelling up on the tree. She still hadn't opened any yet, but got down and went about 15 yards to open. She moved it fast across the county road to the dry creek, going over some of the same tracks she had already made. She then went up the creek, then crossed and went up on the hill. There she treed just a little bit then came back down the hill and began trailing down the creek running parallel to her track going up the creek about 10 yards apart. Then she came to a corner of a fence row and turned up it coming right to me. When she came even with the pond levy she crossed the fence then crossed the pasture to the pond. She trailed around the levy to the other side of the pond. Here she treed some then went on with it but seemed as if she was trying to go 2 different directions. Finally she came around the pond some more and trailed through the big barn and out the other side to turn back towards the pasture. There she took it under an old collapsed barn that Vixie seemed to end up in alot, but Sally figured out where it came out and took it across the pasture headed to the creek run. Just before the creek is a bunch of old farm equipment and that is where she made a lose and came back. She still didn't want me to catch her so I just ran her down the road in front of the side by side for 210 yards. Then she was ready for a ride and we called it a night.

I took Sally around the valley to that same little pond by the old barn because water is scarce. As soon as I turned her loose she began working and soon she opened. She trailed around the edge of the pasture, crossed the fence then, crossed the road. She ended up in a big downed tree top on the hillside and worked her way through it to trail further up the hill. She went about 45-50 yards up the hill then she went silent and started back almost the way she had gone. She went on past the pond down to the dry creek and opened 2 more times then quit. She came back and ran right past me to head up over the hill. When I looked at the Garmin she was over half way home. I walked up the hill, where she had spent a little bit of time, just to see if I could see a coon setting up in a tree near there. I looked around and never saw anything, but suddenly turkeys went to flying out of the trees right above me. I went back home and found her running around the yard. Next thing I know she trees behind the dog pens and when I looked I saw a possum. On this, I called it a night.

I had a caged coon I had planned to turn loose the night before but I didn't get to. So I put it in a tub of water so it could drink and stay alive until the next night. It had been so dry that the dogs couldn't seem to smell anything well enough to track it and I have heard that soaking a coon helps remedy this problem. I turned it loose just down the road from the house and watched it mill around for almost 5 minutes before it got out of sight. Then I went back home to get Sally and my gear. By the time I got back with Sally it had probably been 20 minutes, but she picked up the track right away. Off she went after it, up the hollow the way I had seen it go, then she went to the top of the ridge. The coon ran straight down the ridge top toward my house before going off the other side of the ridge. We got on the side by side and pulled the hill because we could no longer hear her. When we reached the top, my Garmin showed her treed but when I shut the side by side off I still didn't hear her. We waited and listened as the Garmin showed her only 144 yards away, just then she opened and was still moving. Soon she gave a bawl that was almost a locate followed by 3 more. I could tell she wasn't moving now and then the tracker showed her treed. She was right next to our road we had built but we opted to walk instead of driving. She soon went silent and began to mill around but I had already marked the tree on my Garmin. She came to us only for a moment then went back to looking. The coon had looked at us as we were walking in so we gave Sally a little more time. Sure enough she went right to the tree again and began treeing with both feet on the tree. I began working the tree with her and she developed into a very excited tree bark. I tied her there and began looking the tree over again to get my 6 year old boy/hunting buddy a better look at the coon. She treed well while we were looking and after we spotted the coon again we went back to work the tree some more. Afterwards we led her back to the side by side, loaded up an excited Sally, and called it a night.

I took Sally up to the pond near the old barn tonight. When I pulled up in my truck I could see 2 coon out in the pond. I turned Sally loose and cast her towards the pond but she seemed to pick up a track before she came around to where the other 2 coons had been. She trailed across the pasture to the dry creek, then she went up on the hill side and gave 3 good locates before going to a chopping tree bark. I began to walk that way but she got down and came back to the dry creek. I watched her on the Garmin as she was staying silent, but then she went back to the tree and began treeing again. As I walked with in 75 yards of her I could see her eyes shining back at me from the base of a small tree she was on. About 40 feet above her I could see the eyes of a coon looking back at me also! I walked on over to the dry creek and she came to meet me but she didn't want me to catch her. Then she headed up the creek and started trailing up from where she had taken the track across the creek. She didn't go far before she let out 3 good locates and started treeing. I walked up the creek bed to her to see that she was treed on a big white oak that was full of leaves and at the base of the tree was 2 big holes almost big enough for Sally to fit in. I couldn't see the coon here but she didn't leave it. I think it was the 2 different coon and she showed me both of them. I pet her up good and called it a night.

I took Sally back to the same little pond as the night before and she knew right where to go. This time however, the track didn't move as fast. Sally trailed from the pond to the fence row next to the gravel road. Then she hushed and ran to the gate to go around the fence. After that she went back to trailing at the gravel road and struggled with it. Finally she got it across the road but quit to come back to the fence. She bayed on the fence just a little bit then, came back around to the gate. When she came back inside the pasture she went over to the fence and trailed back to the pond where she had begun. This time she just trailed on along the waters edge and went off the pond bank on the other side to a small group of big white oaks at the edge of the pasture. She picked the biggest, most leafy one and let out a locate that lasted forever. She treed for about 45 seconds then got down to check herself. Soon she came back to the tree and went back to treeing again for maybe a minute. Then she got down to make a bigger circle checking herself again, that resulted in her trailing from the pond back to the same tree. This time she began treeing with both feet on the tree. There were 3 big vines growing right up the side of the tree trunk like poison ivy does. She stopped treeing long enough to start chewing on them and ripped one loose from the tree. As it came crashing down, from 15-20 feet up, she jumped back and began looking around for a coon on the ground. Then she jumped up on the tree after she saw nothing more than the vine laying there with no coon on the ground. She treed awhile then began tearing at another vine much larger than the first. I came to her and leashed her to work the tree. Then I tied her to one of the vines as there was nothing else I could tie her to. She treed more and chewed less as I spent time shining the tree and squalling. It was such a big, leafy tree I just couldn't find it. I worked her some more at the tree then called it a night.

I had a caged coon for Sally, and with all the rain today it promised for a good hunt. When I loaded Sally up in the truck it was cool with a misty rain, prime condition. I turned the coon loose then put the trap away before getting Sally out of the box. I waited a little while, taking my time to get her ready. Before I turned her loose she could smell it in the air and she took off when I unleashed her. She struck the track right off and back tracked only a little before lining it out. She went about 80 yards and gave a locate about twice then went on. From there she trailed 101 yards then gave a good locate before checking herself. After she checked once she came back to the tree and stayed until I came within 30 yards, then she came to meet me. She went right back to the tree and as I was walking in I could see her looking at me from the base of the tree and the coon looking from the top. I worked the tree and she became very excited which got her to treeing some better. I then pet her up really good and called it a night.

I turned a caged coon loose for Sally then waited a few minutes before I turned her loose. she struggled a bit at picking up the track, possibly because of how dry it was again. She also had the distraction of a deer that jumped up and ran off right in front of her, but when she started the coon track she stayed with it. She had a little trouble where the coon ran through a briar patch but she found where it climbed a tree on the other side. She gave a good locate before treeing then she got down and made a big circle checking herself. She made such a big circle that I thought she was going to leave the tree but soon she came back and settled in on the tree. I worked her on the tree just a little bit and then I led her off 50-75 yards to cast her again. I walked her about 450-500 yards before she went off down into a hollow where I think every tree is a den. She struck and trailed slowly through the bottom then she sounded as if she had caught something and it got away. She trailed it up on the ridge and over the other side at a pretty fast pace. Soon she was out of hearing and I could only watch her on the Garmin. She trailed on slowing some and then showed treed in the other hollow but I couldn't hear her. She seemed to mill around in the hollow a while then began making her way back to me. She followed the ridge all the way back and when she was within 45 yards of me, a deer jumped up out of a thicket that was between us and bolted down in the same hollow. It was too much for her to take! She went after it but opened noticably less and went out of the hollow through the same low gap as before. This time the track went down the ridge top instead of going over to the other side, before falling off into another big hollow. In this 1 she treed and stayed quite a while, nearly 4 minutes, as I walked toward her. When I was within 75-80 yards of her, she was grubbing around on the ground trying to trail. She never would go back to the tree and she acted as if she wanted to take it back the way she came but, soon she quit and came back to me. It was almost 12 am so I called it a night.

We took Sally with Smokey on this night and had a good hunt. The moon was bright and deer were on the move, but we didn't have any deer races. Both dogs took off hunting together and Smokey opened one time when they were about 200 yards away. Sally stayed with him but didn't open yet. Smokey was unusually silent on track and when the two of them split up Sally opened once. Soon Smokey began to tree, though not his best, and that's when Sally headed away from him. She went almost 40 yards away while staying silent and began circling him as she came back toward us. It looked like she was going to come to us but then she went to check him and sure enough fell treed with him. We began our walk which was about 295 yards, and when we got with in sight of them they both were on the tree. Sally came to us when we were about 30 yards away but she went right back. We shined the tree over good but only found 2 holes in the tree. One of the holes was low enough on the tree we could see where urine was running out of it. I can't say for sure that there was a coon in the tree but something sure was! We pet them up good and called it a night.

I took Sally out to the pond by the old barn. Cooler weather was moving in and I hoped that coon would be stirring. I turned her loose and she made a loop ranging about 150 yards to the north then she came back. Next she went almost 200 yards to the east making a bigger circle and I really thought she was going to start a track but she never did open. When she returned to me she headed to the southwest making a straight line away. I thought she may have winded something in the air and when she reached 220 yards she opened! Soon she was trailing out of a side hollow coming around the hillside and just ahead of her I could hear something in the leaves. I heard it come down the hill to the dry creek while Sally was closing in on it. Then she trailed out onto the pasture where there is a bunch of old broken down farm equipment. She didn't bay or spend much time here, she just quit and came back to me. I think it may have been an armadillo. I had switched her off of 1 before and she hadn't shown much interest in 1 since, but it sure seemed like an armadillo. I loaded her up and took her to another place along another old dry creek bed. Here she cast out good again but a little stray dog came in to her and they went to playing and chasing each other down the county road, so I caught her and called it a night.

I took Sally out and she hunted real good again. She went 196 yards to strike and then trailed down an old dry creek, then turned up a hollow with a spring fed pond in it. She quit the track though and came back but she went out again in another direction to strike at 212 yards. It seemed to be a tough track that moved slower than she normally does, with a couple places that doubled back on her. She treed once then took it on and slowly circled back around the hill. She had came back within 207 yards of me, very near where she started, and gave a good locate. When she did I marked the tree on my Garmin. She checked herself and came back to locate again and chop a couple times on the tree, but she got down to check herself again. She came back a third time to give two big locates and begin chopping on the same tree. I gathered my stuff and headed to her. She had gone silent just as I left the truck and by the time I had walked within 40 yards of her she came back to me. I went ahead on to the tree while encouraging her to come along but she seemed to be finished with it. She left to go hunt some more so I walked on in to the tree. When I got there it was a big ugly den tree with the top going in to three other trees with no coon on the outside. I suspect she may have taken the back track and it could have been an older track too. By now she was 740 yards away from me and wasn't treeing or moving. I walked back to the truck to hear better and couldn't hear her. I began to drive closer to her and she came to me when I was about 300 yards away of her sitting location. When I caught her she stunk of skunk. I loaded her up and called it a night.

I took Sally up to the small pond where she keeps on striking a coon track. And again tonight she struck one near the pond. She trailed it to the pond and half way around it then the track headed toward the timber while it began to get tougher. Sally went back where she first picked up the track and tried to take it the other way but couldn't work it much better. She came back and tried again on the first dead end track but quit after awhile. She came back me then headed down the county road before picking up a track and running it 743 yards away. Soon she left that, which may have been a deer, and came back to me. We loaded up and called it a night.

We took Sally, Smokey, and Tuck together on this night and we had a good hunt. Although Sally didn't seem to want to hunt with Smokey at first she came around after a track got started. They struck and trailed within a 140 yard circle of us that went very near where we had parked. They fell silent for just a few seconds as they struggled to line it out, soon enough they did. They trailed down the valley between the creek and the road for about 200 yards. Then they both went silent again as they worked it across the county road and picked up trailing again while taking it through a big low gap. Sally was in front quite a lot but I couldn't hear either dog due to the hill and distance of 410 yards between us. Soon the Garmin showed them both treed and it took us a little time to drive around closer. They had been treed a little over 10 minutes by the time we got near the tree. Sally was doing a good job and stayed at the tree until we came within a few yards of them. She came to us then quickly went back to the tree. We shined the tree over good but didn't find anything on the outside except 4 or 5 holes. We worked the dogs at the tree then called it a night. After deer season we would begin hunting where not all the trees are a den.