Poor Boy's Ringtail Hunting

Poor Boy’s Ringtail Hunting
            The light breeze of the day had waned when twilight gave way to full darkness as the baying echoed through the woods with music as fine as any symphony could make and the hunters and hounds men chased along hoping to catch up to the dogs when they cornered or treed the quarry. The night sounds ebbed and swelled with the hounds coursing to and fro scenting the animal they were chasing while the cool fall night air chilled the sweat on the men’s backs and on mine as well because I was tagging along on a raccoon hunt serving as 22 rifle bearer. My reward for this duty would be several of the animals that were bagged that night. This early in the late summer and early fall when the raccoons were feeding in the corn fields the meat would be fat and plump so I never passed up a chance to put this seasonal game in the family larder.
             I only got to go on a few of the hound hunts over the years and they were always exciting as well as tiring but I wouldn’t have passed one up for anything. Usually I had to be content to hunt alone and the chances of bagging many raccoons at night posting by a corn field were not as good as chasing them with the dogs. I would go to the field as dusk ushered in full darkness and the sounds of night began to swell and I would sit quietly with my back against a tree along a fence row next to the corn field.
             My solo field hunting set up was a ground stand where the corn rows thinned out from the irregular shape of the edges around the field which let me see into the thicker rows and still be hidden from the raccoons I was after. I had my six volt “Hot Shot” electric fence battery in my old scout back pack and it was wired to my handheld spotlight so I could shine the corn whenever I heard a noise that could be a raccoon. I had to be careful because I was hunting at night with a spotlight and .22 rifle and I didn’t want to be mistaken for a “Jacklighter”. The hunting of raccoons at night was legal back in those days but I was hunting alone and the Warden may not be so happy if he wasted his time checking me while there might be some real poachers out there. The practice of poaching deer at night with a light (jack lighting) was an old practice that dated back before game laws and maybe even way back in time to ancient hunters with burning torches. As with most things that become a way of life for people it is often hard to stop just because a law is passed. Moonshiners didn’t quit and neither did poachers when new game laws interfered with their way of getting “fast beef”.           
            My hunting method was simple; I sat quietly until the raccoons started making a ruckus tearing stalks down and then I turned my light on the noise, rested my trusty .22 bolt-action over my arm and hoped for a good head shot on a big one. On any given night one or two raccoons were a good take and a lot to clean especially if they were big ones; a twenty pound raccoon was fairly common when corn fed. I was pretty good at skinning them out so I could sell the hides to the co-op even though they weren’t really “prime” that early in the fall and the price for those pelts was minimal but every little bit was a plus. The meat was my real goal because a mess of quarters cooked up would feed our whole family for a Sunday dinner and being a poor family any food was welcome. Raccoons that have been gorging themselves on corn are actually quite tasty if they are properly prepared for the table. We parboiled the meat and then pan fried it like chicken or stewed it until the meat fell off the bones.

 
 
Photo by Gary J Wood
 
            I was comfortable sitting alone waiting for something to appear whether it was during a day post for deer or a night post for raccoon. I was used to strange things happening like the time a “forest pig” decided to climb down out of his tree for a walk about. I was sitting under a large pine tree, which happens to be a favorite food source for ‘porkies’ in the fall, and as more and more bark fell on my head I knew it was time to get up and check for the culprit causing that. Porcupines go up head first and come down with their quill loaded tail first backing slowly and clumsily, sometimes even losing their grip and falling. This particular beast was so confused when he looked down on me that he didn’t know whether to go back up or continue down. The look in his eyes belied his IQ so I left him to his befuddlement and posted somewhere else.
            Another night while I was waiting for raccoons I heard something rustling around where I was sitting. I waited for the critter to decide what it was going to do when it stepped on my foot. I was prepared for a nosy raccoon as I flipped my spotlight on only to be greeted by a skunk doing his nightly hunting. I guess I looked as shocked as he did while we out stared each other. I was quiet and he decided I was harmless so he rustled around a bit more and then moseyed on his way. I was spared a great stinky spray and thanked him for leaving me untainted. The night is a strange but wondrous time to be watching life in the woods.
            Over the years I got away from night raccoon hunting and my budget improved to where I can buy food now rather than subsist on wild game, although regular small game and deer hunting are still my passion, but I still look back on those wondrous night hunts and the fun I had and I wonder how many kids today would even want to hunt like I did.
Chris