As a kid I read the book "Where the Red Fern Grows" about a thousand times. It was because of that book that I wanted to coon hunt. I did a bit as a kid. I went a few times with friends, but mostly I just dreamed about coon hunting.
It wasn't until I was grown and married that I started to coon hunt with a passion. We had bought some land in the country. One day a dog showed up that was covered with so much mud it was hard to tell what breed he was. He was also badly cut up, bleeding and almost dead. I felt sorry for the animal and did something that I have rarely done in my life. I took him to a vet to be patched up.
I don't recall how long we was at the vet, and it was touch and go for a while. Once better, I called the number that was on the collar. The owner was nice. He lived a few miles from me through the woods. It was decided that this dog had gotten loose and got into a pack of hogs or maybe coyotes. The owner asked me if I would like to have the dog, and at first I was a bit leery of a give away dog, but he said he had the papers on the dog and would send them to me. And thus "Mighty Miracle Max" entered our lives.
I was fortunate to have a very good friend in the same town that coon hunted a lot. I started going with him, and to my surprise, Max showed promise. I went hunting quite often. Several times a week. Max just got better and better. Sure, we had to break him off hogs and deer, but that is to be expected.
I started hunting him in competitions, and he won. I took him all over the state. I took him all the way to night champion. Max lived to hunt coons. He loved it more than I did, I think.
The objective of a coon hunt is to tree a coon. The dogs cause him to climb a tree as they get closer and closer. When you arrive at the tree you try to locate the coon, and must do so in order to score points in a competition. This is sometimes very difficult, but is made easier by shinning a light into the tree as you make noises. The coon will often look at you and the light will reflect, letting you know you have found the coon. Just think about the last time you saw a coon on the side of the road. If he looks at you in the light his eyes will shine.
I say all that because something happened this weekend that reminded me of those times. I went to a wedding. As you know, an inordinate amount of pictures are taken at weddings. The one below has to have something to do with Max. Perhaps this is his way of saying hello. You see, he died several years back. He was on a hunt and got hit by a car on a remote road in the middle of no where.
But that is another story.
El Toro Negro
