Coon Calling?

We've got a bunch of them at the ranch that are semi-semi-semi-pets (the extra semi's are intentional). They're actually pretty vocal animals at times, especially mothers and young. But those are mostly "Mom, I'm scared" or warning chitters/growling/screams over food and mating (the females apparently aren't often willing participants in the latter). And while they'll put up with each other around a plentiful food source like a feeder, I don't know that I'd call them particularly social critters outside their family circle. I can tell you, though, they've each got their own unique personality, just like dogs and deer. I never would have guessed that.

It'd be interested to hear about someone calling one.

I have a Foxpro that has the racoon fight sound. It works! We have called in many around stock tanks and creeks. They come in very mad and determined. Both male and female.

My hunting properties are all over-run with raccoons: No one here hunts them anymore.

Be careful around raccoons. We often catch them in our hog traps. i always shoot them in the trap because a big raccoon can seriously injure a person. More than half the rabies cases in the US involve raccoons.

In the Northeastern United States, rabies has been epidemic among raccoons since the late 1970s.

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http://www.healthcommunities.com/rabies/incidence.shtml

Had a friend that had been an avid hunter but developed MS and could not walk well. This was maybe thirty years ago. He used one of the original Johnny Stewart callers with cassette tapes. Had one for coons as he was a hard core coon hunter and coon pelts were high dollar

He would pull into a good area, then put out the caller. It had the funnel type speakers that had wires running to them. He'd sit quietly in the truck for maybe fifteen minutes, then start the caller. Baby coo in distress.

Within a few minutes the coons would come in, all riled up and way pissed off. First one he called in got ahold of the speaker and tore it apart. I guess it thought the baby coon was trapped inside. After that he put heavy wire mesh over them for protection.

Anyway, he could get as many as he wanted to go after. Said he did better than with dogs and you didn't have to chase them, pay vet bills, or clean up dog crap.

So, given the couple of responses addressing the coons agitation/rage...

I wonder what the "callers" are saying?

I always thought coon "calling" involved household trash in a metal wire milk crate.

Sure it takes longer and can get smelly but it's quieter and they never seemed pissed off on arrival.

I kinda don't wanna be around angry coons - teeth, claws, rabies and they'll whizz on you given half a chance.

But then - electronics, convenience and immediate gratification of the wonders of the modern age continually win out.

Todd.

I have called several using bird distress sounds.

We used to call them back when fur was valuable. Used dennis kirk handcalls and tapes. Baby coon cries was most effective, but coon fight and bird cries also worked. We used two rifles, one .22 and one .22 mag both outfitted with redlights and scopes with illuminsted reticle.

I kinda don't wanna be around angry coons - teeth, claws, rabies and they'll whizz on you given half a chance.

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Dude, you have no sense of adventure

Yeah, forgot to add....

Might wanna use a .22 mag. Coons are way tough, and on the ground they can be "interesting" if not DRT.

Do you call coons at night, like when you run dogs, or during the day?

We called at night. If near a den area, we tried to be there early or late so they'd be more likely to be in the area.

The best way to call a coon is plant corn and wait for it to come in to roastin ear!

They do tend to respond to coon squalls, at least when treed. It's a good way to get them to look down (to catch their eye) and have had a couple climb down and jump to the dogs.

If you just want rid of them, they are easy to trap.

Calling coons

I have called them at night....have used mouth calls and electronic.....prefer electronic after having a great horned owl nearly land in my lap one dark night....that will get your attention I guarantee....have had owls hit my speaker...but that is better than hitting me.....hunted coons for years with hounds and we had a "squaller" ( as mentioned in post#13) that we blew when we had one treed that would not look at us....it sounded like a coon squalling and invariably the treed coon would show his eyes.....which was the only way you can them sometimes when they are way up there....There are a couple of deserted farm houses around me that have tribes of raccoons living in them....we set up and call them out of those old houses pretty regular. Watched a crew on "Sportsman Channel" calling in coons in Nebraska last week.....these lads were using a fox pro and suppressed AR's with Thermal sights.....little more high tech than what see afield around here.

I am not a coon hunter but a spot light into trees is a quick way to find them. Their eyes reflect for two hundred yards easy. Best place to find them is around a corn feeder, they will spend hours figuring out how to get the corn out.

My neighbors garbage can seems to be the best coon call around! Every Thursday night that thing get ravaged by those angry fellows!
On a serious note, I have used the coon call on my neighbors FoxPro. It definitely works. We were having a problem with the coons getting into their dog kennel and going after the dog food. We spent a few nights calling them and "thinning the herd." It was very successful.