Tara’s Corner – Coon Hunting Southern Style

Nothing compares to the song of a Bluetick Coonhound. Here in north central, North Carolina, a lot of people hunt raccoons with Treeing Walker Hounds. At my house, we prefer Bluetick Coonhounds.

My husband and I have always joked that they are for the less in shape coon hunters out there. Blueticks are a slower hound in the woods. They are known for their figure eight hunting.

They don’t blow through the woods, missing every coon in a 1,000 yard radius. I fell in love with the Bluetick Coonhound when I was a teenager. My cousin owned an older blue dog named Beau. He was a faster hound that had a squalling bark in the woods. When you cut him loose to hunt, he’d take off like a lightning bolt. When he found a coon track, he’d open up and you could tell it was him from any other dog in the woods.

Blueticks have a distinctive bark. They have what is called a bawl mouth. Hunters call this type of barking a hound’s song. In my opinion Bluetick’s sing the prettiest song there is.

It wasn’t long after the first time I went coon hunting that I had to have my own Bluetick. I started off with a fully trained older male named Timber. He served me well as a coon dog, and lived out his life with me until he died from old age. I now have a female bluetick named Tess. She’s a very dark colored dog, which I love. She’s a bawl mouth dog as well with a spooky sounding locate bark on tree.

The whole process of coon hunting is nothing but fun. From the time you cast the dogs into the woods, it’s a wide open full of action experience. When the dog hits a track, it’s so exciting to see how far and where they take it. Once treed, the real fun begins. You’ve got to make it to the tree, and then find the coon. Once the coon is shot out and the dog rewarded, it’s all repeated again. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

My husband and I actually raise and train Bluetick Coonhounds now. It’s amazing how different they look when born. They come out with no ticking marks, but darken up as they age.

Our puppies have long ears, bawl mouths and dark ticking. Nothing is cuter than a bluetick puppy.