Coonhounds are bred to hunt. Most of their skill is natural instinct. Your job when training your coonhound to hunt is to teach him to only track a raccoon and what to do when he comes across the scent. It is best to start a coonhound young. Twelve weeks is the right age to start hunting. Before you start any training program, make sure your dog has had all his shots. A rabies vaccination is a must.
Supplies
When your dog is ready to learn to hunt, you will need a few supplies. A quality coon scent is a good place to start. This will help your dog to identify the scent. A live trap comes in handy when you need a live coon for training. You may also want to pick up a coon cage. It's a round cage that holds a live coon yet allows him to roll the cage around. Coon cages are similar to hamster balls on a larger scale. Huntsmart.com is a good place to find the supplies you need.
Early Training
Familiarize your dog with the target prey. That's where the coon scent comes in. Spray it on an old rag or a coon pelt if you have one and let your dog play with it. This will get him acquainted with the smell of coon. Let him play with it for 10 minutes and take it away. If your dog gets bored with the rag, he may lose interest in the scent of coon. Refresh the rag with coon scent each time you offer it to your dog. Offer the scented rag two or three times a day and praise your dog while he is wrestling with it. After about a week your dog should be well acquainted with coon smell and it's time to move to the next phase.
Tie the scented rag to a rope and, with your dog tied where he can see you, drag the rag across the ground for about 200 yards and hang it in a tree. With a leash on your dog, put him on the scent. He will recognize the scent and track and tree the rag. If he fails to track the rag, lead him to it and show him where it is. Try again at a shorter distance until it clicks. Once your dog is tracking the rag, drag it out of sight. Keep taking it farther and farther away. Within a month, your dog should be able to track that rag anywhere you take it. Always praise your dog when he finds the rag.
Coon Time
Now it's time to bring in the coons. Use the live trap to catch a live coon. Introduce it to your dog. He will probably bellow, howl and run around the trap trying to get at the coon. This is good and you need to encourage it. Your dog will be very excited when you bring out the real thing. Put the coon in the rolling coon cage. Allow your dog to bark and chase the coon around the yard. In the cage the coon can run but cannot escape. Alternate this with the rag hiding a few times a week for another month. You will want to trap a fresh coon about once a week. After a week a trapped coon stops running.
The next step is to take a live coon to the woods. Take your dog to a hunting area. With your dog out of sight and the coon in the cage, carry the cage the first 100 feet or so. Then set it down and roll it another 200 feet. Let your dog loose near the trail you started walking on and let him track it up. It takes most dogs two or three tries to get it right. Remember to praise your dog when he finds the coon. When your dog has found the coon a few times, tie him up. Bring the caged coon close and let it out of the trap. Give the coon a two- or three-minute head start and turn your dog loose. The coon likely will climb a tree, giving your dog a great real hunting experience. A little practice and you and your dog will be hunting coons before you know it.
Tags: live coon, coon cage, coon scent, praise your, acquainted with, good place