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Finally, the night came to go coon hunting. I had a pair of rough looking boots that were one and a half size too big, that my friend Sharon had given me (Sharon was the friend that called him the'dog guy'). I had an old sweatshirt, sweatpants, long johns, and a heavy coat. I kept thinking that IF the dog bit me, I had some thick layer of clothes, then the bite wouldn't hurt so bad.
At his place, he looked over what I had to wear, and said, "you might have a hard time with those boots, and maybe some tough jeans would work bettter than jogging pants".
"I have long johns on, you think I'll be alright?", I asked.
"You're gonna need a belt to hold your light with, and did you bring gloves for your hands?', he asked.
"Oops, I forgot gloves", I said.
He began to search through a garage closet, and tossed me a pair of old gloves. They were way too big, and way too dirty, but I was eager to go hunting, so I settled for what I could get. He had an old coat, and told me the coat I had on was probably too nice for hunting. So, I switched coats. And, then he walked over to me, and placed a hat with a light on my head (I felt I was being crowned), and then he gave me a belt, hooked up the light battery, and we were out the door. I sat in the truck while he loaded up the dog, they all started barking at once, and all of a sudden I just stffened up with fear. "Oh God", I prayed, "please take this horrble fear of dogs away, just for tonight, so we can have fun hunting!!" In the truck he came," here we go" he said. I smiled, and felt relaxed now that he was with me.
We drove down a long lane to a woods, and he brought the truck to a stop. He explained that we would let the dog loose here, but, we may have to go to the other side if she went to the other woods. I sat still in the truck waiting for him to turn her loose. Even after he turned her loose, I sat waiting...finally he opened the door, and said,"you gonna get out?"
"Yea", I said. And, stepped out of the truck. I stood right by my door just in case the dog ran back to the truck to bite me. Before long the dog began barking, she was way far away, she would start barking and stop continously. I took a few steps from the truck, and crunched my boot in the soft new fallen now. He stood close to me to block the cold winter winds, and asked if I was cold. I told him I would be colder if he wasn't standing right next to me. And, then the dog seem to be running towards the truck, and barking a terrifying bark. I got scared and made a few fast steps back to the truck door. He smiled, and, told me she was tracking a coon, and assured me that the dog was not intrested in either one of us at this moment. Why did he have to say, 'at this moment'?, I didn't want that dog to ever be intrested in me. All of a sudden he yelled in his deep voice, "she's treed".
"Are you ready?", he asked.
"As ready as ever', I replied, "but, please don't go far, stay beside me, ok?"I added.
"Don't worry", he said,"it'll be fine, let's go"
We walked very slowly, and thank goodness. We walked over dead tree branches, and small holes in the ground (thank goodness for the light!).
The moon was bright, and I noticed small animal footprints, must of been a bunny rabbit I thought. All of a sudden I caught my oversized boot in a hole, and I tripped. IT hurt real bad, but I pretended I was fine. He walked over, and gently helped me to my feet. "sorry, I should have told you about that hole, am I walking too fast?, he asked.
"No, it's just these boots, you were right it's hard walking in em", I said.
I brushed the snow off, and away we went. I could hear the dog, as we were getting closer, and I walked fast to keep close by him. "There she is", he said,"there's gotta be a coon up there". And, began shining his light high in the tree. "Why does she bark like that?", I asked.
"She's got a coon that's why", he said. I looked with my light also to see a coon, but, it was like nodding--because, I also kept an eye on the dog to be sure we would'nt turn towards me to bite. He would walk from one side of the tree to the other still looking high in the tree top. I was like a shadow following right behind, not to get too far away from him. "There it is!!", he exclaimed, "do you see it?!" I looked in the tree shadows, and yep there it was. "I see it", I said. He explained we had to step back from the tree (as to hint for me to get out of the way). I gave him plenty of space, and then crack went the gun. All of sudden it sounded like a dead tree branch falling from above, and down came a big size coon.
It hissed and squalled showing it's teeth. I was scared, I had never seen anything like this before. I grabbed on to his arm very tightly. Then the dog grabbed on to it's neck, it shook the coon like a rag doll. There was blood on the ground, and I just turned my head, and walked away about ten feet in shock. I heard him pull the dog off the coon and chain her to the tree, and then shoot again. I covered my ears. This was the most horrible thing I had ever seen!! "It's a big one, look at this", he yelled.
"No thank you, I have seen enough", I said, in a serious quiet tone. I felt sad for the coon, I wondered how in the world could this strong gentle man be so cruel AND seem to be so happy about it. He tossed the coon over his shoulder (looked like Daniel Boone), and the leash of the dog, and we headed towards the truck. I walked behind, still in shock, and many more questions I needed to have answered, but now was not the time.
(to be continued...)
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