Module 4 of 8 Core
Hounds and the Tree
Learn the heart of the track — night hunting raccoon with treeing hounds: the breeds, the strike-and-tree sequence, working behind a hound, and reading the tree to the shot.
Best after: Reading Raccoon Sign Furbearer Law and Licensing
Lessons
6 lessons in this module · 36 across the path
- The Six Coonhound Breeds Surveys the recognized treeing breeds — Treeing Walker, Black and Tan, Bluetick, Redbone, Plott, American English — and the strike, trail, and tree traits that define a coon dog.
- Strike, Trail, and Tree Explains the full hunt sequence — casting the hound, the strike on a hot track, the trail, and the tree — and the changing bawl-to-chop voice that signals each phase.
- Reading the Bay Teaches how to read a hound's locate and treed bark by ear and tracking-collar, judge distance and direction, and decide whether a dog is truly treed or trailing off-game.
- Working Behind a Hound Covers moving to a treed dog safely in the dark: pace, communication, basic hound handling and praise at the tree, and when to leash off versus let a young dog work.
- ID the Coon Before the Shot A target-identification lesson: shining the tree, distinguishing eye-shine and silhouette of a raccoon from a possum, owl, house cat, or another dog, and confirming a legal animal before any gun comes up.
- Slick Trees and Off-Game Addresses the slick tree (empty tree), dens, and off-game situations — den laws, when to pull the dog, and the ethics of not shooting an unidentified or out-of-season animal.