I want to make a coonskin cap! Part 1

One of the fondest memories that I have as a little guy was the day my uncle Wolfie walked out of his big black van, handed me a coonskin cap, and told me it was mine. After I had a son of my own I got to thinking that no boys life can possibly be full without owning their very own coonskin cap. Taking a great deal of pride in making things myself I decided I would like to make my son the hat myself instead of buying him one. Also, I thought while I was at it it I might as well make one for myself and my nephew Josh. I began looking at coonskins on line which lead me to trapping and snaring sites. After visiting these sites several times I decided that I might as well trap, skin, flesh, and dry my own hides as well. How cool will that be I thought? My son and nephew will have a hat that they can look at and say "My uncle or dad trapped, killed, skinned, and hand made me this." It has been a very exciting and educational first year. I have fallen in 15 feet of fast moving water with a 50 lb. pack on and had to pull my self up the 8 foot drop on the river bank by tree roots. I lost my glasses when I went under but my hat stayed on and I stayed out and finished setting traps. I have gained a great deal of respect for raccoons and much knowledge regarding their habits during the cold weather months. At the end of the season I had trapped 22 coons, 1 mink, 1 beaver, and two skunks. Yes, I did get sprayed by the first skunk. Sorry about that Luke!! I have taken my coon handling time form 3 hours on that first coon to about 15 minutes (5 to skin and 10 to flesh.) I even sold some of my coons to a local fur buyer.

As far as excitement goes I thought I would share with you the most fun filled story I have to share from my first season. I had set a small line up and I left early in the morning to check it before welding school. I decided to check the trap that was furthest from the road and here is what I found.

As you heard me say in the video I closed down the recording to dispatch the coon. After the dispatch I reset my trap, threw the coon in my bucket, and headed off to check two more sets. As I approached the next two sets I was able to see from about 50 feet away the first one was empty. I had these two traps under a road bridge kitty corner of each other on opposite banks of the river. About the time I noticed the first trap was empty I heard the muffled sound of a coon growling and picked up my pace coming within site of the next trap. I had another coon waiting for me.

About this time I heard another growl and realised that the coon on the trap was too far away to be growling this loud. This lead me to look down at the coon I was carying in the bucket to notice that I had not been successful in dispatching him. In fact, I had not even come close and my efforts had only mildly stunned him and really pissed him off. About the time I put all of this together the coon jumped straight up and out of the bucket in my left hand towards my face. My reflexes kicked in ad I did what I always do when something comes a flying at my face aggressively, right jab. The punch sent the coon flying through the air. He landed on a bush and ran seemingly unharmed up a near by drain pipe. I set there for a couple of minutes with the adrenaline running not believing what had just happened and then, like I always do, I broke out into laughter.

I made my way over to the next coon, dispatched it (made sure this time), and headed back to my car. On the way up to my car I remembered something I had read about raccoons being one of the few animals that is successful at backing away bears and wolves in the wild. I thought about what a shame it was that the nice coon I had caught was sitting up a drain pipe out of my reach. I decided there was really no good reason why I shouldn't grab my catch pole and crawl up the pipe after him. It was a hairy situation to say the least, but it is true when they say victory favors the bold. The video below below was filmed after I exited the pipe.

Does this make me more stupid or more brave than the average bear? I don't know. All I know is I got both of my coons.