"Old Moody and the sewage"

     A little chat with Chester Myers today brought back something that I have not thought of in years.  His daddy, Cherry was definitely a coon hunter.  He had several dogs penned up but his blue-tick, Old Moody, ran loose.

     Once I pulled into their drive and there lay Old Moody in the drive sound asleep.  I do not see how with the loud exhaust I had but he remained asleep while I pulled the car over him.  Moe Stephens and I went in the house to get Chester and when we left ol Moody was still laying there asleep.

     When we returned Chester cried out, “Look over there.”  Moody was leaning against the outside wall of the house.  His left front leg and his left back leg were on the ground with his left side against the house.  His right front and right rear legs were crossed with the left legs.  Yep, he was again sound asleep.

     Another time Cherry took the dogs and went raccoon hunting and when the dogs were called in Old Moody was stinking to high heaven.  He had run a raccoon through some sewage somewhere.  Cherry loaded up the other dogs and left Old Moody until the next day and went back and washed him up before loading and bringing him home.

     My uncle and one of his Oakton buddies used to take me with them hunting raccoons in the bottom near where the Washout is now.  I liked the no take season best.  We let the dogs run and we built a camp fire and put on a huge coffee pot.  We would set back against a log and whittle, drink coffee and listen to the dogs run.  Each dog had a distinct voice and we could tell easy when and which dog would pick up a scent.

     Taking season was a lot less fun for me.  We would sit around the fire until the dogs treed and then had to run toward the sound.  The coon would have to be shot out of the tree in the dark where you could not see the sights so you had to be good at barrel sighting, and I was not all that good at it.