Coon dogs bay at the treed raccoon.

This isn’t Boone County, Tenn.,but we do hunt raccoons here.

To practice up for those coon hunts the South Central Minnesota Coon Hunters Association sponsors field trials for their dogs along with games using the raccoon as the main attraction.

One of those meets is coming Sunday at the Roger Besemer farm just across the old bridge south of Kraft.

When the dogs chase the coons across the pond, they never really get a chance to nip but instead it works on the principal of the rabbit at the race track where the long sleek greyhounds stream around the circle in hot pursuit.

The raccoon is placed in a cage and pulled across the pond by rope.

The activities will begin at 10 a.m. and the races begin at 10:30 a.m.

Sponsors of the day’s events will be the South Central Minnesota Coon Hunters who locate themselves at Garden City.

The 58-member club was instrumental in adding the raccoon to the game animal list in Minnesota and taking the furry beast off the unprotected predator list.

REASONING behind the change, according to club president Arch Kendall of Mankato was to stop out-of-state hunters from taking the animal before the pelts were worth any value and discourage the killing of young coons throughout the year.

“With the new classification, the raccoon can only be hunted from Oct. 15 through Dec. 31. It makes it a lot better for the resident hunter and the raccoon population.”

Another added feature is the value of the pelts during the season. Prime coons sell on the average of $25 apiece.

The Coon hunters club has meets with one scheduled for Sept. 27 originating from Garden City. The hunters will leave in bunches of four with one of the hunters being the judge and the guide.

The judge will take the group into his local area along with dogs at about 9 p.m. at night. As soon as the dogs get the scent of a coon the hunt is on. Once the coon is treed, the foursome will find the tree and the judge will evaluate the hunt.

The coon will be left to watch the hunters walk off into the distance never feeling the pain of hot lead piercing his skin.

New Ulm Daily Journal

August 8, 1975