How to Train My Dog to Coon Hunt

You can teach your dog to hunt raccoons.

The ability to train your dog to coon hunt is the key to a successful hunting team. A good coon hound will be able to pick up and track the scent of a raccoon. When the coon is treed, the dog will sound off. Hunting skills, including coon hunting, are instinctual to the seven breeds. Coon hounds can be difficult to train but--with patience and good training techniques combined with a good instinctual hunting dog--your hard work will pay off. With proper training and maturity, a coon hound can thrive in the coon hunting world and, possibly, achieve champion status.

Things You'll Need

• Coon Dog
• Raccoon Scent
• Raccoon Carcass
• Trap
• Raccoon
• Gun
• Ammunition
• Dog treats
• Leash
• Shock collar

Instructions

1. 

   Begin training your coon hound when he is still a puppy.

   Teach your puppy basic obedience, including leash training and basic commands such as "sit," "stay," "heel" and "come." Beginning when the puppy is as young as five to six weeks, you can initiate training techniques. Starting early training with your coon hound will enable the dog to learn quickly. Be gentle yet firm to get the puppy used to what you want from him. Don't expect your puppy to immediately know the commands and follow them. Patience needs to be a huge part of puppy training.

2. 

   Allow the puppy plenty of play time in the woods.

   Introduce your puppy to the wildness of the woods by taking your dog for walks often. Allowing your dog to become familiar with wooded settings will develop confidence in the pup. He will feel comfortable and at home in the woods, which will help as you start hunting training later on. Night walks through a wooded area gets the dog used to the sights and sounds he will encounter on hunts. Permit the puppy to explore and nose around getting him used to the scents of the woods.

3. 

   Picking up the scent is instinctual to some breeds.

   Use a rag soaked with coon scent or a real coon carcass to get the puppy acclimated to searching out raccoons. Drag the carcass through a short trail and end with the carcass in a tree. Release your puppy on the heavily scented trail and, as the puppy gets better at following the scent, reward him with praise and petting. Start with heavily scented trails. As the dog progresses through the training, use trails with less scent.

4. 

   Target practice will help acclimate your puppy to the noise of gunfire.

   Prepare the puppy for the sound of gunshot. Start by getting the dog used to loud sharp noises. Do this during playtime or feeding so the dog will not associate scary noises with the hunt. Bang pots together; slam bats against metal. Do not do this too close to your puppy at first. Introduce gunfire from a distance, while your dog is exploring the woods. Allow the dog to go investigate the noise and get a treat from the shooter. Wait to fire the weapon again until the dog has gotten bored with the shooter and has resumed playing. Continue with the training until the dog has completely stopped reacting to the sound of shooting.

5. 

   Live trap a raccoon to help you train your dog.

   Capture a raccoon. Let the puppy investigate the caged coon. When the hound starts to get excited and bark, keep him under control with a leash. Move the puppy away from the cage and you can release the coon. A few minutes later, release the dog from the leash. Stay nearby as your coon hound tracks the coon's trail and eventually trees the coon. Depending on the time of year, if you can, shoot the coon out to your dog. Rewarding the dog with the coon helps him develop a hunger for the hunt. Eventually, lead up to longer hunts for training. Moving deeper into the woods and giving the coon a longer lead time will help your dog develop the skills needed to successfully tree a coon.

6. 

   The treed raccoon will cause the properly trained puppy to bark.

   Praise the dog when he trees a coon--if the dog stays with the tree. If the dog moves away from the tree, firmly tell him to tree. Immediately praise and pet when he gets back on the tree and sounds the alarm by barking. Only give your coon hound the raccoon carcass when he properly trees and alarms. This will positively reinforce the good behavior of treeing and "punish" the bad behavior of backing off the tree.

7. 

   Once the coon is in sight, the dog will give chase.

   Train the dog to not follow "trash" trails of other animals. If your dog trees a squirrel, tell him sharply "no" and walk away from the tree. When you do not react positively to the tree, your dog will learn you only want raccoons in the tree. If your coon hound starts running deer, use a shock collar to give the dog an extremely uncomfortable feeling when he takes off after the deer.

8. 

   Team work makes a coon hunt more successful.

   Hunt with other coon hounds to allow the dog to learn from the more experienced hunting dogs. Continue to go on solo hunts to avoid the coon hound from relying on the pack too much. By the time the coon hound reaches the age of 1, he should be able to hunt, track and tree by himself. Coon hounds usually are at full maturity by the time they are 2 years old.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn coon hunting lingo.

• Get to know experienced coon dog trainers and hunters.

• Have patience, it can take a long time to train your dog to hunt coon successfully.

References

• Coon Hunting Info: Coon Hunting Tips
• Coon Dawgs: The Gun Shy Dog