My son and I were invited to coon hunt with a group out of NE Indiana. The night was filled with plenty of excitement and I got to practice some of my emergency medical skills.

The official hunt took place from 7-11pm. We were partnered with an experienced hunter and his 12 year old grandson. They hunted with a 7 year old female dog named Cricket. About 20 minutes into the hunt she somehow speared herself on a piece of scrap iron or a sharp stick while running a hot track. She let out a sharp bellow and came running back to us with blood pouring from a large gash in her chest.

Luckily we were only 10 minutes away from their house and the man's wife is a vet technician. We got to the house and we all worked together to assess the dog's injuries, pack the wound with sterile dressing and wrap it up with Coban and an Ace bandage.

After that we set off to hunt with a much younger and far less experienced dog he had. For hours we chased that dog and never saw a coon.

We get back to the clubhouse and watched everyone pour in with coons in hand. We enjoyed fine conversation with the other hunters and were introduced to a man who offered to take us back out with his dog.

We ran several tracks but were only able to find and shoot two coons. My son and I both made fatal shots with my Ruger boat paddle 77/22lr that was equipped with a Campfire Classifieds Green Mountain threaded barrel with a SilencerCo Sparrow attached. We shot Norma Tac subsonic ammo. We enjoyed hearing the bullets impact the coons and seeing them drop from the trees.

Though the night started off relatively exciting and was a bit slow until 11pm we stayed out until 3am and had a great time.

I'm thankful for sharing time with my son, other veterans, and a great group of dedicated coon hunters.

That is very cool ! time well spent. my dad and brother did that stuff clear up until my dad passed. brother still chases coon dogs . glad for you guys .

Looks like a good time for all, except maybe for Cricket. Thankfully he was in good hands.