I was just adding my two cents fellas, don't get too jumpy. My whole point is this, if your going to kill a healthy coon, and your not letting the dogs tear it up, or using it for training, and your just throwing them in a ditch, why kill them? I kill plenty of coons each year, most get turned into dog training gadgets, or predator hunting gadgets, but even the ones that don't get totally "used" get a better fate than rotting in a ditch. If you've got landowners who want them dead, fine, thats why we hunt and try to train our dogs to be the best, just don't be wasteful I guess is all I'm saying. I applaud the guy who gives them to folks to eat, or those of ya'll that skin them out and sell the hides, but just imagine for a one minute what would happen if a HSUS or Anti-Fur crusader stumbled upon that 'ditch' and took a picture. The rest of the world wouldn't understand why that was done. Again guys, I'm seriously not trying to down anybody or pick a fight, just saying that I know the prices on furs are stupidly low, and not killing coons on a hunt is a near impossibility, but we have a year round chase season in VA, and I manage to have a lot of fun running them year round. If I have someone who wants a coon gone, it's usually a nuisance coon hanging around houses/stores, so a live trap will do it for me.
Ya'll are welcome to hunt however you like, but if you end up with a bunch of unwanted coons/hides, I'll be happy to take them so they don't have to rot in a ditch. $4-8 bucks a pelt, or a good training hide is a lot better than a smelly ditch that might give off the wrong impression to non-hunters. Heck if were gonna kill em just to let em rot then maybe we can start getting a high dollar bounty for them like the yotes??
I know this is a touchy subject, and your welcome to legally harvest any coon you want, but I DO take offense to disrespecting this game animal by killing them just to kill and dump in a ditch. You can say you don't kill to kill, but if your not using the coons/hides/meat, and your not doing it for the dogs...then what would you call it?
Why don't the few of ya'll who don't have anywhere to sell them or anyway to use them just skin them, pitch in together, and bulk ship the hides to the North American Fur Auction? Heck even if you only make 300 bucks for the whole lot, that buys more dog food, pays more dues than a ditch full of rotten dead animals....
AGAIN..to keep a few of ya'll from biting my head off, I KNOW YOU CAN'T UTILIZE EVERY PART OF EVERY COON YOU KILL...WE'RE ALL GUILTY OF THIS...BUT TO KILL 30+ COONS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO ATTENTION OF EVEN ATTEMPTING TO UTILIZE
ANY PART OF THE ANIMAL AT ALL IS NOT ONLY UNETHICAL & CRIMINAL, IT ALSO OFFERS A VERY NEGATIVE VIEW OF OUR SPORT...IT'S NOT JUST YOU THE HSUS OR PETA FOLKS WILL BLAME FOR A DITCH FULL OF ROTTEN COONS....IT'S EVERY SINGLE COON HUNTER/HOUND OWNER...Like it or not, our actions represent not only ourselves, but everyone else who enjoys this great passion as well.... Please no disrespect, this is just MHO...we can agree to disagree