CamoNationAdmin's Blogs

From Mark Vee & Posted at The Hunting Files

Why We Hunt - Coon Hunting

This article is generated for the skeptics of coon hunting and an explanation of why we do what we do. I'm not here to change anyone's mind or opinions about hunting but to further educate people who are not knowledgeable about coon hunting and help people understand why we stay out all hours of the night with a bunch of old hounds.

Coon hunting is more than a sport or just a fun pastime, for most of us it's a way of life. Everything we do is directly affected by our hunting. Allow me to explain. First and foremost, a coon hunter must have a strong marriage and a very understanding wife. I can't count the number of times I've been chewed out for staying out all night with my hounds. Some folks are lucky enough to have wives who enjoy coon hunting as well, but I'm not one of them. I'm lucky to have a good woman who at least understands why I love it so much and doesn't say too much as long as I stay home a few nights a week.

Allow me to tell the story of how and why I got into coon hunting and the effect it had on my life.

As a teenager, I was a little on the rebellious side. Weren't we all...and the relationship between my father and I was less than desirable. We had a hard time bonding in any way and we fought over every little item. Of course now I realize that he was trying to make me into the man I am today and send me down the right path. That all changed with a phone call from my uncle asking us if we wanted his old walker dog "Blackie". Neither of us knew much about coon hunting seeing that Blackie was our first coon hound. My old man had been a couple of times when he was a kid but did not know all the little tricks that a coon hunter only finds out through experience. We took that old hound out and almost immediately we were getting along having a great time together.. something that hadn't happened for several years. Even today we still have that common bond and neither of us have gone without a coon hound since. I always look forward to hunting with my Dad and make every effort to do so as much as possible.

Our hunts are not about the kill as some may think. It's about personal gratification that your dog, the one you put hours of training into, is running and treeing the way you want and the way your training has taught him. We don't kill every coon we see but sometimes its necessary to take one depending on the level of training your dog is in. The end result of a coon hunt is not a dead coon but a coon being in the tree your dog says he's in. Lots of folks think that our hunting is wrong and everyone is entitled their own opinion, but some have crossed the line. We don't want to fight with a bunch of activists, we just want to hunt our hounds and have a good time. We treasure our hunting and we're here to stay! No one has to agree with what we do as long as they don't stand in the way of us dropping our tailgate and listening to our hounds run and tree. I hope this article has helped explain what our hunting is all about, not trying to change your mind just helping people understand our reasons.

Mark Vee of Valley Kennel, Speedwell, Tennessee

From our boy Big58cal:

Bacon Explosion On Nitro !!!
By Big58cal www.GutPileStyle.com & www.TheCamoNation.com

I decided to make my own version of the Bacon Explosion. In making it though, I found out some very important tips for anyone else who decides to make such a monster of their own.


We start with the bacon mat weave. For this, I had bought 4 lbs of thick cut bacon (two 2 lb packages). This becomes important later.




After the bacon weave, the italian sausage came into play. Two 1 lb packages of Old Folks Italian Sausage pretty much did the trick.




Now with the addition of a few slices of Provolone cheese, it's starting to look like something I could eat.




After being down in the garden and pulling some weeds earlier, I happened to think how good some fresh jalapenos would be in the creation.






Something of this magnitude just isn't complete without some onions.




Since we be po' and can't afford such things as prosciutto ham, thin sliced country ham with all of the fat removed is the next best thing. I also had a couple extra pieces of bacon left over from the first package so I nuked them and crumbled them up on top.




Ahhhh, and now for the hot banana pepper slices. I had wanted to add more pepperoni, but apparently we didn't have as much as I thought we had, so I only had enough for 1 row through it. It still added some flavor though.



And now, here's the finished beast!




Remember those 2 packages of bacon?? Well is seemed that with as much stuff as I had in the creation, the one bacon mat just wasn't enough to cover everything and roll it up. Enter the second 2 lb package of bacon. I had to create another mat and toss it on top of the beast to hold it all together.

Rolling it up in the wax paper that I had it on and adding some plastic wrap to kind of compress everything and hold it together, it was ready for the fridge to chill a little bit until today.




Got the smoker going around 11:30 this morning, unwrapping the beast and putting it on the bottom rack, right above the water pan to keep it good and moist. After about 7 - 7 1/2 hours I figured it was done.




After letting it cool a little, I cut into it to see what the damage was.






I cut off a slice and tried it................... OMG!!!! It will make your tongue slap your brains loose!

Since I figured that it would be a waste of all that good charcoal and wood just to smoke the fattie, figured I might as well throw a slab of ribs on there.




After eating half of the the slab of ribs, I didn't have much room left for the fattie, but it was still good. I've got some biscuits in the freezer that are just begging to have some of that pork deliciousness slid in the middle of them. Think I'll try that in the morning.

Big58cal www.GutPileStyle.com & www.TheCamoNation.com

From our friends at www.autumnwings.com

A Yankee Duck Hole (part 1)

From My Buddy John at Gut Pile Style

A true story about some buzzards, a dead 'possum, and a young fella in an old pickup truck.

Several years ago, at work, I was driving on patrol and decided to check on one of our guys that was manning an entrance/exit gate. On the way to the gate on the hilly paved road, I encountered some buzzards feasting on a dead 'possum. I slowed way down because I didn't want to hit the birds on the road, giving them plenty of time to fly and clear the road.

At the gate, I was visiting the other guard when an old pickup arrived with the passenger sicker than a poisoned dog. The driver had a terrible mess, a huge wide swath of rotten 'possum guts and other sickening stuff the entire length of his truck, including the windshield. It was horrible and the weather was very hot. The swath was about 4 feet wide.

I was standing upwind alongside of the terrible mess and asked the driver what happened. The poor fella said he topped the hill and there were buzzards all over the road and he nearly hit some of them. One or more of the spooked birds regurgitated as they lifted off the ground, trying to lighten the load and gain altitude. The contents hit the front of the truck and traveled the entire length of the truck. You could see where he turned on his windshield wipers to gain some visibility, but didn't have any windshield washer fluid in the washer tank. He had just enough view to drive, the wipers smearing the terrible stuff.

I looked at my fellow officer that was the unfortunate downwind from the mess. Poor ol' Remo was kinda pale and green, too. We were going to eat our lunches at the guard shack, but kinda lost our appetites. The driver asked me if I could smell it. I said, "H*ell no, I'm upwind! Get this stinking mess out of here!" The poor sick green kid said he wondered if he could even make it to a car wash. Off he went, headed to a car wash miles away.

John Andrews  www.gutpilestyle.com