Point. ;)

From what I've read, American foxhunters swear that the fox is very rarely
injured. In Rita Mae Brown's novels, there never has been one hurt by the
dogs.

Love of animals... would be the dogs and horses. But you definitely have a
point Victor. And I'll agree to it.

Grace

When I was a kid in Alabama we used to get teased because we didn't
hunt raccoons, we TREED them. We wouldn't shoot or even knock them out
of the tree but would simply call the dogs off and go find another
raccoon to chase. People kept saying that the dogs would sulk and not
chase after awhile but Jim's four coonhounds and our two airedales just
went after the next one, ever hopeful.

The dogs caught an old boar raccoon on the ground once and he fought
his way to a tree. If he had looked REALLY bad we were going to knock
him down and take him to a vet but he looked ok, just really angry, so
we didn't risk it. The night the dogs treed a bobcat was memorable. It
was one time that the hounds were well behind the terriers for most of
the chase. They knew what was up ahead and were probably howling
"please get up a tree."

I guess it was stressful on the raccoons but they are often a little
pudgy and it gave them some exercise. And some practice at getting away
from people who had more serious intentions.

I am not adamantly anti-hunting and have acquired some venison and
quail by hunting but the coon-treeing was lots more fun, even without
the strawberry wine.

Will in New Haven