
EAST TEXAS RACOON HUNTING
Story by Tom Claycomb III
Recently I had probably the most unique hunt of my life. Here’s the background.
Years ago, I hit up Charles Allen, the owner of Knives of Alaska and DiamondBlade Knives about making a boning knife for outdoorsmen. I told him there weren’t any good ones for hunters in the outdoor world. He made one and later had me down to his ranch to bone out a steer, a deer and a hog.
Three TV shows were done on the project, but Charles called me a few months ago and told me he wanted to do some more in-depth filming using the knife. He said I want to have you and Ron Spomer down and we’ll go more in-depth on using the knife plus filming the use of it. We’ll do a deer and hog hunt. I also want to do a duck and squirrel hunt while you’re here.
Wow, sounded like a blast. Right fast I had to get things lined up. I’d take my Henry .45-70 for deer and hogs, and my Henry .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire for squirrels.
Due to having a small target when squirrel hunting, I mounted a Vortex 6-18×44 AO Crossfire scope on my .22 WMR. I’ve never mounted a scope on a lever action, it seems sacrilegious or something. However, if I didn’t mount scopes on my .45-70 and .22 Mag. it would greatly limit my range, so I finally broke down and did it.
D-Day finally arrived, and Charles picked us up at Love Field, then headed for his ranch in East Texas. Anticipation that built excitement was evident in advance of this week-long hunt.
The first day Ron and I both got our bucks. The next day Ron got his first hog of the hunt. We now had animals to do our filming on processing game with the KOA Professional Boning knife. Additionally, we had meat to test making sausage with some Hi-Mountain Seasoning. Needless to say, this week was off to a great start.
Then suddenly we went wayyyy off track of our well-planned agenda. At dinner the second night Charles mentioned how a week ago two of them had shot 52 racoons out of his son-in-law’s pecan grove. Unbelievable. I’ve never heard of that many coons in my life anywhere. But like Charles frequently says, if you’re outdoors as much as we are, over time you see some weird, unique stuff.
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