Lamar Pettyjohn and his daughter Courtney show
off Clip, the prized dog that leads the Trion, Ga.,
hunters when they hunt raccoons at night.A dog barking at 2 in the morning is not what most people want to hear, but for raccoon hunters it's a delight. It also can mean big bucks.
"I have won over $10,000 in one year," says coon hunter Lamar Pettyjohn of Trion, Ga.
Armed with a $400 rechargeable light, he has been hitting the dark woods for 40 years.
"I went hunting for the first time when I was 5 years old," says the 45-year-old Mohawk Carpet maintenance worker who can't seem to get enough.
And that distinctive coon dog bark is a big part of the lure.
"I hunt about five nights a week. Sometimes I will hunt seven nights a week," he says.
Depending on the week, Pettyjohn works three or four 12-hour shifts.
"If I don't have to work the next day, I will sometimes hunt from dark to daylight," he admits. "But I remember hunting one time when it was 3 degrees. I will not do that again."
Pettyjohn sometimes hunts by himself but usually is accompanied by some teenagers interested in the sport.
"As I've got older I don't go out by myself as often," he says.
But he always has Clip, a 7-year-old black and tan coon dog he owns with Andrew Weaver. Now 32, Weaver developed his interest in hunting raccoons and investing in prized dogs when he was a teenager tagging along with Pettyjohn.
Clip cost them $7,500, but the two have paid as much as $12,500 for a dog. Clip has about three more years of competing in championship hunts scheduled by the Professional Kennel Club, according to Pettyjohn. Technology has progressed with the sport as with other endeavors, as the dog wears a radio collar that sends a signal to a handheld GPS device that lets the hunter know if the dog is tracking or has his prey treed.
One of the current teenagers who loves to accompany Pettyjohn on hunting trips is his daughter Courtney, 18. Like her father, she fights limbs, climbs hills and crosses creeks at night to find Clip jumping at the base of a tree where a raccoon is perched.
"What got her started was just wanting to be with her daddy," says her mother, Michele.
The Trion High School senior wants to be a veterinarian but says she always will be a coon hunter.
"I take breaks, but I go back coon hunting," she says.
Also a PKC member, Courtney hopes a scholarship provided by the national coon hunting club will help pay part of her way to college.
Her dad plans to continuing sharing the sport with others.
Working with the United Special Sportsman Alliance, a national organization that sends critically ill and disabled youth and disabled veterans to outdoor adventures of their dreams, Lamar Pettyjohn already is scheduled to take 10- and 13-year-olds on a coon hunt.
Bill Rector, a 46-year-old LaFayette resident and self-employed owner of A Z Lawncare, has a lot in common with Pettyjohn. He recalls becoming interested in the sport when he was about 12 years old.
"When I am getting ready for a hunt, I usually go solo, but it is fun taking kids," Rector says. "My daughter, she always liked to go. She also likes deer hunting and bear hunting quite a bit."
Ashley Rector, 18, is a student at Georgia Northwestern.
"I've always hunted with my dad, as long as I can remember," she says. "I really enjoy hunting with him. I just enjoy being in the outdoors."
Bill Rector points out that most of the PKC's major hunts are in Indiana and Ohio, and taking part means serious preparation for hunter and dog.
"When getting ready for a big hunt, I have hunted three months and never taken a night off."
One aspect of the sport that bothers him is how much a good coon dog now costs.
"It has gotten now where it is a rich man's sport," Rector says. "I gave $6,500 for mine. You can get a pretty decent one for $3,000 to $5,000."
He sold his dog about two months ago but is looking to buy another one.
"I had him for three years. I was just not able to travel and put him in hunts like he needed to be," Rector says.
When he has a dog, he usually spends at least four nights a week coon hunting -- mostly in northern Georgia. And it is not uncommon for him to hunt until 4 or 5 a.m.
He says his wife knew before they got married that he loved coon hunting, and she doesn't mind the amount of time he spends walking in the dark and listening for that special bark.
Like Pettyjohn, Rector rarely kills a coon.
"We could kill 100 in a season, but we only shot five or six last year," he says, noting that Georgia, like some other states, allows hunters to train their dogs year around but has a set season (Oct. 15-Feb. 28 this year) when raccoons may be killed, with a limit of three.
Pettyjohn is going this weekend to extreme South Georgia and the town of Pavo in hopes of winning a 4-wheel-drive truck valued at $10,000 along with $1,000 in prize money. He and 16 other hunters will compete for up to $4,000 in a PKC-sponsored hunt Jan. 24 in Summerville.
Contact Gary Petty at sports@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.