This brings to mind a story from my youth, as a young man I was stationed at England AFB, La, I shot on the Base Pistol Team and while at the range one day met an older gentleman that invited me to go coon hunting with his group. After a while we became very good friends, I was accepted in the group and invited regularly to hunt with them. One of the men raised and trained several different breeds of hounds, he advertised in a coon hunting magazine and sold dogs to people from all over.
One afternoon I had a call from the man that raised the dogs and was asked if I would like to ride over to Natchez, MS where he was to meet a guy from Alabama who wanted to buy some dogs. I agreed, we loaded the dogs in his truck and off we went arriving just after dark. When we drove into the meeting location just outside of Natchez there was a new white Cadillac with a man and woman setting inside, the man got out and walked over to the truck and introduced himself as the person wanting the dogs, but first he wanted to see them run. My friend knew of a place a few miles away and agreed to run the dogs in that area. We offered to let him ride with us but he insisted on driving himself. After driving a few miles we turned down a muddy trail where my friend again offered to let the man ride with us, but he still insisted on driving himself. After slipping and sliding for a while we stopped and let the dogs go. A short time later the dogs treed, with the man following close behind we waded through the swamp and pulled the dogs off the tree. On the way back to the truck the dogs came across a skunk, they were trained not to chase, but got too close and the skunk gave them a spray.
Back at the truck the guy from Alabama pulled out a roll of bills and counting out payment for two of the dogs, he opened the back door on the new car and threw them in. They were covered with mud, smelled from the skunk and were jumping all over the place. The woman was going ballistic, as we headed back to the highway I could se her arms waving as se was making jesters and could only imagine what se was saying.
As we sat in an IHOP having a bite before heading home I wondered if the ole boy would make it back to Alabama alive and what the total cost of those dogs would be when you consider the damage to the car.
I think this was one of my last coon hunting trips, but one I will never forget