Back in the day, decidedly un-highfalutin breeders living in the backwoods of the American south crossed foxhounds with other breeds to create what was known as the time as the English Fox and Coonhound. It could hunt foxes by day, and then for good measure, track raccoons by night. Coon hunting in that area of the country was a “thing.”

Here would be a good place to interject a bit of information. We like raccoons. But historically, raccoons have never endeared themselves to farmers whose livelihood depends upon their crops. Because raccoons destroy millions of dollars worth of crops nationwide each year, many farmers have gotten crop depredation permits to have hunters take the raccoons destroying their crops. For these people, coon hunting hasn’t been just sport, well, not entirely. It’s been necessary.

It didn’t seem obligatory years ago, but as environmental considerations became more pronounced, the state of Mississippi asked for a study to show the state’s conservation officials whether or not hunting raccoons during the summer would have a detrimental effect on their population. The raccoons, that is, not the conservation officials. Preliminary results conducted by wildlife ecologists at Mississippi State University found that hunting “coons” during the summer months had no detrimental impact their population. In fact, because of dense summer foliage, even if a hunter was tempted to take a coon, more often than not, s/he wouldn’t be able to see the animal. Since hunters working with coonhounds hunt at night, seeing and claiming the coons is even harder.

That said, as the English Fox and Coonhound came to specialize (and shine) on those nocturnal raccoon hunts, it acquired its current name: The American English Coonhound (the AKC adding “American” to the name to avoid confusion with breeds that had actually been developed in England). The breed is considered by experts to be the fastest of all the coonhound breeds, and one “old timer” was heard to say that if he couldn’t have an English hound, he’d give up hunting.

Probably a good call. It was an American English Coonhound that won the first major coon dog trial, and while its exceedingly rare to see one of these dogs in town, it’s actually one of the most common purebred dogs in America, and regularly ranks in the top five breeds in terms of United Kennel Club registrations.

Image: An American English Coonhound from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show “Meet the New Breeds” event in February 2012 shared with consent of petsadviser.com.