Trailing in wet conditions?

Typing from the IPHONE, but here goes. Noah, this is where most coon hunters can help explain. I'm sure Underdog and some of the others that have coon hunted for years will have some good stories.

Several years ago, I was over at my coon hunting buddy's property. It is cow pastures, woods, and small Cyprus ponds. We were discussing track speed. I had two of my females with me in the box. Philip had a coon in a cage. He asked if I wanted to help turn it outta one of his ponds. Well, we rode the Ranger to that part of the property, and I opened the door and shook him out at the water's edge. He did not go right or left. Instead, he bailed off into the pond. It was a very calm and still. We watched every ripple as he swam across it. He did not go directly across it, but rather, he swam the length of it. He popped out the top side and into the old flag pong he went.

About 30 minutes past, and I retrieved my hounds. I sent them on as we entered the wood's edge. Both went in search of a track. They both stumbled onto the spot I had shook him out. Instantly, the bawls began. We watched as they went right, then left 10 yards each. It was then, Beulah entered the pond. She placed her nose directly on top of the peaceful water, and increased her level of bawling. Within a second, Ramsey had joined in. They would swim zig-zagging across the pond. Oddly, they took the same path across the water not getting more than 10 feet from the route the coon had taken It was not long, and they reached the top side. After working it on a run through the Cyprus, they fell treed. Beulah threw her locate, and I knew he was there. He treed in a small Cyprus in the middle of the old flag pond.

Watching that chain of events was very insightful. I'm not certain how it is in the Summer in Texas, but here in Florida, we get a couple weeks of heavy pollen. It gets so heavy, that it will literally leave a thick yellow-green film on the top of standing water. When you begin walking across this film, it will part, only to mesh back together once you pass. It is really neat though, as you can see the path that animals have swam across that body of water. It takes about 10-20 minutes for it to fill back in. I've actually figured where hogs have crossed a body of water using this key. Anyway, this to me is a great representation of "scent" that lays on the top of water. Obviously, the more current the top layer of water has, it is going to affect this.

Another good example is when you place olive oil in water that you are going to boil for spaghetti noodles. You can see it moving in the water. Even after minutes have passed, you can still see the olive oil. I think scent works very similar. A good dog that learns to "track" using water to their advantage can truly be an asset when the conditions get hard on us humans.