Three foxes that liked running in the open

A still frame from the video of fox  #1. I discovered that  Ican shoot stills WHILE SHOOTING a video-and they come out in focus!!!!

First, the morning beckoned with this beautiful scene as I was leaving my farm at 7:05am.  The first rays of the sun were popping above the horizon turning the  trunks of the bare trees a golden-red color, while the moon began it's descent. A pretty start to a pretty awesome day.

Then, at the start of the first draw the hounds walked over top of a fox sitting on a newly dug den located  in a thick briar bed less than 50 feet from the path where we had started..  It was 8:39 when this red fox began a run that would last over an hour. He was a very fat fox, as the video will show!! Wisely, he went to ground back at the very same earth, but not before leading the hounds on a long run in the open, blowing through the few narrow coverts he encountered, and seemingly preferring to stay to the open fields. 

After we gathered the pack ( which wasnt easy because the hounds didnt want to walk back OUT of the briar bed. It was a really nasty bunch of stickers, and a smart location  for a den),  we began the draw of another woods to the south of the one in which fox # 1 had retired.  As Freddy walked his hounds into the woods, a fox was viewed away by someone on a road about 1/4 mile to  the east.  A chase began that would last almost another hour, cut short only because this pilot was  straight-necked and running  clear out of the country.  We had to hold the hounds up about 3 miles from where they started as the crow flies. It killed us to have to do it since this fox wasalso running in the open most of the time.  But he was a slimmer, faster fellow, and had a good lead on his pursuers.  It didnt seem to matter - hounds never checked.  Scent was extraordinarily good all day!

Our last fox was the best, though.  He gave our little pack of 14 couple  a hard run to the northwest (fox number two ran east). We thought we would have to break the pack again, but much to our surprise, fox # 3  decided to come BACK , after running out of the country by about a mile.   Again, it was all open running, and since we were able to keep our eyes on the pack, we let them roll on.  Two road crossings were well guarded, but we all breathed a sigh of relief when CharlesIII decided to head  back to Georges Big Branch. The fox ran straight down the center of the branch , then pulled a fast move by breaking covert briefly to make a smal lloop in the adjacent field, then ducking right back into the covert.  I think I have the hounds making that loop on video. Great to watch them, as they never waivered on the line.  A few seconds later,Charles III was viewed by all of us as he ran the dirt lane  the side of the woods .He was headed east and towards yet another paved road. A split-second conferemnce,and  our host for the day made the call to break the pack. Damn.  Bobby ,.Tommy and I  would have loved to have let them roll on....

I had a blanket delivery for a new customer ( getting alot of those!!) only a few miles away, so it was just as well.
Great day!! I so wish that Sara and Marney could have been  in the chase ( both in heat). But thats' why you dont see any flash of red in the pack today! (Sara is the only lemon hound).  Very proud of both Lark and Marilyn today! Lark is the kind of hound who you dont notice right away, but at the end of a hard running day, she's right up  with the front hounds.

Lark, (top hound w/ white eye), nose to the ground!