March 26 Hunt on Rap

Once I got the fox on the video, I got bored with him running circles around us, so Rap and I went off for a long ride around to the upwind, highway side of this covert. ( As I mention  in  the blog, we  also just wanted to get away from the hordes of mosquitoes!)



Leaving the meet , as I pulled out onto the highway, I spotted this vixen sitting on her den in a field on the opposite side of the highway from where we hunted. . She had her cubs at her feet.  I could see the little black cubs moving around her.  This is a cropped version of one of the two photos I took that look like the one below. (It's the best my camera could do)  She was probably about 200 yards away!




This is how far away she was!



Now, for the hunt report:
... as the mantra goes, "plan your hunt and hunt your plan".  Which I did today, with no regrets!  Because of the high winds forecast, the guys decided to hunt the County House woods- it is an area that the Ireland family has been hunting for generations, long before the highway  that borders its'  north side was ever  even a paved road.  This is their favorite meet when the winds are howling because one can stay on the  dirt road that cuts right through  the middle of the woods and remain close to the hounds -unless the fox decides to go straight away.  (Which he usually won't do when the wind is this bad).

I brought  Rap and parked on the west end of the covert, then hacked down the road about 1/2 mile to where Tommy, Bobby and Curtis were to turn out.  Surprise!!!  A guest from Delaware arrived with 1 1/2 couple.  Now I was really glad my hounds were at home!( see earlier posts in archives!)

11 1/2 couple went into the woods at the "crossroads" at 8 am. At 8:10,  a short burst of music emmanated from the pines , but  faded quickly.  A cold trail.  At around 8:30,  hounds finally got the fox on the move, through the pines and into the "ivories" ( I have no idea why these dense evergreen shrubs are referred to with that moniker).   An itchy tailed fox was the quarry, although for a brief time the pack split on a second fox.  But when both foxes returned to the pines, hounds converged on just one.    This one ran back and forth over the dirt lane several times- so much so that I got bored and decided to run Rap around to the upwind, highway side of the covert  with the hope of catching a glimpse of  Reynard  should he decide to run the edge of the woods that borders a wheat field on that side.  I really just wanted to get away from the damn mosquitoes that were driving both Rap and me crazy.  That plan worked.  No bugs, warm sun, but  at 9:55 the wind came up with a vengeance, which meant that I couldn't hear a blessed thing over there. That is, unless the hounds and the fox were right on top of me.   That did happen -and I had the camera on, waiting and hoping that I would catch a glimpse of the fox.  However, I did not plan on Rap having to take a pee at that particular moment. My normally  still -as- a -stone, well-mannered , hunt horse suddenly began fidgeting and  dancing around while I was trying to point the camera towards the approaching choir.  It was a missed photo opp -  not sure if the fox heard Rap's fidgeting or his waterfall ;-)

For the last hour , I  played catch-up with the pack- not really trying   to  get close to them, since it's not possible to ride behind them in the County House unless the fox is gone away.  Which, as  hoped, didnt happen. (that mantra thing again!).  At 11am, I heard via my radio that the hounds would be picked up the next time the fox crossed over the road. (With the increased wind, every time  the fox went into the south side of the woods, no one could hear the pack)   I had decided to go exploring to find a way across the swampy branch on this  south side and  had succeeded  in finding my way into Douggie Gray's back field. (Something I would NOT attempt on Mel- he would have sunk right in up to his  belly, like he did a few weeks ago someplace else!)  I was now on the downwind side  of the covert, and could hear the pack well even though they were on the other side of the road that cuts through it. I heard the tally-ho, and the subsequent hollering as they loaded the hounds.   By the time I crossed back over the branch and arrived back at the crossroads, the guys had just finished sorting  the hounds.

When I  hacked out of the woods and into the open near my horse trailer, the wind was gusting over 40 mph .  This hunt could have gone so, so  bad if that fox had decided to run with the wind and leave the County House....that didnt happen today .  Still glad I left my bitches home, though.

No hunting on Tuesday oe Wednesday this week, but a  hunt with all the puppies and the regular pack together, this Thursday!!  A "graduation" of sorts, for the "R" pups!!

Some video of our pilot and the hound music from the hunt:
You Tube asked me if I wanted them to fix my shakey video -now all the subtitles are flying all over the place,! I wont do that again,lol!

2 to Ground before 8am

Hounds lost their fox on this gravel driveway at 7:30am.  We quietly called them out of the yard so as not to awaken the residents!

.....Since  someone  needed to be done by 10am today, our meet time was moved up to 7am. It was another foggy morning with the temp at 53 degrees. The East wind just will not quit, but it is now slightly more NE than SE, portending colder temps as it eventually swings around to the north. A hard feeze is predicted for tomorrow night!

 I actually preferred the rainy conditions of yesterday over today's very foggy , cold dampness.

Tommy walked his hounds into the first covert and no more than 2 minutes passed than they sang out on a fox at 7:06 . The rest of us harked our hounds, and a chase on a vixen ensued that would last for only 20 minutes. She handed the pack of 11 1/2 couple over to her mate at about 7:30. Charles James rose to the task of luring the threat  away from his lady by breaking covert and running the open for a good 1/4 mile. We know this because we all viewed the vixen on her single turn around the covert, and Tommy viewed the much larger dog fox as he went away. Tommy lost him in the heavy fog, and when we caught up with the pack they had checked in the driveway of a neighboring  house. When the hounds failed to recover the line after about 4 minutes, a quick decision was made to load them and go look for another pilot. ( It WAS only 7:30 on a Sunday morning, and we surely didn't want to wake up those folks!) It was a short drive upwind to the next covert, where another red was roused at 7:35. With the pack roaring behind him/her, this pilot decided to head for safe haven , also. It was another short run ending with another fox gone to ground at about 7:55am.

A long draw was made even further upwind, without much success. Just as all hounds were loaded, Tommy mentioned that Twister and another of his hounds weren't  present. It was now 8:45am, and the fog had turned into a cold, heavy mist. I opted out of another draw, and  Curtis and Bobby followed suit. No sooner said than done, however, and we all heard Twister and his comrade tonguing in the distance. Tommy was with them, and since he needed to be done early, there was no debate concerning whether or not we would turn out on Twister.

It was all over by 9am. And I was actually kinda happy to be getting home on a Sunday before 10am.

Marilyn got a good poke in the eye this morning, most likely a thorn from running all the briars.  Reno is 3-legged gimpy.  Sara still hasnt got her endurance back ( what little she has, lol!) from her latest flareup of Lymes. (I left her home today).  And Marney... well, Marney is Marney.  Unpredictable, but to give her credit, she has been very good about coming up at the end of the chase of late. (And that is her only "issue".)

What I'm getting at is this: 20-30 mph winds, with gusts to 40mph are forecast for tomorrow. I do believe I will leave my bitches in kennels and just follow the other hounds on a horse. Safer, and less stressful! 
But if I had Larkie- she would be goin'. Never had to worry about Lark. Ever.  Just not the same without her.... (Hey, when you only have 2 1/2 couple, losing your best one is tough!)

A Hot Chase in the Hard Rain!

Early on in the draw,very light rain falling

The weather conditions were  52 F degrees and foggy as I drove to the meet.  The forecast was foreboding:  showers in the morning, giving way to thunderstorms by the afternoon.  I had planned on taking Rap, but a check of the radar suggested that it might be wise to leave him at home. And I am oh SO glad that I did! (If not for the weather, the mosquitoes and TICKS are horrendous out there.)

It was raining steadily when I pulled up to the meet. Not a deluge, but a steady, windless shower.  As the Dopplar radar had suggested, this lasted for about 15 minutes then waned to a heavy mist.

 Since we had decided ahead of time  to stay away from any highways on a foggy/rainy Saturday,  we met at Taggler's gate to hunt the state-owned Tabor Woods again.  At 8:20,  11 1/2 couple were walked into the woods adjacent to the "pepper patch".  After a draw lasting just over a half hour,  Radio and Pearl opened simultaneously 200 feet in front of us in some cutover.  All hounds harked.  It was 8:53am, and a light rain was just  beginning to fall.

By the time Bobby and I  walked out to the road to catch a ride back to our hound trucks, it was pouring. Hard.  Well, at the time, we thought it was hard.  No worries- I had my Barbour light weight rain jacket with the hood on, and my Barbour quilted vest underneath . With the old stand-by LeChameaus' on my feet, I was confident I would stay nice and dry.  Heh....

We needed the rain- it has been quite dry the last week or so, and it definitely seemed to help scenting conditions because the hounds were  absolutely SCREAMING behind their fox.  And thank goodness for those PMD voices , for we were relugated to remaining  on the paved roads, watching and listening as our fox preferred to run the dense woods and cutovers , most likely not running in the open because  it was now raining like cats and dogs. And the wind had picked up considerably.   My Barbour was soaked through, and my arms were wet and cold.

Just when we thought conditions were getting kind of difficult ( hearing the pack was becoming impossible unless you were exactly downwind, and then it was hard to tell just how far away they were), the heavens opened up and a wind-driven deluge commenced that would last until we broke the pack.  I mean, it came down in  BUCKETS.  Sideways.  Fortunately, I had another waxed cotton Barbour ( which I never wear) stashed in the hound truck, along with a heavy sweatshirt..  All of that layered over the damp vest and long sleeved polo just barely drove the chill away. It was 70 minutes into the chase , and there was no discussion needed regarding when to hold up the hounds.   The problem was, we couldn't hear them unless we stayed downwind.  And  just when we thought we knew where we could get to them, by the time we got there, they were long gone. This was one hot chase going on; but by this time, all we cared about was getting home and getting dry.

Olin viewed a fox cross the lane in front of Taggler's gate at 10:10.  Everyone converged there, fully expecting to be standing on the foxs' line as the hounds broke covert and came to the lane.  We waited.  The rain let up at about 10:25. We could hear the hounds ,and although they were coming towards us, they quickly bore away from the lane.  This was not the hunted fox. (Insert appropriate multiple obscenities uttered here!)

Bobby made a mad dash down Latham's drive in an attempt to get close to them as they ran in the covert behind the Latham farmhouse.   I stayed back at Taggler's gate, along with Olin, Curtis and Tommy. The rain had now quit completely.  Bobby tally -ho'd the fox as it made its' first run across the wheat field behind the farmhouse. And o boy, did I hear about THAT!  (Most of us did not view the fox all morning).  With hounds only 30 seconds behind their pilot, everyone had to hustle to get there in time .  Bobby and Tommy got the pack stopped and loaded at 10:35 . All were on save for Sara , and  she came up behind only a couple of minutes later. Poor Sara- that was a hard run for her, she was very slow coming out of the hound truck when we got home!)

Great chase! Wish I could have seen more of it, lol! But the music was lovely when it wasn't being drowned out by the sound of the rain on my hat.

3rd puppy Hunt, March 23

I forgot to set my alarm clock, and had my neighbor not called me at 6:45am, I would have never gotten up in time to have the hounds loaded for our 7:15 departure from the farm.   A quick call to Shirley and Barb let them know they had an extra 15 minutes, and I got the horses fed and the hounds loaded just as they arrived.
All three of us crammed into my l;ittle Ford Ranger (I got the back seat, if you can call it that!) and headed through some patchy fog to meet Bobby at the County HouseWoods at 8:15.

Sara, Reno, Reilly, Roscoe, M&M, Rebel & Raven  comprised out littlepack. three of the puppies and four older hounds.  We walked them into  the woods at the crossroads, and in less than 3 minutes, old M&M began to tongue. Reno joined her, and although they never got close enough to this fox to really get running, hounds  did a great job of trailing him persistently for 45 minutes.   We called them out when we saw them getting into the thick, black mud of the swamp.

We only had Bobby's truck with us, as we positioned Shirley and Barb in mine on the other side of the covert -just in case!  I walked the puppies out  of the swamp while Bobby was getting in front of M&M, and to my utter surprise and joy Reilly was the first hound to jump up into his box. ( And it is a much higher jump into his truck than mine!)  THAT alone made the morning worthwhile for me.

A great experience for the young hounds.  Just wish we could have shown Barb a fox!  Thanks, ladies, for helping us out!!

Now off to get a horse ridden before it gets any hotter!

Monday, March 21 , Hunt # 84 for my hounds

That's Tommy's puppy running to me on the far left.

Ryan, aka "T-Bone" or "Tebow", on the left.

The puppy, deciding whether he really wants to leave me and go through that water-filled ditch.

He did!  He is on Tommy's right.

 ....I don't count any days that I hunt without taking my own hounds. That rarely happens, but I don't count them.

Another ridiculously  foggy morning due to the above-average temperatures.  8 1/2 couple hunted adjacent to my ex-brother-in-law's farm.  A fox was found at 8:25 am, but didnt stay up for more than 25 minutes. I really didnt mind, because the fog was so thick you couldn't see more than a  hundred yards in front of you.  We made two more casts without any luck., so at 10am we decided to pack it in and go for breakfast.

Tommy brought his puppy, Ryan, now renamed T-Bone ( or maybe it's Tebow - the local accent makes it hard to tell!).  The pup  went right with the pack and hunted the fox. He also came right back to Tommy ( and to me a couple of times, but I didnt' encourage that!).  That puppy will do just fine- this was only his second hunt.

This Friday will be the third puppy hunt for my Reilly and Bobby's Rebel and Raven. (Tommy will be away and cant join us with T-Bo??, which is why we decided to have Tommy bring him today.)  Shirley and Barb will help us out in case we need a hound truck some where in a hurry.  Sara, Reno, Roscoe and M&M will be the mentors!

 I really hope the fog wont be as thick, because we are hunting the County House woods, and it's right next to the highway, only 1/2 mile from where I lost Lark   .....

9am, after the first fox went to ground. There is a woods inside that fog bank!

A Good Chase from Tommy's Kennel

11 couple went into the woods behind Tommy's kennel at 8am, and within a couple of minutes Radio ( who is looking incredibly well after  being treated for a systemic fungal infection)  began to wind.  At 8:06,  his voice boomed out : "GOT IT!" and next we heard young Pearl's squeaky voice : " Yes, Here it is!".  The others harked and off they went on a very large  and very fast running  red fox.  This fellow showed great sport for  an hour and 15 minutes, and I got several good views of him,  even managing to get him with the Nikon a couple  of times..  He ran the woods most of the time, but at about the 50 minute mark, he busted out across a very large field, running under the irrigation pipes for a good 1/2 mile.   Back into the woods he went, behind Tommy's house, and then 10 minutes later he came right back out into the field, right behind my hound truck.  He was moving much slower now- that open running, with the warming temps must have really taken it out of him.  I saw his tongue hanging as he ran at a much slower gait.  He got himself back into the woods and at around 9:25  hounds made their first check .  It lasted for only about 60 seconds.  As they began to tongue again, I glimpsed a view of a fox cross the ditch I was standing near.  He was FLYING.  I knew right away that this  fox was not the same fox the hounds had been chasing.  There had been a tag-team switch in the woods, and I was kind of glad  because I saw up close how fast that first fox was sinking.  (O, you Brits-I know what you are thinking! But the sport is so very different here!)
The new pilot took off through the woods, heading west. He then made a quick turn south, broke covert briefly, and then ducked back into the woods and went to ground.  His half of the relay lasted only 20 minutes.  By 10am, we had all hounds loaded.  And it was a good thing, because the temperature had risen from 42 F at 7:20, to 73 degrees 11am.  A 30 degree rise in under 4  hours. Phew! No wonder the second fox didnt stay up for very long!

A good chase on a very game fox. 'Hope we get another chance at him before the season closes.

March 17 and 18 Hunts- Foggy

Saturday, March 17 Hunt:

..48 F degrees at 7:15am , with an east wind off the ocean.  Warm temperatures yesterday warmed the ground,and by last evening the fog had already begun to settle in.   By the time I pulled out the drive this morning , it was pea soup with visibility less than a 1/4 mile in places.

Shirley and her Morgan,General,were along for the hunt today.  I did not take my hounds- Marilyn  will only jump into my hound truck or Bobby's, and he wouldn't be hunting today.  I didn't want to risk any problems  with the other  guys loading her if for some reason I wasn't right with them, so I felt it  was safest for them to stay in kennels.  They will go tomorrow.

The upside of that:  I was only needing to take one rig- the horse trailer. When Shirley hunts with me, we put both horses in my horse trailer, and she drives my hound truck.   With the price of fuel nowadays, that gets to be an expensive proposition.  So today, only one truck was on the road.  Tomorrow, when I hunt Mel, it will again just be one truck: the horse trailer with Mel up front and my hounds in the back.

We had Curtis' 3 cple and Tommy's 3  1/2 couple to make a whopping total of 13 hounds.  Hustler, Curtis' littermate to my Marney and Marilyn, is credited with the find at  around 10:10 am.  It seemed as if the fox waited for the fog to lift to take a morning run, as the find was made just as the sun burnt off the fog. Tommy was drawing an adjacent, down wind covert and once Curtis' hounds took the fox's line across the open and into the woods where Tommy's hounds were, half of his harked.  The other three took off on another fox and Tommy got thrown out of our chase because he had to go break them. 

Shirley and I had a great view of

the 5 couple emerging  from the covert to follow the line across a road. This pilot took those 5 cple of hounds on a good tour of the countryside, running in the open often.  At just about the hour mark, with Tommy now back with us, and the fox passing over a dirt lane , they decided to break them. (I overheard some comment made about having to run with fresh hounds tomorrow, lol!)

Rap, against  a foggy backdrop



Shirley and General



Sunday, March 18 Hunt:

Today was Mel's turn:







It was another  very  foggy morning at my farm as I pulled out the drive with Mel and my hounds at 6:30 am.  Our meet was at 7:30  this morning, instead of 8am.  It was a carbon-copy of yesterday's conditions with an east wind and  a temp of 47 degrees, but   I drove out of the fog after  20 minutes. It was only along the coast this morning, so not an issue during the hunt. 

Hounds were put into the first covert at 7:35, and opened briefly .  The chase didnt last long,and by 8:10, another draw was commencing.  I  wasnt with the hound trucks when the guys loaded the hounds after the first short run,  and Marney didn't load.  I spent the next 1/2 hour hunting her down.  She followed Mel and me about 1/2 mile  towards the woods where the next cast  was in progress.  At 8:40, a co-operative red got on the move and as soon as Marney , Mel and I got within earshot ( east wind again today-what a pain), Marney harked to the pack.  All right, all on -  11 1/2 cple.

This fox ran through woods that completely encircle  3 large wheat fields. He didnt want to show himself much, and I only got two views of him.  But he ran through those woods ringing the fields at least 4 times.

A couple of times he threatened to  breakaway to the southwest, but never did.   At around 10 am,  I was informed via the radio that  my Marilyn (!!!) was on top, and Sara  (no surprise there, as I'm treating her for Lyme's again) was on the bottom.   The hounds were stopped at 10:20 when Charles finally decided to head out of the country to the west.  It was getting warm very quickly, and by the time I arrived back at my trailer it was 11am.

Forgot to reformat the helmet cam's  memory card ,so didnt use it., and had little time to mess with the Nikon today. (Mel takes a bit more ridin' than Rap!)

Hunts # 80 and #81

Wednesday, March 14th:

Our host ( blue shirt) and Tommy during the first draw

A warm morning, 55 degrees F at 7:15am. The high was to reach 80 by afternoon.  We were invited to hunt the Warner Woods outside of Sudlersville as guests  of Buck Clough.  Since Buck's hunting partner,Dale, drives a school bus in the morning,  our first draw was not until  9:10am.    By then, it was already too late to find a fox.

We drew those woods and an adjacent covert for two solid hours, coming up blank.  I viewed a fox in a field  across the road as it headed into some tall fragmites along a ditch.  But  Buck was nowhere around ( he was  looking for three of his hounds), and  as guests, it would not  be polite to turn our hounds out without him. When Buck did get around to us , over 20 minutes had elapsed.  We walked his hounds and Tommy's hounds to the ditch where I had viewed, but they just couldn't pick up any scent.  We walked the ditch to one last covert on our way back to the road.   It was a  rare blank day. We know there are plenty of reds up in Buck's country, including the Warner Woods, but we needed to have  been out at the break of dawn to find them. Better luck next time!

(But it was a good thing I got home early,as I had forgotten my blacksmith was due at 1pm. I arrived home only a few minutes ahead of him. Rap's angle is up to 52 degrees without the shoe on.  Maybe one more shoeing and we can get rid of the degree pad. Want to see him at 54...)

Thursday, March 15:

Ahh... I do love hunting  with just our little pack!  ( And it is smaller  than it used to be... but not for long, as the pups are doing so well.)

A bit cooler this morning- 49  F degrees at 7:15 am ( I pass a firehouse with  a sign that reads out the time and temp on my way to the meet).  But it  was supposed to jump up to close to 80 F again,  so we had our 8 1/2 couple in the covert at 8am. ( we also have a couple of bitches  in heat)  At 8:07,  Bobby's young bitch, Pearl, opened. Part Time honored her, and then took the line ahead. By 8:18, the pack was in full cry .  It amazes me how so few hounds can make such loud and beautiful music!

For the next 2 hours, the pack screamed behind their quarry as he made round after round through the same large stand of water-logged timber.  Charles didnt show himself but twice as he ran the edge of the woods down very briefly each time. There were  no runs in the open at all, just a steady pressing on throughout the covert.  And although we only viewed him a couple of times, his pattern became so predictable that at 10am, we decided the hounds had had enough and we made our plan as to how we would break them.  (One can't stay up with the pack in this woods, the briar beds and the swampy footing is just too bad in most places)

Bobby and I waited until the unseen pilot  made what was to be his next -to last -  lap  closest to where we were standing.   When the hounds passed, we could just barely see the tips of their sterns. But their voices were just as loud as ever.  We slogged through a swampy 100 yards as quickly and quietly as we could  to reach the higher ground where the fox was running just out of our view.   Now we just had to wait until our fox made his circle again.  It took less than 5 minutes!  I had the camera on and pointed to where I thought he would be appearing. And I got him! Bobby was watching the woods in a slightly different direction. I had to snap my fingers to get his attention.  We  both watched as the fox circled around us,pausing  for a moment to look at us before continuing on his route. Perfect!!! Hounds were less than a minute behind and we had just enough time to get into position to stop them.  Tommy was out on the dirt road, waiting.  When the hounds arrived,  we followed our plan:  we would break them, then I would immediately begin to run them out to the road while Bobby stayed on the line  in case there were any hard-heads.   It worked like a charm, and I had most of the pack with me as I emerged from the woods. Bobby was walking out behind me with a few stragglers. All were on, and all seemed ready to quit the race.  They were  HOT hounds as they loaded into their respective hound trucks.  ( Oh, and   it is clear that Marney's one morning with the shock collar (last week)  had accomplished its' goal. She was the first hound to jump  into my truck, LOL!)

A nice, tidy chase. Plan your hunt, and hunt your plan!

(best to view on You Tube, full screen)

Hounds go for a swim on a frosty morning, Sunday 3/11/2012

Just 9 1/2 couple ( our regular pack, no guests today- YAY!) hit the frost-covered ground at 8am this morning. We unkenneled at my horse trailer and I was barely in the saddle before Part Time began to speak. Bobby immediately assumed the dog was babbling , and told me to get on Party's butt first chance I could. But Part Time wasn't messing around, and at 8:10 the other hounds put into him and our fox was on the move.

Party's fox looped around the woods where he was found for about half an hour. He then busted out over the road and then ran downwind diagonally across over a 1/2 mile of fallow cornfield behind Billy Parker's house. From there, he continued on to the Cannery woods. To get there, Charles had to swim a deep irrigation ditch that is full to the brim. When hounds reached the path alongside the ditch, they checked. I arrived on the downwind side to find them feathering furiously at the waters' edge. One hound had swum to my side. The others clearly were having second thoughts. I was able to coax about half dozen more to take the plunge, and once those hounds hit the briar bed on the other side of the water, Joe picked up the scent. Those with him chimed in, which then made it much easier to persuade the rest of the hounds to dive in. That's all on the video.

This maneuver and a couple more evasive tactics put a considerable lead between this pilots' brush and his pursuers' noses. Hounds had a long check on Parker Rd in front of the grain tanks until the lead hounds recovered the line. Charlie had slyly run down the middle of the road for a couple of hundred yards. With all back on, the fox pressed on to Johnsons Thicket, and then to Larrimores chicken houses. Phew. This was one hightailing' sucker!

Behind Larrimores we had a brief split when two of Tommy's hounds, Joe and Terri, began to go off on another line. Only Terri was speaking, but both were feathering  with noses to the ground. I saw Marney  mutely trailing them up from behind ( my "o crap!" mutter on the video). I got those three stopped and harked them to the others, who were now back in high gear behind the red barn. About 15 minutes later, the fox headed back towards the grain tanks. I counted all on as the hounds crossed in front of me and over the same ditch where I had held up the errant three earlier. But Charles was way ahead of them now, and when the pack hit the open of the power line cutover, they checked in some tall grass. It was now after 10 am. The hounds were walked from the cutover, back over the aforementioned ditch, and another draw was made in the woods between the red barn and the dry cow lot.

Repo found the second pilot at around 10:15 This fox headed straight for the state land on the south side of High Stump Rd. Once there, he made a big counter-clockwise swing behind the  cemetery, on to Wyatt's, back in front of the red barn and then back over High Stump Rd at Stevie Leeks'. We all got a nice view of him over the wheat. A sneaky move in the dry cow lot made us think he was headed towards the pistol range, but a zig and a zag in some high grass found us following the hounds in the opposite direction. This fox was headed towards the covert next to the tall grass where we lost our first one! At 11am, when they made a check at a red gate near the road, hounds were gathered.( Thank goodness, because my horse couldn't have lasted much longer. )

Except for that one minor mistake that was nipped in the bud, the pack worked flawlessly all morning. Things go so much smoother when it is just our hounds.

I usually put the hounds right up in kennels when we get home. But today, with the warm breezes and sunshine, I let them out into the exercise yard to snooze in the sun for a couple of hours while I cooked up a pot of feed. Two glasses of champagne later, and I was asleep in the sun, too.

My homebred  ISH did a super job today. He had all last year off, and I have only hunted him a few times since January because he wasnt fit enough , but he LOVES being out with hounds. Good boy, Mel!

Our hounds did lots of ditch crossing today!

A (True ) Tale of Two Foxes & a Herd of Deer

(Watch on You tube full screen to see the second fox that I tallyho)

 35 degrees F at 7:15am.  A cold NW/W was to blow 10-20mph, but I swear the gusts were a lot higher. It felt cold if one wasn't out of the wind.

Our regular pack of  11 1/2 cple were surprisingly supplemented ( get it?!)  by 2 more couple when visitors from Delaware appeared. .... Late.  It wasn't until 8:15 that hounds were put into the covert, but it didn't take long for Part Time to find a fox. At 8:27 he announced his discovery and all hounds harked to his  find.

An interesting hour followed.  Three foxes got on the move,with the pack staying with  Party's pilot.    .  Bobby and I were  in a clearing  between two stands of woods. The camera caught our hunted fox emerge, cross the emerald wheat and dart back into the woods at a small pine tree..   About 200 feet away, a herd of deer with some  young bucks amongst broke covert from the same forest.  They start to run the opposite way, but then stop,stand for a few moments and then turn and run the exact same way the fox ran..  Bobby's young bitch, Pearl, had come back to us after some hounds began to beat up on her. It shook her up enough that she wouldn't hark back.  Pearl sees the deer and begins to run towards them.  We holler at her, which makes the deer stop and look at us.  Pearl obeys.  The deer, for some reason, dont enter the woods where the fox entered (and  there is an opening there), but instead, ran the field down about 100 feet  towards us, and then went in.  It's all on the video.

Only part  of the herd that emerges right after the fox (All on the video)

Bobby and I ran to get closer to where the fox and deer came across - just in case.  (We trust our hounds, we dont trust the guest hounds).  Watch as the hounds emerge into the wheat and run the fox line to the woods.  Pearl went with them .  Someone asked me recently if our hounds run deer.   Well, there's your answer, right there!

Once in the woods, a second fox got into the mix. We now had a herd of about 8 deer ,two  (or three) foxes  and a pack of hounds in one small covert!  No hounds rioted, but we did have the pack split onto  two foxes.  Each bunch runs around us for about another 1/2 hour. I hear one bunch coming towards me from my left, and another bunch coming towards me from the right. O boy,  it was about to get even more interesting!

I tallyho one fox, simultaneously, Bobby tally-ho's another one. You will hear him repeating the tallyho over and over,trying to get my attention - he doesnt realize I have viewed the other fox, and I don't turn around because I am trying to film the fox I am viewing.

 I keep the camera on the hounds running Bobby's fox because all of mine were on that one,lol!  At about 9:55, both foxes go to ground in the same den .

Everything was anti-climatic after that!   We moved further east to draw behind some grain tanks and another fox was found  , but it took awhile for hounds to rouse it.  Once on the run, this  fellow gave the pack a fast  chase of  about 40 minutes duration before going to ground also. 

I borrowed a shock collar for Marney because she has started drifting off if I dont get to her as soon as hounds put a fox in. Not always, but sometimes.  When she ignored me and began to wander off with two of the guest hounds, after we put those  first two foxes in , I zapped her.  It worked.   When the last fox denned, she stayed right there.

I'm hoping those guest hounds don't come back tomorrow....

2nd Puppy Hunt

The wind continued to roar overnight as it ushered in a cold front this morning.  Rain showers accompanied the colder air, but the precipitation abated an hour before hounds moved off.

Tommy, Bobby and I  walked 4 couple into the County House woods at 8:00am.. We had the four pups, Ryan , Raven, Rebel and Reilly,along with my Sara, Bobby's M&M and Roscoe, and Tommy's Twister ( the sire of the litter).  Reno, their mother, is up in heat or I would have brought her, too.

As soon as we walked down the path into the woods, old M&M began to tongue.  At first, the hounds took the scent over the path in front of us, but M&M knew they had it heel and  she got things straightened out on her own.

My Reilly was gone! Raven was in the chase with all the old hounds , also.   But Rebel didnt go, and unfortunately for Tommy, Ryan ended up staying with  Rebel.  Only three couple ran this red back and forth  through the  woods, then  over the County House rd and into the swamp on the other side.  At the hour mark, when it was clear that Charles James' plan was to wind around in that black swamp mud ,  we called them off .   The wind was still blowing,( but now it is a cold W/NW wind, rather than the nice southerly blasts we had yesterday) and they were all together . Quit while ahead!

Another good experience for the pups, although they might not agree- they were all covered in wet, black goo when they emerged from the swamp!

I couldnt video for the second half of the chase because I somehow managed to lose the camera.    I know I must have set it on top of my hound box at some point during the middle of the hunt.  After we were done, Tommy, Bobby and I walked back over the dirt road until we found it.  That cost me a 30-pack of beer and a pint of whiskey! (But  that's cheaper than replacing the camera!)

Very warm and VERY windy

...55 degrees F at 7:15am  as Shirley and I drove to the meet.   It was expected to reach almost 70 degrees today. The winds, which began blowing yesterday and did not relent much overnight, were already gusting 25mph, and were to be howling at 30-40mph by mid-morning.  Knowing this, I had made the decision  last night to leave my hounds in the kennel and just have a fun day riding  the others' hounds with company. After losing Lark on the highway on Monday, I just needed to have a worry-free hunt today.

Therefore, , an abbreviated pack of  7 1/2 couple moved off at 8am. It took TWO HOURS (!!!) to find a fox.   Glad I wasnt the one making the draws on foot, lol! (Could the full moon last night have played a part? Or are the foxes just smart enough to stay in out of the wind,?!) Maybe a combination of both....

At 10:05, hounds finally pushed a fox out of  the woods near the Delaware/Maryland state line. He gave the pack a nice run in a circle around  Taggler's gate, crossing over the dirt lane that leads to the gate at least 4 times.  He also ran the middle of the paved road twice.  When Charles made his run down the blacktop the second time, a quick decision was made to pick up the hounds. It was just after 11am, and the wind was beginning to blow incredibly hard ( you will hear it on the video!).  And although the hounds had only been in pursuit of quarry for just over an hour, they had been on the ground for three.  

Shirley and I had a great time  enjoying the ride for the first two hours, and then enjoying the hunt for the last one.  And I was really glad  that I left my hounds at home this one time.

Tomorrow will be  another "puppy hunt" with the new entry. This time, all  four youngsters will be out now that Tommy is back from vacation. Lordy, please let it go as well as it did last time!

While uploading  from the camera, I realized I had video of Lark and Tommy's front two hounds running the fox on Monday, taken only 10minutes before she was hit on the road.  Those three front hounds were screaming on that fox. But I havent been able to watch it yet.

This is video from today, showing  the  hunted fox running towards Shirley and me, ( but he didnt get  not quite as close as that fox on the video from last week.) Helmet cam and Nikon.

Lost my best hound on the highway today.

RIP, "Larkie-Lark"

A fox in my lap and some very soggy footing

Gone to ground,  fox  #1

The vixen ran for less than 5 minutes-straight to her den. And it is one stinky den!!

Fox # 2



These are stills from the video of fox # 2 when he ran right at Rap and me 

11 couple out( I think- we started off so quickly that I never got time to ascertain who brought what!). Gloomy, overcast day to start, but temp at 42 F . Wind was out of the NW, predicted to blow at 10-20mlh later in the day. It was pretty calm when hounds opened on the first fox at 7:50am. Had to have been a vixen, because it stayed up for a grand total of about 4 minutes! They found her on the woods' edge, and she made a bee-line straight for her den. I have video of hounds at the earth - and you'll hear me say how stinky it was. The babies have most definitely arrived!! Tommy even saw some at another hole later in the day.
Our second fox ran in the open over a wheat field, and came directly at me and my horse. Hounds were less than a minute behind, and I caught that run in the open on video.

Over an hour later, the fox broke covert again and headed due west and straight out of the country. Hounds were gathered and we went upwind a couple miles for the last draw. Here, another straight-running fox was jumped. This one ran due south, crossing two paved roads on his way to the Marshy Hope canal. We broke the pack before they got to the canal.  It was 11:45.

The footing was deep and soggy in the fields. Poor Rap will sleep well tonight!

March 1: Ehh . Today: AWESOME puppy hunt

Reilly on her first fox hunt, 3/02/2012

Thursday was probably the most disappointing hunt all season.  We had 13  couple out:  my 4, Bobby's 7, Olin's 3, and Larry's 12.  It had rained heavily the day and night before, leaving standing water everywhere. 

Things got off to a good start when the hounds were cast into the first covert at 8 am, and a  fox was roused at 8:09.  But he promptly went to ground about  10 minutes later!  Darn! Hounds were gathered and a VERy long draw followed, lasting over an hour.   Another red was finally found at 9:20 and a good chase began to unfold. Unfortunately, winds were variable all morning making it difficult to hear the pack and   somewhere around  10 am, our fox slipped out of the woods and over the open to the west before we could get an ear on them.  By the time we caught up with them, they had checked in the middle of a paved road.    We tried everything to help them recover the line, but we just had no clue which way Charles had gone.  Larry was convinced the fox had run the middle of the road for as much as a hundred yards and then crossed over.  I think the fox got doubled right at the road by a passing car and went back to the covert.  After all possibillities were exhausted,  the hounds were walked to another woods for another cast. By now the temps were rising quickly into the high 50's and a southerly wind was making it feel even warmer.  After an hour of scouring that woods without  a single note sung, we finally just gave up!  It was 11am, and hounds were panting even though they had  barely run.   Better luck next time....

THE  "R" PUPPIES FIRST HUNT!!!!
...Which was today!!!!  As poor as Thursday's hunt  turned out to be, today  could not have gone better if we had written a script.  

We took Reilly ,  Raven and  Rebel   ( Ryan, the other pup, was not present  because Tommy is away) for thier first real fox chase . Their mentors were old M&M ( my Marney and Marilyn's dam), Roscoe (Marney and Marilyns sire!), and my Sara.  Three steady-eddie hounds to help out the new entry. ( FYI: We can't use couples here because of the dense undergrowth of thorns and briars found everywhere within the woods.)

We drew the south side of the County House Rd, beginning at 8am.  A long cast of close to an hour  yielded no pilots . I was beginning to think this would  be  only another hound exercise for them.  However,  when we crossed the dirt road and entered the  woods on the  north  side, old M&M  found us  a fox who would take the little pack on a nice spin around the County House woods for 56 minutes, crossing over the dirt road 4 times. 

My Reilly harked and went with the older hounds right away.( Puffed up chest, here!!)  Bobby's Rebel and Raven were not as quick to hark.  Raven decided to hark late, and we could hear him woefully crying when he got left behind on the north side of the woods while the "pack" crossed the lane and entered the south side.  He did catch up when the fox and hounds circled back over the road about 15minutes later, and stayed with them for the duration.

Meanwhile,  Rebel couldnt decide if it was ok to leave "Daddy"  and go on with his brother and sister. He would hark and we wouldnt see him for a couple of minutes but then he'd come right back to Bobby.  But each time he left us  he would stay away for a longer period of time.  He just needs as little more confidence, and a little less attention from Bobby! LOL!

When the fox was about ready to make his fifth crossing over the road, we decided the hounds had had enough..   Some hollering and a couple blows on my horn brought all three pups right out to me. Sara was right behind them.  M&M and Roscoe emerged once Bobby caught up to us and he called them . 

Just shy of an hours' running = just perfect for their first time out!

In the video, the second time you see the hounds cross is the last time we let them follow their fox  over the road. Roscoe and Sara ( currently hunting and  fit) are up front, M&M has slipped back with Raven (who , along with Rebel, gets walked out every day for at least 45 minutes) , while Reilly brings up the rear.  You will see her stop in the road..  I held my breath, hoping that she wouldnt quit and come  running up to us.  She paused, looked at us, and then continued right on with the others!! THAT  was the icing on the cake , because I knew she had to be tired, yet she made the decision  to keep going rather than come to me.

Raven, Reilly and Rebel ( in the center)  with old M& M , their mentor,  on the far left