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| Marney trying to recover the line. Roscoe behind her. |
We were short help today- it was only myself and Bobby, but Howard showed up to give us a hand , and he was a big help! In fact, he was the only one to view our foxes today- he viewed each one twice.
It was another glorious morning-49 degrees and slight breeze out of the NW when Bobby and I walked our 6cple into the woods at 7:45am. At about 7:55, my Marilyn (!!!) opened and a few of the others joined her. A couple of minutes later, Howard viewed our first pilot and by 8:06 all hounds were in full cry behind him.
I arrived back to my hound truck ahead of Bobby,and made my way down the stone road to keep an ear on the pack. About 20 minutes later, the hounds broke out of the woods onto the stone lane
only a few hundred feet in front of me. Bobby had hiked across a field to get to Howard. I watched as the pack came to a loss on the road -I walked them into the woods on both sides, and then followed as they began to head down the road. Our fox must have run that road for quite a distance and unfortunately, the hounds never did recover the line. Bobby got dropped off with me and the pack , and Howard headed back to watch the perimeter roads of the state ground. We made another draw into the same covert, but further down the stone road, hoping that we could run into that fox again. Less than 3 minutes into this draw, Part-Time bellowed, and the others honored. By 8:40, hounds were running "with authority", headed west towards the C&R CenterRd. Howard got positioned on same, and it wasnt long before we heard his "Tally-Ho" boom over the radio. The fox was crossing this paved road and heading into the "gold dust woods" ( dont ask!) on the other side. For the next 1/2 hour, Charlie ran all around the woods on that side of C&R Center road, threatening to cross over yet another paved road further west. Bobby and I , in my hound truck ( his was still back where we began the morning), were forced to stay on Firetower rd because the fox came very close to crossing it several times. This road has more traffic, which probably kept our pilot turned, but which also made us nervous.
Diana was taking care of our littlle pack today and sent the fox back over C & R Center Rd and into the woods behind the Lodge. Howard counted 5 1/2 cple on- (all except for the puppy, Rebel, whom we knew had gotten left behind.) But Charlie wasnt happy to stay on the Lodge side of the road, and it wasnt long before we heard Howard "tally-ho" again. This time, the fox came across the road at a wooden bridge about 1/4mile south of where he had crossed over the first time. He ran the paved road right down the yellow line for several hundred feet before heading once again into the 'gold dust" side of C&R Center rd.. . Howard got a good look at him, and told us with certainty that this was not the same fox the pack had been chasing. Somewhere behind the Lodge a tag-team manuever had taken place. It was now 9:10am, and we quickly decided that we would hold up the pack if this fresh fox was their pilot. It was, and if we had had more help,we would have let them roll on behind him ,but guarding Firetower road earlier had spooked us enough into the decision .. The wind was now blowing about 15-20mph, so no sense pushing our luck.
Instead of MORE help,as we had hoped for , we will actually have one less hound truck on the road tomorrow, so my plan of taking horses ( a few guests had wanted to come with their horses) was dashed when I got the call at 5:30pm informing me that Howard cant make it.
Our 6cple hunt really well together and on their own, so hopefully things will go as well tomorrow.( But hey,this is foxchasing,so you know what THAT means -no day is ever the same....) Please,Diana, watch over our little pack tomorrow!
Little time to mess with the camera-do have a short video segment, but no time to upload- its almost time to rumble!!
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