Hunt reports and other miscellaneous ramblings that heretofore were laid down between leather bindings. Now, maybe someone else will get a laugh or two out of reading them.
Looking east, over my barn at 7:00am. That is a fox weathervane silhouetted against the sky.
..and looking out my drive to the west, also at 7am.
We had 12 couple out again today - but not the same 12 couple as usual. Tommy is away, so his 4 couple are up in kennels until the first week of January. Bobby is taking GOOD care of them -making sure they are getting plenty to eat so that they will be nice and FAT by the time Tommy returns. ;-)
I am estimating the number of hounds- I didnt get a confirmed total, and I havent had time to count hounds in the video. It seemed to me to be a few more than 12 cple. Whatever...
It was 33 degrees when we made the draw at 8:10am. The wind was out of the N/NW, already gusting 20mph. The wind advisory was for winds to be sustained at 25-35 mph. all day.
Three foxes were viewed during the draw, and the hounds settled on one ( thank goodness- no splits with the guests' hounds!) that decided to stay pretty close to home today. This fox stayed within one rather small area for the entire chase, making several circles around me . I barely moved from one position for the duration of the chase ( about an hour and 20 minutes). Only downside to that was that I was on the edge of the woods and in the wind. ( you can hear it on the video-wow, did it intensify as the morning progressed!) When the fox gained a sizable lead over the pack, we called them off the line. It was close to 10am.
We relocated to another covert several ;miles away , and hounds were cast into the gravel pit behind Freddy's farm. Reno found a fox within 5 minutes of the cast, and the pack was in full cry headed down the branch towards the "party bridge'. However, Reynard didn't run the woods long before breaking covert and making a bee-line for a large earth in the middle of a fallow cornfield. The run didn't last more than 15 minutes! Hounds were gathered and another draw was made , but by this time it was close to 11am and the wind was getting ridiculous. When Bobby and Freddy emerged at the party bridge after drawing the entire length of the branch without a strike, we all agreed it was time to load hounds. The wind was blowing so hard it almost knocked me over.
...12 couple met at 8:30am under clearing skies that had dumped over 2 1/2 inches of rain on Boxing Day. (I dont think any packs on the east coast got out on 12/26.)
Copious amounts of standing water lay everywhere and plans to take a horse had to be scrapped. It would turn out to be a busy day on foot and in the trucks....
We ran 4 foxes in 4 hours. I am writing this too long afterwards, and the chases are running into one another in my mind. I recall a long, long run in the open - on either the first or second pilot- and I was the only one with the hounds to enjoy it. It was around 10:45 when the best fox of the morning got on the move, however. This fellow:
must have been visiting a lady-friend at the pony shed where he was
roused because he left that area in a hurry,taking the pack on a tour of the countryside as he headed south. He covered an impressive amount of country in the 90 minutes hounds pressed him. Twice he threatened to cross Hickman Rd ( a boundary we cant allow hounds to cross) , and twice the guys were sucessful in heading him back. But this fellow was determined to get to the Hickman woods ( 2000 acres) and out-foxed ( pun intended!) us on his third attempt. It was now after 12pm, and we had no clue as to where this fox was headed next.
(I had really hoped to be home by 1pm to keep a 2pm appintment , but that hope had evaporated when the guys headed this pilot the second time at Hickman rd. All hounds were on, the fellas knew they couldn't let hounds run on the other side, and yet rather than break them right there at the road, they turned the fox and then let the hounds keep running . Sheesh....)
It was only a matter of time before that fox was going to get across -once a fox decides it wants to go somewhere, it's pretty hard to change his mind!
Diana was looking out for us . About 15 minutes after they crossed into the Hickman woods, Freddy viewed the fox cross Burrsville road . He was less than 1/2 mile from busy Rt. 16. We don't know where that fox was headed next, but there was no discussion this time about what to do with the pack. I got to Freddy first, grabbed my pistol and ran into the field where he was trying to hold up the hounds alone. Two shots in the air got them stopped . Jeff and Bobby arrived as we were jogging the pack out to the road. It was12:30, but I still couldn't make my 2pm appointment- I had cancelled it as soon as that fox got turned the second time, lol!
My camera's battery died as I was trying to capture the hounds as they ran the lane up behind the fox on the video. I exhausted the memory card, and normally dump minutes of useless footage as the day progresses, but this day was just too hectic. So the video here is just a montage of some of the hounds working - and one very beautiful, very cunning fox.
From one of our red foxes! Tommy, Bobby and I met at 8am with 9 couple . Our hope was to have a nice chase of about an hours' duration before heading off to distribute gifts to our landowners.
At 8:26 Twister bellowed that he had found a likely prospect, and within seconds the entire pack was in full cry. This fox gave us a good run for just shy of an hour before he went to ground not far from where Twister had made his discovery. All hounds were on, and all came readily to our calls. I missed at least 3 good views of this fox, but I managed to be in the right place for the best view of the entire chase.
So, I hope y'all enjoy this video of a very clever red fox and the hounds only seconds behind him. ( I never turned thecamera off, and didnt edit any of the blurry stuff so that you can see exactly what I saw. )
Merry Christmas!
It was a chilly 28 degrees when Curtis, Tommy and I met at 8:25 am. Winds were much calmer than yesterday , and were to blow out of the SW this time at 10-15 mph. Far better conditions than yesterday!
We split up- Curtis was going to draw one side of the covert with his 3 1/2 couple while Tommy and I would come in from the other side with our 6 couple. Just after Tommy and I unkenneled our hounds, Curtis radioed and tally-ho'd a fox. Tommy and I quickly loaded ours back up ( GOOD HOUNDS!!), and hurried to join up with Curtis' just as they opened on the viewed fox. It was 8:35am.
This fox ran circles for close to an hour and a half but threatened to break his pattern and run to the highway at around 9:30. But it was a false alarm that left me jittery for the remainder of the run- and justifyably so. (The guys think I panic too soon,lol!) Because at just about 10am, the fox pointed his mask towards the highway again- and this time he meant to cross. Charles got turned by a car right at the side of the road, but his scent was swept downwind right into the road. (Tommy viewed the fox going back, but the hounds ran right smack into the roadway. Fortunately, he was right there to stop traffic.) We loaded all the hounds and quit for the day. (Bobby's hounds werent out today, and we are all hunting tomorrow. None of us want to go up against his fresh hounds with tired ones on a Christmas eve hunt !!)
Look to the far left- that's Marilyn getting it figured out!!!!
38 degrees at the 8am draw. Winds were forecast to be steady at 25-30mph with gusts up to 50 mph - and the weatherman wasnt lying!
12 1/2 couple of hounds (my puppy, Reilly is out of heat finally!!) found their fox at 8:05 in the woods north of High Stump road. This red tried all morning to slip the hounds by running in the open- downwind, upwind, every which way he could! After 2 1/2 hours of some impressive hound work, our fox finally resorted to enlisting the aid of a second fox at 10:30. Perhaps a tag-team manuever had been the foxs' intention. Instead, the pack got busted up and the chase came to a halt in almost the exact same area where Charles had been roused. You can't tell me these foxes don't enjoy this! We rounded them up ( Lily and Marney decided to hang out in the woods for awhile, lol!) and called it a day.
Looking east again going onto the Island - the clouds cleared off within a half hour of our first draw. The tide is IN this time!.
...on Wednesday, December 19th. We were blessed with almost the exact same weather as our day here last Friday. But the tide was IN today -high tide was to be at 11am. This time, I had my 2 couple of bitches, Bobby had Repo, Rebel, Pearl, and Roscoe and Curtis joined us with his 2 couple: Annie, Hustler, Chase ( new entry wearing the GPS collar) and Jack.
We jumped a fox at about 9:20 ,but he went to ground within 15 minutes. Our second fox was found about 10minutes later and Tommy D.and I both viewed him run the road for a couple hundred yards before ducking in toward the schoolhouse woods. Hounds ran him until they lost him in a water-logged field only 20 minutes later. As hounds were being gathered, Tommy D. viewed yet another fox leave the schoolhouse woods and run parallel to the dirt road to the Holly tree thicket. Bobby walked the hounds to the view and you will see Marilyn hit the line. This fox went in at the Holly tree and hounds either picked his line back up within those thick briars or they jumped yet another one. This fox ran the west side of the road and then crossed over the dirt lane up at the point of the island - right before the "no-mans land" of private property right at the very point. Bobby and Curtis drove to the border in one truck to break the hounds, while I stayed away. As I waited, Curtis' dad and I viewed 3 more foxes leave the covert. My bitch Marney, who got spooked when Bobby cracked his whip, disappeared to be heard 15 minutes later running yet another fox.
By now it was almost noon, and we decided to call it aday. (I was feeling sicker with a stomach virus as the morning progressed - it was not an enjoyable ride today!)
We did hunt Monday, 12/17 . We had 11 1/2couple out, and they ran a fox clear across the Marshy Hope canal ( we watched, helpless, as the hounds swam it) and into a hot-wired enclosure full of hogs,where their fox went to ground in a big woodpile. O-and the landowner had raccoon traps set everywhere.THAT was fun. (NOT!)
And the long version,showing 3 times around with subtitles
12 1/2 couple today. 47F on the way to the 8am meet, 53F on the way back at 12:30. Winds variable, but out of the SE, supposedly.( I would argue that fact with weatherman). Foggy, overcast, with rain in the forecast ( but it never materialized).
It was a less than perfect start-two foxes found during the first couple of hours , but both went to ground within giving the pack a good run. Hounds seemed to have trouble finding and staying with scent. By 9:45, I was beginning to think that the day would be a bust. UNTIL....
Hounds jumped fox # 3 right before 10am. What a co-operative pilot he proved to be! He made several large swings around the Buzzard Swamp, and three times he ran the north edge of it down to where Bobby and I were positioned. He was not shy, and showed himself often. His image on this video makes up for not being able to capture any of the foxes with my helmet cam at Wye Island on Friday. (but I love the hound work on that video!)
We treated Twister for Lyme's last summer and now he seems like a different dog. He and Sara have taken to palling around together, and apparently , he brings out the best in her! If you havent noticed in the vids, oftentimes of late it is Twister and Sara out in front. And so it was when our fox made a return run to the Buzzard Swamp after a change in pattern following his third trip along its' edge in my view. He had busted out of the west side of the covert and made a loop behind the Drummond Girls place before running the powerline cutover and across another fallow cornfield, heading back to the Buzzard Swamp. Bobby and I got to them as they were crossing the field, but not in time to stop those front-runners. Tommy pulled up behind us, and although I was inclined to let the pack roll on and attempt to catch up with Twister and Sara ( who had a sizeable lead) , Tommy , needing to be somewhere in the near future, opted for breaking them. When I saw how hot the hounds were, and how easy it was to break them, I quickly agreed. We got them loaded , caught up with that front couple, and were done at 11:50.
The video shows our fox as he makes at least two rounds past me. The second time he ducks into the woods after running the edge, hounds over- run it badly- but they did recover the line without losing too much ground. Which is evident when Charles makes his third round past us: the pack is only seconds behind him. He pulls a fast move this time by running the edge, then turning east to run across the field in front of us. But he only goes half way. He then disappears briefly from our view as he runs along a ditch bottom, to reappear to us as he makes his way back to the exact same spot where he had entered the woods the previous time around. It was awesome ( I hate using that word, but it truly applies here) to watch the hounds solve the puzzle, unaided by any human interference. (We try not to help them if at all possible and leave the hounds to do their job). Its all on there. ( the video) :-)
There is alot of video to sift through - so Ill update this blog entry later to include some more.
After our second fox went to ground, Marney ended up in my hound truck. I snapped these two shots of Bobby holding her as we get ready to let her hark to the pack as they run fox #3. I think its great how Marney and Bobby are both intently following the hounds. They were running in the covert about 150 yards away, and I wanted to be certain that she would make them, so I made Bobby hold onto her for a few seconds. Her stern was beating so hard it almost knocked Bobby over!
... Wye Island is an island in the Chesapeake Bay, lying just west of the eastern shore of Maryland. It is comprised of 2800 acres, 2,450 of which are managed by the State of Maryland for wildlife conservation. For a short period of two weeks surrounding Christmas, the state opens Wye for foxchasing. . A permit is required and a limit of only 6 couple of hounds is allowed. Today, Tommy, Bobby and I took 2 couple each.
The weather was superb!!! A hoar frost, with temps in the high 20'sF, quickly gave way to a bluebird, cloudless sky and a warming , slight breeze from the SW. It can be brutally cold and windy here in December, but not today! The forecast was for a high of 52 degrees. I had far too many layers of clothes on!
At the meet looking west fom the parking area - a heavy frost still on the ground at 8:30am.
Our first fox was found at 9:05am- only minutes into the draw.The tide was going out-low tide was to be at 11AM- and Charles took advantage of the re-appearing shore. He stayed to the waterline for 90 percent of his run and after 50 minutes of this , we broke the pack and struck out to find a more obliging pilot. We had come to see long runs in the open, and this fellow just didnt want to co-operate.( It is noteworthy that Rebel, Bobby's puppy, was credited for recovering the fox's line down along the water early in the chase . You can hear Bobby on the video - just a bit excited about it!)
But our next red gave the pack a real run for 90 minutes. Hounds roused him on the opposite side of the island, and although he, too, began his journey hugging the waterline, he didnt stay out of sight for long.
TommyD., a car follower positioned on the only road through the preserve, had the fox run right into his lap. He had his camera, but he says that he didnt get the pics because he was pointing it right into the sun.( I hope he finds that he is wrong when he goes to look at the images.. .I can always update this blog!)
look who is up front- that "wrong-colored" hound again!
Anyway, this fox crossed the road behind Tommy D. and Tommy, then made a large swing on that side of the road before crossing back over it. From there, he pointed his brush eastward and just ... kept... going!!!
He did choose to run the shore again on that side for 15 minutes ( I know this because I mistakenly left the helmet cam on for the entire time) after which he then hit high ground behind the Lodge, ran down the Lodge lane, behind the parking area and my horse trailer, and then struck out across that field that had the frost on it earlier.(see picture above). And me with no memory left in the camera...Maybe Tommy D. caught it with his.
Our fox kept on going right back to where this second chase had originated.. When the little pack checked back down along the water, we called them in. It was 11:35. Time for lunch! And if it's Wye Island, then lunch must be:
Muffeletta!!
The principals discussing the mornings' events over lunch
Monday: Not one of our better days! 11couple (mine, Tommy's,Bobby's and Curtis') did find a fox in the County House woods at about 8:30.Hounds ran him east towards the Dead End Road, where Tommy D.( car follower)was watching the field on the east side of that dirt road. I was the first one to get to Tommy D, and I arrived just as a HUGE buck broke covert from where the pack was singing, crossed Dead End road , and ran the field about 100 yards before disappearing into Webber's woods. He had a most beautiful rack. And it was he who was most likely responsible for these fresh marks:
( This was during the draw - we saw lots of places where the buck had been rubbing)
I was trying to get a pic of his rack, but I saw the hounds coming!!
Seconds later, some very young, very NEW , entry broke covert behind the buck . They were running him by sight across that field, dragging most of the pack with them. The front pups were almost to the woods when I hollered and cracked my whip, while the rest of the hounds were strung out across the field. All of them came right back- which made me certain that there was no fox running ahead of that buck. One couple had stayed with the fox -Part-Time and I forget who else now (it was, afterall, MONDAY, lol!). But I had my hands full trying to load all of the hounds into my hound truck alone. And by the time everyone else showed up, that fox had gotten way ahead of Party.
I am betting that the pack was on the fox ( he turned north) when the buck must have run right smack into them. The pups took the bait, and the others followed! Our first , albeit short-lived , deer chase this season..
We regrouped and another fox got on the run on the far west side of the covert. Tommy D. viewed him first, and then I viewed him on a long run in the open as he was on his way - in a BIG hurry- across Baker Rd headed towards the Skinny woods.(Which is only a stones' throw from the outskirts of the town of Denton!) Hounds were held up before they got to Skinny's. We had all of the hounds save for old Roscoe,and it took us a good 1/2 hour to locate the old boy -he was at Douggie 's house, getting fed a snack from Douggie! We called it quits for the day.
Now TODAY (Wednesday) -today was a whole 'nother animal! We had 9 couple- Tommy brought 7, Bobby brought 7, and I brought 4 ( my puppy is still in heat-which is a kind of roundabout way of stating that it wasnt my pup on that buck on Monday , lol)
We had no other help, the wind was out of the dastardly NE, and we were planning on drawing the Walston woods for the first time this season. It isn't but a stones' throw to the DE state line, and this week it is Delaware firearm season for deer. However, that cold, biting NE wind proved to be in our favor as our pilot today ran with the wind and away from the state line.
Because we were short on sets of eyes and ears, Tommy walked his hounds into the point of the covert while Bobby and I waited to hark ours. This way, we both would be close to our hound trucks in case we had to get somewhere in a hurry. Tommy hadnt even gotten into the woods when Twister bellowed and the others honored. The time was 8:03! Tommy had but a couple of hundred feet to walk to get back to his truck, and Bobbys and my hounds had the same short distance to hark. Could NOT have asked for an easier, safer start to the morning!
This red ran west through the woods, then broke covert out the north side to cross a huge expanse of wheat as he set his sights for the goose pond. No one viewed him cross, but I did get to the middle of that field ( on an irrigation lane) in time to see the hounds as they ran him BACK over to the covert where he had been found. After a couple of long rounds in the Walston woods , Tommy viewed Charles as he broke covert on the south side, crossing a paved road to continue over a power line cutover and on into Johnny-boy's thicket. Once our fox arrived on the south side of the power lines, he spent the remainder of the chase there. But he had company- lots and lots of company. Our pack split evenly- 4 1/2 couple on one red, and 4 1/2 on another. But I viewed ( and they are on the video) 3 foxes cross a watery path within seconds of each other - 2 were running together- so I cant say when the split occurred. I viewed a large, light colored fox, and two smaller foxes. Later, I viewed a large, light colored fox twice- but I dont know if it was the same one I had seen cross the path earlier. What I can say for certain is that the LAST fox being persued was yet another red that had a slightly itchy tail.
There were too many foxes,and so very much water!!! Which played to the quarry's advantage. But it sure made for an interesting chase. We broke the last 4 1/2 couple off that itchy-tailed fox at about 10:30. O-and many deer were viewed leaving this covert during our chase, but not a single hound was naughty! A fun day, with no worries!
46 degrees,and raining hard when I arrived at the meet . Bobby had called me at 7:45 to inform me that they had just viewed a fox leaving Johnny Boy's thicket and they were going to turn out on him. I was only ten minutes away,with my horse and 3 of my 5 hounds on board.
The rain abated just as I was unloading the trailer. I had a short hack to get to the covert where hounds were running. My hounds harked and moments later the fox ran a dirt road , without anyone viewing him. The pack hit the road and made a check- one of several times this fox pulled this manuever, and on more than one dirt road. It was Reno who recovered the line - and it was she who did so everytime the fox pulled this stunt!! But all of the hounds did super- we had 5 deer run in front of them in the woods and then pop out across the road, but hounds stayed true to the fox' line. It's on the video-a long video,but if you love watching hounds work, you will like it!
At about 8:45, our fox made a break across a paved road to head into Ringolds Green, where he made several swings before crossing another paved road on his way to the Clay Swamp. We had to hold hounds up at that road at 9:10 am because we didnt want them getting into Clay Swamp. It was a fast chase and the weather conditions were not improving so we decided to call it a day.
Today was hunt # 32 for my hounds. Bobby 's have been out 38 times. I am one hunt behind my last years' pace, but since I lost Lark I am more discriminating as to where I take my bitches.
11 couple met at 8am, and Twister found the mornings' pilot - another healthy red fox- at 8:14.It was cold -26 degrees at 7:15am -more like it should be this time of year. A stiff breeze of 10-15 mph out of the N N/W made it feel colder. But the chase that ensued over then next 94 minutes kept us all heated up!
Our fox made several long runs in the open and also crossed the road 4 times. When he made his first long open run,I was looking into the sun and THOUGHT I had the entire run on video. But, alas, when I later looked in the memory, it wasnt there. I guess I didnt have the camera on when I thought I did! But the footage of the pack (with Sara running up front )across the huge open field was taken about a minute later. They were not far behind Charles today!
I did get Charles when he stopped in the middle of the road to look at us during one of his crossings. Later on in the chase, just as he was trying to come back over that road in the same exact spot where he had gone over, a passing vehicle literally almost ran into him -the driver didnt stop! (Glad it wasnt hounds crossing at the time!) You will see on the video the hounds come into the road and Bobby and I are there to make sure they get the line sorted out. . Notice that MARNEY was in front here, and also when they followed the fox over that road earlier!!! I love how she keeps her nose to the line while the others get lifted to Bobby's hark. By this time,Sara was out of gas,and you will hear me break her- she didnt take much convincing,lol. For a hound that supposedly has a bad heart and should have been put down 3 years ago, she does ok .
This chase ended when Charles popped into a hole in the middle of a wheat field at about 9:50am. All wereon( save for Sara,who was already sound asleep in my truck!)
...Bobby and Curtis hunted yesterday ( 12/03/12), while Tommy and I did not. Today.we had 9 1/2cple -some of Curtis', Bobby's, Tommy's and mine. I left Sara home to keep Reilly (in heat) company.
We jumped the fox at 8:03 and hounds ran him HARD for the next hour before he went to ground behind some grain tanks. But this fox covered an incredible amount of country in that hours' time!
My Marney was right up front (again!!), as was old Reno at times.
The video tells the story of the first half hour. After that, we all had to split up to stay with the pack, and I ended up guarding an upwind road and never got close to them again. But Curtis' dad viewed the fox 3 times in that second half hour!
The fox running through the farmyard
On the far left is Twister, the sire of the new entry, and in front of him is Reno, their mother! these are the front hounds!!!
..And right behind them is my Marilyn -the black-backed hound with the pink collar. .(Since I am the only female that hunts with this group, I put pink collars on my hounds!) O!And that is Marney'sbrown head right bvehind Marilyn. All of my hounds ( I left two at home) up front!!!!
Since it was going to warm up quickly to a record 73 degrees, we did not try to find another fox. Hounds will rest tomorrow, and then hunt again on Thursday.
14 couple, foggy , damp and chilly all morning. (sun never broke out until after noon). We had lotsa foxes, but too tired too write-the video with its subtitles are a pretty good synposis of the hunt.
Mel held up for 3 hrs, not bad considering I havent been on him since the last time I hunted him. Good boy -he was the first to view our last fox, and had I not followed his gaze, I would have missed getting Charles on the video...and we might not have had our last chase of the day.
...made for a frustrating morning ! We waited until 9:35 to turn out, with heavy fog still in the area. Hounds were cast into the woods on the west side of Foxhunters' rd but within minutes some hounds opened behind us at the road. I got to them first, and saw 2 of mine and several of Tommy's and Freddy's trail across the road to the east side. The other hounds harked, and by 9:50,we had our fox on the run.
Charles ran the east side of the road for about 10minutes, then crossed back over to the clubhouse side, but not before being turned by a fork-lift truck that was busy moving trees in the field ( yeah- on a Saturday morning in heavy fog. sheesh) .Mr.Fred and I viewed the fox cross the road , but I jerked the camera and missed getting him! Charles crossed behind 3 deer-which you can see on the video. All hounds were on the fox, and a nice chase commenced that was to be ruined only 1/2 hour later when our pilot was again turned - TWICE-by 3 cur dogs trying to hark to our pack.. By the time we got our hounds sorted from the other groups hounds, it was warming up quickly. We opted to quit , since we will hunt again tomorrow.
I went home and spent a fun afternoon with a redhead. ;-)
