Catching Up

I had kinda made a New Year's  resolution to stop posting my hunt reports to the blog. But that doesnt mean we havent been hunting. After more than a couple of people have mentioned that they hadnt seen any posts since Jan 3, I decided I get back to it, in some way or another.

We had a string of good-weather days right after the New Year, so I took advantage of them to ride the new horse as much as I could, and was able to get 10  solid , consecutive rides in on him before the string of really, really crappy, wet weather hit last week.

The hunts have been just ok, IMO.  I suspect the vixens are getting heavy, because every hunt for the past week or more, we have had foxes run for only a short time before going to ground. Then, the next fox found on the same day would be one that would leave the country post-haste.  Really not bad days, but just not the barn-burners we had been having.  

 Yesterday and today were no different. Saturday,  my hounds and Bobby' hounds jumped the first fox, but before Tommy and Curtis' hounds could hark ( they were quite a distance away , drawing another area of the same large covert), the fox went in a hole in the middle of a field under some power lines. Well, it wasnt just A hole, it was a condominium- 4 openings that I could see.  I was alone with the hounds when they put the fox in, and I got several pics of them at the different holes before I walked them all out to the road.  Our youngsters got a good noseful, with Raven getting himself completely  down inside one of the openings:







The openings were several feet apart



Raven -in



Raven, out!

 

Reilly, getting her noseful at another of the openings.




Our next fox was found about 15 minutes later, and he made a good run in the open across a large wheat field and then into a "branch' ( woods with  a swampy stream running through it. We dont have rocks and firm bottoms -its a quagmire!).  There he ran the length of the branch before busting out into the open and across a road , headed for Delaware. (Shotgun deer season again in DE, so we had to break the hounds).

Today (Sunday) was not a whole lot different, but a whole lot more nerve-wracking for me. We had 14 couple out(same as Saturday), and after a long draw in the County House woods a fox was roused at about 8:15am.  The wind was strong out of the SW-blowing right TO the highway, so everyone on the dirt road within the woods couldnt hear the pack at all. I had resolved that as soon as the pack hit a line, I was boogying right to the highway. I might miss viewing the fox ( during one recent hunt here , the fox crossed back and forth over the  woods road 9 times),but at least I  could guard the highway and would be where I could hear the hounds .  Good thing, too.  Because about 20 minutes into the chase, the damn fox tried to cross over the  higfway - twice.   Hounds were headed right to the roadway .    I must have looked like a crazy woman trying to hold up traffic, while calling for help on the radio and trying to load 14 cple into my little hound truck.  Bobby finally got to me, and we got all but 3 couple loaded. They hit the line again, and ran it parallel to the highway, behind a farmhouse, and then  back towards the highway again, about 1/2mile further east.   We managed to get them stopped before they reached the road again.  But that fox was determined he was going across! 

After it was all said and done, the fellas inquired as to how my blood pressure was holding up....I told them when my adrenaline level returned to normal, I'd be sure to let them know.

Two other foxes had been roused out of the same woodpile, and Tommy wanted to go right back and jump another. REALLY?????  We had sorted hounds, and all of mine were safely ensconced within my own truck. They could hunt wherever they cared to -but mine werent touching the ground again if that was to be the plan.

Instead, a draw was made in Miller's Branch further to the west, and a fox was pushed out the west end, crossing over Anthony Mill Rd   He ran across an open field all the way to Skinny's thicket. From there, he continued  his trip with a turn to the north, crossing over Baker rd. Curtis viewed the fox as he made a trip back over Baker rd, running a good length of the macadam before ducking back into covert.  Hounds were not able to recover the line in the road, and were picked up.

A final draw was made back in the County House wood ( Tommy's plan), and another fox  was roused near that wood pile.  I again went to the highway, while the rest stayed back on the dirt road.After about 40 minutes of sporadic running (lots of water within those woods right now), I viewed the pack emerge into a field on the west end of the woods.  No one else was around (again!).  But the pack was just picking at the line-the fox must have had a good lead on them because I had been watching that side for quite a while and never saw him cross that field.   I radioed  a heads up once more , and  everybody came around and we loaded .  It was now a little after 11am, and we quit since we are hunting again tomorrow.

 I headed home and took the new horse out for his first group trail ride. (He did really well considering the  30mph winds!)