Tired? who said my hounds were tired?!

...After that hard chase on Wednesday, I was thinking that I might leave my hounds home for the following days' hunt( Thursday, 2/07).But yesterday morning they were  anticipating another day out of the kennel with much enthusiasm.  Who was I to deny them??

It was 29 degrees with a biting north wind when 17 1/2 couple were walked into the Cannery woods at 8:30.  A hard freeze was back on the ground after the brief thaw enjoyed earlier this week.

Pre-dawn, around 6:15am

Hard, frozen ground again! about 7:30 am.

 (Jeff had come down from New Jersey again, and our guests from yesterday were back,too).  A fox was found  at about 8:40, but he didnt stay here long at all !  At 9:15, he made his move out of the country by running  a narrow hedgerow,  crossing  over Parker rd , to  continue on a diagonal across Burrsville rd  to the pistol range briar  bed. But he didnt stay there, either!  This fox set a straight course southwest  through the Taber Woods , crossing Cattail Branch rd on his way to the Hickman Woods. Hounds were held up before they entered that covert.  It was only  9:45 when we broke them about 3 miles from where the fox was roused.

On the video,I arrive at Parker Rd after the fox crossed ( viewed across the road by Olin), and get the camera rolling in anticipation of the hounds. Before they reach the blacktop, however, several deer came FLYING across the road in front of me.  I let the camera roll on and less than a minute later the pack arrives at the road.  You can watch as they check  very briefly on the macadam, and then recover the line into the very, very thick briars on the far side.  You will also see some hounds run down the edge where the deer went, but immediately come back. They were not tonguing.   We had several puppies on the ground, and still no deer chase!  I LOVE OUR HOUNDS!!!! :-)

But I digress....

It was decided to go back and hunt the covert adjacent to the Cannery Woods in keeping with the wind direction.  Another fox got on the move at  about  10:15; well, actually, 3 foxes came out of the Buzzard Swamp woods but all hounds settled on one. For the next hour , this fellow made a couple large swings around Mr. Parkers' field, Tacky Radishes and the clam shell pile and then decided that he, too, had no desire to remain on the east side of Burrsville rd.  He crosses and runs the large expanse of cutover cornfields on his way  westward  to Frog Hollow.  (This is on the video.The time stamp shows him crossing Burrsville rd at 11:20am. ). Again, this fox had a straight-arrow course and  continued due west to the Clay Swamp.  We broke the pack before they got into the swamp.  It was 11:45. Enough!!!  Hounds have hunted 5 of the last 6 days ,now they shall get a rest as the storm arrives Friday. Only rain forecast for us, so we should be good to go on Sunday.

(the short video just showing the fox and the hounds crossing the open)