Another fox runs right into me

... at 8:10 we cast our 12 1/2 couple into the woods, and at 8:16 hounds opened on a line , but it was quickly determined to be" the back foot" ( heel).  Hounds got turned around and were running right by 8:22.
I hurried out of the covert and to the road just in time to view a  very small, very dark red fox cross High Stump Rd, but on the far end of the covert from where I was positioned.

I tally-hoed to the fellas still in the woods, and proceeded to move down the road so as to get a closer look at the hounds as they crossed.  I usually stop too far away, and today was no exception. However, as I stood listening as the pack approached,  I  was stunned to see another, lighter-colored fox moving right towards me. He was coming from the same section of woods  the first one did, but he was going to cross the road much closer to me.    I tried to get the camera to focus, but it couldnt capture this fox as he was attempting to emerge onto the blacktop EXACTLY where I was standing.   If you watch the video carefully, I cue where to look- the fox is VERY close, and you can see him turn his back to me and run. It just isnt in focus.  

Before I had the run-in with the second fox, I saw two hounds emerge on the line of the first one, and assumed they had the foxs' line ahead of the other hounds.  But as soon as the second fox ran into me, I looked up to see the rest of the pack running to me .  I managed to get the camera focused on them, and it just kept roling while I turned the pack around and got them settled back on fox # 2's line.   The other two hounds on fox # 1 harked back to the pack at this time, also.  We now had all on, and a nice chased ensued with much running in the open, until Charles decided to run towards the Marshy Hope canal.  We had to break the pack before they got there, as we didnt want them swimming across the canal. It was about 9:35 when we broke them.

We made another draw and got another red on the move, but he ran straight to a hole,staying up for only 15 minutes. It was now about 10:30, the wind was gusting pretty hard out of the N/NW, and it still felt cold! We went home,to give the hounds two days' rest.  They will hunt again Saturday and Sunday.

'Monday - only 10 couple today

I got to sleep in a half hour later - hounds were cast @ 8am into a frosty wood next to the Dry Cow Lot.  A fox was found at 8:14, but he ran for a short 10 minutes before ducking into a hole.  Hounds were gathered and the draw continued in the same covert.  At 8: 47, the pack opened on another red that gave them a slightly longer, but still short chase of about  45minutes duration.  He left the woods after running it behind the red barn field for the first 15minutes and then crossed High Stump Rd to head over a large tax ditch and on into the state forest. We viewed him, counted hounds as they followed, and then tried to stay with them as best we could with a variable  S/SW wind making  it difficult to hear. (But  it was much less windy and  not as cold as the previous two mornings!)

Bobby and I got behind Wyatt's chicken houses where we could hear them running  and about 5 minutes' later, they shut up cold.  Our fox had gone in just after 9:30. As hounds were coming to our  horns ( mine and Tommy has a cow horn handed down to him from his dad), a gray cat jumped out of the wheel well of an old truck parked right where they were emerging from the woods.  Some green-collared hounds had a short-lived chase on what looked to me like a very pregnant  cat!  We stopped them, and as far as I could tell, the cat escaped with all 9 lives ( plus whatever).

All were on save for Olin's Annie , and she was later  found  back in the covert where the fox was roused, probably headed back to where she was turned out.

Tommy drew the woods behind Wyatt's, but it was blank , so we called it  day .  Hounds need a rest!!!

130 (added wrong the first time!) Minute Run -Sunday, November 25th

a frame from the video

                                    (Date on the video is incorrect-this was 11/25/12)

...and I was careful not to erase any video this time, lol!  My camera battery threatened to die but it lasted long enough to get our fox running in the open.

It was cold!!! And still  windy - 29 F degrees at 6:45 as I passed the firehouse thermometer on my way to the meet. . Winds were to be steady out of the W/SW at 14mph, with gusts above 22mph.

Today was a Sunday deer hunt in Maryland, (wtf?? dont they have enough days already??) so we had to stay away and go back to the  foxhunter's clubhouse in Delaware again.  In the past, we have only hunted from the clubhouse but 3 or 4 times a season. However, the foxes we have chased here the past two days  have been so accomodating that we may have to come back more often....

15 1/2 couple put into the woods in the same area where we started yesterday @ 7:45am. . It took longer to find a fox - 5 minutes instead of 3, lol. The pack was in full cry @ 7:50am.  (NOTE: We do NOT  drop foxes or feed foxes here- no cheating is necessary .  We have too  good of a fox population here to need to resort to those practices, and the many commercial chicken houses keep them well fed.)

Can't say if this was the same fox we chased yesterday or not-but the pattern today's quarry followed was very similar to the one of yesterday. So- read yesterday's hunt report, it will save me a lot of typing, lol! And I also  cant say for certain if we had a tag-team switch again, but I tend to think so, as hounds had one of their two  checks in the exact same spot as yesterday and again, after that check, the fox changed his pattern and wound circles in the cut-over pines.  Charles crossed Foxhunter's Rd many times again before he decided to stay in those pines.  During one crossing, an old lady in a car would not stop as we tried to wave  her down, and she was right on the foxs' line as hounds flew into the road.  I thought for sure we were about to lose the front hounds. And she did just miss hitting Patty, Tommy's bitch.  What a sick feeling that was.  But, all got across the road alive, and the old biddy smiled and waved as she drove off. I guess she just didnt have a clue as to why we were waving and shouting at her to stop!

               The fox crossed  here several times- 3 or 4, and it was here that the lady almost ran over Patty. But this video was a later crossing.

One fallow cornfield   was recently  fertilized with chicken manure, and you will see on the video how the pack had trouble working the line in the open across it.  Charles had done a very strange zig-zagging  manuever in the middle of this field , to boot ( I didnt view him as I was watching the covert on the north side) , but Freddy viewed his antics. The foxs' plan worked, and you can see Bobby having to help  get the pack straight.

But when Charles crossed the field near the Doc's, earlier in the chase ,  you will see hounds had no trouble running him there -no chicken manure in that field!

At about 9:20, something happened in the back of that manure-covered field to cause the pack to split. 6 couple were tonguing in the back of the field, while the others had gone on into the cutover pines.  We held those 6 cple up and at 10:10 broke the others in the pines.

All the new entry did super, but Reilly will be staying up in kennels tomorrow, as she came out of the pines on 3 legs. Sara can stay home and keep her company.

6:35 am. "Red sky at morning...."

Hunt from the Foxhunters Clubhouse, November 24, 2012

A cold front began to blow over DelMarVa at precisely 2:30 am this morning.I know this because the initial gust blew through my open window and shook the house.

Yesterday, I  wore only a light sweatshirt as I rode horses; it was warm (68), sunny and no wind.This morning, it was 36 degrees when we drew the woods northwest of the clubhouse at 7:30am with 12 1/2 couple. The wind was steady out of the N/NW@ 16mph,with gusts up to 25mph, and the forecast was for the gusts to only  increase throughout the day.

 It took but 3 minutes for one of Jim's hounds to open, and only seconds for the entire pack to honor. Our  first fox was on the move at 7:33am!

And boy,did he ever move!  This red bolted right out of the woods on the north side, crossed a fallow field on a long diagonal run of at least a 1/4 mile, pointing his mask toward the opposite side of  Foxhunters Rd.
I viewed the fox, but he was moving so fast i couldnt get my camera out in time.  The hounds were pressing him,less than 30 seconds behind. It was  just enough time for me  to whip out the camera and take some video as the entire pack crossed over the green field. Lovely, it was. Jim's hounds on top.  He was SO wanting to see it on video. As were we all....but I digress...

Our fleet fox flew! Behind some chicken houses he went , then across another hard road toward "the Doc's" .  A quick loop in the woods there,and then back over the road at the chicken houses. He circumnavigated the woods behind same for about 15 minutes, and then darted back across Foxhunter's rd to enter the woods where he had been found . Next, he headed in the opposite direction- threatening to crossa yet another road to the northwest, as if he might go to the Massey woods. (Cant let the hounds get there).

Fortunately for us,  he turned back , running the wood's edge to re-enter the same covert where he had been roused.

 And then, he proceeded to repeat the exact pattern a second time.  When he made his return leg on this second loop, he handed the pack off to a fresh red waiting in that same covert where we started the morning. The time was about 8:35.

  The second fox ran an entirely different pattern, winding round and round the cutover pines behind the Clubhouse, forcing the pack to work hard as they had to pick their way through heavy cutover and bramble. This one  didnt stay up for very long -hounds marked him at 9:10. All hounds were on, with Marney and Repo being last to leave the hole.

By 9:30, we were on our way to get some hot coffee and breakfast.

O- and all that lovely footage of the pack? I accidentally erased it when I tried to free up some memory.  I have the find on the first fox, and the cry as they put the second fox in. Everything in -between:  POOF! Gone.

Hunting the clubhouse again tomorrow, since it is the Opening weekend for Deer firearm in Maryland. ( The clubhouse is in Delaware!)

Black Friday hunt - #24 for my hounds

...this will be short, since we are hunting tomorrow and Sunday and I need sleep.

Heavy, heavy fog-the heaviest I've seen  in a long time -hung over most of DelMarVa this morning. It was 32 degrees at my farm ( ice coated my metal gates), but about 36  at 7:15am when I arrived at the meet.  We waited for the sun to rise higher , expecting it to burn off the mist quickly, but that never happened until we were loading the hounds after their  fox went to ground at  9:30!

We put 19 couple into the woods behind Stevie Leeks house at 8am, and by 8:05 they were trailing up thier pilot.  At about 8:10, they got this red on the move,and I got this pic just as they were getting hot:

This fox covered a lot of country in the next hour and a half, crossing Burrsville Rd 4 times.I viewed him cross twice, and he was FLYING.  The second time I was able to be at the road as hounds crossed,  there were two hounds who had the line way ahead of the others. I held those two up in the field alongside the road until the main pack caught up, and then held my breath again as they all flew across the pavement to continue their pursuit of  one very quick and very crafty fox.



Hounds crossing the third time, the fog actually got worse as the chase progressed



Tail hounds, after crossing the road the first time.  I got there just in time!!

It was nerve-wracking.  The heavy fog kept cry muffled, and keeping track of the pack was a challenge.  Thankfully, every time the pack crossed the road someone was with them, and everyone stayed safe.

I was so relieved to see all of my hounds, and all of Bobby's , walk out from the hole.  Marney must be over her silliness from being kept up for three weeks, as she was RIGHT THERE! And  my puppy, Reilly, what a great bitch she is turning out to be!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Not the hunted fox, but this one ran right towards Mel and me, on the opposite side of the ditch. This is a still from the video below.

...started out with a blown horse trailer tire as I arrived at the meet @ 7:15am.  The other tire on the same side wasnt looking too happy,either. But- no time to worry, it would be dealt with after the hunt was over!

16 couple ( everybody is ready to rumble -the last day of deer gunshot season was yesterday- YAY!!!!) were walked into the woods behind the Red Barn at 7:30am. At about 7:50, the pack opened on their first pilot that ran for a short 20 minutes and then  popped into a hole.  Hounds were gathered and hadnt walked a hundred yards when old Reno found the next red.  This fox took the pack on a tour of the countryside for over an hour before he lost them in the  road  at the Cannery @ 9:03am.    At least two other reds, ( including the one in this video) were viewed, but not pursued. Finally, a third fox was viewed away to Wyatt's and hounds were put on his line at about 9:30. Hounds ran him hard, ignoring a huge buck and doe that crossed the line in front of them, until they put him to ground at  10:10am.  

The guys changed my tire for me, while I blew for Marney- it was her first time out after being up in kennels in heat for over 3 weeks, and although she was right with the others when they denned the last fox, she was shy to come out.   By 10:45, I was headed home and on the phone looking for a spare tire.
Mel was a GOOD, albiet tired boy!!

I took more  video, but I havent time to add anything else right now.

Mel kept pulling on the reins, which made holding the camera still a bit difficult.

18 couple, 4 foxes and too many followers!

Our foxes got turned too many times today -too many car followers out and in the way.   After the fox in the pic got turned twice, he took off for fields afar -and across the highway. Bobby and I got there JUST as Charles was crossing over this very busy road , but we were about 50 yards down from where he crossed.  Hounds were less than 5 seconds behind him , and we just couldnt get to them in time to break them.(Across the highway is forbidden country right now due to deer season).  This fox just kept going and going and going...away!! We finally managed to hold up the pack miles from whence they started this fellow. Nerve jangling day, it was.  And I was ever so thankful that both MARNEY and REILLY were safe at home in kennels ( they are both in heat).  Marilyn, Sara and Reno were right there on this fox, as were all of Bobby's.  We were loaded while the others were still trying to break theirs ( or FIND them, lol!)

To backtrack, our first fox, found @ 7am, stayed up for all of about 5 minutes before going to ground in a newly dug earth in the middle of a newly planted wheat field:

hounds at the hole after denning their first pilot. Perhaps this was the vixen...

...Because THIS sucker was the one that took our hounds on a tour of the countryside via the highway, not long afterwards:

We had two other hunted foxes this morning: one went to Garland Road, so hounds had to be held up there, and the other went across Knifebox Road. I'm tellin' ya' -those foxes are mating and on the move!!!

In all fairness, there was another problem that factored into the turning of quarry. When Freddy pulled up to the meet this morning, there was a young , very nice-looking tricolor coonhound wandering in the road  at the place where we meet.  Obviously,someone had dumped the pretty bitch puppy.  She ended up being shoved into my hound truck (which stayed parked alongside the covert all morning), so that she wouldnt be in the way.  But all she did was bark ALL morning long.  After the hunt, I took her to a customers' house only a few miles away and asked if she would take the hound in.  (Last year she had asked me if we had any foxhounds that we would give her to keep her rescue hound company).  She fell in love with this sweet-natured pup right away, and agreed.  Saying a prayer that the young bitch doesnt bark in Susie's kennel all night tonight! I dont want THAT phone call, lol!

Hunting tomorrow on Mel again. There should only be 9 or 10 couple out, and no coffehousers! A hard freeze forecast for tonight.This morning, the low temp was 38 degrees F.Calm winds at the draw, that increased out of the NW all morning. I'll break out the longjohns for tomorrow!

After SuperStorm Sandy

A Hunter's Moon was setting  ( not visible here) as the first rays of  the sun hit the trees. So GOOD to see the sun shining again- even if it didnt last for very long.

I havent had much time to keep up on the blog, and I know I missed entering at least one hunt here, but a lot of more important things have been happening.

Not the least of which was the monster storm that hit the entire eastern half of the US earlier this week.  The DelMarVa peninsula fared better than the other shore areas to our north, but we still received over 10" of rain here at my farm. The winds, thank goodness, were not as strong as originally predicted here, and I think our strongest gust   ( we are 10 miles inland from the beach) was still less than 80 mph.   No structural damage, some minor flooding and fence damage.

Deer season continues to disrupt our fox chasing and this will only escalate after next week when Maryland firearm season enters the picture already muddied by the Delaware gunning laws. 

Hounds met at the C & R Center on  Thursday, November 1st at 8am.  Present were Bobby's 4 cple ( old M&M, the mother of my Marney and Marilyn, jumped into his truck as Bobby was loading.  She hasnt been out in the field for 2 years! But she looks better now than ever - he contemplated putting her down two summers ago- so he decided to let her come along) .  I had only Marilyn,Reno and Sara,since both Marney and Reilly are in heat.  Larry and Howard joined us with Larry's 4  1/2 cple, for a grand total of 10 couple.

It was a chilly 38 degrees, with a SW wind  promising to blow 15-20 mph at the draw.  We began the first cast behind the C & R Center building, since I wanted to park my horse trailer on high ground.  The low fields behind the building were under water in most places, as was the entire forest that surrounds the Center. Surprisingly, the area behind the Cy Haines homestead, further to the SE, had the least soggy ground as the video shows.  (We ended the morning there).

Old  Reno proved to have the best nose, and it was she who opened first on the strongest trails the hounds encountered.   The pack  would trail decently enough on the drier ground, but as soon as they entered the woods, where water lay everywhere, they would lose it.  I saw no visible signs of foxes anywhere - all washed clean by the floodwaters, I guess.   I was surprised , however, to see  a buck and a doe in the woods - the first deer I have viewed here since the Blue Tongue disease wiped out most of the herd.

After 2 and 1/2 hours, I broke the pack along a ditchline in the far corner of Cy Haines' property. The sky had become heavily overcast, with dark clouds on the western horizon and the wind was blowing steadily at about 15-20 mph. It felt raw and damp.  Obviously, condtions were not going to get any better, and there was a forecast for a chance of showers.  Raindrops were already on my windshield as I loaded Mel onto the trailer.

Not happy with the new Luminix hand held camera. However, I  really didnt have any time to fool with it  this morning. I did try to remember to turn on the helmet cam, and it worked ok - most of the time!

All of us were just happy  to be able to get our hounds out so soon after the storm. And more than once during the morning I remembered to thank God for that...and pray for those less fortunate than we.

Wednesday, Oct. 17 Hunt - All went well, thanks to Shirley



Marney in the lead!-look in the weeds on the right side

 ...Bobby and I wanted to hunt today. Howard and Larry couldnt join us. We needed at least one more person to attempt to hunt the  country, since the roads bordering it  can have a lot of fast moving commercial trucks flying along them  as contractors head to work. Shirley volunteered to lend us a hand, and once again: we planned our little hunt, and hunted our plan:

We walked our 6 couple into the tall weeds adjacent to the old Cy Haines barn site at 7:40am. Winds were calm, and the temp was about 49 degrees. Reno jumped the fox at 7:47, and  all hounds were on as this red headed south,  through the weeds and on into a nearby woods.  Bobby was left on foot while Shirley and I  headed to the perimeter roads in both trucks.   The fox ran behind a string of small bungalows on IronMine rd, then turned a bit east and came perilously close to Sand Hill Rd.  Luckily for us, he then made a swing west, away from any paved road and toward the stone lane that cuts through the middle of this state-owned parcel.  Bobby had made his way to that same stone lane and Shirley got to him and picked him up.  Meanwhile, I headed to Beagle Club rd to be downwind of the cry.

Bobby and Shirley viewed the fox cross the stone lane in front of them, with all hounds on.  They were headed away from me.  WAY away from me.  While I played catch-up, they viewed another fox leave the covert hounds were in and cross  C&R Center Rd.  The pack didnt come on that one, but continued on a run that took them back to the Haines homestead.  From there, they made a counter clockwise circle that put them close to where the other fox had left the woods and crossed the road.   There was a long check, and then some frantic barking by Pearl and  Roscoe. The other hounds kept running  to repeat this circle a second time.  When Bobby and Shirley walked the short distance from the road to the woods to investigate Pearls' unusual behavior, they stumbled upon a buck deer that was tangled up in vines. It was a very sick buck-probably had the blue-tongue  disease that has killed hundreds of deer here in the past 2 months.  Pearl was standing there, shaking and barking at it as it thrashed around trying to free itself.  By  this time , the rest of the hounds were running right towards this small piece of woods again. We decided to break them and get them away from the crazed buck, asap!  We broke them on the edge of a cutover cornfield only about a hundred feet away from where the buck was struggling.  I dont know what happened to the fox, I was just glad that we had had a good chase of 75 minutes' duration, with all hounds loaded by 9:10 am.  Bobby saw the buck free himself and stagger off wildly  into the woods.  

I'm not fond of this style hunting - nerve wracking without enough help.  But the hounds did great !
Here's some music-houndswere running in those far woods, about3/4mile away from me:

Hopefully, next week Shirley and I will be on horses and there will be enough guys on the roads.

Hunt #15 - our little pack of 6 cple

Marney trying to recover the line. Roscoe behind her.

...for my hounds. #18 for Bobby's.  Quick report-the  second presidential debate is on soon!

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!!

Sunday,Oct. 14 Hunt in MD

The "overgoin" where our hunted fox got doubled  is in the shadows behind the hounds

It was 22 degrees warmer this morning than yesterday morning , when  many areas of DelMarVa  experienced the  first frost of the season.  But the warmer temps were ushered in on a brisk S/SW wind   which  would  later turn into a gale by mid-afternoon.

It was a pretty dawn- 50degrees, light breezes, and a brief ground fog that dissipated quickly as the sun snuck above the horizon and rose into a sapphire sky.We cast the hounds  down the path behind George's Pond at 6:50am. It wasnt until 7:20 that the hounds opened on a fox that I had heard chattering in the swamp a few hundred feet from where I was positioned  (behind a tree, lol!) in the woods. There were two- and I wonder if perhaps the chattering was one fox warning the other of impending danger.  Whatever, the hounds split briefly right at the spot where I had heard the baby-like cry. The bigger bunch ran NW towards the overgoin, while the smaller bunch ran up onto higher ground in the woods.  The smaller group   ran right towards Bobby and Freddy, and they got them stopped and harked to the others.

Unfortunately, two truck followers may have turned our pilot right at the water crossing, as a truck sat on each side of the "overgoin."  Neither person saw a fox cross  at the water.  Charles had  turned back  and gone down  into the mud of the swamp.   For the next  20 minutes, we listened as the pack tried to stay with their quarry.  But it was touch and go- dry ground held little scent, and  the mucky swamp bottom wasnt making it easy for the hounds, either.   Bobby and I crossed over the overgoin to be downwind of the pack, and minutes later Ricky, Freddy's brother, tally-ho'd a red as it broke the covert hounds were in,crossed the lane, and headed towards the "little branch".

It was quickly decided that we would break the hounds - Bobby and I were close to them, and they werent having much luck staying up with their fox.  It took less than a minute from the time I started blowing them in to the time we had them loading into the truck.  Even  PART-TIME was  right there!  We got all 9 cple loaded, including all of Freddy's, and quickly headed back over the overgoin to Ricky's view.  Hounds were unkennelled  and  at 8:06 they picked up the scent along the edge of the soybean field and ran it all the way back to the woods of the little branch.  Once within this covert, our fox stayed there- tip-toeing round and 'round for about 20 minutes more,with allhounds on his brush.   Suddenly, a big red fox busted out of this same woods, about 100 yards east of where we good hear the pack in full cry. "AWESOME : it's about to get GOOD", I thought. And so did everyone else!  We all stood and watched as this fox made a beautiful run in the open as he headed across the cutover cornfields on his way back to the covert where we had begun the morning. Watch the video full screen, the fox is running from right to left- I try to zoom in after a few seconds and a keen eye will make him out!

Now, I could lie to you and tell you that this was the fox our pack was running. And I could tell you that they ran him hard back to that covert and put him to ground.   I could. But that would be a lie.  And since this blog is kept as a hunt journal for my own personal reference, it would serve no purpose to tell tales here.

So, even though I have this  foxs' run in the open on video, I cant show you a pack of 9 cple running him up. Because that's not what happened.  What happened was:  this fox had merely been scared  out of the woods by the chase taking place within.  We allowed just enough time to elapse to ascertain that this was the case, and then Bobby and I hauled a$$ around to the upwind side of the covert. And although we were now upwind, we could hear hounds tonguing behind Towers' chicken houses.   When we arrived behind same, the pack  was digging and barking frantically at  the base of an old shed.  Darn.  This fox had had enough and had ducked  underneath  the old structure.

Now we had to quickly get them away  from the shed, load them back into Bobby's truck ( again!) and run them over a  mile back  to where the "gone away fox"  had crossed the dirt lane.  Most of the hounds came readily to our call once more .However, Rebel, one of Bobby's new entry, had managed to get himself stuck between two sheets of old metal that were leaning up against the shed . His  yelps for help kept dragging  Reilly and Raven ( his littermates) and a couple of the others  back to him.  I convinced  him to scramble backwards to get out of his  predicament, and everyone calmed down and jumped into the truck to  hitch the ride.

By this time,  15 minutes had elapsed and that SW wind was blowing 20-25mph.  Even our cold nosed PMD's failed to pick up the scent over the dry, sandy ground. And they tried  really hard as they caste themselves all over that field.  When they failed to pick it up back at the woods edge, it was decided to call it a day. It was around 9:15 am.  Disappointing that we didnt have a hot chase. However, hounds did have to work hard on their own in difficult conditions  to find their hunted fox and gave their best effort at trying to stay with him.  All the new entry packed up and ran.  All hounds (even Freddy's)  came to my horn (!!!))  And all hounds were on when their  fox dove under the shed.   Not so bad, really....

Hunting back in Delaware this coming Tuesday and Wednesday!!!

Glad that's over...

Not the hunting part of the day,mind you.   In fact, I wish we could re-wind the day and get back to IT:

Hounds moved off at 5:50am on Sunday  - heavy rain was coming, and it wasnt very far away. In fact, it was raining lightly as we began the draw. As everywhere else on the east coast ,  temps nosed-dived from the 80's on Saturday to a cold, damp 52 degrees on Sunday . The mercury  hovered within 3 degrees of that mark all day.

12 couple began the morning, and were all on when they roused the first fox at 6:11am.  It was touch and go for the first 40 minutes- as it has been lately, thanks to the dry conditions. Hounds could smell and run for a minute or two, then a long check would follow.   But just when we figured our pilot had gone to ground, the pack would pick up the scent and run again.  At 6:45, they really got up on this fox, and were sounding great.  At 7:02, my cell phone rang:

He: "Get back here  NOW"
Me:"Why???"
He:  "Mel is colicking"

Sh*t.  I have some new hay that I began to incorporate the past couple of days so I was pretty certain  it was just a gas colic, but I  needed to get home and get some Banamine into him. So....

I left the covert with hounds, mine included, screaming within.  The balance of this hunt report is second hand news, but from a reliable source! (Bobby)

The fox went to ground about 5 minutes after I left.  Hounds were gathered and moved to another area to draw .  All but Bobby's puppy, Rebel, were at the hole when the hounds were gathered. He loaded his and mine into his hound truck and set off to walk the woods to find Rebel. It hadnt occurred to me to leave my horn with him- thank goodness all my bitches were right there, and now safely in Bobby's hound truck  as he went in search of the puppy.  I know that if Rebel had heard the horn, he would have come to it  from wherever he had drifted.  But - Bobby was left to scour the covert for his pup while Jim and Freddy enjoyed a very nice chase, including a long run over the open and happening  only a short distance away. Bobby could hear their hounds as he looked for Rebel. O my, I am just glad it was HIS pup and not mine!

 Long story short- Bobby never did turn out again.  I met him halfway after they were done, and got my hounds back.  Later that afternoon, when the Banamine wore off, Mel was still in trouble, and i spent the rest of the afternoon and all night Sunday night nursing the patient.  He's fine today (Monday),however, we are both  a bit sleep deprived . Yawn.......

Yuk! October 3rd

Wednesday -it was 76 degrees with 100 % humidity ( how can it be 100% and not be precipitating??) when hounds moved off at 7:40am. 26 degrees warmer than Monday,and much more humid. Miserable. How do folks in the south stand this???

Anyway, not much happened-Bobby walked our  hounds in from the dirt road that cuts through the C & R Center, through the woods and out into the clearing north of Cy Haines'. In other words, he hunted from the opposite direction from Monday, since the winds were out of the south today rather than the N/NW.

By the time Bobby got close to where I waited in Cy Haines field, both he and the hounds were ready to call it quits.  I could not believe how hot they all were in just 45 minutes! No fox again, but we really didnt care-we shouldnt have bothered trying to hunt at all.  I came home and jumped in the pool. COME ON , AUTUMN, dammit.

October 1st - Foxchasing in Delaware

Mel, happy to be back as hunt horse #1 again!

Harvest Moon setting , 7:15am @ the meet

The season in Delaware opened on Monday. However, because muzzleloader season starts Oct. 5 and runs unti Oct. 16, we really only have the first few days of the month to run hounds...

11 couple met at Cy Haines' old homestead at 7:30am.  Present were my 2 1/2cple, Bobby's 3 1/2 cple and Larry's 5 cple. Larry's PMD's are much bigger than ours, and I was curious to see how our new entry would interact during  their first encounter with them.

I was out on Mel, and Shirley was along on General.  Hounds were walked down the lane behind the old homestead .  On either side of the lane lies some very sad looking soybeans.  I had ridden here the day before and was pleased to see fox scat in many different areas of the state land, including where we started the draw.  Hounds began to tongue a bit on the lane, and then continued on into the beans.  It sounded as if we might have a quick hit at first, but sadly, it was not to be.  Once in the bean field (it really has mostly weeds), the pack cast themselves throughout the field.    A fox had most definitely been here, but they just couldnt seem to get the line sorted out. Some hounds drifted on to the adjacent covert, and we let them hunt on. A few opened, but nothing came of that, either.  There was a lot of nose-to-the -ground feathering going on, all over the place!  We had some hounds  tonguing in the woods , but the main pack ( 8 1/2cple) ,kept going back to that same spot in the bean field. There was a tall patch of grass right where they kept dwelling, and at first I thought there might be an earth within it. But no, I couldnt see any hole when I rode up to inspect it.  Most likley, a fox might have been napping there during the night.

Anyhoo,  after about an hour of this  we decided to try another draw in an area of woods a bit north of where we had started.  Again, hounds would open, run for maybe a minute, and then check. This hit and miss nonsense continued for another long hour.  Several times it sounded as if they were about to get on top of thier fox, and then -POOF! , the "chase" ( using that word very loosely, lol!)  would just blow up. 

At about 10am, the pack was still at it-and by now they were up behind the C&R Center building. I was with them when they broke covert out of the woods and ran the edge of a milo field-- it was the best they sounded all morning, and i really thought we were about to have a run.   But once again, it petered out when they entered the covert on the other side of the field. Damn,,,,

Even though we didnt get a fox today, it was a worthwhile time out : I was with the pack most of the time and got to scrutinize my puppy, Reilly.  I am SO PROUD of her!!!  She went right with those strange , big hounds. Her nose was to the ground and she was trying just as hard as the others to find.    And when they could smell and acted as if they might actually begin to run, she was right there in the midst of things.  She knows her  job!  She fills a void left by Lark.

When we broke the pack - not easily accomplished, as they were determined to try to find a fox- I was so proud to have REILLY  be the first hound to come to my horn.  Followed by MARNEY -another happy moment, as she doesnt like to pack up with strange hounds and can be the last one to come in when we hunt with other hounds.

So, a crappy day chase-wise, which really has me stumped.  It is very dry  in this country, but there had been some rain the night before, followed by a clearing sky with the full Harvest moon.  It was a cool 50 degrees, with a calm wind to be out of the W/NW.  One would think the conditions would be ideal. Could the foxes have been on the prowl all night, hunting under the full moon, and back in their dens? Dunno- but I know they are there, and we will try again later this week.  This time, it will just be 6 cple -my hounds and Bobby's.  More rain is forecast for Tuesday .  Conditions for our next hunt here will be alot warmer and very humid.  Should be interesting to see what happens!

O- my camera is in Bobby's hound truck, so the pics Shirley took wont be up until after the next  hunt.
And my helmet cam isnt working. ...didnt matter today, however, I would have lliked to have had some video of  what I saw of Reilly.

Hunt #10- Almost-birthday hunt

The best  birthday present I can receive is a day out with my hounds. Hunting. Not hound exercise or hound walking. And honestly, this time of the season it is always hard for my hunting friends to be able to accomodate.  Most of the corn is usually down by now , and this time period from mid-September until October 1st can, in some years, be a down time as we wait for Delaware foxhunting to come into season on that first day of the tenth month. 

However, rain received on Tuesday prevented the harvest of the last stand of corn in our cubbing area. But all of the fields around this one last stand are down now.  And as soon as this last corn is dry enough it ,too, will be history.  It was decided to hunt this morning,  just in case the combines appear later in the day.

We had the same number of hounds ( 12 couple) meet @ 4:25am ,  and the weather conditions were the same as the past couple of hunts- 52 degrees @ 4:00am, but dropping to 48 degrees by dawn.  Still no moon overhead, and the star-filled sky became a little spooky as I listened to George Noury's "Coast-toCoast" guest  ramble on about the real possibility of major  changes in the earths' magnetic fields due to solar flares  and the subsequent consequences there of  .  (Hint: Dig your tunnel now for underground habitation for 2-3 years in the not-too-distant-future.LOL)  Some of George's  guests really creep me out while I'm driving on a back country road in the dark @ 4am... But I digress....

Hounds took awhile to find their pilot- it was 4:40 when  old Reno began to tongue and 4:45 when Freddy's hounds put in to help her, followed by the others. They trailed this fox  through the corn, across the lane, and clear over to the little branch.  Once there, they got him up and on the move , but Charles chose to stay in the branch the entire time, circling around the cornfields clockwise and in the direction of the overgoin. He was a spooked fox, and pulled some very clever moves to put distance between his brush and the pack. He crossed the stream at least twice before he  even got to the overgoin, causing a couple of brief checks as the hounds followed through the water. He then crossed  the water right at the overgoin, continuing to run clockwise, but now along the edge of the fields rather than down in the branch.  At about 5:10, he pointed his mask back into the corn, after  having completed an entire run around the circumference of the fields. 

And then, it just blew up.  This fox had earned himself a good lead  by his evasive tactics of crossing back and forth through the water in the little branch and the pack just couldn't get back up on him.  We could hear hounds coming down the lane towards us. I blew my horn one time, and suddenly they were all there. It was only 5:30. I am just so thrilled that Reilly and my other bitches are always right to me, and now, Bobby's hounds come flying to my horn, too. Even Part-Time!!

We could have tried for another fox.  But both Bobby and I had knowledge that that could definitely end with us being somewhere we didnt want to be ( I didnt say we viewed two foxes near the paved road earlier, now did I?!) , and opted to not make another draw.  Besides, Freddy had to go to work....


Fortunately, once October 1st arrives I wont be having George Noury for company on the way to the meets- we will be moving the times back to 8am and his radio program will be long over.  ....And I can sleep until 5am ....And I can finally start bringing a horse.

The day before ( Wed) was spa day for Bobby's hounds-  they got bathed, dipped, wormed and a stinky ear treated.  They are so clean here!! Didnt last long, since today's fox dragged them through the branch. 

Sunday, Sept.16 Hunt -Skunked!!

A road-killed young dog fox we encountered on Shepherd Rd. Sadly,this is a frequent occurrence this time of year as the young dog foxes strike out from home to find their own territory.

We started with 12 couple, and ended with 15 couple...

 At 4:40, hounds were put into the cornfield under another moonless, but very clear and starry night.  It was 52 degrees, but the temps dropped another 5 degrees before the dawn, and this was  the first time this season I felt a bit cold . I'm not complaining!!!

At 5:12, the pack found Charles lurking around the corn on the little branch side of the dirt lane. ("Georges Branch has two sections, the  "little branch"and the "big branch", separated by the cornfield-flanked dirt lane and the "overgoin").    All hounds save for Bobby's Rebel settled in behind their pilot as he ran back and forth between the two stands of corn. At about the 30-minute mark, I got a strong wiff of the perfume of a skunk near the lane.  Hounds were, at the time, running about  1/2 mile away. The odor disseminated, and for about 10 minutes, we forgot about it as we continued to listen to the pack roaring behind their fox.  Then at about  5:50,  there was a sudden check deep within the corn  lasting  long enough that Freddy assumed that the fox had gone to ground and he began calling his hounds back. However, just as his hounds began to tumble out into the lane a hound still in the corn   began to tongue, honored quickly by several others.   In seconds, Bobby's and my hounds  were  running again. "That squeaky note hound must be running the fox back  (heel) ", said Freddy. He barely got the words out of his mouth when  we heard him holler- his hounds had been  sprayed by the skunk I had smelled earlier! 

Our pilot had NOT gone to ground. However,  this skunk had succeeded in busting up the pack and causing a check.  The stench coming from the back of Freddy's hound truck was overpowering and he wasted no time  turning his hounds back out. I guess he either realized our hounds were right, or he just didnt care, lol!
(Guess who the "squeaky note",RIGHT hound was??!) This is gonna be Marney's year to shine!

The chase resumed, with Charles continuing his long loops through both stands of the corn.  At 6am, Jeff arrived from NJ with 3 couple of hounds that were about to have their first chase of the season.  Fresh hounds were turned out behind ours, which had now been running for close to an hour. No worries!

A brief split occurred at 6:10- with some hounds, including Bobby's pup Raven,  heading to the overgoin while the main pack ran the little branch the other way.   I dont  think there were two foxes-I think some overly excited hounds just got off course briefly, because before Bobby and  I could get to the overgoin we could see the errant hounds harking back to the others. We watched as Raven FLEW past us on his way back to the action. He got fooled- but only briefly. ( btw, Rebel did hark, after about the first 1/2 hour).

The pilot changed course f or the last hour. Was it to avoid the skunk, or because he had more hounds on his brush?!   He crossed from the little branch  into the big branch, but  on the far side of the overgoin-the first time he had done that.  After that, he ran the bottom of the branch for awhile and then popped out the east side of the woods and into a new stand of corn adjacent to Georges' Pond.  

The sun was peeking above the horizon now, and it was nearing the two-hour mark for the hounds which had jumped this fox.  A decision was made to break the pack before Charles took them back down into the swampy bottom of the branch again.   Bobby and I got to them just as the hounds were breaking out of the cornfield at the pond   It was 7:05   All of our hounds were up front, and loaded into our trucks by 7:06!!
Freddy, Jim and Jeff arrived within seconds, but Travis ( notorious for being impossible to break)  got around them and dragged about 2 more couple with him. O my.....  Bobby and I ran into town to get coffee for the others.  By the time we returned, all hounds had been accounted for. 

O - and NONE of our hounds had been "skunked"!!!

 

September 13, 2012- Hunt

The time is coming very soon when the corn we have been cubbing in will be taken down. The foxes there have been very game, providing good chases that have enabled our new entry to get settled in with the pack very nicely.  During this morning's chase, we heard my Reilly tonguing ( and up with the front hounds!), and  we also got our first earful of Rebel's voice. He has a nice note!    Now he just needs to learn to  stay up with the others!  But this was his best effort to date.  Reilly and Rebel have deeper tones than Marney and Marilyn, and although I havent picked out Ravens voice yet, I am sure he will have his mama's deep note too. Hounds began to cold trail at 4:34, and it took 10 minutes before they got the line figured out.They had taken it across the dirt lane and back briefly - probably running it heel at the start. But by 4:45, they were roaring through the corn, coming straight towards where Bobby and I were standing.    We could hear Marney running in front, with about 4 other voices with her, including my pup, Reilly.  The rest of the 12 couple were only 30 feet or so behind them-you should be able to hear all of this on the audio ( video)-when they passed by. Could video to train your ear, lol!! The fox ran round and round the corn for 50 minutes, then headed down into the branch ( swampy bottom with woods).  He gave the pack a short run in the mud and then went to ground at an earth on the edge of the woods at 5:46.  We had hoped for a longer chase, but this hour run was fast and LOUD, with all hounds accounted for at the hole. Can't ask for better than that! I am so pleased that our work all summer is paying off-especially with Part-Time. He comes to my horn right away now, rather than lingering at the hole or slipping off to hunt on his own as he used to do. Good Boy, Party!!  And Reilly- WOOHOOO!!!!!! The temp was a crisp 50 degrees, with a clear, starry night overhead.  A waxing crescent moon was just rising on the horizon ahead of the sun as hounds ran , and Venus ( or is it Saturn?)  resting  way above it. I tried to take some pics of the moon after the hunt was over.  Even if the pics dont look so great, when I see them years from now, they will take me right back to the moment!

September 9, 2012 Mr. Fred's Birthday song

After what seemed like an endless string of hot and humid days during late summer , a powerful cold front swept through the Northeast US last evening . Racing down from Canada, it rode the coat tails of  a line of   severe thunderstorms which produced  several tornadoes occuring in the most unlikely of places ( 2 in NYC, one in Fairfax County, VA).   Another benefit of living here on the DelMarVa: the Chesapeake Bay tends to act as a buffer for these storms, sucking the life out of them as they move east.  By the time the storm that produced 55mph winds and the tornado in Va arrived on the Eastern Shore, it was nothing more than a bit of wind and some short-lived downpours.  The temperature dropped 15 degrees in minutes...

When I walked out to the kennels at 3:30am  this morning the temp was 65degrees F; the lack of humidity was a welcomed change. (The mercury continued to drop - by the time the sun was on the horizon, at the height of our chase, it had dipped to a cool 59.)

We had a plethora of hound trucks at the meet-and for a moment I was concerned that there would be way too many  strange hounds for the new entry.  But only Freddy, Jim, Bobby and I had hounds,so that made for a pack of 12 couple. 

Hounds were put into the cornfield at 5:00am. There was much cold trailing going on until finally, at 5:35, they opened "with authority" and settled down behind one fox that took them out of the corn and right into the swamp of Georges' Branch.   At 5:55 there was a long check and we began to call the hounds back to us.  Several were loaded, mostly the young pups. At 6:05, the  hounds down in the swamp picked up the scent  so  we turned the others back out.  NOW Reynard was ready to run!

He ran the length of Georges' Branch, then came up  and bolted back into the cornfield  where he had been found.  But he didnt stay there.  This fox ran hard for the next  75 minutes, running the cornfield, crossing the dirt lane that runs through it, then crossing back over the lane, and setting his sights for the woods  again.  He whirled around there, then bolted out the east side to head into a different field   of corn.  Here, he circled for about 10minutes,then bolted BACK into the woods, running  up the branch (west). 

There is  a small soybean field at the west end of the cornfield that runs along the branch and we didnt want the fox to go there..  Freddy, Bobby and I spread out and succeeded in turning him back into the woods.  We never saw him (it was still before sunrise), but we saw, and heard, the hounds turn back at the point where he was doubled.

George's Branch on the left.   The second stand of corn that Reynard toured  on the right. (looking east, about 6:45am)

The dirt lane that bisects the first very large stand of corn, where our fox was found. Looking west. Beyond the fog bank is the "overgoin":


Back down the branch he went, with all hounds on!  And again, he opted to leave the woods and bolt back into the corn.  Over the dirt lane he went.  Hounds followed, but they were getting really strung out at this point . ( It was around  7am, and light enough that we could identify who was whom as they crossed in front of us).  Everyone agreed that if Reynard didnt go to ground soon, we would break the pack at the first opportunity.  Twenty minutes later, that fox came right towards us as we sat on the dirt lane. Our voices turned him. He ran the corn only about 10  feet in from the lane  parallel to where we stood.  Perfect.  Hounds were held up  ( not easily!), and loaded.  Old Reno and a couple others got around us, but when they realized they were on their own, they shut up quickly and gave up the chase.

It was some lovely music for Mr. Fred's 80-something birthday:

Marilyn and Reilly, wanting more!



Afterwards, I had a great ride on Mel ,and was back  home in time for lunch..



Just our hounds...

Due to several factors, Monday's  hunt consisted of only Bobby's hounds and my hounds-  5 1/2 couple.  Freddy was going to run his beagles, so we enlisted Curtis to help us out  as a road whip at a location several miles away from where we had been the previous two days.  . There had been a large field of sweet corn standing there on Saturday.  Most of it  was gone Sunday when we pulled up at 6am. (extra hour of sleep!!)  However, enough remained that we decided to give it a go  anyway, since Bobby has been seeing at least  one fox in this  area all summer.

The weather was even more humid than the previous two days and the cloud cover was so low that I had to use my windshield wipers all the way to the meet.  Thundershowers were forecast to pop up at any moment.

We made the mistake of unkennelling the hounds too far away from the remaining standing corn.  A fox had been tiptoeing around alright-and  he  had tiptoed right into an adjacent beanfield.  Old Reno found him, and we had a very short chase of  only 30 minutes' duration since we broke the pack at the very first opportunity.  Happily , all were on , and again very hot- (jumping over beans is extremely exerting, lol) .  It was short but sweet:  Rebel had been the puppy that had been with Travis the day before, and it was VERY good  for HIM  to have a  fox chase with just our little pack.)

So, to sum it up, our guest got to witness  an awesome morning  chase of 90 minutes on one red fox in the corn (Saturday), a messed up morning, with a little bit of riot (Sunday), and a short, but hard chase through some verboten beans with just Bobby's and my hounds (Monday).

Sunday, September 2 Hunt

The weather condtions were exactly the same as the day before, except we noticed the dirt lanes were dustier compared to the previous day.. The exact same hounds were turned back out into the exact same cornfield, at almost the exact same time -4:50am.. (Many acres of  adjacent  cornfields had been harvested during the day on Saturday,and Freddy was afraid that  this might be our last chance to run in this particular area. We wanted to try to find that good fox  one more time!)

Foxhunting is never the same twice.  Which is why I love it so much.  Scent is such a mysterious and confounding phenomenon.   It was obvious after only 10  minutes that hounds werent able to smell very well this day.   They cast themselves throughout the corn and we could hear them trying so hard to pick up a scent. A hound would open in one spot, and it would sound promising, then ...nothing. Right away, a hound could be heard throwing tongue a good distance from the first one, but again, nothing.  This went on for well  over 1/2 hour. Finally, some of Freddy's hounds began to tongue on what sounded like it might be promising.  Bobby followed the cry out the farmlane and onto the pavement of Baker Rd. as the rest of us, scattered all around the edges of the field, rushed to catch up. When we did, Bobby was attempting to break hounds and retrieve them from the front yard of a house that had been vacant for years.  Only, to our surprise,  it's not vacant anymore - the  lady of the house was standing on her front step casually observing the scene illuminated by her porch light .  Wearing   her bathrobe  .  During our haste to get hounds away, both Bobby and I mistook one of Freddy's young hounds  for my Reilly- it was refusing to load into my hound truck, and  I was beginning to get embarassed in front of  my company.  We finally got a good enough look at her ( still very dark out), and realized it wasnt her , just as Freddy asked if we had seen his puppy.  Good -I knew my bitch wouldn't act like that! Ok- hounds are all loaded, and quickly moved to another area of corn about a mile further north. 

[Sidebar: After the hunt on Saturday, a few horse/foxhunting  friends went for a sail on the Chesapeake.  My cell phone now lays somewhere on the bottom of the Bay.  Therefore, times for all of the events during the next two hunts are approximate only, since I depend upon the phone for checking time.]

I'm guessing it was now closing in on 6am. and in order to expedite a find, Freddy and Jim drew the east side of the fresh corn , while Bobby and I drew the west side.  Again, there was no quick jump, but after several minutes Freddy's  Travis, another hound,  and a puppy opened.  Before we could get to them, they had taken the pack out the northwest side of the field, over a dirt road, and into country we didnt want them in.  On top of that, once over there, deer were popping up everywhere, the pack split, and it took almost an hour to get everyone back.  It was 7:20 when the last hound was loaded.  Sheesh.  As good as Saturday had been, Sunday was equally horrible.  I was relieved  that we had made arrangements to look over two very different breeds of hounds before heading back to my  farm.  At least the morning was not a total waste....

Reflective tape really, really works.