Sunday,October 9 hunt

Rap, ready to go

a few mintues later,  when it got a bit lighter, I took another shot.The horse hadnt moved a muscle.

so, what's in this pic, taken from atop Rap?

Before the dawn, waiting  to release the hounds

We are in the midst of a gorgeous Indian Summer-like weekend here on DelMarva, although it cant actually be called that since we have yet to have a frost.
Cool nights, with lows in the high 40's give way to warm afternoons and temps soaring upwards of 30+ degrees. The humidity has been vanquished by cool, crisp nights that dawn into cloudless blue sky days. Perfect cubbing weather, as long as you get hounds on the ground not long after sunrise.

Which we did this morning. A small pack, only Bobby's 3 1/2 cple and my 2cple, drew the cornfield at Taber Woods at 7:30am. It was 46 degrees, a heavy dew, and dead calm.
I could see Raps' breath as he stood perfectly still waiting for the hounds to be unkenneled.

The corn has been planted right up to the hedgerows and I had to keep ducking my head to avoid being smacked by branches. Good thing I left the 17.2 h horse at home, and chose to ride my little 16.1h QH.

At 7:40, hounds opened briefly in the field to my left but then shut up again within seconds.
A few moments of silence were then followed by a lone voice way off in the next cornfield, to the right of the hedgerow. Who was that??? Not Part Time, known to strike off a bit from the others at times, but often the first to find. SARA?? MY Sara?? What the heck is she doing way over there?! I waited, and saw Part Time and a couple others cross tnrough the hedgerow and hark to her. By 7:45,all hounds had honored her (FIRST EVER!!) find and we had a nice little chase going through the corn, across a ditch and on into a very nasty cutover we call the Pistol Range. ( although there is no such thing remaining, there probably was one, o maybe 50 years ago, lol!)

The sides of the ditches are overgrown with thick weeds that came up chest high on Rap as he pushed through them to get back to the road. The hounds were running the dense cutover of the pistol range, but headed right for Burrsville Rd. As we hit the pavement, i looked up to see a truck follower riding the macadam. And the cry of the pack was right alongside him.
Damn. Our fox got doubled. But as the hounds spilled out onto the road i was overjoyed to see Sara in the lead with Part Time by her side. WOOHOO!! Regardless of what happens the rest of the morning, she has made my day!

And that WAS to be the highlight of the hunt because hounds could not recover the line. Charlie gave them the slip in the mess of the overgrown and boggy cutover.
We tried for over an hour, but hounds were unsucessful in finding their pilot. We had a few promising-sounding moments as the pack cold trailed through the Pistol Range, across another ditch, and on into the woods behind Tagglers Gate. There things deteriorated as the pack
busted up inside the woods. We had 3 bunches headed in different directions. 3000 acres, one mounted hunter, one on foot, and the afore-mentioned truck follower.

AND, the temp was rising as rapidly as the sun. I had on a long sleeved polo, quilted vest, and Barber jacket. I could feel the sweat sliding in rivelets down my back, Rap was steaming, and it was now high tea for the mosquitoes. And although they swarmed in clouds around us , at least my clothes were protecting me from becoming their feast. But yeah, it was time to get these suckers and call it a day.

The last 3 hounds were loaded around 9:30am. Cant say I regret not keeping on. My horse had had enough of slogging through deep going alongside fresh plough and thick weeds and briars. He did super for his first hunt of the season.

And Sara found her first fox, ever. THAT, alone, was worth getting up at 4am!