Dec 26 (Oy Vey!) and Dec 27 Hunts-(WOOHOO!!!)

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And that was the extent of the helmet cam for the day. Right after that, the camera started beeping, and a red light ( not the battery indicator) started flashing. You can only reset the camera through your  computer when that happens. Just another reason to ditch this piece of crap equipment. I got less than 5 minutes video at the very beginning of the morning. Useless!!

The Boxing Day hunt, IMO, was not one of our better days.  It took a long while before the hounds found the first fox,and when they finally took off in hot pursuit,several hounds stayed back in the covert,tonguing the line of another fox. I was on Rap and stayed back with Tommy and Curtis to round those hounds up.Two of mine , Marilyn and Marney (this, her second time out after being up for 3 weeks), were in this bunch and I needed to get a physical hold on Marney and lead her out..After I broke that little bunch ( pistol needed-but some of them can be very hard-headed, including Marney!), I had to get off the horse and walk Marney out to the road where a hound truck waited to give this group a lift to where the big pack was running. Which was now a couple of miles away.

It was 9:45am when I got back on the horse. We had started at 8am. Tommy and Curtis were still trying to get a couple of hounds out of the covert where I had just brought out my own two.  A fox was viewed away at Everlines, headed towards a canal. That was a couple miles east of us. Rap had started out fine, but after almost 2 hours , he was definitely feeling off again. And it hadnt been a hard 2 hours of riding. I couldnt in good conscience ask him to go on. The horse trailer was only 1/2mile from me, so I took him in and hopped a ride with Tommy to get around to where the main pack was still running.  I dont remember how that first chase ended,  By the time Tommy and I got to the others, they were about to draw the Jarroll woods

.We had 20  couple out (not a typo) - Jeff  came back down \from New Jersey , Freddy's, Tommy's, Bobby's ,Curtis' ' and my hounds. We didnt have any real splits, but that's mainly because we had so much trouble finding foxes.

The short video here shows the fox that was found in the Jarrell Woods only  minutes after Tommy and i got there. Charles popped out of the woods and sat down in the road in front of us for several seconds, then went back into the covert, crossed another road on the west side of it, then ran the open for a good while.  When the fox got back into another large covert further west,  ,the chase blew up. Freddy tried for another hour to find another fox, and the hounds did trail for theentire hour.But nothing much cameof it. Finally,at 1 :00, we called it a day.

Charles , as he sat down in the road for several seconds before ducking back into thewoods

Now TUESDAY- 12/27, that's a whole different story!!!

Yesterday (Boxing Day) we had a NWwind ,blowing hard at 20mph, sustained, and higher gusts. It was sunny and in the 40's.   Today, a low pressure system is approaching from the south that will evolve into a nor'easter later tonight.  Ahead of the storm we had a slighlty lighter south wind, and the temp was 38 F during the draw at 8am.  The rain  and gale force wind was forecast  to start by noon.  It was cold and very damp for the first hour.

Our pack of 15 1/2 couple found a handsome looking fox at 8:07. This red took us on a great run for the next 2 1/2 hours, covering a large part of the country.  A couple of times we thought that the pack might have switched pilots when his pattern changed ,but that was not the case.

In the above video,  you see the hounds leaving the covert where they found this fox.I viewed the fox, but didnt get him on the vid. Then,you'll see a fox come back over the road. This was about  20minutes later. But this was NOT the hunted fox. A tractor trailer then goes by, and I thought it was going to turn our hunted fox, but it didnt. And then youll see hunted fox cross right where the other one did.  The foxes crossed within minutes of each other.

There was a split at around 9:30,  when this fox ran to the  Garland Road  bridge and got turned back by a car.  There is a gut there where the creek runs under the road, and when the hounds overshot where the fox doubled,they all spilled out into the road. We didnt want them crossing Garland Rd and were about to load them when some hounds still  back down in the gut opened. When the hounds in the road harked and got back into the gut, a second fox was roused and that's when things got really interesting.

8 1/2 couple were taken north, back towards the covert where fox # 1 was jumped . The other bunch went east, staying in  Georges Little Branch.  As Bobby, Tommy and I  approached the water crossing ( the "overgoin',lol!) , Ginny tallyho'd fox #1 running on our side of the water. ( She was on the opposite side).
This fox must have crossed the branch right at the overgoin, as the hounds were running the branch up on Ginny's side. Bobby and I had his older dog, Rosco , and my Marney in the hound truck ( we had held them up only a few minutes before).  The next video shows us turning them out onto the fox's line and harking the other hounds,( who were now checking at the water) ,  to them.  Very good experience for Marney!

Less than 10minutes later, fox # 1 decided to break out of Georges big branch and run due north, crossing a road and running in the open .   He made a bee line for Mutt Ruffs Woods.  That was getting out of the hunt country on the north side, so everyone flew around to a dirt road bordering Ruffs Woods and we tried to break the pack.  5 people and two pistols couldnt get the job done!!  Those hounds were HOT on that fox and there was no stopping them...

Now they were headed for the Bell Tract, and it was imperative that we  not let them get there. We got very lucky when our handsome pilot broke covert viewed by both Ginny and I. I grabbed my pistol,- that had only 2 shots left- , and ran to where the fox popped out of the woods and ran the edge .  I got the hounds  stopped, but according to Ginny  and Tommy, while I was doing it, ANOTHER fox popped out of the woods and ran right behind me, going the same direction as the hunted one.  Too bad somebody else didnt have a camera rolling!

Now it was time to go catch up with the other 7 couple,who were still running fox # 2 in Georges little branch.  They ran for another 15 minutes and then their fox went to ground behind Tower's shed.  Bobby and I got to them and got them loaded.  It was 10:30. 

A great day with a  very nice red fox ( fox #1). The fox in the video is fox # 1, as I never viewed the other one.

Update on Rap!!!Pretty certain he has only an abcess about to pop. Heat in the RF foot now, but we KNOW both front feet are clean from xrays taken.  Hope the thing pops soon! when the electricity comes back on ( power out due to storm), I m gonna soak it.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

...and thanks to all who are following my blog. I am amazed that so many people are taking the time to read these hunt reports!! Our farmer pack is nothing like an organized, recognized hunt, as you can plainly see, lol, but we always have a blast watching our hounds work. And isn't that what it's all about, anyway?!

Our Christmas Eve morning hunt was not the best day out with hounds, IMO. It started out fine, with hounds on the heels of their first fox at 8:29. But in addition to our regular weekday pack of 12 1/2 cple, there were an additional 7 couple, Freddy's hounds and our jolly friend, Jeff, made the long drive down from New Jersey with his. (he 's found out that he has a torn meniscus in his right knee, which makes that long drive very uncomfortable!)

Not surprisingly, the pack split after about 50 minutes. 4 couple, including Toyota(Jeffs), The Skinny Bitch(Tommy's), Roscoe(Bobby's) and my Marilyn, ( I can't remember who the other 2 cple were, but I know there were some of Freddy's there, too), pushed their fox over a long stretch of fallow cornfields to the Maryland state line about 3/4 mile to the west. Tommy viewed the fox away, but he couldn't get to the pack in time to hold them up. It is still deer season(just muzzleloader) in MD, and that fox took the hounds right into a woods where there were some deer hunters. Oops... Meanwhile, the main pack continued on behind the other fox, apparently giving good chase for the next hour. I wouldn't know, because I spent the entire time guarding a dirt road in Maryland as Bobby, Freddy, and I tried to 1) break the 4 couple and 2) keep their pilot from crossing a dirt road that ran through the middle of  the woods. The deer hunters were on the west side of that dirt road. Actually, we WANTED the fox to cross that road- we were there and ready to break them, should he do so. (The covert they were running in on the east  side is flooded and full of briars, making it impossible to get in front of them as they run through it.)

Finally, Freddy was able to get the pack stopped when he viewed the fox break out across a power line cutover. We loaded that bunch and returned to the meet. But by then , the other fox had gone to
ground, and that chase was over.

By the time those hounds were called away from hole and heads were counted, it was nearing 10am. I had both my bitches loaded in Bobby's truck.( I left Marney home,since she had run two consecutive days' after being up in kennels for 3 weeks.  And Sara is just now coming out of heat. She will be back out on Boxing Day) I needed to be leaving for home by 11am. And although I knew I'd hear alot of ribbing by the others, I had no plans to let their feet touch the ground again! Wise decision, since it wasn't until 10:20 that the next fox was jumped. I was now back in my own hound truck, but the reunited pack was trailing their fox just enough that i wasn't able to get my bitches out of Bobby's . I gave him the evil eye twice when he threatened to turn them back out on me!

I hadn't viewed a fox all morning. I decided to stick around for a few extra minutes when I heard over the radio that this newest pilot was running hard and in a woods not too far from another highway. While all of the other hunters stayed on the east side of the hunted country, I drove to the north side, by the road. A farm lane allowed me to drive away from the highway and get a hundred yards closer to where their fox was running. Another good decision: only seconds later, a big, beautiful light red fox broke covert running parallel to the road, across the emerald green wheat field. He ran to the farm lane,then turned and ran the lane away from me. I watched him disappear back into another woods to the west.
That was a great view, and worth waiting around for. I tally ho'd over the radio, and warned the fellas they should move around to the northwest side of the covert, quickly!

I waited and watched as the pack worked the line until they disappeared from my view, then sat tight for a few more minutes, just in case Charles decided to make another round. He didn't. But I was glad I stayed put because 5 minutes later Patty, Tommy's old bitch, trailed up behind. By the time she got into the middle of the green field, she was upwind and couldn't locate the pack. I ran and got to her, loaded her and took her to Tommy. By now it close to 11:30, and I hated leaving during the best chase of the day, but had no other option. House cleaning, then company, awaited at home.

That last fox went to ground about a half hour later, so I didn't miss all that much!

A cleaned house, company for the traditional Italian feast of the 7 fishes , and candlelight Christmas church service at 11pm with my 84 yo mom rounded out the day. And a great present this morning: sleeping in until 7am!!

Hunt #41, Dec 23rd, another great day

Looking east at the meet,the cold front and rain exiting east. Look how soggy the ground is!! There was water laying everywhere.

... we had heavy rain overnight. At 5am, the temp was 67 F .But the cold front was blowing through from the west at that time and two hours later, the temp had droppped to 47!  The winds died down somewhat by the time 12couple of hounds  moved off at 8:00am.

Today was Bobby's day to hunt Wye Island. But we had made the decision yesterday to hunt close to home instead. And WOW!  Am I glad we did!  You dont get runs at Wye Island like we had today....

 The first fox really doesnt count:  We cast the hounds into a woods behind Larrimores chicken houses and this first red fox was roused at 8:18 am. I viewed him FLYING along the side of one of the chicken houses. He made a turn to the north and headed right for a large den in the side of a ditch bank.  That fox didnt stay up for more than 3 minutes!


The hole(s) where the first fox went in.  I counted 4, but I was in too big a hurry to get hounds away from there to look too closely!

 Hounds were  called back from the hole and we headed over to the red barn woods. The next pilot was much more willing. He was found in the woods near the dry cow lot, about a mile from where we had denned the first red. This fox crossed High Stump road, ran into the state land, down the ditch behind Wyatt's c hicken houses,then across about a half  mile of open grass as he made a diagonal line from Wyatt's to the  Jarred   woods.  I have him crossing over some of the field on the  beginning of  this video. 
 He jumped a ditch in this small covert, and I missed getting him as he miscalculated the jump and did a belly flop in the water-it was hilarious.  But I did get the hounds and a pretty spectacular deer jumping the ditch going the opposite direction.  You'll see the hounds check at the ditch, and they needed a little help getting straight.  But you'll hear Curtis  encouraging my Lark- she recovered the line back in the woods.

Then, all hell broke loose, which you will also hear, lol!  When we all headed to the highway, 3 foxes were viewed coming from three different sides of the covert..  The next fox on the video is theone Bobby and I turned back from the highway. He was not the hunted fox. The hunted fox went away to the east, although Im pretty certain the hounds switched onto a different fox in that covert, because for the rest of the chase, the fox ran a much different pattern, in entirely new country. Regardless, this fox showed great sport by running the woods behind Tommy's house for over an hour.  I was in the woods and got the fox  on camera as he ran right past me, with the hounds less than 200 feet behind him. They were running the fox by sight  then! 
(sorry that piece isnt in focus).  Another half hour passed with the hounds still  pushing their pilot up and down the big  woods behind Tommy's until finally, Chalrie tired of that and was viewed away as he headed straight for the Marshy Hope "canal".  Hounds had to be stopped there, or else they would have been well on their way to the town of Greenwood.

I left alot out- there were so many foxes viewed, but not hunted. And I witnessed alot of great hound work , and some crafty moves by the hunted foxes.

Watch for that deer leaping the ditch in the background- it's pretty cool!

Can anyone help me figur eout why the camera doesnt focus sometiomes, but at other times it does??? I've had so many great photo opps ruined because the camera wont focus. :-(

Thursday, Dec 22 hunt-correction.ya'll knew I meant 10 couple! But may have 20cple out next week!

I had this hunt report half way finished when the damn dog  hit some key on the keyboard and it ALL DISAPPEARED. Sheesh

10 couple out, including three of my four bitches.Marney back in action.(Sara will be ready to go this weekend).  I was late getting to the 8am meet, so I called ahead and told the guys to start the draw without me.  Curtis' dog jumped the first fox at 8:07. I arrived at 8:10am and was able to get my bitches harked right behind the pack as they made a run down the side of a field. Perfect way to get Marney back  into the swing of things. Just perfect!

This fox ran for 40 mintues then went right to a hole in the same covert where he was found. All hounds were on. We walked the pack across the street and into  some woods about 1/4 mile away.  Just after 9am, the second fox was on the move. I had a close encounter with him when he cut the corner of a field were I was standing alone.  He ran within 50 feet of me, and turned his head and gave me a long look as he went by.  A funny colored  fox-very dark on the sides, almost like a gray fox color, but definitely NOT a gray fox.  The damn camera was in my pocket , but I was so transfixed by the mutual stare we were having that i never thought to get it out!  But I grabbed it in time to get the hounds as they went by.  We had several hounds ahead, and a bigger bunch running them up behind, as you will hear and see  on the video.

This fox ran some woods, then crossed a road and made a nice run in the open after blasting through a small covert on the other side.  Our hounds were having trouble getting together-the back hounds were way behind the entire time on this fox.  When the front hounds hit the woods on the other side of the road, they switched onto a different fox.  I viewed the original funny colored fox as he broke covert and ran the open to the north, but the hounds never came on him. Their new pilot took them on a different course , running  east through a big stand of woods, crossing  another road, and then hitting another large woods. After blowing through that covert, he made a wild swing to the north, crossing yet another road, and then bearing back east. He eventually went to ground in an earth next to a  drain pipe along a huge tax ditch.  A good run!
By now it was 11:45, and the temperature had soared to over 60 degrees.  A good time to quit.  Bobby and I were the first to get to  the hounds as they marked the earth..  As we began to walk them out, we heard the sound of a hound in distress.

I've heard that sound before.  I've heard that exact HOUND before. It was Bobby's dog, Radio.  The same hound that had gotten himself immortalized on video when he got himself stuck in a drain pipe back in October at the C &R Center.  And he had done it again:

. But this time, the end of the pipe was badly bent-much more so than the pipe at the C & R .   Tommy and Curtis arrived on the scene, and using a nearby deer stand's metal ladder, they attempted to bend the bent top of the pipe up.  No luck. Tommy left to go find better tools.

I stayed with Radio. He got himself turned sideways and was trying to squeeze out, but couldnt get his shoulders cleared.  I started digging away at the dirt on the outside of the pipe with my bare hands and somehow  created enough space for him to squiggle his shoulders clear. But he was laying sideways, and the pipe edge was very sharp. I didnt want to pull him liike I had done last time, for fear of him getting sliced up.  But  Tommy re-appeared and he pulled Radio out the rest of the way.  Crazy hound.  'Thought he would have learned a lesson after the first time!

End of story.  Hunting tomorrow again, at 8am.

All of the fields have these things sticking up ,along with the left over cornstalks. Nice footing for the horse, hey?

This radish is 10 inches long!

P>S>  remember the new cover crop I talked about? Radishes. The farmers no-till the radishes, then let them die back and rot into the ground. The thing  is, right now these radishes are sticking up out of the ground about 4 inches.,which makes riding a horse over these fields a challenge.

Wye Island Hunt, 12/21/11

On Tuesday , the weather for  my  Wye Island hunt  on Wednesday wasnt looking very good at all.  The forecast was for rain showers to develop overnight  , with more showers early Wednesday morning, turning into a steady ,heavy rain later in the day.  But the hourly forecast showed only a 50% chance of showers up until around noon time. I was willing to take those odds, and decided the hunt was on.

When hunting Wye Island, it's imperative to check the tides. It IS an island, afterall, and when the tide is low, foxes LOVE to run the shoreline, staying out of view.(In most \places there is a very steep drop off down to the waters' edge, as you can see in the helmet cam video.) Low tide was to be at around 7:20am, with the high tide somewhere around noon. Ideally, we would have waited and started our hunt at around 9:30am, when the tide was well on its way back in.  But the  impending rain forced us to move the time up to 8am.
When I drove over the bridge leading to the Island at 7:45am, there was a fair amount of shoreline exposed.
Crap. At least the rare S/SW wind would push the tide in faster....

It was 52 degrees, and the wind was blowing at about 15-20 mph. (A rather pleasantly warm  day on Wye Island ,compared to most! Last year, we hunted  here with several inches of snow on the ground, and the small coves and inlets  ringing the island were completely frozen over in places- a hazardous scenario when the fox runs over the ice and the hounds following him  dont make it!)

Wye Island is a Maryland Wildlife Management Area  of 2800 acres. Fox chasing is strictly limited here to only 12 days a year, and one must enter a lottery ( sic) with hopes of being assigned a day.  Today was my day. Rain? Wear a raincoat.  Sore horse? Vet says there's nothing wrong but some low heels, give him some banamine and ride the sucker - and find another farrier right after the holidays.

The other caveat: one is only allowed to bring 6 couple of hounds to hunt. And there is a charge of $5 per hound. So,today would set me back $60. I  brought only 1 couple, Marilyn and Lark ( the other two bitches are just about ready to hunt after being in heat ). Tommy brought 2 couple:Twister, Jocko, Terri and ' The Skinny Bitch" ( really, that's what he calls her, lol!)  Bobby brought Reno, Shamrock, Roscoe and Pearl.  And Curtis brought  Dawn and one other hound whose name escapes me at the moment...

Ok, so it wasnt ideal conditions.  But it wasnt horrible, either.  We got the first of two foxes up and on the move at 8:07am.  This red ran for 55 minutes and then went to ground in the earth in the photo.

 Hounds were gathered and roaded to the Holly Tree covert,where two foxes broke covert at the same time at about 9:40 am.The pack settled on one and ran it for another long hour until they came to a loss on the disappearing shoreline of a small cove on the east side of the island . ( The first chase stayed to the west side of the island).
I was with them and watched as they tried in vain to recover the line for about 15 minutes. Either Charlie gave them the slip  ( the tide was coming in, and the shoreline was quickly disappearing), OR, he went in somewhere along the bank of that small cove.) Regardless,  by the time we gathered the hounds and walked them  back out to the road, it was raining .  And the wind was really starting to blow HARD.

At  around 11am, as I was hacking back to the trailer parking area, the sky opened up and the rain really began to come down.  We planned our hunt, and it went pretty much as we had hoped, except for the damn low tide.

Took video with the helmet cam and I find it to be pretty useless. Just a lot of the horses' head bobbing, wind noise, and not much else.  The segment shown here was the best- and i was alot closer to the hounds across that  cornfield than it appears.  And the audio sucks, as far as being able to hear the pack in full cry.  The handheld Nikon does much better- took a few seconds of the hounds with it for comparison.

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Finally got a chance to photograph this quaint Methodist Church , located on the road t o Wye Island. Founded in 1807.(The Eastern Shore of Maryland  was the birthplace of the Methodist Church in America).

Love these weekday hunts!!!!

Tommy's gyp, Terri, at the den at the end of the  second chase.

Terri was all the way inside the hole!

10couple out. There was a hard  hoar frost still covering the ground when we drew some tall grass alongside a ditch at 9:05am.The temp was rising quickly from the low of 24 degrees F of the night before.Winds were to be out of the SW, which would facilitate a quick warm up to the low 50s for later in the day.  \

We had a shotgun start when one of Bobby's hounds, Repo,  made the find at 9:07am. The fox had been laying in the tall grass only a few feet from where I was standing when you see the video start to roll. Since I didnt expect it, I didnt get the camera on until Charles was almost to the woods edge. But you can see where the hounds run him out of the grass and down the edge. 

This fox liked running in the open, and I got very lucky and captured him covering a wide expanse of wheat, with  the hounds coming up behind him, a little while later.   Right before I tally ho'd this fox over the open, another fox was viewed in the same field.  He crossed the same road our pilot did, but he was ahead of our fox, and crossed about 50  yards further north.  This manuever would ultimately  put an end to our chase. After another good 20minutes of running,  our  hunted fox circled back , crossing over the line of the other fox, causing a  long check in the open of a different  field than the one in the video.  We left the pack alone and tried to allow them to sort it out since none of us actually saw where the other fox had  gone once he crossed the road.  But  after 10minutes, when it was clear that the pack had begun to trail the wrong line heel,  we broke them. It was 10:22am.

a still from the video, when the hounds checked after being confused  by the lines of two foxes.

No worries! At 10:27, hounds hit the line of hunted fox # 2, when we drew an area about 3 miles to the NE.
This red gave us a memorable chase for the next  2 hours.  He ran the open often, but I never got quite as lucky with the camera again although I was able to film the hounds many times.  This fox also liked running in the open.  At 12:10, when fox # 2  made a spin in some woods, the pack split.  Just when we were thinking about getting them, too.  Dang, I had blankets that needed washing !

But Diana was looking out for us, because at exactly 12:30, one fox went to ground with 5 1/2 couple  at the earth.  Both Marilyn and Lark were there. I took pics of the newly dug out den once we had the hounds loaded. ( had to get them in the hound truck quick, cause we didnt want them to hark to the other bunch that was still running!).  But I did get  a pic of Tommy's little gyp, Terri, right after she emerged from being totally inside the earth.

By the time we caught up with the other 4 1/2couple, they , too, had just denned their pilot in a hole alongside a pond. By 12:48, we had all hounds loaded.  What a lucky break!

Today's chases ranked up within  the 5 best of the season so far. A MUCH better day than yesterdays' hunt!

The first chase of the morning, which ended when a second fox, not being pursued, messed things up.

the end of the first chase, and then a short view of the hounds running the line during the seocnd chase. By then, I didnt much care about taking any more video, as I didnt think I could get anything better than I already had!

Cold and crazy

Deception: It was 32F degrees at 6am, winds dead calm.  But the 'ole weatheman said it wasnt gonna get out of the 30's today,and he didnt lie.  By the time we began the hunt at 8:30am, the temps had dropped another couple degrees, to hover right around 29. 4 1/2 hrs later, when we finished, the temperature was still just 39degreesF and  paired with a stiff N/NW wind, it felt colder. 

It was, in all honesty, a crazy day.   Freddy's dog Cody jumped the first red fox, although we later realized that Part Time had smelled the trail out along the road as we began the draw.  Part Time  never spoke, but he was out on the far side of the road "investigatin'" by himself.  We called him back to us  , but 10 minutes later when the pack opened and began to run , they went right to where Party had been sniffin' around.

After that, it got really, really nuts. Lots of foxes, lots of splits.  Jeff came down from NJ with his hounds , arriving after our  hounds were already running  fox # 1.  Jeffs hounds have not be out but a few times this season, as Jeff is recovering from a knee injury.  We had a total of 19 couple .  But I cant say for certain that they ever got together on one fox all day! All I cared about was where mine were, and with whom they were running.  May sound a bit selfish, but  I did more than my fair share of  picking up other peoples hounds today.  (Everyone looks out for the other guys' hounds  as a rule. )  We had some beautiful runs in the open, and the foxes covered all corners of the country.

I came home, kenneled the hounds and loaded Rap for a test ride in the Redden  woods. He felt good!

Hunting tomorrow morning, it will be even colder! But a weekday hunt- so NOT so crazy! Should be Tommy, Curtis, Bobby and my hounds- the regular pack of 12-14 couple.

Recap of past three days

Wednesday we hunted the Dead End woods with 12 couple. But another private pack was hunting upwind and across a highway from us, without our knowledge at the time of our first draw. Needless to say, our hounds began to hark to theirs, and it was a bit of a nail biter until we were certain that none of our hounds had made it across the highway. I broke 5 cple, Tommy broke some others, and the rest of ours had found their own fox deep in the County House woods. But all morning long, I spent sitting out on that highway, just in case.
Very nerve-wracking, as I have seen hounds get killed on that very stretch of road several years ago when a tractor trailer ran over 4.

Our pack ran a very well behaved red fox that stayed within the County House woods, never getting too close to that busy road. Tommy stayed on the dirt lane that bisects the woods and runs parallel to the highway. He viewed the fox cross back and forth several times. I never saw, or heard ( being upwind) dink all morning. But I knew sure as sh@t that if I left that road, our fox would leave the County House and cross it.

Our fox went to ground at 11am , and since we all had somewhere we needed to be, we called it a day. ( we had started at 9am).

After a scary diagnosis of the big "n" by my local vet, based on reaction to hoof testers, I hauled Rap up to Doc Riddle for radiographs. Nothing, zilch, nada. Feet are clean, bones are normal!!! Yay!!! Some soreness in heels thanks to the farrier not seeming to be able to get Raps angles up above 49. A big change is necessary, as the shoeing has got to improve. What to do??? I've used the same blacksmith for 15 years......but if he won't do what I ask...??????

Just so glad that Rap is ok. I've been riding Mel, the ISH, for the past week, and am thrilled that he is going sound and feels GREAT! but he's the fat one,and Rap is the fit one, so it will be Rap that I take to hunt at Wye Island next week. At least for the one day, and then perhaps,I'll take Mel for the second day. Never thought I'd be having a choice between the two of them again!! What a great Christmas present that is.

Three foxes that liked running in the open

A still frame from the video of fox  #1. I discovered that  Ican shoot stills WHILE SHOOTING a video-and they come out in focus!!!!

First, the morning beckoned with this beautiful scene as I was leaving my farm at 7:05am.  The first rays of the sun were popping above the horizon turning the  trunks of the bare trees a golden-red color, while the moon began it's descent. A pretty start to a pretty awesome day.

Then, at the start of the first draw the hounds walked over top of a fox sitting on a newly dug den located  in a thick briar bed less than 50 feet from the path where we had started..  It was 8:39 when this red fox began a run that would last over an hour. He was a very fat fox, as the video will show!! Wisely, he went to ground back at the very same earth, but not before leading the hounds on a long run in the open, blowing through the few narrow coverts he encountered, and seemingly preferring to stay to the open fields. 

After we gathered the pack ( which wasnt easy because the hounds didnt want to walk back OUT of the briar bed. It was a really nasty bunch of stickers, and a smart location  for a den),  we began the draw of another woods to the south of the one in which fox # 1 had retired.  As Freddy walked his hounds into the woods, a fox was viewed away by someone on a road about 1/4 mile to  the east.  A chase began that would last almost another hour, cut short only because this pilot was  straight-necked and running  clear out of the country.  We had to hold the hounds up about 3 miles from where they started as the crow flies. It killed us to have to do it since this fox wasalso running in the open most of the time.  But he was a slimmer, faster fellow, and had a good lead on his pursuers.  It didnt seem to matter - hounds never checked.  Scent was extraordinarily good all day!

Our last fox was the best, though.  He gave our little pack of 14 couple  a hard run to the northwest (fox number two ran east). We thought we would have to break the pack again, but much to our surprise, fox # 3  decided to come BACK , after running out of the country by about a mile.   Again, it was all open running, and since we were able to keep our eyes on the pack, we let them roll on.  Two road crossings were well guarded, but we all breathed a sigh of relief when CharlesIII decided to head  back to Georges Big Branch. The fox ran straight down the center of the branch , then pulled a fast move by breaking covert briefly to make a smal lloop in the adjacent field, then ducking right back into the covert.  I think I have the hounds making that loop on video. Great to watch them, as they never waivered on the line.  A few seconds later,Charles III was viewed by all of us as he ran the dirt lane  the side of the woods .He was headed east and towards yet another paved road. A split-second conferemnce,and  our host for the day made the call to break the pack. Damn.  Bobby ,.Tommy and I  would have loved to have let them roll on....

I had a blanket delivery for a new customer ( getting alot of those!!) only a few miles away, so it was just as well.
Great day!! I so wish that Sara and Marney could have been  in the chase ( both in heat). But thats' why you dont see any flash of red in the pack today! (Sara is the only lemon hound).  Very proud of both Lark and Marilyn today! Lark is the kind of hound who you dont notice right away, but at the end of a hard running day, she's right up  with the front hounds.

Lark, (top hound w/ white eye), nose to the ground!

Thursday, Dec.8's very, very soggy hunt

Wednesday and Wednesday night, anywhere from 1/2"-4"of rain fell over DelMarVa, depending upon where one lived.  My farm received only 1/2" of rain, yet today's hunt country got over 3" in less than 24 hrs.  Needless to say, there was standing water everywhere and although Rap's RH leg is fine, I had to leave him home.

The temperatures nose dived as the cold front that prompted the rain moved eastward Wednesday night. . At 8pm last evening, it was 73F at my farm. At around 9pm, the wind began to blow with gusts close to  50mph, and by dawn the mercury was reading 34 degrees.  Brrr...a cold slap of reality. 

13 couple had a quick start when they found their pilot at 8:32am.( We had started the draw at 8:15).  This is the fox on the video.  For the first hour, hounds did well staying up with their pilot as Charlie seemed to like running in the open. However, it wasnt long before the fox figured out that he could foil his pursuers by staying within the water-logged woods.   For the rest of the morning, both foxhounds and foxhunters alike became increasingly frustrated. The standing water, sudden quick drop in temperature, and high winds  were hampering the hounds' attempts to press their pilots to break covert. At least, we all liked to blame it on the conditions!  But when you view the video, you will see the hounds splashing through the water in the field,and it was so much worse than that in the woods.

The last two foxes that were found both had the itch ( mange), and both stayed up for less than 5 minutes before going to ground.  They need catchin'....( we dont use terriers or stop earths' here). 
When all hounds were together after  the last fox denned,  it was almost noon.. Enough already, we loaded and went home.

Notes to self

...Marney AND Sara in heat!  Start counting from 12/2,so 12/22.  But ....they should be ok for the 12/21 hunt, just not as fit as the others. 

Expect  Lark to come in anytime now.

At least theyllbe good for the rest of the season, during the best of the hunting time.

Rap's ankle looks good. Jog him out on Thursday and then decide.

Mel worked VERY well today! keep on his ass and get him fitter. It s been 3 weeks since the last Polyglycan shot, dont think he needs one yet. When he stops galloping out to his field in the am, that might be time. But he felt super today and was a tired but happy horse after the redden ride.Gave him a  bath, but by 4pm, thought it was getting too cool to turn himn back out. But him up with a cooler on, and he took forever to dry. Might have to re-clip sooner than planned.

All hounds just walked out of the kennel into the barn this morning on their way to the exercise pen.  Normally, they FLY out of there.So a couple of days off will be good.  All are lean,  the bitches in heat should nt get too fat while up, keep feeding the protein.

Sara, had to come in heat just when she's fit enough that she has been up with the front hounds . try to find time to exercise both Sara and Marney. .

Rain for the next two days. SO CLEAN THE FREAKIN HOUSE .  And  get some groceries, the PB&J is getting tiresome.

Saturday and Sunday Dec 3 and 4

This morning started out good, but then Rap took a bad step early into the first chase and he came up a little off.  I  threw him back on the trailer and jumped into a passing hound truck for the following hour and a half.  Later on,  I tried him again, but he seemed worse, so back on the trailer he went. 

Great day as far as good chases.  Much better than yesterday, when we had two hot foxes first thing, but both ran straight into Maryland.( and its still deer season in MD)  After that, it was a messed up day for the remainder of Saturday, as the hounds seemed to have alot of trouble staying on any one fox. Not that there weren't foxes- we had  at least 4 that I can recall ,but  the hounds just couldnt run . It was a NE wind, and I think that had alot to do with it. ( Worst day I think,all season.) It was a shame we couldnt have let them stay on the first two foxes. But, what the hey, that's foxhuntin'.

Today, wind was out of the South, there was a pretty good frost and the temp was again right around 30 degrees when  hounds began the first run that would last for over an hour and a half. The combined pack of 14 couple really covered a lot of ground, running in the open for most of the time.  Of course, I missed the best of that as I was getting Rap back to the trailer and then had to find somebody to pick me up and drive me about 3   miles to where the hounds were running.  Looking back over the helmet cam videos, I see a spot where I remember Rap put a foot in a hole.  I am hoping he just put a foot wrong and it's nothing serious.  No swelling or heat anywhere yet, so I'll see how he is tomorrow. He'll get a few days off and then I'll see what's up.

Anyway,  it was  4 hours again today, as it was yesterday, but the difference is today the hounds ran HARD.
Here is the only video I have of  Rap and me with the hounds, before he starting getting gimpy: ( you'll hear me trying to push him on- I knew right then that he wasnt right, cause when he's with the hounds, I dont have to ASK for anything). I pulled him up right there, so you can see why im so bummed  out.,

<iframe width="960" height="540" src="http://contour.com/stories/sunday-124-hunt-with-rap--2/embed?map=false&width=960px&height=540px" frameborder="0"></iframe>


I left Marney home today, shes' in heat.  Marilyn is not right after todays chase, hope she's ok tomorrow.
Ditto with Rap.  Needless to say, I'm bummed. Best thing to do now is go pour a glass of the good stuff!

The good news: I made the only adjustment possiuble to the FOV  on the camera lens, down to135mm from 170mm. Things still seem farther away than they really are , but the fishbowl look does seem somewhat reduced.

Hunt #31, 15 1/2 couple and a 5 hour day

Finally, cooler air has descended  upon  the Shore: it was just around freezing this morning, and the high for the day didnt get out of the low 50's F. A rather stiff  N/NW wind, which began around 9am,  made it feel much cooler.

We had several " guest "hounds join us, and whenever you throw a bunch of hounds together which havent hunted together as a pack for awhile, you can expect the unexpected..   And for the first  2 1/2hours, it was a bit nuts.

We walked hounds into the first  covert @ 7:30 and  they hit a cold trail  right in the field. Much ado about nothing  for the next 1/2 hour as  the pack cold trailed all through the woods.  . Sheesh. 

 At about 8am, someone on the road viewed a fox leave the covert, heading south. But the person got a bit confused and was incorrect  with  his directions.to those of us in covert.  We walked the pack several hundred yards before the error was realized, and had to turn the hounds around and walk the woods back. 

Marney opened on a fox going north, and seven hounds honored her .  They took that fox out of the woods, across the road and on into the cannery woods. Meanwhile,  a few more hounds opened on the fox viewed, and two more opened on yet a third.

For the next hour, we had hounds running everywhere. And the one directon we did NOT want them to go was west,towards theMaryland stateline. And eventually, that's where the bigger bunch went. 

By 9am,we had all the hounds rounded up, and since alot of country had already been covered without a steady, setrtled chase, it was decdied we'd go and hunt the "little woods" across from the "Coon Dog Man".  Last week, 5 foxes had been roused out of this small covert.

The first  fox hounds jumped  ran straight away to the highway, crossing wide open wheat fields. We tried to get to the fox in time to turn him back, but we didnt make it in time .  We did succeed , however, in holding up the hounds.  We went  right back and hunted the same covert again, coming from a differnt corner.  And again , we jumped another fox that ran the same path as the first,  in the open. This one went to ground in a hedgerow 200 yads before reaching the highway. PHEW!

SO... we loaded the hounds AGAIN.   And decided to try the " 80 acres."   I sat upwind on the highway,watching the open fields between two large woods, as Bobby and Howard walked the pack in.  Mr.Fred and Gayle were also on the highway, and all three of us watched in awe as 36 deer ( as best we could count!)  left the covert the hounds were in, and began their run west, crossing alot of open country on their way to the next woods  Right behind them came a fox and he was flying across that open almost as fast as the deer could run!  Every few minutes, more deer would exit the woods and head in the same direction.
But the hounds could not pick up the line of the fox.  Nor could they pick up the scent of another fox that almost walked on top of Bobby and Howard. (Howard has been foxhunting a long time, and he said that was the closest he had ever come to a fox -it literally almost walked right into them! 

Two handsome bucks viewed during todays hunt. They were NOT part of the herd of  3 dozen  deer that one fox  ran behind! For  $$ .I'll tell  you  Delaware deer hunters where these are! lol!

It wasnt until 10am when the pack finally opened on yet another red that seemed willing to run.  And he did run -for the next 2 1/2 hrs.making wide circles with many runs in the open. During the chase,  Bobby  and I had walked into one of the coverts the fox would  traverse during his circuit. And just at that time, there was a brief split as 4 hounds came on an itchy-tailed fox (mangy). They werent our hounds, and  neither of us had  any tools with which to break them.  We tried, unsucessfully. ( This fox didnt stay up long, and the 2cple quickly harked back to the main pack, which by now was across a paved road and running his northern  end of the loop.)  I had to lose the two  large cups of coffee I had consumed earlier, so I  told Bobby to walk back to his truck and go ( the long way ) around to the road where the others were sitting. I meanwhile, would walk on out of the woods, along a ditch next to the wheat field our pilot had been running earlier. As I got to the woods' edge,  being downwind of the pack I could hear them  well in the distance.  They were still on the far side of the road.  But as I stayed to the high weeds along the ditch that led to the road, I kept watching way ahead of me for the fox.  And sure enough, here came Charlie, crossing back over the road, and headed right to me.  I crouched on one of the  wheels of some nearby  pivot irrigation ,  turned on the video, and got him as he crossed back into the woods where I had ...well,  you know.  He never saw me.  And I never touched the zoom, so the fox looks small!!!  The hounds were a good minute or two behind him, but I mved a little closer to film them.

The next part of that video shows  when the hounds are making their RETURN trip ( for the third time)  over the road. I didnt get there in time to get the fox. But as you can see, he came out of the woods, ran the road down for several yards,and then ducked into the corner of the field.  

The next images show the same fox headed  (south) BACK over the road again ( 4th time!). It was now almost 12:30, hounds had been out for 5 hours,and running this fox steadily  for 2 1/2 hrs. It was unanimously  agreed upon that we would stop the pack at the road. The final part of the video shows us waiting for the hounds as they run the foxs' line up to the road. I had to turn the camera off because MARNEY  was the front hound as they came to the road.( And as I have admitted  before, she can be tough to hold up when she's hot on a line!)

HOWEVER, this does mean ,  ahem, that Marney was the first to FIND today , and  in the lead at the end of the day.   Way to go,  my  little hardhead!!