The morning started off sunny, windless and 11 degrees warmer than the day before .
16 couple unkenneled at the meet with a more subdued sense of enthusiasm than they had the previous morning. (4 hours of hard running will do that!). But all hounds that had participated in yesterday's good chase returned for more. Our additional 1/2 couple was Part-Time -Bobby had left him home on Thursday because , as he put it then, "he ain't right"(!)
Whatever ailed Party yesterday morning had resolved by yesterday afternoon!
We walked the pack in on two sides of the covert: Bobby and I walked ours into the west side, while Tommy and Jim walked the others into the east side. There's alot of standing water in this woods, as there is everywhere in most places, and this coupled with the fact that hounds were not as anxious as yesterday meant that it took about 25 minutes before anything began to happen.
Roscoe, Reno,Pearl, Repo (all Bobby's) and Marilyn and Sara (mine) opened at 8:55 and began to run their fox west. As the other hounds began to hark, they ran into another red on the way. This pilot headed north. Wonderful. As perfect as the chase yesterday had been, the hunt today would prove to be a headache.
The bigger packs' fox ran for the next two hours, trying like hell to cross RT 317. We turned him at least 4 times. Each time, hounds came too close to the road for comfort for me.
I spent the entire hunt guarding the branch (def: woods with water running through it!) where it ran underneath the road.
Fortunately, during an early swing in his run Charles came very close to where the smaller bunch had just denned their fox. Bobby had walked to the pond where those hounds were digging at the hole to hark them to the big bunch. Just as he was getting to the pond, the fox that the larger pack was pressing ran past him. Right past him. Like, less than 50 feet. Charles then jumped into the pond and swam across it to the other side. Bobby watched as the pack followed. The entire time, he had the radio mike keyed. Besides hearing the hounds roaring as they flew past him, you could hear the splashing as they hit the water. And then this, " Awwww, where's that lady with the camera???!! Too bad she's missing this!" And on, and on, and on, lol! Damn....how often does one get the opportunity to witness that?!
At 11:00am, when two foxes broke covert right in front of Tommy and Olin, we all got there in time to break and load the hounds. I had had enough of doing highway patrol, as had the others. Hounds will get a well-earned day off tomorrow, and then go again on Sunday. In Delaware. And as far from a highway as we can get!
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