Wednesday, January 11 hunt: .14 1/2 couple began their chase on a red fox found in the small covert alongside Dougie Greys place at 8:22am. A hard frost was quickly melting as the sun warmed the atmosphere from a low of 27 degrees. An east wind was going to be a challenge, and it proved to be so early on when Charles headed first south, than made a large swing eastward and on to the north. He crossed the highway before anyone even knew he had made that turn to the north. Bobby and I got to the front of Marvels' horse pastures and stopped to listen. We could hear the pack faintly BEHIND us,and realized that we all were way behind the fox and the hounds. They were running hard in the Jimmy Henry Woods. Everyone one else was still over in Squirrley Hill, and Bobby and I had one hound truck. We did a fast U-turn on the highway and could hear the hounds swinging back towards us. Charles was setting his sights on the covert where he had been found. At the same moment that we heard the pack coming, we heard loud sirens headed our way, coming from the east and headed west on the highway. Becauset hat wind was blowing right down the road, we heard them alot sooner than we saw them . I'm guessing we had about 10 seconds warning. Just as the hounds were exiting the woods and spilling onto the shoulder of the road, I looked up to see 4 police motorcycles with sirens wailing and all kinds of blue and red lights flashing. Behind them were 4 police cruisers with sirens blaring and lights flashing, also. And they were barreling down the highway doing at least 75 mph. I've never seen anything like it -it was like a scene out of a movie.
The adrenalin was pumping-I knew the motorcycles would not be able to stop if a hound ran in front of them. I looked behind me, towards the pack - hounds were stepping into the road, despite Bobby's and my whip cracking and hollering. I looked back at the cops - and they were almost on top of us. I remember dropping the tailgate and seeing hounds get in. Lark got scared and ran under the pickup and out into the middle of the road, but she darted right back under the truck (where she ususally goes when folks get to hollering-she doesnt like loud noise). I remember seeing the motorcycles pass by me so close I could have reached out and touched the cops' arms! I dont think they slowed down at all. But the police cars did slow down-in fact the last one in the entourage had to come to a complete stop when a hound ran in front of it.
I never saw what it was they were "escorting", but it had better been somebody damned important to justify travelling at that speed. When the dust cleared, we had only 4 couple in the truck, but no other hounds came out at the road. Wow, my heart was still pounding. Bobby had a huge grin on his face. ....
When the sounds of the sirensfinally faded, we heard the rest of the pack running hard ,still on the north side of the road.
The original fox must have made a quick swing over the highway and gone right back again, keeping the
4 couple with him. The others must have jumped another fox as soon as they hit that north side of the road. This is my guess, since for the next 2 1/2 hours, the pack followed a fox all over the Jimmy Henry woods, up almost to Baker Rd and back,making this swing many times. Tommy viewed the fox with the hounds only 100 feet behind him at one point. I never viewed the fox, as I refused to leave the highway. The pack made three swings behind the "Beer Garden" ( now a church, lol!) right alongside the highway - so I wasnt about to leave that road unguarded! So, I sacrificed some views for the safety of the pack, and that's fine with me!
At about 11:30, the fox went to ground not far from Vorhees Pond. The sky was getting ominously gray.The forecast was for heavy rain to begin by early afternoon, and I was really happy this hunt was over.
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