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| Sara striking a pose during the first draw on Monday. She is a sweetie. |
Saturday:
Gorgeous day-29 degrees, light frost, no wind at the draw. Temps rose to the mid-50's by later in the day, warmed by a S/SW wind blowing @ 10-15mph.
Only 8 1/2 couple with us today: my 2 couple,Tommy's 3 couple and Curtis' 3 1/2 couple.
Curtis viewed a fox on his way to the meet, so we went to try to find it. Mission accomplished within about 10 minutes and we had a nice chase on this red for 70 minutes before he went to ground .
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| Here's a pretty cool pic- this first fox was really being pressed by our hounds and you can see his tracks in the bottom of this photo- look how deep his nails have dug in! And then you see the hounds' tracks towards the upper left. |
They were both two good runs, but nothing especially exciting happened. Yikes, I hope I am not getting jaded .... O- I did drop my radio as I bent down to get my whip on Marney as we were walking out from the first den. Tommy lent me a spare. When the hunt was over, Curtis, Olin and I went back to the woods to hunt down the radio. Olin keyed his hand-held radio's mike while holding it up to some loud music on the truck radio. I think it took less than 3 minutes to locate mine. Good thing I hadnt turned it off as I often do so as not to have any chatter turn a fox...
Saturday night- baked cinnamon cake with cream cheese frosting for Curtis and Olin.
Sunday, Jan 30:
Curtis, Tommy, Freddy and Jeff hunted the Cannery . Because I had *that* knowledge beforehand, I decided to leave my hounds in kennels and just bring the horse. It would be nice to just follow a pack and not have to be concerned as to where my hounds were ,for a change.. 12 1/2 couple roused a red at about 8:10am. Reynard did a spin around the Cannery woods and then bolted across the road to run the "dry cow lot". He continued on, crossing High Stump rd at Stevie Leeks house. From there, the fox ran the state-owned ground behind Stevie's for a few minutes. The guys were on Burrsville rd to the west of the covert, while I was in the woods coming up behind the hounds. They said about 10-15 deer busted out across the fields next to Stevie's house, while the fox came into the same field but made a turn and bore away from the deer's path at about a 45 degree angle. Hounds never wavered and continued to push their pilot across another paved road and on over to the the Latham woods.
For the next 2 1/2 hours, hounds chased their pilot around the Latham woods. We actually think they swapped foxes a couple of times. Around 10:30, our fox ran back to the Cannery Woods and then made a tight swing to come right back over the road and across the cornfield behind Billy Parker's house. Billy has a big pile of old drain pipes in his back yard. The hounds ran around them, and through Billy's yard, checking behind Billy's garage. ( Billy had been sitting on his front porch for most of the chase, watching the fox and hounds go by!) A couple of hounds tried to pick up the scent on the other side of Billy's house, but the chase pretty much blew up there. Hounds couldnt recover the line, and at 11am the hunt was called.
It took another 1/2 hour to locate 2 hounds and discuss plans for the rest of the day. Freddy and Jeff wanted to hunt on, so they went elsewhere.
But Tommy and Curtis, knowing that we would be hunting again the following day , were ready to call it quits. (They knew that both Bobby and I would have fresh hounds for Monday's hunt! )
By the time I hacked back to my horse trailer, it was just noon. Rap was a very good boy! (Note to self: the cinnamon cake recipe is a keeper! )
Monday, January 30:
Once again, 12 1/2 couple were out. But a very different pack than Sunday's 25 hounds. I didnt bother much with the cameras all weekend -but I did get some hound music both days, so i might try and post short footage from both days just to see if one can hear the difference in the sound of the cry of the two packs.
Today it was my 4, Tommy's 6, Bobby's 6, Curtis' 6, and Jim's (guest from Delaware again) 3.
It was 29 degrees and a cold wind from the NW was to blow all day at 10-20 mph sustained, and higher gusts. I had thought about bringing Mel, and was glad I didnt. The wind was brutal all day. He'll get his chance later this week....
We cast the hounds at 8:15. At 8:35, a red fox broke covert on the west side , turned south, crossed the road and set his mask towards Wyatt's chicken houses, via Gallo's field and TaborWoods. Once in the woods behind Wyatt's, hounds ran up and down the covert for a good 45 minutes. then the pack split. 6 1/2 couple came on a red that crossed over Burrsville rd close to where it intersects with Cattail Branch rd to the south. We missed viewing the fox, but we got a good look at the hounds tearing it up across the paved road and alongside a hedgerow. We drove down a clamshell lane to the "gravel pit" and got there just in time to view Charlie across the lane in front of us. I was only able to capture the hounds as they FLEW by:
All of mine were running this fox, save Marney. She, meanwhile, was with the other 6 couple running thier own fox around Wyatt's.
When Marney's fox threatened to cross the road in front of Wyatt's and head towards Tommy's house, they decided to break that bunch. And therein lies the start of two frustrating hours that followed. I was following the other bunch, thinking I had seen all of my hounds on. But tommy radioed to me that he was pretty sure he had seen Marney over at Wyatt's. I went around to where they were loading hounds to get her, but she wasnt anywhere to be found.
Meanwhile, the other fox went to ground after a good run through the cutover woods near the "girls' trailer".
It was now 11am.. I had my farrier coming at 2pm. Three of my four hounds were loaded. Only Bobby's Part-Time( we KNEW he was with the bunch my 3 were with), and Jim's Lark ( not my Lark) were still on the ground along with Marney.
The wind was really roaring now, so I drove my pickup all the way behind Wyatt's chicken houses and alongside the big ditch. Then I started walking the woods. I found Lark for Jim, but no sign of Marney anywhere. I walked, blew the horn and \called her until I had to leave to go home at 1 pm. Bobby had Part-time loaded by now.
This is the first time in the 4 years that I have had my own hounds I left a meet leaving one "out". But I could'nt miss the farrier- I needed to have a long talk with him regarding Rap's feet. Tommy lived only a couple miles from Wyatt's, and Bobby lived nearby, too. I knew they would keep an eye out for her.
But I was really, really annoyed at Marney. I told the guys that whomever found her, could just keep her. I won't have a hound that doesn't come in. ...
So I started to drive home. Thinking the entire way how I could get back to the meet before dark to look for her some more. And then, just as I was but 10minutes from home, my cell phone rang. It was a man who lived next to Wyatt's. He had picked Marney up on the road right at Wyatt's lane, taken her home and put her in his pen. And waited-I dont know how long- before he noticed the ID plate on her collar and decided to call.
The entire time I was looking for and calling her, she was downwind from me. And couldnt get to me. I was relieved to know she was safe And ashamed that I was so quick to assume she was being naughty (especially because none of my bitches have ever been a problem before.) Bobby picked her up and offered to take her home to his kennel, but Jim was still at the meet and he offered to give her a ride home to Delaware. (Turns out he lives only 3 miles from me). I wanted her home in her own kennel!
All 5 of my girls got steak and noodles with their kibble for supper ( courtesy of the dumpster diver again!). I made sure Marney got a little extra. :-)
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