This first pilot gave our hounds a nice run through the Walton Willis' woods, over Squirrely Hill, into Webers' branch and back to Willis' via the Dead End woods for 90 minutes. He made this circuit three times before going to ground at the edge of Weber's branch just before 10am. Shirley and I got 3 views of him, and the first one was the best: a close encounter near "Billy's first pond". Charles was running the edge of the field next to Dead End Road, on his way to the pond. Shirley and I were at the pond. We watched as the fox came directly towards us, oblivious to our presence. He came within 50 feet of us, then continued on his route up a driveway next to the pond. From there, he cut a corner of another field and ducked into the Dead End woods. The helmet camera was on and captured the fox and hounds, but they look so much farther away than they really were, it's too bad.. This was a gorgeous red with a big white tip on his brush.
When Charles went to ground, all hounds were on, and we were right with them. From there, hounds were loaded and taken to Danny's Pond .( Getting on and off Mel ,at 17.2h ,to help load hounds is a bit more of a challenge than doing it on Rap because I dont let anyone give me a leg up. I want my next hunt horse to be under 15.2h, lol!)
Another fox was jumped at 10:10, and our second chase shifted into a higher gear. For the next hour, this one ran around Danny's Pond and the "14 acres" before breaking covert and crossing Wilhelm rd. From there, he ran to Frog Hollow and back over Wilhelm rd. When he headed away to Miller's, I knew that it would be best to get the horses back to the trailer asap and hop into the hound truck.. They had been out for over 3 hours and we were about two miles from the rig, which was in the opposite direction from where the hounds were headed. General has had 6 weeks off and Mel isnt exactly hunting fit, either. No point in pushing them, as we learned that the fox went to ground in an earth behind Bobby's mothers house on the outskirts of Denton as we were hacking back to the trailer. Good call-we saved our horses, and didnt miss a whole lot. All hounds were on , save for one bitch of Olin's. Bobby and Tommy had all of mine and theirs loaded . Time for lunch! ( Muffeletta,with chocolate truffles and *good* coffee for dessert).
Both horses did great. General isnt clipped, and Shirley must have had fun cleaning him up when she got him home-he was lathered and soaked.
The helmet cam started the beeping routine after only about 20 minutes of video, so I gave it to Bobby to put in his truck for safe-keeping. ( I guess I forgot to re-format the memory card after last use) Shirley carried the Nikon in her pocket ,and it got left on in video mode, so all of the memory got used up, save for these few still shots:
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| Miss Shirley and General, back after a 6 week holiday |
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| Fat, but SOUND!!!! |
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| 22 yo General still showing some spunk on the hack back to the trailer |
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| The well-rested and tanned lady of leisure. I didnt want to hear any complaints from her about having to get up early for the meet! |
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