A Hot Chase in the Hard Rain!

Early on in the draw,very light rain falling

The weather conditions were  52 F degrees and foggy as I drove to the meet.  The forecast was foreboding:  showers in the morning, giving way to thunderstorms by the afternoon.  I had planned on taking Rap, but a check of the radar suggested that it might be wise to leave him at home. And I am oh SO glad that I did! (If not for the weather, the mosquitoes and TICKS are horrendous out there.)

It was raining steadily when I pulled up to the meet. Not a deluge, but a steady, windless shower.  As the Dopplar radar had suggested, this lasted for about 15 minutes then waned to a heavy mist.

 Since we had decided ahead of time  to stay away from any highways on a foggy/rainy Saturday,  we met at Taggler's gate to hunt the state-owned Tabor Woods again.  At 8:20,  11 1/2 couple were walked into the woods adjacent to the "pepper patch".  After a draw lasting just over a half hour,  Radio and Pearl opened simultaneously 200 feet in front of us in some cutover.  All hounds harked.  It was 8:53am, and a light rain was just  beginning to fall.

By the time Bobby and I  walked out to the road to catch a ride back to our hound trucks, it was pouring. Hard.  Well, at the time, we thought it was hard.  No worries- I had my Barbour light weight rain jacket with the hood on, and my Barbour quilted vest underneath . With the old stand-by LeChameaus' on my feet, I was confident I would stay nice and dry.  Heh....

We needed the rain- it has been quite dry the last week or so, and it definitely seemed to help scenting conditions because the hounds were  absolutely SCREAMING behind their fox.  And thank goodness for those PMD voices , for we were relugated to remaining  on the paved roads, watching and listening as our fox preferred to run the dense woods and cutovers , most likely not running in the open because  it was now raining like cats and dogs. And the wind had picked up considerably.   My Barbour was soaked through, and my arms were wet and cold.

Just when we thought conditions were getting kind of difficult ( hearing the pack was becoming impossible unless you were exactly downwind, and then it was hard to tell just how far away they were), the heavens opened up and a wind-driven deluge commenced that would last until we broke the pack.  I mean, it came down in  BUCKETS.  Sideways.  Fortunately, I had another waxed cotton Barbour ( which I never wear) stashed in the hound truck, along with a heavy sweatshirt..  All of that layered over the damp vest and long sleeved polo just barely drove the chill away. It was 70 minutes into the chase , and there was no discussion needed regarding when to hold up the hounds.   The problem was, we couldn't hear them unless we stayed downwind.  And  just when we thought we knew where we could get to them, by the time we got there, they were long gone. This was one hot chase going on; but by this time, all we cared about was getting home and getting dry.

Olin viewed a fox cross the lane in front of Taggler's gate at 10:10.  Everyone converged there, fully expecting to be standing on the foxs' line as the hounds broke covert and came to the lane.  We waited.  The rain let up at about 10:25. We could hear the hounds ,and although they were coming towards us, they quickly bore away from the lane.  This was not the hunted fox. (Insert appropriate multiple obscenities uttered here!)

Bobby made a mad dash down Latham's drive in an attempt to get close to them as they ran in the covert behind the Latham farmhouse.   I stayed back at Taggler's gate, along with Olin, Curtis and Tommy. The rain had now quit completely.  Bobby tally -ho'd the fox as it made its' first run across the wheat field behind the farmhouse. And o boy, did I hear about THAT!  (Most of us did not view the fox all morning).  With hounds only 30 seconds behind their pilot, everyone had to hustle to get there in time .  Bobby and Tommy got the pack stopped and loaded at 10:35 . All were on save for Sara , and  she came up behind only a couple of minutes later. Poor Sara- that was a hard run for her, she was very slow coming out of the hound truck when we got home!)

Great chase! Wish I could have seen more of it, lol! But the music was lovely when it wasn't being drowned out by the sound of the rain on my hat.