Just 9 1/2 couple ( our regular pack, no guests today- YAY!) hit the frost-covered ground at 8am this morning. We unkenneled at my horse trailer and I was barely in the saddle before Part Time began to speak. Bobby immediately assumed the dog was babbling , and told me to get on Party's butt first chance I could. But Part Time wasn't messing around, and at 8:10 the other hounds put into him and our fox was on the move.
Party's fox looped around the woods where he was found for about half an hour. He then busted out over the road and then ran downwind diagonally across over a 1/2 mile of fallow cornfield behind Billy Parker's house. From there, he continued on to the Cannery woods. To get there, Charles had to swim a deep irrigation ditch that is full to the brim. When hounds reached the path alongside the ditch, they checked. I arrived on the downwind side to find them feathering furiously at the waters' edge. One hound had swum to my side. The others clearly were having second thoughts. I was able to coax about half dozen more to take the plunge, and once those hounds hit the briar bed on the other side of the water, Joe picked up the scent. Those with him chimed in, which then made it much easier to persuade the rest of the hounds to dive in. That's all on the video.
This maneuver and a couple more evasive tactics put a considerable lead between this pilots' brush and his pursuers' noses. Hounds had a long check on Parker Rd in front of the grain tanks until the lead hounds recovered the line. Charlie had slyly run down the middle of the road for a couple of hundred yards. With all back on, the fox pressed on to Johnsons Thicket, and then to Larrimores chicken houses. Phew. This was one hightailing' sucker!
Behind Larrimores we had a brief split when two of Tommy's hounds, Joe and Terri, began to go off on another line. Only Terri was speaking, but both were feathering with noses to the ground. I saw Marney mutely trailing them up from behind ( my "o crap!" mutter on the video). I got those three stopped and harked them to the others, who were now back in high gear behind the red barn. About 15 minutes later, the fox headed back towards the grain tanks. I counted all on as the hounds crossed in front of me and over the same ditch where I had held up the errant three earlier. But Charles was way ahead of them now, and when the pack hit the open of the power line cutover, they checked in some tall grass. It was now after 10 am. The hounds were walked from the cutover, back over the aforementioned ditch, and another draw was made in the woods between the red barn and the dry cow lot.
Repo found the second pilot at around 10:15 This fox headed straight for the state land on the south side of High Stump Rd. Once there, he made a big counter-clockwise swing behind the cemetery, on to Wyatt's, back in front of the red barn and then back over High Stump Rd at Stevie Leeks'. We all got a nice view of him over the wheat. A sneaky move in the dry cow lot made us think he was headed towards the pistol range, but a zig and a zag in some high grass found us following the hounds in the opposite direction. This fox was headed towards the covert next to the tall grass where we lost our first one! At 11am, when they made a check at a red gate near the road, hounds were gathered.( Thank goodness, because my horse couldn't have lasted much longer. )
Except for that one minor mistake that was nipped in the bud, the pack worked flawlessly all morning. Things go so much smoother when it is just our hounds.
I usually put the hounds right up in kennels when we get home. But today, with the warm breezes and sunshine, I let them out into the exercise yard to snooze in the sun for a couple of hours while I cooked up a pot of feed. Two glasses of champagne later, and I was asleep in the sun, too.
My homebred ISH did a super job today. He had all last year off, and I have only hunted him a few times since January because he wasnt fit enough , but he LOVES being out with hounds. Good boy, Mel!
 |
| Our hounds did lots of ditch crossing today! |
No comments:
Post a Comment