Hunt #1 of 2012-13

..8 couple of PMD's  were cast into the cornfields across from Mr. Fred's farm at 4:50am.  It was 62 degrees, with   a starry  but moonless night overhead as we walked the hounds along a wide,shallow ditch that  splits the cornfield in two.  A  dirt lane that runs back to the irrigation pump intersects  this ditch, relevant later in this tale.   The weeds were waist high and very,very wet. It was not until 5:34 am before hounds  opened  "with authority" (!) and settled into a good chase behind a  red fox .  This fox was found on the south side of  Ellwanger road, an infrequently used dirt road that runs behind Mr.Fred's farm.  Hounds were running well, but just as this fox was about to cross over Ellwanger to enter the corn on the north  side, the lights of a tractor trailer could be seen turning off Knife Box rd onto Ellwanger. What the???? We hardly EVER see a tractor trailer on this road during daylight, so it was the last thing  I would have expected  to encounter before 6am.  The big rig turned the fox, and I was glad of that- rather have the fox get headed than have HIM get across, and the hounds spill out into the lane in front of that huge rig.  It was a tense few seconds as  there was no way we could have gotten there in time. Charles ran back and forth on that side of the dirt road for a couple of turns before surprising us by crossing Ellwanger about 1/2 mile away,not far from Mr. Fred's back lane.   Bobby got there in time to see the hounds cross in the pre-dawn light.  All on, and flying. The video gives you  an earful  of a few seconds of the almost hour-long chase. It came to an abrupt end at around  6:20,when the fox popped out onto that irrigation lane. Curtis viewed him ( it was light enough to see by this time) run the lane down a few hundred feet and then pop back into the same side from which he emerged.  Hounds checked, and in spite of all of our efforts to encourage  (Curits wasnt real clear as to WHERE exactly the fox came out),  could not recover the line.   The chase was over sooner than we wanted, but was really just enough for the hounds' first run of the season.  All were loaded by 6:30. I had left Sara and Marilyn at home, both in heat.  Reilly ( my puppy), Marney and old Reno did super -a very good start to the season.

The irrigation lane where hounds checked- trying to help them recover the line ( hounds are in the corn).

Ellwanger Road, the  hunt over before sunrise!