Hunt #10- Almost-birthday hunt

The best  birthday present I can receive is a day out with my hounds. Hunting. Not hound exercise or hound walking. And honestly, this time of the season it is always hard for my hunting friends to be able to accomodate.  Most of the corn is usually down by now , and this time period from mid-September until October 1st can, in some years, be a down time as we wait for Delaware foxhunting to come into season on that first day of the tenth month. 

However, rain received on Tuesday prevented the harvest of the last stand of corn in our cubbing area. But all of the fields around this one last stand are down now.  And as soon as this last corn is dry enough it ,too, will be history.  It was decided to hunt this morning,  just in case the combines appear later in the day.

We had the same number of hounds ( 12 couple) meet @ 4:25am ,  and the weather conditions were the same as the past couple of hunts- 52 degrees @ 4:00am, but dropping to 48 degrees by dawn.  Still no moon overhead, and the star-filled sky became a little spooky as I listened to George Noury's "Coast-toCoast" guest  ramble on about the real possibility of major  changes in the earths' magnetic fields due to solar flares  and the subsequent consequences there of  .  (Hint: Dig your tunnel now for underground habitation for 2-3 years in the not-too-distant-future.LOL)  Some of George's  guests really creep me out while I'm driving on a back country road in the dark @ 4am... But I digress....

Hounds took awhile to find their pilot- it was 4:40 when  old Reno began to tongue and 4:45 when Freddy's hounds put in to help her, followed by the others. They trailed this fox  through the corn, across the lane, and clear over to the little branch.  Once there, they got him up and on the move , but Charles chose to stay in the branch the entire time, circling around the cornfields clockwise and in the direction of the overgoin. He was a spooked fox, and pulled some very clever moves to put distance between his brush and the pack. He crossed the stream at least twice before he  even got to the overgoin, causing a couple of brief checks as the hounds followed through the water. He then crossed  the water right at the overgoin, continuing to run clockwise, but now along the edge of the fields rather than down in the branch.  At about 5:10, he pointed his mask back into the corn, after  having completed an entire run around the circumference of the fields. 

And then, it just blew up.  This fox had earned himself a good lead  by his evasive tactics of crossing back and forth through the water in the little branch and the pack just couldn't get back up on him.  We could hear hounds coming down the lane towards us. I blew my horn one time, and suddenly they were all there. It was only 5:30. I am just so thrilled that Reilly and my other bitches are always right to me, and now, Bobby's hounds come flying to my horn, too. Even Part-Time!!

We could have tried for another fox.  But both Bobby and I had knowledge that that could definitely end with us being somewhere we didnt want to be ( I didnt say we viewed two foxes near the paved road earlier, now did I?!) , and opted to not make another draw.  Besides, Freddy had to go to work....


Fortunately, once October 1st arrives I wont be having George Noury for company on the way to the meets- we will be moving the times back to 8am and his radio program will be long over.  ....And I can sleep until 5am ....And I can finally start bringing a horse.

The day before ( Wed) was spa day for Bobby's hounds-  they got bathed, dipped, wormed and a stinky ear treated.  They are so clean here!! Didnt last long, since today's fox dragged them through the branch. 

Sunday, Sept.16 Hunt -Skunked!!

A road-killed young dog fox we encountered on Shepherd Rd. Sadly,this is a frequent occurrence this time of year as the young dog foxes strike out from home to find their own territory.

We started with 12 couple, and ended with 15 couple...

 At 4:40, hounds were put into the cornfield under another moonless, but very clear and starry night.  It was 52 degrees, but the temps dropped another 5 degrees before the dawn, and this was  the first time this season I felt a bit cold . I'm not complaining!!!

At 5:12, the pack found Charles lurking around the corn on the little branch side of the dirt lane. ("Georges Branch has two sections, the  "little branch"and the "big branch", separated by the cornfield-flanked dirt lane and the "overgoin").    All hounds save for Bobby's Rebel settled in behind their pilot as he ran back and forth between the two stands of corn. At about the 30-minute mark, I got a strong wiff of the perfume of a skunk near the lane.  Hounds were, at the time, running about  1/2 mile away. The odor disseminated, and for about 10 minutes, we forgot about it as we continued to listen to the pack roaring behind their fox.  Then at about  5:50,  there was a sudden check deep within the corn  lasting  long enough that Freddy assumed that the fox had gone to ground and he began calling his hounds back. However, just as his hounds began to tumble out into the lane a hound still in the corn   began to tongue, honored quickly by several others.   In seconds, Bobby's and my hounds  were  running again. "That squeaky note hound must be running the fox back  (heel) ", said Freddy. He barely got the words out of his mouth when  we heard him holler- his hounds had been  sprayed by the skunk I had smelled earlier! 

Our pilot had NOT gone to ground. However,  this skunk had succeeded in busting up the pack and causing a check.  The stench coming from the back of Freddy's hound truck was overpowering and he wasted no time  turning his hounds back out. I guess he either realized our hounds were right, or he just didnt care, lol!
(Guess who the "squeaky note",RIGHT hound was??!) This is gonna be Marney's year to shine!

The chase resumed, with Charles continuing his long loops through both stands of the corn.  At 6am, Jeff arrived from NJ with 3 couple of hounds that were about to have their first chase of the season.  Fresh hounds were turned out behind ours, which had now been running for close to an hour. No worries!

A brief split occurred at 6:10- with some hounds, including Bobby's pup Raven,  heading to the overgoin while the main pack ran the little branch the other way.   I dont  think there were two foxes-I think some overly excited hounds just got off course briefly, because before Bobby and  I could get to the overgoin we could see the errant hounds harking back to the others. We watched as Raven FLEW past us on his way back to the action. He got fooled- but only briefly. ( btw, Rebel did hark, after about the first 1/2 hour).

The pilot changed course f or the last hour. Was it to avoid the skunk, or because he had more hounds on his brush?!   He crossed from the little branch  into the big branch, but  on the far side of the overgoin-the first time he had done that.  After that, he ran the bottom of the branch for awhile and then popped out the east side of the woods and into a new stand of corn adjacent to Georges' Pond.  

The sun was peeking above the horizon now, and it was nearing the two-hour mark for the hounds which had jumped this fox.  A decision was made to break the pack before Charles took them back down into the swampy bottom of the branch again.   Bobby and I got to them just as the hounds were breaking out of the cornfield at the pond   It was 7:05   All of our hounds were up front, and loaded into our trucks by 7:06!!
Freddy, Jim and Jeff arrived within seconds, but Travis ( notorious for being impossible to break)  got around them and dragged about 2 more couple with him. O my.....  Bobby and I ran into town to get coffee for the others.  By the time we returned, all hounds had been accounted for. 

O - and NONE of our hounds had been "skunked"!!!

 

September 13, 2012- Hunt

The time is coming very soon when the corn we have been cubbing in will be taken down. The foxes there have been very game, providing good chases that have enabled our new entry to get settled in with the pack very nicely.  During this morning's chase, we heard my Reilly tonguing ( and up with the front hounds!), and  we also got our first earful of Rebel's voice. He has a nice note!    Now he just needs to learn to  stay up with the others!  But this was his best effort to date.  Reilly and Rebel have deeper tones than Marney and Marilyn, and although I havent picked out Ravens voice yet, I am sure he will have his mama's deep note too. Hounds began to cold trail at 4:34, and it took 10 minutes before they got the line figured out.They had taken it across the dirt lane and back briefly - probably running it heel at the start. But by 4:45, they were roaring through the corn, coming straight towards where Bobby and I were standing.    We could hear Marney running in front, with about 4 other voices with her, including my pup, Reilly.  The rest of the 12 couple were only 30 feet or so behind them-you should be able to hear all of this on the audio ( video)-when they passed by. Could video to train your ear, lol!! The fox ran round and round the corn for 50 minutes, then headed down into the branch ( swampy bottom with woods).  He gave the pack a short run in the mud and then went to ground at an earth on the edge of the woods at 5:46.  We had hoped for a longer chase, but this hour run was fast and LOUD, with all hounds accounted for at the hole. Can't ask for better than that! I am so pleased that our work all summer is paying off-especially with Part-Time. He comes to my horn right away now, rather than lingering at the hole or slipping off to hunt on his own as he used to do. Good Boy, Party!!  And Reilly- WOOHOOO!!!!!! The temp was a crisp 50 degrees, with a clear, starry night overhead.  A waxing crescent moon was just rising on the horizon ahead of the sun as hounds ran , and Venus ( or is it Saturn?)  resting  way above it. I tried to take some pics of the moon after the hunt was over.  Even if the pics dont look so great, when I see them years from now, they will take me right back to the moment!

September 9, 2012 Mr. Fred's Birthday song

After what seemed like an endless string of hot and humid days during late summer , a powerful cold front swept through the Northeast US last evening . Racing down from Canada, it rode the coat tails of  a line of   severe thunderstorms which produced  several tornadoes occuring in the most unlikely of places ( 2 in NYC, one in Fairfax County, VA).   Another benefit of living here on the DelMarVa: the Chesapeake Bay tends to act as a buffer for these storms, sucking the life out of them as they move east.  By the time the storm that produced 55mph winds and the tornado in Va arrived on the Eastern Shore, it was nothing more than a bit of wind and some short-lived downpours.  The temperature dropped 15 degrees in minutes...

When I walked out to the kennels at 3:30am  this morning the temp was 65degrees F; the lack of humidity was a welcomed change. (The mercury continued to drop - by the time the sun was on the horizon, at the height of our chase, it had dipped to a cool 59.)

We had a plethora of hound trucks at the meet-and for a moment I was concerned that there would be way too many  strange hounds for the new entry.  But only Freddy, Jim, Bobby and I had hounds,so that made for a pack of 12 couple. 

Hounds were put into the cornfield at 5:00am. There was much cold trailing going on until finally, at 5:35, they opened "with authority" and settled down behind one fox that took them out of the corn and right into the swamp of Georges' Branch.   At 5:55 there was a long check and we began to call the hounds back to us.  Several were loaded, mostly the young pups. At 6:05, the  hounds down in the swamp picked up the scent  so  we turned the others back out.  NOW Reynard was ready to run!

He ran the length of Georges' Branch, then came up  and bolted back into the cornfield  where he had been found.  But he didnt stay there.  This fox ran hard for the next  75 minutes, running the cornfield, crossing the dirt lane that runs through it, then crossing back over the lane, and setting his sights for the woods  again.  He whirled around there, then bolted out the east side to head into a different field   of corn.  Here, he circled for about 10minutes,then bolted BACK into the woods, running  up the branch (west). 

There is  a small soybean field at the west end of the cornfield that runs along the branch and we didnt want the fox to go there..  Freddy, Bobby and I spread out and succeeded in turning him back into the woods.  We never saw him (it was still before sunrise), but we saw, and heard, the hounds turn back at the point where he was doubled.

George's Branch on the left.   The second stand of corn that Reynard toured  on the right. (looking east, about 6:45am)

The dirt lane that bisects the first very large stand of corn, where our fox was found. Looking west. Beyond the fog bank is the "overgoin":


Back down the branch he went, with all hounds on!  And again, he opted to leave the woods and bolt back into the corn.  Over the dirt lane he went.  Hounds followed, but they were getting really strung out at this point . ( It was around  7am, and light enough that we could identify who was whom as they crossed in front of us).  Everyone agreed that if Reynard didnt go to ground soon, we would break the pack at the first opportunity.  Twenty minutes later, that fox came right towards us as we sat on the dirt lane. Our voices turned him. He ran the corn only about 10  feet in from the lane  parallel to where we stood.  Perfect.  Hounds were held up  ( not easily!), and loaded.  Old Reno and a couple others got around us, but when they realized they were on their own, they shut up quickly and gave up the chase.

It was some lovely music for Mr. Fred's 80-something birthday:

Marilyn and Reilly, wanting more!



Afterwards, I had a great ride on Mel ,and was back  home in time for lunch..



Just our hounds...

Due to several factors, Monday's  hunt consisted of only Bobby's hounds and my hounds-  5 1/2 couple.  Freddy was going to run his beagles, so we enlisted Curtis to help us out  as a road whip at a location several miles away from where we had been the previous two days.  . There had been a large field of sweet corn standing there on Saturday.  Most of it  was gone Sunday when we pulled up at 6am. (extra hour of sleep!!)  However, enough remained that we decided to give it a go  anyway, since Bobby has been seeing at least  one fox in this  area all summer.

The weather was even more humid than the previous two days and the cloud cover was so low that I had to use my windshield wipers all the way to the meet.  Thundershowers were forecast to pop up at any moment.

We made the mistake of unkennelling the hounds too far away from the remaining standing corn.  A fox had been tiptoeing around alright-and  he  had tiptoed right into an adjacent beanfield.  Old Reno found him, and we had a very short chase of  only 30 minutes' duration since we broke the pack at the very first opportunity.  Happily , all were on , and again very hot- (jumping over beans is extremely exerting, lol) .  It was short but sweet:  Rebel had been the puppy that had been with Travis the day before, and it was VERY good  for HIM  to have a  fox chase with just our little pack.)

So, to sum it up, our guest got to witness  an awesome morning  chase of 90 minutes on one red fox in the corn (Saturday), a messed up morning, with a little bit of riot (Sunday), and a short, but hard chase through some verboten beans with just Bobby's and my hounds (Monday).

Sunday, September 2 Hunt

The weather condtions were exactly the same as the day before, except we noticed the dirt lanes were dustier compared to the previous day.. The exact same hounds were turned back out into the exact same cornfield, at almost the exact same time -4:50am.. (Many acres of  adjacent  cornfields had been harvested during the day on Saturday,and Freddy was afraid that  this might be our last chance to run in this particular area. We wanted to try to find that good fox  one more time!)

Foxhunting is never the same twice.  Which is why I love it so much.  Scent is such a mysterious and confounding phenomenon.   It was obvious after only 10  minutes that hounds werent able to smell very well this day.   They cast themselves throughout the corn and we could hear them trying so hard to pick up a scent. A hound would open in one spot, and it would sound promising, then ...nothing. Right away, a hound could be heard throwing tongue a good distance from the first one, but again, nothing.  This went on for well  over 1/2 hour. Finally, some of Freddy's hounds began to tongue on what sounded like it might be promising.  Bobby followed the cry out the farmlane and onto the pavement of Baker Rd. as the rest of us, scattered all around the edges of the field, rushed to catch up. When we did, Bobby was attempting to break hounds and retrieve them from the front yard of a house that had been vacant for years.  Only, to our surprise,  it's not vacant anymore - the  lady of the house was standing on her front step casually observing the scene illuminated by her porch light .  Wearing   her bathrobe  .  During our haste to get hounds away, both Bobby and I mistook one of Freddy's young hounds  for my Reilly- it was refusing to load into my hound truck, and  I was beginning to get embarassed in front of  my company.  We finally got a good enough look at her ( still very dark out), and realized it wasnt her , just as Freddy asked if we had seen his puppy.  Good -I knew my bitch wouldn't act like that! Ok- hounds are all loaded, and quickly moved to another area of corn about a mile further north. 

[Sidebar: After the hunt on Saturday, a few horse/foxhunting  friends went for a sail on the Chesapeake.  My cell phone now lays somewhere on the bottom of the Bay.  Therefore, times for all of the events during the next two hunts are approximate only, since I depend upon the phone for checking time.]

I'm guessing it was now closing in on 6am. and in order to expedite a find, Freddy and Jim drew the east side of the fresh corn , while Bobby and I drew the west side.  Again, there was no quick jump, but after several minutes Freddy's  Travis, another hound,  and a puppy opened.  Before we could get to them, they had taken the pack out the northwest side of the field, over a dirt road, and into country we didnt want them in.  On top of that, once over there, deer were popping up everywhere, the pack split, and it took almost an hour to get everyone back.  It was 7:20 when the last hound was loaded.  Sheesh.  As good as Saturday had been, Sunday was equally horrible.  I was relieved  that we had made arrangements to look over two very different breeds of hounds before heading back to my  farm.  At least the morning was not a total waste....

Reflective tape really, really works.

Labor Day weekend hunts - installment #1 of 3

Summer refuses to  loosen its' grip and the weather remained hot and humid all weekend.  Morning lows were in the mid-70's, but tropical moisture from the remants of Hurricane Issacc had the humidity level at near 100%.  Heavy rain in the form of thunderstorms stayed at bay until the afternoon hours, fortunately.

Friday, August 31 was hot but skies remained clear allowing  us a pretty view of  the blue moon as it rose a bove the horizon that evening..  Guests had flown in the day before to hunt with us over the holiday, and I had hoped the conditions would be more fall-like since we planned to run hounds all three days.

The next morning , the full moon was high overhead as 12 couple were cast into the cornfield near Georges Pond at 4:50am. Bobby and I were hunting  with Freddy in his  home country -it is one of the few places where we are able to go this early in the season.  3 couple of the 12 out belonged to a friend of Freddy's
whom I had not met before.

 Less than 3 minutes after hounds entered the corn,  Bobby's Part-Time opened on a red fox and hounds were in full cry behind a pilot that would provide great chase for the next 90 minutes. All were on, including the new entry.  The hound music resonated in the stillness of  the moonlit darkness as Charles made large circles through the corn. We sat on a dirt lane that  bisects the field, and although this pilot crossed back and forth over it at least 3 times, my guest and I did not get a view of him -it was just too dark. Later, when it got light enough, Freddy and Jim  did view the fox but Bobby, Claire and I had moved  and missed it.

Charles popped in the hole at about 6:20 . Bobby got to them  first and had most hounds loaded by the time the rest of us arrived only  a minute or two later.   As soon as we got them  sorted ,Bobby and I took ours to the "overgoin"  and let our very hot hounds out to cool down drink in the cold water.

The moon was just beginning   it's descent towards the horizon as a huge red ball peeked above it to the east. These photos were taken about 15 minutes after the hunt, and at the same time.

If  it poured for the following two days, I didnt' care -this mornings' chase could not have  gone any better , IMO. I'm really happy that all three pups,  Reilly, Rebel and Raven,  packed up and ran with hounds that they had never been exposed to before this morning.  (I think alot of this success is due to the fact that it was our hounds that found, and the unfamiliar hounds harked).

Here is some of the music: