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..