Wednesday, Oct. 17 Hunt - All went well, thanks to Shirley



Marney in the lead!-look in the weeds on the right side

 ...Bobby and I wanted to hunt today. Howard and Larry couldnt join us. We needed at least one more person to attempt to hunt the  country, since the roads bordering it  can have a lot of fast moving commercial trucks flying along them  as contractors head to work. Shirley volunteered to lend us a hand, and once again: we planned our little hunt, and hunted our plan:

We walked our 6 couple into the tall weeds adjacent to the old Cy Haines barn site at 7:40am. Winds were calm, and the temp was about 49 degrees. Reno jumped the fox at 7:47, and  all hounds were on as this red headed south,  through the weeds and on into a nearby woods.  Bobby was left on foot while Shirley and I  headed to the perimeter roads in both trucks.   The fox ran behind a string of small bungalows on IronMine rd, then turned a bit east and came perilously close to Sand Hill Rd.  Luckily for us, he then made a swing west, away from any paved road and toward the stone lane that cuts through the middle of this state-owned parcel.  Bobby had made his way to that same stone lane and Shirley got to him and picked him up.  Meanwhile, I headed to Beagle Club rd to be downwind of the cry.

Bobby and Shirley viewed the fox cross the stone lane in front of them, with all hounds on.  They were headed away from me.  WAY away from me.  While I played catch-up, they viewed another fox leave the covert hounds were in and cross  C&R Center Rd.  The pack didnt come on that one, but continued on a run that took them back to the Haines homestead.  From there, they made a counter clockwise circle that put them close to where the other fox had left the woods and crossed the road.   There was a long check, and then some frantic barking by Pearl and  Roscoe. The other hounds kept running  to repeat this circle a second time.  When Bobby and Shirley walked the short distance from the road to the woods to investigate Pearls' unusual behavior, they stumbled upon a buck deer that was tangled up in vines. It was a very sick buck-probably had the blue-tongue  disease that has killed hundreds of deer here in the past 2 months.  Pearl was standing there, shaking and barking at it as it thrashed around trying to free itself.  By  this time , the rest of the hounds were running right towards this small piece of woods again. We decided to break them and get them away from the crazed buck, asap!  We broke them on the edge of a cutover cornfield only about a hundred feet away from where the buck was struggling.  I dont know what happened to the fox, I was just glad that we had had a good chase of 75 minutes' duration, with all hounds loaded by 9:10 am.  Bobby saw the buck free himself and stagger off wildly  into the woods.  

I'm not fond of this style hunting - nerve wracking without enough help.  But the hounds did great !
Here's some music-houndswere running in those far woods, about3/4mile away from me:

Hopefully, next week Shirley and I will be on horses and there will be enough guys on the roads.

Hunt #15 - our little pack of 6 cple

Marney trying to recover the line. Roscoe behind her.

...for my hounds. #18 for Bobby's.  Quick report-the  second presidential debate is on soon!

We were short help today- it was only myself and Bobby, but Howard showed up to give us a hand , and he was a big help! In fact, he was the only one to view our foxes today- he viewed each one twice.

It was another glorious morning-49 degrees and slight breeze out of the NW when Bobby and I walked our 6cple into the woods at 7:45am.  At about 7:55, my Marilyn  (!!!) opened and a few of the others joined her.  A couple of minutes later, Howard viewed our first pilot and by 8:06 all hounds were in full cry behind him.
I  arrived back to my hound truck ahead of Bobby,and made my way  down the stone road to keep an ear on the pack.  About 20 minutes later, the hounds broke out of the woods onto the stone lane
 only a few hundred feet in front of me.   Bobby had hiked across a field to get to Howard. I watched as the pack came to a loss on the road -I walked them into the woods on both sides, and then followed as they began to head down  the road.  Our fox must have run that road for  quite a distance and unfortunately, the hounds never did recover the line.  Bobby got dropped off with me and the pack  , and Howard headed back to watch the perimeter roads of the state ground. We made another draw into the same covert, but further down the  stone road, hoping that we could run into that fox again.  Less than 3 minutes into this draw, Part-Time bellowed, and the others honored.  By 8:40, hounds were running "with authority", headed west towards the C&R CenterRd. Howard got positioned on same, and  it wasnt long before we heard his "Tally-Ho" boom over the radio.  The fox was crossing this paved road and heading  into the "gold dust woods"  ( dont ask!)  on the other side.   For the next 1/2 hour, Charlie ran all around the woods on that side of C&R Center road, threatening to cross over yet another paved road further west. Bobby and I , in my hound truck ( his was still back where we began the morning), were forced to stay on Firetower rd because the fox came very close to crossing it several times. This road has more traffic, which probably kept our pilot turned, but which also made us nervous. 
Diana was taking care of our littlle pack today and sent the fox back over C & R Center Rd and into the woods behind the Lodge. Howard counted  5 1/2 cple on- (all except for the puppy,  Rebel, whom we knew had gotten left behind.)   But Charlie wasnt  happy to stay on the Lodge side of the road, and it wasnt long before we heard Howard "tally-ho" again.   This time, the fox came across  the road at a wooden bridge about 1/4mile south of where he had crossed over the first time. He ran the paved road right down the yellow line for several hundred feet  before heading once again into the 'gold dust" side of C&R Center rd.. . Howard  got a good look at him, and told us  with certainty that this was not the same fox the pack had been chasing.  Somewhere behind the Lodge a tag-team manuever had taken place.  It was now 9:10am, and we quickly decided that we would hold up the pack if this fresh fox was their pilot. It was, and if we had had more help,we would have let them roll on behind him ,but guarding Firetower road  earlier had spooked us enough into the decision .. The wind was  now blowing about 15-20mph, so no sense pushing our luck.

Instead of MORE help,as we had hoped for , we will actually have one less hound truck on the road tomorrow, so my plan of taking horses ( a few guests had wanted to come with their horses) was dashed when I got the call at 5:30pm informing me that Howard cant make it. 

Our 6cple hunt really well together and on their own, so hopefully things will go as well tomorrow.(  But hey,this is foxchasing,so you know what THAT means -no day is ever the same....) Please,Diana, watch over our little pack tomorrow!

Little time to mess with the camera-do have a short  video segment, but no time to upload- its almost time to rumble!!

Sunday,Oct. 14 Hunt in MD

The "overgoin" where our hunted fox got doubled  is in the shadows behind the hounds

It was 22 degrees warmer this morning than yesterday morning , when  many areas of DelMarVa  experienced the  first frost of the season.  But the warmer temps were ushered in on a brisk S/SW wind   which  would  later turn into a gale by mid-afternoon.

It was a pretty dawn- 50degrees, light breezes, and a brief ground fog that dissipated quickly as the sun snuck above the horizon and rose into a sapphire sky.We cast the hounds  down the path behind George's Pond at 6:50am. It wasnt until 7:20 that the hounds opened on a fox that I had heard chattering in the swamp a few hundred feet from where I was positioned  (behind a tree, lol!) in the woods. There were two- and I wonder if perhaps the chattering was one fox warning the other of impending danger.  Whatever, the hounds split briefly right at the spot where I had heard the baby-like cry. The bigger bunch ran NW towards the overgoin, while the smaller bunch ran up onto higher ground in the woods.  The smaller group   ran right towards Bobby and Freddy, and they got them stopped and harked to the others.

Unfortunately, two truck followers may have turned our pilot right at the water crossing, as a truck sat on each side of the "overgoin."  Neither person saw a fox cross  at the water.  Charles had  turned back  and gone down  into the mud of the swamp.   For the next  20 minutes, we listened as the pack tried to stay with their quarry.  But it was touch and go- dry ground held little scent, and  the mucky swamp bottom wasnt making it easy for the hounds, either.   Bobby and I crossed over the overgoin to be downwind of the pack, and minutes later Ricky, Freddy's brother, tally-ho'd a red as it broke the covert hounds were in,crossed the lane, and headed towards the "little branch".

It was quickly decided that we would break the hounds - Bobby and I were close to them, and they werent having much luck staying up with their fox.  It took less than a minute from the time I started blowing them in to the time we had them loading into the truck.  Even  PART-TIME was  right there!  We got all 9 cple loaded, including all of Freddy's, and quickly headed back over the overgoin to Ricky's view.  Hounds were unkennelled  and  at 8:06 they picked up the scent along the edge of the soybean field and ran it all the way back to the woods of the little branch.  Once within this covert, our fox stayed there- tip-toeing round and 'round for about 20 minutes more,with allhounds on his brush.   Suddenly, a big red fox busted out of this same woods, about 100 yards east of where we good hear the pack in full cry. "AWESOME : it's about to get GOOD", I thought. And so did everyone else!  We all stood and watched as this fox made a beautiful run in the open as he headed across the cutover cornfields on his way back to the covert where we had begun the morning. Watch the video full screen, the fox is running from right to left- I try to zoom in after a few seconds and a keen eye will make him out!

Now, I could lie to you and tell you that this was the fox our pack was running. And I could tell you that they ran him hard back to that covert and put him to ground.   I could. But that would be a lie.  And since this blog is kept as a hunt journal for my own personal reference, it would serve no purpose to tell tales here.

So, even though I have this  foxs' run in the open on video, I cant show you a pack of 9 cple running him up. Because that's not what happened.  What happened was:  this fox had merely been scared  out of the woods by the chase taking place within.  We allowed just enough time to elapse to ascertain that this was the case, and then Bobby and I hauled a$$ around to the upwind side of the covert. And although we were now upwind, we could hear hounds tonguing behind Towers' chicken houses.   When we arrived behind same, the pack  was digging and barking frantically at  the base of an old shed.  Darn.  This fox had had enough and had ducked  underneath  the old structure.

Now we had to quickly get them away  from the shed, load them back into Bobby's truck ( again!) and run them over a  mile back  to where the "gone away fox"  had crossed the dirt lane.  Most of the hounds came readily to our call once more .However, Rebel, one of Bobby's new entry, had managed to get himself stuck between two sheets of old metal that were leaning up against the shed . His  yelps for help kept dragging  Reilly and Raven ( his littermates) and a couple of the others  back to him.  I convinced  him to scramble backwards to get out of his  predicament, and everyone calmed down and jumped into the truck to  hitch the ride.

By this time,  15 minutes had elapsed and that SW wind was blowing 20-25mph.  Even our cold nosed PMD's failed to pick up the scent over the dry, sandy ground. And they tried  really hard as they caste themselves all over that field.  When they failed to pick it up back at the woods edge, it was decided to call it a day. It was around 9:15 am.  Disappointing that we didnt have a hot chase. However, hounds did have to work hard on their own in difficult conditions  to find their hunted fox and gave their best effort at trying to stay with him.  All the new entry packed up and ran.  All hounds (even Freddy's)  came to my horn (!!!))  And all hounds were on when their  fox dove under the shed.   Not so bad, really....

Hunting back in Delaware this coming Tuesday and Wednesday!!!

Glad that's over...

Not the hunting part of the day,mind you.   In fact, I wish we could re-wind the day and get back to IT:

Hounds moved off at 5:50am on Sunday  - heavy rain was coming, and it wasnt very far away. In fact, it was raining lightly as we began the draw. As everywhere else on the east coast ,  temps nosed-dived from the 80's on Saturday to a cold, damp 52 degrees on Sunday . The mercury  hovered within 3 degrees of that mark all day.

12 couple began the morning, and were all on when they roused the first fox at 6:11am.  It was touch and go for the first 40 minutes- as it has been lately, thanks to the dry conditions. Hounds could smell and run for a minute or two, then a long check would follow.   But just when we figured our pilot had gone to ground, the pack would pick up the scent and run again.  At 6:45, they really got up on this fox, and were sounding great.  At 7:02, my cell phone rang:

He: "Get back here  NOW"
Me:"Why???"
He:  "Mel is colicking"

Sh*t.  I have some new hay that I began to incorporate the past couple of days so I was pretty certain  it was just a gas colic, but I  needed to get home and get some Banamine into him. So....

I left the covert with hounds, mine included, screaming within.  The balance of this hunt report is second hand news, but from a reliable source! (Bobby)

The fox went to ground about 5 minutes after I left.  Hounds were gathered and moved to another area to draw .  All but Bobby's puppy, Rebel, were at the hole when the hounds were gathered. He loaded his and mine into his hound truck and set off to walk the woods to find Rebel. It hadnt occurred to me to leave my horn with him- thank goodness all my bitches were right there, and now safely in Bobby's hound truck  as he went in search of the puppy.  I know that if Rebel had heard the horn, he would have come to it  from wherever he had drifted.  But - Bobby was left to scour the covert for his pup while Jim and Freddy enjoyed a very nice chase, including a long run over the open and happening  only a short distance away. Bobby could hear their hounds as he looked for Rebel. O my, I am just glad it was HIS pup and not mine!

 Long story short- Bobby never did turn out again.  I met him halfway after they were done, and got my hounds back.  Later that afternoon, when the Banamine wore off, Mel was still in trouble, and i spent the rest of the afternoon and all night Sunday night nursing the patient.  He's fine today (Monday),however, we are both  a bit sleep deprived . Yawn.......

Yuk! October 3rd

Wednesday -it was 76 degrees with 100 % humidity ( how can it be 100% and not be precipitating??) when hounds moved off at 7:40am. 26 degrees warmer than Monday,and much more humid. Miserable. How do folks in the south stand this???

Anyway, not much happened-Bobby walked our  hounds in from the dirt road that cuts through the C & R Center, through the woods and out into the clearing north of Cy Haines'. In other words, he hunted from the opposite direction from Monday, since the winds were out of the south today rather than the N/NW.

By the time Bobby got close to where I waited in Cy Haines field, both he and the hounds were ready to call it quits.  I could not believe how hot they all were in just 45 minutes! No fox again, but we really didnt care-we shouldnt have bothered trying to hunt at all.  I came home and jumped in the pool. COME ON , AUTUMN, dammit.

October 1st - Foxchasing in Delaware

Mel, happy to be back as hunt horse #1 again!

Harvest Moon setting , 7:15am @ the meet

The season in Delaware opened on Monday. However, because muzzleloader season starts Oct. 5 and runs unti Oct. 16, we really only have the first few days of the month to run hounds...

11 couple met at Cy Haines' old homestead at 7:30am.  Present were my 2 1/2cple, Bobby's 3 1/2 cple and Larry's 5 cple. Larry's PMD's are much bigger than ours, and I was curious to see how our new entry would interact during  their first encounter with them.

I was out on Mel, and Shirley was along on General.  Hounds were walked down the lane behind the old homestead .  On either side of the lane lies some very sad looking soybeans.  I had ridden here the day before and was pleased to see fox scat in many different areas of the state land, including where we started the draw.  Hounds began to tongue a bit on the lane, and then continued on into the beans.  It sounded as if we might have a quick hit at first, but sadly, it was not to be.  Once in the bean field (it really has mostly weeds), the pack cast themselves throughout the field.    A fox had most definitely been here, but they just couldnt seem to get the line sorted out. Some hounds drifted on to the adjacent covert, and we let them hunt on. A few opened, but nothing came of that, either.  There was a lot of nose-to-the -ground feathering going on, all over the place!  We had some hounds  tonguing in the woods , but the main pack ( 8 1/2cple) ,kept going back to that same spot in the bean field. There was a tall patch of grass right where they kept dwelling, and at first I thought there might be an earth within it. But no, I couldnt see any hole when I rode up to inspect it.  Most likley, a fox might have been napping there during the night.

Anyhoo,  after about an hour of this  we decided to try another draw in an area of woods a bit north of where we had started.  Again, hounds would open, run for maybe a minute, and then check. This hit and miss nonsense continued for another long hour.  Several times it sounded as if they were about to get on top of thier fox, and then -POOF! , the "chase" ( using that word very loosely, lol!)  would just blow up. 

At about 10am, the pack was still at it-and by now they were up behind the C&R Center building. I was with them when they broke covert out of the woods and ran the edge of a milo field-- it was the best they sounded all morning, and i really thought we were about to have a run.   But once again, it petered out when they entered the covert on the other side of the field. Damn,,,,

Even though we didnt get a fox today, it was a worthwhile time out : I was with the pack most of the time and got to scrutinize my puppy, Reilly.  I am SO PROUD of her!!!  She went right with those strange , big hounds. Her nose was to the ground and she was trying just as hard as the others to find.    And when they could smell and acted as if they might actually begin to run, she was right there in the midst of things.  She knows her  job!  She fills a void left by Lark.

When we broke the pack - not easily accomplished, as they were determined to try to find a fox- I was so proud to have REILLY  be the first hound to come to my horn.  Followed by MARNEY -another happy moment, as she doesnt like to pack up with strange hounds and can be the last one to come in when we hunt with other hounds.

So, a crappy day chase-wise, which really has me stumped.  It is very dry  in this country, but there had been some rain the night before, followed by a clearing sky with the full Harvest moon.  It was a cool 50 degrees, with a calm wind to be out of the W/NW.  One would think the conditions would be ideal. Could the foxes have been on the prowl all night, hunting under the full moon, and back in their dens? Dunno- but I know they are there, and we will try again later this week.  This time, it will just be 6 cple -my hounds and Bobby's.  More rain is forecast for Tuesday .  Conditions for our next hunt here will be alot warmer and very humid.  Should be interesting to see what happens!

O- my camera is in Bobby's hound truck, so the pics Shirley took wont be up until after the next  hunt.
And my helmet cam isnt working. ...didnt matter today, however, I would have lliked to have had some video of  what I saw of Reilly.