Another fox runs right into me

... at 8:10 we cast our 12 1/2 couple into the woods, and at 8:16 hounds opened on a line , but it was quickly determined to be" the back foot" ( heel).  Hounds got turned around and were running right by 8:22.
I hurried out of the covert and to the road just in time to view a  very small, very dark red fox cross High Stump Rd, but on the far end of the covert from where I was positioned.

I tally-hoed to the fellas still in the woods, and proceeded to move down the road so as to get a closer look at the hounds as they crossed.  I usually stop too far away, and today was no exception. However, as I stood listening as the pack approached,  I  was stunned to see another, lighter-colored fox moving right towards me. He was coming from the same section of woods  the first one did, but he was going to cross the road much closer to me.    I tried to get the camera to focus, but it couldnt capture this fox as he was attempting to emerge onto the blacktop EXACTLY where I was standing.   If you watch the video carefully, I cue where to look- the fox is VERY close, and you can see him turn his back to me and run. It just isnt in focus.  

Before I had the run-in with the second fox, I saw two hounds emerge on the line of the first one, and assumed they had the foxs' line ahead of the other hounds.  But as soon as the second fox ran into me, I looked up to see the rest of the pack running to me .  I managed to get the camera focused on them, and it just kept roling while I turned the pack around and got them settled back on fox # 2's line.   The other two hounds on fox # 1 harked back to the pack at this time, also.  We now had all on, and a nice chased ensued with much running in the open, until Charles decided to run towards the Marshy Hope canal.  We had to break the pack before they got there, as we didnt want them swimming across the canal. It was about 9:35 when we broke them.

We made another draw and got another red on the move, but he ran straight to a hole,staying up for only 15 minutes. It was now about 10:30, the wind was gusting pretty hard out of the N/NW, and it still felt cold! We went home,to give the hounds two days' rest.  They will hunt again Saturday and Sunday.

'Monday - only 10 couple today

I got to sleep in a half hour later - hounds were cast @ 8am into a frosty wood next to the Dry Cow Lot.  A fox was found at 8:14, but he ran for a short 10 minutes before ducking into a hole.  Hounds were gathered and the draw continued in the same covert.  At 8: 47, the pack opened on another red that gave them a slightly longer, but still short chase of about  45minutes duration.  He left the woods after running it behind the red barn field for the first 15minutes and then crossed High Stump Rd to head over a large tax ditch and on into the state forest. We viewed him, counted hounds as they followed, and then tried to stay with them as best we could with a variable  S/SW wind making  it difficult to hear. (But  it was much less windy and  not as cold as the previous two mornings!)

Bobby and I got behind Wyatt's chicken houses where we could hear them running  and about 5 minutes' later, they shut up cold.  Our fox had gone in just after 9:30. As hounds were coming to our  horns ( mine and Tommy has a cow horn handed down to him from his dad), a gray cat jumped out of the wheel well of an old truck parked right where they were emerging from the woods.  Some green-collared hounds had a short-lived chase on what looked to me like a very pregnant  cat!  We stopped them, and as far as I could tell, the cat escaped with all 9 lives ( plus whatever).

All were on save for Olin's Annie , and she was later  found  back in the covert where the fox was roused, probably headed back to where she was turned out.

Tommy drew the woods behind Wyatt's, but it was blank , so we called it  day .  Hounds need a rest!!!

130 (added wrong the first time!) Minute Run -Sunday, November 25th

a frame from the video

                                    (Date on the video is incorrect-this was 11/25/12)

...and I was careful not to erase any video this time, lol!  My camera battery threatened to die but it lasted long enough to get our fox running in the open.

It was cold!!! And still  windy - 29 F degrees at 6:45 as I passed the firehouse thermometer on my way to the meet. . Winds were to be steady out of the W/SW at 14mph, with gusts above 22mph.

Today was a Sunday deer hunt in Maryland, (wtf?? dont they have enough days already??) so we had to stay away and go back to the  foxhunter's clubhouse in Delaware again.  In the past, we have only hunted from the clubhouse but 3 or 4 times a season. However, the foxes we have chased here the past two days  have been so accomodating that we may have to come back more often....

15 1/2 couple put into the woods in the same area where we started yesterday @ 7:45am. . It took longer to find a fox - 5 minutes instead of 3, lol. The pack was in full cry @ 7:50am.  (NOTE: We do NOT  drop foxes or feed foxes here- no cheating is necessary .  We have too  good of a fox population here to need to resort to those practices, and the many commercial chicken houses keep them well fed.)

Can't say if this was the same fox we chased yesterday or not-but the pattern today's quarry followed was very similar to the one of yesterday. So- read yesterday's hunt report, it will save me a lot of typing, lol! And I also  cant say for certain if we had a tag-team switch again, but I tend to think so, as hounds had one of their two  checks in the exact same spot as yesterday and again, after that check, the fox changed his pattern and wound circles in the cut-over pines.  Charles crossed Foxhunter's Rd many times again before he decided to stay in those pines.  During one crossing, an old lady in a car would not stop as we tried to wave  her down, and she was right on the foxs' line as hounds flew into the road.  I thought for sure we were about to lose the front hounds. And she did just miss hitting Patty, Tommy's bitch.  What a sick feeling that was.  But, all got across the road alive, and the old biddy smiled and waved as she drove off. I guess she just didnt have a clue as to why we were waving and shouting at her to stop!

               The fox crossed  here several times- 3 or 4, and it was here that the lady almost ran over Patty. But this video was a later crossing.

One fallow cornfield   was recently  fertilized with chicken manure, and you will see on the video how the pack had trouble working the line in the open across it.  Charles had done a very strange zig-zagging  manuever in the middle of this field , to boot ( I didnt view him as I was watching the covert on the north side) , but Freddy viewed his antics. The foxs' plan worked, and you can see Bobby having to help  get the pack straight.

But when Charles crossed the field near the Doc's, earlier in the chase ,  you will see hounds had no trouble running him there -no chicken manure in that field!

At about 9:20, something happened in the back of that manure-covered field to cause the pack to split. 6 couple were tonguing in the back of the field, while the others had gone on into the cutover pines.  We held those 6 cple up and at 10:10 broke the others in the pines.

All the new entry did super, but Reilly will be staying up in kennels tomorrow, as she came out of the pines on 3 legs. Sara can stay home and keep her company.

6:35 am. "Red sky at morning...."

Hunt from the Foxhunters Clubhouse, November 24, 2012

A cold front began to blow over DelMarVa at precisely 2:30 am this morning.I know this because the initial gust blew through my open window and shook the house.

Yesterday, I  wore only a light sweatshirt as I rode horses; it was warm (68), sunny and no wind.This morning, it was 36 degrees when we drew the woods northwest of the clubhouse at 7:30am with 12 1/2 couple. The wind was steady out of the N/NW@ 16mph,with gusts up to 25mph, and the forecast was for the gusts to only  increase throughout the day.

 It took but 3 minutes for one of Jim's hounds to open, and only seconds for the entire pack to honor. Our  first fox was on the move at 7:33am!

And boy,did he ever move!  This red bolted right out of the woods on the north side, crossed a fallow field on a long diagonal run of at least a 1/4 mile, pointing his mask toward the opposite side of  Foxhunters Rd.
I viewed the fox, but he was moving so fast i couldnt get my camera out in time.  The hounds were pressing him,less than 30 seconds behind. It was  just enough time for me  to whip out the camera and take some video as the entire pack crossed over the green field. Lovely, it was. Jim's hounds on top.  He was SO wanting to see it on video. As were we all....but I digress...

Our fleet fox flew! Behind some chicken houses he went , then across another hard road toward "the Doc's" .  A quick loop in the woods there,and then back over the road at the chicken houses. He circumnavigated the woods behind same for about 15 minutes, and then darted back across Foxhunter's rd to enter the woods where he had been found . Next, he headed in the opposite direction- threatening to crossa yet another road to the northwest, as if he might go to the Massey woods. (Cant let the hounds get there).

Fortunately for us,  he turned back , running the wood's edge to re-enter the same covert where he had been roused.

 And then, he proceeded to repeat the exact pattern a second time.  When he made his return leg on this second loop, he handed the pack off to a fresh red waiting in that same covert where we started the morning. The time was about 8:35.

  The second fox ran an entirely different pattern, winding round and round the cutover pines behind the Clubhouse, forcing the pack to work hard as they had to pick their way through heavy cutover and bramble. This one  didnt stay up for very long -hounds marked him at 9:10. All hounds were on, with Marney and Repo being last to leave the hole.

By 9:30, we were on our way to get some hot coffee and breakfast.

O- and all that lovely footage of the pack? I accidentally erased it when I tried to free up some memory.  I have the find on the first fox, and the cry as they put the second fox in. Everything in -between:  POOF! Gone.

Hunting the clubhouse again tomorrow, since it is the Opening weekend for Deer firearm in Maryland. ( The clubhouse is in Delaware!)

Black Friday hunt - #24 for my hounds

...this will be short, since we are hunting tomorrow and Sunday and I need sleep.

Heavy, heavy fog-the heaviest I've seen  in a long time -hung over most of DelMarVa this morning. It was 32 degrees at my farm ( ice coated my metal gates), but about 36  at 7:15am when I arrived at the meet.  We waited for the sun to rise higher , expecting it to burn off the mist quickly, but that never happened until we were loading the hounds after their  fox went to ground at  9:30!

We put 19 couple into the woods behind Stevie Leeks house at 8am, and by 8:05 they were trailing up thier pilot.  At about 8:10, they got this red on the move,and I got this pic just as they were getting hot:

This fox covered a lot of country in the next hour and a half, crossing Burrsville Rd 4 times.I viewed him cross twice, and he was FLYING.  The second time I was able to be at the road as hounds crossed,  there were two hounds who had the line way ahead of the others. I held those two up in the field alongside the road until the main pack caught up, and then held my breath again as they all flew across the pavement to continue their pursuit of  one very quick and very crafty fox.



Hounds crossing the third time, the fog actually got worse as the chase progressed



Tail hounds, after crossing the road the first time.  I got there just in time!!

It was nerve-wracking.  The heavy fog kept cry muffled, and keeping track of the pack was a challenge.  Thankfully, every time the pack crossed the road someone was with them, and everyone stayed safe.

I was so relieved to see all of my hounds, and all of Bobby's , walk out from the hole.  Marney must be over her silliness from being kept up for three weeks, as she was RIGHT THERE! And  my puppy, Reilly, what a great bitch she is turning out to be!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Not the hunted fox, but this one ran right towards Mel and me, on the opposite side of the ditch. This is a still from the video below.

...started out with a blown horse trailer tire as I arrived at the meet @ 7:15am.  The other tire on the same side wasnt looking too happy,either. But- no time to worry, it would be dealt with after the hunt was over!

16 couple ( everybody is ready to rumble -the last day of deer gunshot season was yesterday- YAY!!!!) were walked into the woods behind the Red Barn at 7:30am. At about 7:50, the pack opened on their first pilot that ran for a short 20 minutes and then  popped into a hole.  Hounds were gathered and hadnt walked a hundred yards when old Reno found the next red.  This fox took the pack on a tour of the countryside for over an hour before he lost them in the  road  at the Cannery @ 9:03am.    At least two other reds, ( including the one in this video) were viewed, but not pursued. Finally, a third fox was viewed away to Wyatt's and hounds were put on his line at about 9:30. Hounds ran him hard, ignoring a huge buck and doe that crossed the line in front of them, until they put him to ground at  10:10am.  

The guys changed my tire for me, while I blew for Marney- it was her first time out after being up in kennels in heat for over 3 weeks, and although she was right with the others when they denned the last fox, she was shy to come out.   By 10:45, I was headed home and on the phone looking for a spare tire.
Mel was a GOOD, albiet tired boy!!

I took more  video, but I havent time to add anything else right now.

Mel kept pulling on the reins, which made holding the camera still a bit difficult.

18 couple, 4 foxes and too many followers!

Our foxes got turned too many times today -too many car followers out and in the way.   After the fox in the pic got turned twice, he took off for fields afar -and across the highway. Bobby and I got there JUST as Charles was crossing over this very busy road , but we were about 50 yards down from where he crossed.  Hounds were less than 5 seconds behind him , and we just couldnt get to them in time to break them.(Across the highway is forbidden country right now due to deer season).  This fox just kept going and going and going...away!! We finally managed to hold up the pack miles from whence they started this fellow. Nerve jangling day, it was.  And I was ever so thankful that both MARNEY and REILLY were safe at home in kennels ( they are both in heat).  Marilyn, Sara and Reno were right there on this fox, as were all of Bobby's.  We were loaded while the others were still trying to break theirs ( or FIND them, lol!)

To backtrack, our first fox, found @ 7am, stayed up for all of about 5 minutes before going to ground in a newly dug earth in the middle of a newly planted wheat field:

hounds at the hole after denning their first pilot. Perhaps this was the vixen...

...Because THIS sucker was the one that took our hounds on a tour of the countryside via the highway, not long afterwards:

We had two other hunted foxes this morning: one went to Garland Road, so hounds had to be held up there, and the other went across Knifebox Road. I'm tellin' ya' -those foxes are mating and on the move!!!

In all fairness, there was another problem that factored into the turning of quarry. When Freddy pulled up to the meet this morning, there was a young , very nice-looking tricolor coonhound wandering in the road  at the place where we meet.  Obviously,someone had dumped the pretty bitch puppy.  She ended up being shoved into my hound truck (which stayed parked alongside the covert all morning), so that she wouldnt be in the way.  But all she did was bark ALL morning long.  After the hunt, I took her to a customers' house only a few miles away and asked if she would take the hound in.  (Last year she had asked me if we had any foxhounds that we would give her to keep her rescue hound company).  She fell in love with this sweet-natured pup right away, and agreed.  Saying a prayer that the young bitch doesnt bark in Susie's kennel all night tonight! I dont want THAT phone call, lol!

Hunting tomorrow on Mel again. There should only be 9 or 10 couple out, and no coffehousers! A hard freeze forecast for tonight.This morning, the low temp was 38 degrees F.Calm winds at the draw, that increased out of the NW all morning. I'll break out the longjohns for tomorrow!

After SuperStorm Sandy

A Hunter's Moon was setting  ( not visible here) as the first rays of  the sun hit the trees. So GOOD to see the sun shining again- even if it didnt last for very long.

I havent had much time to keep up on the blog, and I know I missed entering at least one hunt here, but a lot of more important things have been happening.

Not the least of which was the monster storm that hit the entire eastern half of the US earlier this week.  The DelMarVa peninsula fared better than the other shore areas to our north, but we still received over 10" of rain here at my farm. The winds, thank goodness, were not as strong as originally predicted here, and I think our strongest gust   ( we are 10 miles inland from the beach) was still less than 80 mph.   No structural damage, some minor flooding and fence damage.

Deer season continues to disrupt our fox chasing and this will only escalate after next week when Maryland firearm season enters the picture already muddied by the Delaware gunning laws. 

Hounds met at the C & R Center on  Thursday, November 1st at 8am.  Present were Bobby's 4 cple ( old M&M, the mother of my Marney and Marilyn, jumped into his truck as Bobby was loading.  She hasnt been out in the field for 2 years! But she looks better now than ever - he contemplated putting her down two summers ago- so he decided to let her come along) .  I had only Marilyn,Reno and Sara,since both Marney and Reilly are in heat.  Larry and Howard joined us with Larry's 4  1/2 cple, for a grand total of 10 couple.

It was a chilly 38 degrees, with a SW wind  promising to blow 15-20 mph at the draw.  We began the first cast behind the C & R Center building, since I wanted to park my horse trailer on high ground.  The low fields behind the building were under water in most places, as was the entire forest that surrounds the Center. Surprisingly, the area behind the Cy Haines homestead, further to the SE, had the least soggy ground as the video shows.  (We ended the morning there).

Old  Reno proved to have the best nose, and it was she who opened first on the strongest trails the hounds encountered.   The pack  would trail decently enough on the drier ground, but as soon as they entered the woods, where water lay everywhere, they would lose it.  I saw no visible signs of foxes anywhere - all washed clean by the floodwaters, I guess.   I was surprised , however, to see  a buck and a doe in the woods - the first deer I have viewed here since the Blue Tongue disease wiped out most of the herd.

After 2 and 1/2 hours, I broke the pack along a ditchline in the far corner of Cy Haines' property. The sky had become heavily overcast, with dark clouds on the western horizon and the wind was blowing steadily at about 15-20 mph. It felt raw and damp.  Obviously, condtions were not going to get any better, and there was a forecast for a chance of showers.  Raindrops were already on my windshield as I loaded Mel onto the trailer.

Not happy with the new Luminix hand held camera. However, I  really didnt have any time to fool with it  this morning. I did try to remember to turn on the helmet cam, and it worked ok - most of the time!

All of us were just happy  to be able to get our hounds out so soon after the storm. And more than once during the morning I remembered to thank God for that...and pray for those less fortunate than we.