March in January...

....as in, it felt almost Spring-like today.  The temp was 39F degrees at the 8:30am draw into Johnny-boy's thicket. There was an ethereal mist/fog that lingered until the sun was well above the horizon,  due to the cold ground temperature after our Artic blast  of the past 8 days.. (There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground in the woods, and all of the  standing water was frozen solid.)  Winds were out of the SW, portending a  quick warm-up to almost 60degrees by early afternoon.

The woods we hunted today is to the right. Delaware ( No -can -go due to deer season) is  1/4 mile across this field to the left!

The flooded covert - that is all ice under that snow

At 8:39,  hounds opened in the "big woods", and for the next hour, our 18 couple ran hard and fast in spite of the challenging conditions. The only checks occurred  when the fox led them through a particularly  (frozen) swampy area of this "big woods", and  that only happened twice.

Charles ran back and forth from "the thicket" to the "big woods" more times than I could count, but I was only in position to capture his fleeting silhouette once.( I was upwind watching a road for a good part of the chase. But after Bobby tally-ho'd the 4th time, I told Tommy he would have to take over my point- I wanted to view this pilot, too!)

Not long after I moved to Bobby's position, the wind changed and we could tell that the pack was moving away from us and into a new area that Charles had not been in prior. One of us had to move-and fast. I  wanted to go, but Bobby beat me to it, so I stayed put in case the fox  made a swing back to the thicket again.  Not 2 minutes after Bobby re-positoned himself at the power-line cutover, I heard him tally-ho. Once.  Then,  5 seconds later, "tally-ho -AGAIN!!"   He viewed two foxes pop out into the cutover, then reverse course  and head back to the thicket .   Dang -that should  have been MY view, lol!!

I stayed put, as I should, and  only a couple minutes later I viewed a fox cross the open from the thicket  to the big woods once more.  The hounds came on this fox and it went to ground  less than a minute later in an earth just inside the covert.  My bet is that  the hounds switched from the dog fox to the vixen when Bobby viewed the pair, and the vixen ran straight to her den.  All hounds were on,  but Bobby's two puppies decided to have a little lark as we were walking them out, so it took an extra 15minutes to get them in and loaded. ,Just after 10am, when all hounds were loaded , a brief  discussion ensued as to whether to hunt on.(Delaware deer season is still on, and we have to be careful not to get too close to the state line -but only a few more days and this firearm season will be OVER  in both states for the year!)

The sun was melting the last visage of winter quickly and I decided I'd rather go home and get old Mel out for a nice hack.instead. Tommy jumped on that to add that he had hay to deliver...and that was that!

 We hunt again on Thursday, when  some hounds from New Jersey are to  join us.
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A brief respite from the cold...

..arrived late today (Sunday), when the temps soared to 36 degrees. The winds were calm, and the sun was a welcomed sight.Tommy and Freddy hunted yesterday and today, but I chose not to take my hounds.  I made the right choice, based upon the report I received.

We plan to hunt tomorrow and  Tuesday since the forecast is for milder, albeit wet, weather.  Winds are to be out of the SW at a steady 10-20mph tomorrow and the meet is the County House woods again, so I am not thrilled.  Dont expect much in the way of videos or photos, because I will be guarding the highway ....

Meanwhile, I have spent much time with the new horse this past week, and I will go out on a limb here and say that I think he will be  very good with the hounds:

Southern Review, aka "Revy", 5yo OTTB, learning his new job

The horn blaring  in his ear, and the whip cracking over his head don't faze him.  but i dont want to jinx it, so I wont say any more for now, lol.

Catching Up

I had kinda made a New Year's  resolution to stop posting my hunt reports to the blog. But that doesnt mean we havent been hunting. After more than a couple of people have mentioned that they hadnt seen any posts since Jan 3, I decided I get back to it, in some way or another.

We had a string of good-weather days right after the New Year, so I took advantage of them to ride the new horse as much as I could, and was able to get 10  solid , consecutive rides in on him before the string of really, really crappy, wet weather hit last week.

The hunts have been just ok, IMO.  I suspect the vixens are getting heavy, because every hunt for the past week or more, we have had foxes run for only a short time before going to ground. Then, the next fox found on the same day would be one that would leave the country post-haste.  Really not bad days, but just not the barn-burners we had been having.  

 Yesterday and today were no different. Saturday,  my hounds and Bobby' hounds jumped the first fox, but before Tommy and Curtis' hounds could hark ( they were quite a distance away , drawing another area of the same large covert), the fox went in a hole in the middle of a field under some power lines. Well, it wasnt just A hole, it was a condominium- 4 openings that I could see.  I was alone with the hounds when they put the fox in, and I got several pics of them at the different holes before I walked them all out to the road.  Our youngsters got a good noseful, with Raven getting himself completely  down inside one of the openings:







The openings were several feet apart



Raven -in



Raven, out!

 

Reilly, getting her noseful at another of the openings.




Our next fox was found about 15 minutes later, and he made a good run in the open across a large wheat field and then into a "branch' ( woods with  a swampy stream running through it. We dont have rocks and firm bottoms -its a quagmire!).  There he ran the length of the branch before busting out into the open and across a road , headed for Delaware. (Shotgun deer season again in DE, so we had to break the hounds).

Today (Sunday) was not a whole lot different, but a whole lot more nerve-wracking for me. We had 14 couple out(same as Saturday), and after a long draw in the County House woods a fox was roused at about 8:15am.  The wind was strong out of the SW-blowing right TO the highway, so everyone on the dirt road within the woods couldnt hear the pack at all. I had resolved that as soon as the pack hit a line, I was boogying right to the highway. I might miss viewing the fox ( during one recent hunt here , the fox crossed back and forth over the  woods road 9 times),but at least I  could guard the highway and would be where I could hear the hounds .  Good thing, too.  Because about 20 minutes into the chase, the damn fox tried to cross over the  higfway - twice.   Hounds were headed right to the roadway .    I must have looked like a crazy woman trying to hold up traffic, while calling for help on the radio and trying to load 14 cple into my little hound truck.  Bobby finally got to me, and we got all but 3 couple loaded. They hit the line again, and ran it parallel to the highway, behind a farmhouse, and then  back towards the highway again, about 1/2mile further east.   We managed to get them stopped before they reached the road again.  But that fox was determined he was going across! 

After it was all said and done, the fellas inquired as to how my blood pressure was holding up....I told them when my adrenaline level returned to normal, I'd be sure to let them know.

Two other foxes had been roused out of the same woodpile, and Tommy wanted to go right back and jump another. REALLY?????  We had sorted hounds, and all of mine were safely ensconced within my own truck. They could hunt wherever they cared to -but mine werent touching the ground again if that was to be the plan.

Instead, a draw was made in Miller's Branch further to the west, and a fox was pushed out the west end, crossing over Anthony Mill Rd   He ran across an open field all the way to Skinny's thicket. From there, he continued  his trip with a turn to the north, crossing over Baker rd. Curtis viewed the fox as he made a trip back over Baker rd, running a good length of the macadam before ducking back into covert.  Hounds were not able to recover the line in the road, and were picked up.

A final draw was made back in the County House wood ( Tommy's plan), and another fox  was roused near that wood pile.  I again went to the highway, while the rest stayed back on the dirt road.After about 40 minutes of sporadic running (lots of water within those woods right now), I viewed the pack emerge into a field on the west end of the woods.  No one else was around (again!).  But the pack was just picking at the line-the fox must have had a good lead on them because I had been watching that side for quite a while and never saw him cross that field.   I radioed  a heads up once more , and  everybody came around and we loaded .  It was now a little after 11am, and we quit since we are hunting again tomorrow.

 I headed home and took the new horse out for his first group trail ride. (He did really well considering the  30mph winds!)

Sunday and Monday hunts ( hunts #50 and 51 for my hounds)

 An almost 4hr hunt on the old man on Sunday ..Mel held up well!.  We had 11 couple on the ground at 8:20 when Twister and  Roscoe got the line straight on a fox that most of the others were trailing back (heel).   All harked to the two ahead, and they settled into a nice chase that lasted until almost noon.  After making a long swing in the open headed west, Charles came back and then stayed in the woods  for the balance of the run.    I viewed two foxes that were not the pilot, but I never did get a view of our hunted fox today.

It was 35  degrees at the draw, and 52 degrees as i headed home at 12:45.  I quickly put the horse up, fed the hounds, and pulled the young horse out of the field for a ride.  What a nice horse he is- gotta love a horse that has a good "whoa"...


Monday  was "heart attack on the highway" for me. Hounds jumped the first fox at 8:35am, and this sucker flew through the covert, across Vorhees field, across the dirt road and on into Weber's branch . From there, he ran east through the  branch, going almost to Burrsville before turning back and running the branch again. But when he got behind Marvel's chicken houses, the damn fox turned and headed  right to the highway.

The wind was out of the NW, so standing on the highway put us upwind of hounds. In addition, Monday morning traffic seemed especially heavy, with many tractor trailers barreling along at a good 60 mph.   As soon as I realized where the fox was headed,  *I* headed right for the highway, as did Bobby. Curtis, Tommy and Olin went to Squirrely Hill to be down wind.

And even though I couldnt hear the pack ( and they were in full cry), all I had to do was watch the old white horse that lives in a paddock alongside the road. This is the exact place where Lark got killed last year. Just when the horses' head began to turn  to the east a bit, I  began to hear the hounds coming towards me. SH*T.  This was NOT good.  Bobby and I positioned our  hound trucks about 200 feet apart, dropped the tailgates, turnd on our flashers, and waited. Within seconds after getting ready, the damn fox popped out into the road right smack between the two trucks.   He stopped for an instant, turned as if to go back, but then turned again and kept on going over the highway. (This all happened in a second -he was flying!)

The pack was right on his brush- only a few seconds behind him.  We tried to hold up the hounds, but it was impossible for just the two of us  to break them when they were so hot on this foxs'  tail. It was safer to just let the pack go on.  Tommy and the others got to us, and we spread out along the roadside.  The chance that this fox would make a quick swing on that side of the road and then come right back over it again were very high. ... And less than 5 minutes later, that is exactly what he did.  He darted out into the road abut 100 feet from me  at the "beer joint". Tommy saw him, too, and within seconds we were all in place to stop traffic so that our hounds could get back across the road safely.  Disaster averted.  But , oh how  my nerves were rattled. The guys know how much I hate that spot, and when the pack followed the fox to a pond behind Marvels,  Tommy and Curtis broke them off the line   I  refused to leave the highway until they let me know that they had gotten the pack stopped.   "That fox needs shootin'" -  and we're all in agreement about that.  It was 10 am.

We headed to Johhny Boy's thicket where  we ran another fox  until just after 11am. This one kept taking the hounds through some very flooded woods, without running in the open at all.  They couldn't press this fox , and he must have gotten way ahead of them. At an especially long check -one of many- the hounds were called in.  Not the best of days, IMO, but still better than a blank one. Note to self : more dye needed to hide the newly-gained gray hairs....

January 3, 2013 -cold!!

..it was cold enough that we delayed the draw until 9:30am.  It was 26 degrees and the ground was frozen .

Jeff joined us with his 4 couple, which made a total of 12 couple for the hunt. (My 2 1/2, Bobby's 3 1/2 and Tommy's well-rested and well-fed 4 couple).

Radio opened on the fox at  9:45am.  For the next two hours, this red fox gave us  a great chase with much of the running in the open. He would bust through the coverts briefly only to emerge to run over the open fields repeatedly. He crossed one wheat field 4 times in almost the exact same place!

This is a healthy, BIG red,and he flew across those fields without ever seeming to tire.    He was so fast that I didnt always get there in time to get the camera on him, but I was always able to get the hounds. 

Reno's cold nose recovered the line when the fox ran a road about a mile away from that wheat field. None of us were there to see where the fox had gone but Bobby and I arrived as the hounds spilled out onto the pavement. Hounds cast themselves all around the road and the grassy areas bordering it. I was able to video  as Reno recovers the line only a couple feet in front of me.It's impressive hound work, but you gotta love watching hounds to appreciate it I guess.  I do! ( Reno, by the way, sustained a fractured leg 2 seasons ago.  I kept her at my kennel that summer for her rehab , and while in my care she came in heat so we bred her to Twister.  When Lark got killed on the road a few months later , Bobby gave Reno to me .  In my book, Reno is one tough , good bitch.!)

Finally, a little before noon, our fox got turned in another open field as he was headed on his 5th trip around the countryside.  He made a sudden change to his path and headed west towards the Maryland state line.  We broke the hounds because we didnt want them getting into that area.  But I wish he had'nt been turned-we would have liked to have seen how many more times he planned  on making that circuit.  Hopefully,we'll find that fox again.

New Years eve and New Years Day hunts

  It's been interesting to watch the  hounds  hunt the past couple of times out. Tommy is away, so  our pack has been reduced in size to only 8 couple.  5 of the 16 hounds are new entry , with Curtis' 2 puppies being the very youngest. 

On New Years' eve, we had a good run on a fox that tried to shake the pack several times by means of running them through a stand of cutover timber that has become completely overgrown with thick, painful briars. One of Curtis' young pups didnt know how to extricate himself from the thorny bushes at the end of the chase, so he simply laid down and cried for help!  My bitches' ears were all torn up, and several hounds emerged bloodied from cuts.  After each run in the open, the fox would take the pack back through those  thorns, thereby increasing his lead on them every time.  The cliche' really is apropos!

Aside from that, it was a wonderful  learning experience for the young ones.

On New Years Day, we had the same number of hounds out, but I left Marney and Marilyn at home  this time ( the day before I had left Marney and  Reno home -hounds have been running hard and often!) .

At 8:10am,  Reno found our sole pilot of the hunt and a chase ensued that would last until we broke the hounds off Reynards' brush at 10:10am as he crossed the road right in front of us..
 
I have to make note that  it was Radios' fox for most of the chase- he had the line ahead of the pack in the beginning ( I tried to hold him up at one point, so they could catch up), and most of the time I saw him in the lead.

It was a chase   lasting exactly two hours to the minute !   There was a  hasty discussion at that time as to whether or not to let hounds go on.... All hounds were on, but we could see that some of the young ones were beginning to tire. .  If we let them continue, chances were good that somebody was going to get left  behind .  Hence, the pack was  held up as they crossed the road -while they were still  all packed up!

I have  made a New Years' resolution to ditch the helmet camera.  Most of the video taken today was useless because the mount kept sliding upwards so that all you can see is gray sky -and since I cant view the video until it is uploaded to the pc, I have no way of knowing this.   What little I got, I uploaded-but even though you hear the audio ( I tall-ho several times),the camera cant pick up the fox.

Hounds will have a day off on 1/2, but will go out again on Thursday 1/3. Tommy's  well-rested  ( and well-fed!) hounds will be out again .
Sara will be happy to see her buddy, Twister!