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!