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| The Whitely Woods at the first draw; 9:15am on Sunday |
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| Conditions improved as the morning progressed |
Sunday was another hunt with the same group as Saturday, minus 2 couple. An inch or two of fresh snow covered the landscape as we cast 15 couple into the Whitely Woods at 9:00 am. There were fresh tracks in the snow everywhere, and it wasnt long before hounds struck a line . But two foxes had been footing the covert, and a mediocre chase ensued that ended when we broke the hounds at a long check. This wood is so dense with briars that you can't even walk into it, so we decided to leave this area to hunt the "back woods" behind Freddy's farm, a couple of miles away.
This proved to be a good decision, as a nice-running red was jumped by Freddy and Tommy while Curtis, Bobby , Jeff and I were extricating my truck and Curtis' truck out of a snow covered mud puddle.
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| fresh tracks in fresh snow- so pretty! |
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| Curtis gets a backwards pull by Jeff, while Bobby and I await my turn. |
Bobby had all of our hounds in his truck except for my puppy, Reilly. She had jumped into Tommy's truck when we broke the pack at the Whitely woods. Hence, she was on the ground running with a bunch of hounds with which she wasnt very familiar . The motherly instinct was kicking in, and I wanted to get to her to be sure she was packing up and running. But of course, she was. No worries with that one!
We had a good fox that ran over the open , making two large circles while returning to the covert where he had been found each time. By the time he made his third trip back to his starting point, his crafty manuevers over much ice and water had put him way ahead of the pack. It was almost noon, so hounds were called in. Everyone had the Super Bowl on their mind!
On Monday, the weather was cold ( again!) : 26 F degrees when hounds met at 9:30am. But there was a cold wind blowing out of the NW at 15-20mph, and overcast skies. It felt much colder than the day before(when the temps had risen all the way up to a balmy 38 f!). I dont mind the cold. It's the wind that makes it unpleasant.
12 1/2 couple ( our regular weekday pack of Tommy's, Curtis', Bobby's and my hounds) met at the Red Barn. We were hoping that the deer hunters who had inhabited the surrounding woods for the past 10 days hadn't shot the good foxes that have been providing us such great sport here in previous weeks.
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| This was the second time Charles crossed the road at this same spot. (He would make his return trip over the open , crossing the road right where the red barn used to stand. I could never get there in time to catch him, though) |
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| The first time Charles crossed the road |
It took only 9 minutes to have our fears allayed. We made the draw into the woods next to the dry cow lot and found Charles ready and willing to take our pack on a run that would last until we broke the hounds off his brush at noon. The only checks occurred two times when other foxes not being persued briefly got in the fray. But both times, with a bit of help , the hounds got back on the scent of their pilot .
3 good chases in 3 days. Hounds will rest up on Tuesday and go again on Wednesday.
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