3 days of decent weather

..Saturday, Sunday and yesterday.   I opted out of Saturday's hunt to get a long ride in on the new horse:
(and missed a good chase!)

Sunday morning there was a hoar frost on the ground and the temp was 28 degrees at 7:30am. as I headed to the meet with all 5 of my bitches.  (but by 1pm, the mercury had soared 30 degrees!)

Sunday was probably our worst hunt all season, and of course, we had a guest visiting from New Jersey.  Our first draw was at 8:40am, but it wasnt' until 10:30 that we finally found a fox.   This red got up in the Garden and ran straightaway to the south.  At a convergence of two large tax ditches, hounds made an abrupt and long check and it was presumed that the fox had gone to ground in an an earth along the ditch.  Bobby and I  ran to gather the pack, but just as we reached them, Curtis'dog, Jack,  recovered the line in  the field and our guest finally got a view of the pack running the open, and then crossing  the road in front of him. But none of us viewed the fox across the field. As soon as the fox got across the road, he went to ground in the briars behind the Tabor  Forest office. The entire run lasted under a half hour. 
We had no better luck during the next draw.  It was amazing how all of the foxes were in absentia. ( I joked  that perhaps they were allsleeping late due to DST).  I am willing to bet, however, that the vixen's have had their kits.I will investigate some earths tomorrow and find out!



Monday morning it was 10 degrees warmer than the previous day, with no frost but a very heavy fog. Hounds met at Tommy's kennel, and we waited until almost 9am to make the first draw, hoping the fog would lift a bit.  But,  it lingered:
 

walking to the covert behind  Tommy's house.




L to R :Sara, Marney, Rebel,  Marilyn  and Reilly



Sara, right before she makes the find

Sara jumped the fox at 9:04, and both Bobby and I watched her as she literaly POUNCED on the scent as she opened. Very cool to see her in action.  All  hounds ( 13 couple out )  harked, and they  flew through the covert and out of our hearing in moments. A mad rush ensued to get to the roads before any traffic ( the fog was still thick), and I worried as I saw two school buses fly down Gallo Rd..   By the time we caught up with them, hounds were in the state ground behind the cemetery.  After making a quick pass through the state woods,  they crossed High Stump Rd  to run the open of  the Dry Cow Barn field, over Parker rd, through the power lines to the Cannery, across Burrsville rd,and then  over the open for over a 1/2 mile to wind up in Johnny Boys thicket.  After a few whirls through the thicket, the fox went in. It was only 9:36!!  (At first, we thought we might be having our first ever coyote chase, but it was not).

After hounds were gathered, ( some young puppies didnt make it to Johnny Boys' - that was a FAST, hard run), we moved to Taggler's Gate for the next draw.  Two foxes were found, and after the first half hour, hounds got together on just one.  But all this fox did was wind round and round through the cutover and briar beds for over an hour until he got so far ahead of the pack that we decided to break them and call it a day.  Nothing was going to surpass our first chase of the morning.  I got home  at 12:30, fed the hounds, grabbed  Revy out of the field and took him to Redden Forest.  He was wonderful by himself!