Hunt reports and other miscellaneous ramblings that heretofore were laid down between leather bindings. Now, maybe someone else will get a laugh or two out of reading them.
Some pictures of the almost- 6 month old puppies during their hound walk today. ( Ryan, Tommy's dog , is not here because Tommy is away) They will go on their first real hunt next week!
The white bitch is my Reilly. the blue dog with the blackest back is Raven, and the other blue tick is Rebel.
Our goal was for the pups to show some interest in this! The fox was sitting on her den as we unloaded the hounds.
...on fox # 1 today. Our regular week day pack of 12 couple ( meaning no party-crashers, lol!) met at 8:00 and drew the woods at the "Sandy Bend". It was relatively mild, 37 Fdegrees, with a west wind that would increase as the morning progressed. Rain showers were due to arrive around noon.
Hound opened at 8:19 on a fox that took them quickly out of the covert, over the open at Corkel's, across Anthony Mill rd and into the Slaughter Woods. Only Tommy and Curtis viewed this foxs' run over the open - and it was a long one! The fox made a large loop on the south side of Almshouse Rd, and Bobby and I caught up with him as he made his return trip from the Slaughter Woods back to Donny Miller's. This red was coming to the road right where we were standing. He saw us, bore back slightly and then ran inside the woods about 30 feet from the road, parallelling it for about 70 yards. Then he crossed over the road, to run through Miller's front yard, passing his Jeep in the driveway. It's all on the video, lol!
Some excellent hound work follows, as the pack emerges onto the blacktop. Bobby decides the hounds need help and begins to walk them down the road to the point where the fox crossed over to Miller's. But the hounds recover the line in the woods without any help from us. Meanwhile, about 3 dozen deer are viewed leaving the same woods,but several hundred yards behind where the fox brokeaway. It 's all on here:
This pilot went to ground after a roaring good chase of just under an hour. He went to ground in the Coal Woods not far from the huge wood pile where hounds had denned one a few weeks ago. All hounds were on, and it only took a few minutes to load them and drive about 5 miles away for the next draw. ( Farmers were beginning to spread lime over all of the surrounding fields in anticipation of the rain. Plus, chain saws were buzzing in an adjacent woods).
Our second fox was found at 9:50. IMO, this fox was one of the best running reds we have had all season. He loved to run roads-he ran the middle of four different roads during the course of the chase, and he covered more hunt country than any other fox so far . We spent most of the time trying to catch up with the pack. I viewed this pilot only one time during the 95 minute run. But I've got lots of video of hounds in the roads, lol! When he ran a dirt lane for over a hundred yards and hounds checked for several minutes, it was 11:30. Only Part-Time was not with the pack. Hounds were not having much luck ,and none of us had viewed where this fox had gone. Light rain was beginning to fall; it was a good time to get them. Some very tired hounds were readily loading into three trucks when old Reno, with Pearl and Twister at her side , began to tongue down the middle of the road in front of us .It was very tempting to drop the tailgate again....
But the hounds had obviously had enough, and the rain was beginning to get a little more serious.
Tommy leaves for a two week vacation tomorrow. His hounds had a good last day of running before a two-week lay up and some" feeding -up" while his brother cares for them. . Sibling rivalry.... Hound folk will know of what I speak, LOL!
37 degrees at 8am, winds out of the NW at 10-20mph. The temps were to rise back into the mid 50's today. Our 10 1/2 couple jumped their first pilot at 8:24am in Walton Willis' woods. My friend, Shirley, back from her 6 week vacation in Florida joined us on her 22-yo Morgan gelding, General. I rode Mel.
This first pilot gave our hounds a nice run through the Walton Willis' woods, over Squirrely Hill, into Webers' branch and back to Willis' via the Dead End woods for 90 minutes. He made this circuit three times before going to ground at the edge of Weber's branch just before 10am. Shirley and I got 3 views of him, and the first one was the best: a close encounter near "Billy's first pond". Charles was running the edge of the field next to Dead End Road, on his way to the pond. Shirley and I were at the pond. We watched as the fox came directly towards us, oblivious to our presence. He came within 50 feet of us, then continued on his route up a driveway next to the pond. From there, he cut a corner of another field and ducked into the Dead End woods. The helmet camera was on and captured the fox and hounds, but they look so much farther away than they really were, it's too bad.. This was a gorgeous red with a big white tip on his brush.
When Charles went to ground, all hounds were on, and we were right with them. From there, hounds were loaded and taken to Danny's Pond .( Getting on and off Mel ,at 17.2h ,to help load hounds is a bit more of a challenge than doing it on Rap because I dont let anyone give me a leg up. I want my next hunt horse to be under 15.2h, lol!)
Another fox was jumped at 10:10, and our second chase shifted into a higher gear. For the next hour, this one ran around Danny's Pond and the "14 acres" before breaking covert and crossing Wilhelm rd. From there, he ran to Frog Hollow and back over Wilhelm rd. When he headed away to Miller's, I knew that it would be best to get the horses back to the trailer asap and hop into the hound truck.. They had been out for over 3 hours and we were about two miles from the rig, which was in the opposite direction from where the hounds were headed. General has had 6 weeks off and Mel isnt exactly hunting fit, either. No point in pushing them, as we learned that the fox went to ground in an earth behind Bobby's mothers house on the outskirts of Denton as we were hacking back to the trailer. Good call-we saved our horses, and didnt miss a whole lot. All hounds were on , save for one bitch of Olin's. Bobby and Tommy had all of mine and theirs loaded . Time for lunch! ( Muffeletta,with chocolate truffles and *good* coffee for dessert).
Both horses did great. General isnt clipped, and Shirley must have had fun cleaning him up when she got him home-he was lathered and soaked.
The helmet cam started the beeping routine after only about 20 minutes of video, so I gave it to Bobby to put in his truck for safe-keeping. ( I guess I forgot to re-format the memory card after last use) Shirley carried the Nikon in her pocket ,and it got left on in video mode, so all of the memory got used up, save for these few still shots:
Miss Shirley and General, back after a 6 week holiday
Fat, but SOUND!!!!
22 yo General still showing some spunk on the hack back to the trailer
The well-rested and tanned lady of leisure. I didnt want to hear any complaints from her about having to get up early for the meet!
Is drafted. But the helmet cam got left in Bobby's truck when I took it off my riding helmet after it started beeping again. However, it did capture another close encounter with pilot #1 as he ran towards my friend, Shirley, and I on our horses. I'll add the video to the hunt report and post it later. Stay tuned!
Hunting this morning at 8am.
We didn't hunt yesterday. Sunday's temps did not get above freezing all day, and the WIND was incredible. 20-30mph,with 40 +mph gusts. Since this was forecast well in advance, we didnt even plan on hunting , therefore, everyone had enough notice to plan on doing something else. I planned on doing some house cleaning....
I baked Raspberry Cream Cheese brownies and then went to PetSmart to buy the incontinent old Lakie, Emmett, a "Male Sanitary Wrap", instead. . ( Not to be confused with a Doggie Diaper, which, apparently is best suited for bitches.) The "MSW " worked great, except he soaked through it within an hour of putting it on him. (Husband : "But I JUST had him OUT"...) But I digress....
Our meet time today was moved back to 10am to allow the ground to loosen and the temps to rise from the low 20's F. The forecast was for a high of 44F , 12 degrees warmer than the preceding day. Winds were to blow out of the S/SW at 10-20mph. It was pretty windy when we weren't in the woods.
SOMEONE invited the guests from Delaware back. I never got a chance to find out how many hounds were out altogether, since the guests never leave their hound trucks . They wait for us to find the fox(es), and then dump out. But it should have been 14 couple, unless somebody has a bitch in heat I dont know about.
Reno opened on the first fox at 10:20 am. All hounds harked -some from the woods and some from two trucks -(sic )and ran this fox to ground in 35 minutes. Charles denned in a hole in the middle of a cutover corn field, underneath the power lines, several hundred yards from the nearest road.
By the time Bobby and I caught up with Curtis and Tommy, they had walked some of the hounds out to the road , but most of the pack was beginning to drift back down the powerline towards the covert where the fox had been jumped. Bobby headed back to where our hounds had begun the cast ( via the roads) . Meanwhile, I walked across the field, through a nasty briar bed and on down the powerline cutover. Ran, actually. Now, I have always been a slow, long distance runner (slow twitch muscles!), and I gotta tell ya', these not-so- short sprints through tall grass and boggy ground "aint' easy"! Crap, why didnt I bring the horse today??! ) But I digress again....
I encountered about 6 couple of hounds in the cutover. I had been blowing the horn and Sara, Marilyn and Lark were coming to me, as were a couple of Tommy's. The rest were "visiting" hounds that chose to ignore me, which was ok by me. Bobby had called his back to his truck, along with my white bitch (Marney). Tommy and Curtis had most of theirs. So... since nothing else was paying attention to me, I jogged my girls the 3/4 mile to the road, where they were loaded.
Two hounds were still unaccounted for, one each of Curtis' and Tommy's, and it was decided that Bobby and I would draw the (upwind) Johnny Boy woods. If we got a fox, that couple should hark The plan worked like a charm and at 11:20 am, Part Time opened , all of *our* hounds harked, and we heard the tailgates of our visitors drop. (again!). This fox chose to stay in the Johnny Boy woods for the next 2 hours, running round and round and round and... well, you get it. The covert is full of water and briars and although the pack ran this fox steadily, they could only get up hard on him when he would cross back and forth over a small clearing in its' midst. I was never in the right place today to catch the sucker with my camera. Viewed him twice, but since the hounds werent able to burn his butt, I didnt bother much trying to video:
At about the two hour mark, we hatched another plan: Bobby,Curtis and I would walk into the covert from different directions and attempt to head the fox towards Tommy . If it worked, the fox should cross a wide , watery path only a few hundred feet in from a dirt road where the others waited -(in their trucks, of course).
Well, "Plan your hunt and Hunt your plan" - it worked!!! Except two foxes came out, about 200 feet apart.
Only Twister and a few visiting hounds were running the one closest to the dirt road. Bobby, Curtis and I had enough time from the tallyo to get in position to break the main pack. They were easy to break and I really think it's because they were probably getting bored with this fox, too.
All hounds were loaded and I was on my way home by 1:45 . Not a barn burner, but a steady fox that chose to stay tight today.
Although it never snowed at my farm until late in the day, by the time I drove 20 miles inland on the way to the meet, it was coming down heavily at 7:30 am. The temp was 37 degrees at my farm, and was probably hovering around same when hounds moved off at 8am. ( It CAN snow when the temp is above 32 degrees F!)
The white stuff was comng down in heavy, big, wet flakes.You can hear it !:
Several times hound opened and trailed briefly during the first two hours. It kept snowing harder and harder, and I was beginning to think that we might be about to experience our first blank day in ??? I dont know how long. Personally, I would'nt blame the foxes for staying holed up in that weather...
Finally, hounds found at 10:15 am. They chased this red fox for the next hour and forty five minutes and the longer they ran, the hotter they got up on him. Charles was viewed crossing over the dirt road in the video 6 times. Everyone got at least one view of him, except for me! Once, as I was watching one direction where he had come over during his previous loop, that sly sucker crossed right behind me. When Curtis and Bobby, who were standing 200 feet away, tally-ho'ed him and told me how close the fox had been to me, I thought they were joking. I had to find the fox tracks to convince myself that they weren't teasing me. They were not! Darn...but I was able to get up close and personal with the pack as they made that trip over the road, lol!
At about 11:30, our fox tired of this circuitous path and bolted out the south side of the woods to end up over at the "14 acres". Several times, he threatened to cross over a paved road that has several blind curves and we had to spread ourselves out to slow traffic. Just before noon, as I was watching one of those curves, Tommy and Curtis viewed the fox cross over a dirt drive, only a few hundred feet in from the blacktop road. Since the weather was beginning to change for the worse ( it had stopped snowing for awhile, but now the temperature was dropping, the wind was picking up, and it was starting to sleet),they held the pack up at the drive. All were on, and as Bobby and I raced to help them we could see the hounds FLYING. Both of us thought that there would be no stopping them, and we both were kinda hoping that Tommy and Curtis would fail in their attempt. But as we pulled into the lane, they were loading their hounds. I jumped out to get Marney before ANY hound decided to open and take off again. It was the sensible thing to do, I guess.
Considering the lousy weather, and the slow start, the day ended up with "all on" running a very hot fox. We'll be back for that one ...
Our first cast at 8:05am yielded two foxes from the get-go. Both were found in the "pony shed woods".One took most of the 10couple across the open, over Parker rd and on into the woods on the other side. From there, this fox continued his straight-necked ,downwind run , crossing over High Stump Rd, and going to ground in an earth on the other side. He did not want to play. Meanwhile, Part-Time, Reno and a couple of others were running their fox around the covert where they jumped it. Tommy and I wasted no time loading the hounds at the earth and getting them around to where Bobby was following this chase.
By 8:40, all hounds were on and running their pilot around the "Garden" and "Tacky Radishes".(Gawd, I never tire of these names,lol!) The wind was already gusting 15-20mph out of the NW. Temps were in the mid to high 30's. It felt colder. At around 9:15, Charles went to ground in the woods behind a church. THAT fox didnt want to play, either.Hounds were gathered and we headed over to Andrew Stafford's place for the next draw. It took awhile, but the pack finally jumped fox #3 in the woods behind Gallo's field.
This is the fox in the video. We had a brief split when 2 1/2couple took another fox out Chris Wyatt's driveway and headed east over Cattail Branch rd. Tommy stayed with them and broke them near my
ex- brother-in-laws' farm on Gallo rd. He harked those hounds to the others that were till running behind Wyatt's, and once again hounds were all on.
The wind was really blowing now, and hearing the pack was proving to be a challenge unless one was directly downwind. While we positioned ourselves thusly on the south side of the covert, the fox pulled a sneaky move and bolted east, running over Cattail Branch road. We caught up with the pack as they were running parallel to the road in a cutover cornfield. The fox had run a shallow ditch that parallels the road 100 yards in from the blacktop. When the pack made a sudden turn back towards the road, it was clear that Charles had flipped back over and had to have made a long run over a large wheat field , heading west to return to thw woods where he had been roused .. It was now almost 12:30, and the guys felt it was the opportune time to pick up hounds. We held the pack up at the raod, and all hounds were on save for two of Tommy's, which came up behind the others only a few minutes later.
NOTE: video subtitle says this is the second fox of the morning, but it was actually the third and last fox of the day.
During the first draw, right before our hounds found.
The open hardwoods!! Cant wait to hunt here on the horse!!
A lovely day for February: 37 F degrees at 7:15 am, sunny,with wind out of the W/SW. Highs temps were to reach the high 50's by early afternoon.
.. Tommy, Bobby and I were invited to bring our hounds to a meet in Sudlersville, Md, located about 40 minutes north of our regular hunt country. Our hosts, Mr. Buck Clough and Dale Kinnamon unkenneled 5 couple of hounds into the covert next to Mr. Clough's farmhouse at 9:15 am. Our visiting hounds numbered 6 1/2couple. A novice car follower viewed a fox away and across the road he was parked along, but his tallyho over the radio left us all puzzled as to exactly which way the fox travelled. A long cast ensued with hounds failing to find this fox . The woods here are very large, open, hardwood stands and the surrounding fields -mostly planted in winter wheat- have a slight roll to them ( hey, we have pancake-flat terrain with briar-choked, cutover softwoods, so this was a big deal to us !). 4 couple began to cold trail out of the woods and up into a field. All of mine were a part of that bunch, so I stayed with them. When nothing came of this, I brought these hounds back into the woods and caught up with Bobby. We had all of our hounds with us, while Tommy and Dale were about 200 yards deeper in the forest with all of theirs.
Minutes later, our hounds opened : old Reno first,and then the rest of ours honoring her in a unified chorus. In an instant, they were off and running with Tommys' and Dales' harking. It was 9:55am.
This fox made a quick swing through the woods, then was gone away over the same wheat field where I had been watching those 4couple trail earlier. Reynard ran the open for at least a 1/2 mile, crossed a paved road and entered a woods on the other side. From there, he headed east through that covert, crossing another paved road at a church,and continued on through yet another large covert before breaking into the open behind a farmhouse. Here, he ran hundreds of acres of cutover cornfields before going to ground at a large earth in the middle of one of them. It was a fast chase, ,covering a lot of open ground in only 35 minutes. Yikes, this was going to be an interesting day if this was any indication!
Bobby and I hiked the 3/4 mile to the earth from the nearest road but by the time we arrived about 5 couple had drifted into surrounding woods. ( The road was downwind from the hole, so blowing and calling was pretty much an exercise in futility until we got within a few hundred feet of it ) . Bobby walked out with the hounds we had, while I went after the others. My Marilyn had been at the hole as we approached it, but by the time we got there she had followed the others into the woods. The rest of my bitches walked out with Bobby. It took 15 minutes to coax the other hounds out of the woods. ( Our hosts' hounds didn't ' know me and didnt want to follow me out. ) All were accounted for save Marilyn and Bobby's Repo by 10:45am
The others left to go draw another covert about a mile further downwind. Since Marilyn and Repo would not be able to hear the pack and hark, I stayed behind and walked the country around that fox den for the next 1/2 hour until Marilyn decided to appear. There was no sign of Repo anywhere. Bobby and I hurried over to where the other hounds were running the second pilot of the day. We had all of our hounds (save for Repo) in the truck and were eager to get them turned back out.. Just as we drove up to a culvert where the other hunters were sitting, Reynard II popped out into the road right in front of us! How convenient! The pack made a check in the road , we let ours out, and they were back in the chase ( and after our hounds had caught quite a breather while Bobby and I were searching for Marilyn and Repo.) The thought occurred to me that might not sit too well with our hosts, but I was relieved to find it didnt matter to them at all, thank goodness!
All hounds were now on ( except for Repo),and they chased this pretty red fox acxross open wheat fields and into and through several large woods. ( There is alot of country here!!) At around noon, as we were positioned downwind of a covert where the pack was running, we viewed two foxes breaking away over the open and coming right at us . The first fox , although headed twice, perservered and crossed over the road where we sat, running in front of Tommy's truck ( the green truck in the video- you have to loook hard through the dirty windshield to catch a glimpse of him ) . The second fox was not as bold. It turned away and ran back towards the covert, running the side down until we lost sight of him. Hounds were coming on, but then hit the line of the retreating fox alongside the woods, thereby cutting off the loop this fox had made in the field in front of us. By the time we got "around the block" (one big-ass block!) to catch up with the pack,they were once again checked in the middle of a road. ( According to our hosts', their foxes are known for running the middle of the pavement. ) Hounds were not able to follow the scent down the blacktop and after a long check it was decided to load them and put them on the fox that had bravely crossed the road in front of us at least 20 minutes earlier.
They struck right away, as the video shows. But this fox had a good 1/2 hour lead and when the pack emerged on the far side of the woods after crossing the field in the video, they emerged into another cornfield and could not pick up the scent over that stubble. There was an irrigation lane bisecting the open. On one side was this corn stubble. The other side was planted in wheat. The hounds were trailing over the corn stubble, headed right for the lane. It was now after 1pm.
A short discussion went sort of like this:
Bobby: "should we get'em?"
Me: " He's too far ahead.and they cant smell him over that corn...."
Bobby:," yeeaaahhhh, but..."
Me: " If they hit that wheat and they get up on it better... then ????....."
Bobby: " yeah, we'll let'em go on then.."
[Lead hounds cross over the lane, cant smell any better on the wheat. they all trail back over into the corn stubble. Milling around, slowly moving back toward the lane]
Bobby: " hhmmmmmm, I dunno know..."
Me:: "They're not getting it.. Sh*t or get off the pot, Ireland. They're almost TO THE LANE . [Once they hit that wheat,we wouldn't be able to get in front of them] Whatcha gonna do ??? "
Bobby: "OK! LET"S BREAK"EM!!!"
( drives like a maniac down the lane in an attempt to get to hounds before they hit the wheat field again)
Me: " Blow the [ truck's] horn, BLOW THE HORN!!!!"
Which succeeded in getting hounds' heads'up.
And with much hilarity, mission accomplished.
End of story.
(We got invited back next week!!)
Some video to help illustrate the days' events :
I went back to the church after the hunt to look at some very old headstones in the cemetary.This was especially sad:
(Two sisters, aged 16 and 20, died 4 days apart in November, 1875.)
This headstone was carved in 1865, but look how clear the writing is...
Sunday was hunt #60 for my hounds so far this season!!!
Sunday was cold, mid -30's all morning but a NE wind blowing 10-15MPH made it feel much worse. I am so glad I hunted mounted on Saturday,when it was more pleasant.
Video from Sunday:( you cant get any closer to a fox chase than this!!)
This is Sunday's second fox of the day. We had three, total. ALL three went to ground in the same hole, even though the foxes were jumped in coverts miles apart.
Here's some video from Saturday's hunt: ( 4 hours total on Rap!):
Hunt reports will be added later.- lots of information to sort out !!
14couple, including our friend from New Jersey's hounds. A showery but warm morning ( 52 F) at the start. I snapped this picture of a rare morning rainbow at 7:15am while driving west to the meet. We had a bit of rain for the first hour of the hunt, then it cleared out, the sun came out and the temps warmed quickly to the low 60's before the day concluded.
Our first two foxes each ran for a short hour, and the hounds worked well ( see video for a great bit of houndwork as they recover a line on fox # 2. A truck follower had viewed a fox gone away from the covert we were drawing. I positioned Rap in the field adjacent to the covert, close to where Olin said the fox had crossed. The hounds failed to find in the woods, but as they emerged onto the edge some hounds opened and began to trail in another direction, 90 degrees from where the viewed fox ran. There had been two foxes, and our hounds settled on the one not seen. The first part of the video picks up right after the find.
Hounds were loaded after they denned this fox and driven about a mile away for another cast . I arrived at the covert to find hounds trailing a fox , but not doing much. When the pack broke covert and trailed across a wheat field headed towards a barn where we know foxes like to den in a drain pipe, it was quickly decided to break them . This fox was most likely ensconced deep within that pipe...
Now it was after 11am. . Jeff had driven 3 hours to join us, and all of us wanted MORE. Another draw was made at yet another covert about a mile further north. This time, hounds quickly found a fox that wanted to run. For the next 55 minutes this red gave chase all over the countryside, leaving Delaware and running west over the open for a good 1/2 mile into Maryland. There, Charles continued to cover an unusual amount of territory. So much so, that I would have thought it might be a coyote except for the fact that Tommy viewed him away. And there were NO checks -this was no swapping of foxes today! At 12:15, Charles ran a paved road for about 100 yards, thereby causing the pack to finally check for about 2 minutes. They recovered the line and ran a woods briefly to emerge onto a dirt road to the west. Here their pilot also ran the road, causing another check. Bobby and I were the first to arrive to find all of the hounds in the middle of the road. When it appeared as if this fox may have continued his journey further west into country we dont hunt, we opted to load them .We had one truck, yet managed to load all but about 6 hounds. The other men arrived minutes later to finish thejob. All hounds had been on! It was a quick end to a very fast chase. ...And we knew that Jeff would be going home to New Jersey with some very tired hounds. And I was going home to Delaware with a very tired horse!
Sara striking a pose during the first draw on Monday. She is a sweetie.
Saturday:
Gorgeous day-29 degrees, light frost, no wind at the draw. Temps rose to the mid-50's by later in the day, warmed by a S/SW wind blowing @ 10-15mph.
Only 8 1/2 couple with us today: my 2 couple,Tommy's 3 couple and Curtis' 3 1/2 couple.
Curtis viewed a fox on his way to the meet, so we went to try to find it. Mission accomplished within about 10 minutes and we had a nice chase on this red for 70 minutes before he went to ground .
Here's a pretty cool pic- this first fox was really being pressed by our hounds and you can see his tracks in the bottom of this photo- look how deep his nails have dug in! And then you see the hounds' tracks towards the upper left.
After that, two thwarted attempts were followed by my Lark finally finding our second fox . We had another chase of about an hours' duration before this red also went to ground.
They were both two good runs, but nothing especially exciting happened. Yikes, I hope I am not getting jaded .... O- I did drop my radio as I bent down to get my whip on Marney as we were walking out from the first den. Tommy lent me a spare. When the hunt was over, Curtis, Olin and I went back to the woods to hunt down the radio. Olin keyed his hand-held radio's mike while holding it up to some loud music on the truck radio. I think it took less than 3 minutes to locate mine. Good thing I hadnt turned it off as I often do so as not to have any chatter turn a fox...
Saturday night- baked cinnamon cake with cream cheese frosting for Curtis and Olin.
Sunday, Jan 30:
Curtis, Tommy, Freddy and Jeff hunted the Cannery . Because I had *that* knowledge beforehand, I decided to leave my hounds in kennels and just bring the horse. It would be nice to just follow a pack and not have to be concerned as to where my hounds were ,for a change.. 12 1/2 couple roused a red at about 8:10am. Reynard did a spin around the Cannery woods and then bolted across the road to run the "dry cow lot". He continued on, crossing High Stump rd at Stevie Leeks house. From there, the fox ran the state-owned ground behind Stevie's for a few minutes. The guys were on Burrsville rd to the west of the covert, while I was in the woods coming up behind the hounds. They said about 10-15 deer busted out across the fields next to Stevie's house, while the fox came into the same field but made a turn and bore away from the deer's path at about a 45 degree angle. Hounds never wavered and continued to push their pilot across another paved road and on over to the the Latham woods.
For the next 2 1/2 hours, hounds chased their pilot around the Latham woods. We actually think they swapped foxes a couple of times. Around 10:30, our fox ran back to the Cannery Woods and then made a tight swing to come right back over the road and across the cornfield behind Billy Parker's house. Billy has a big pile of old drain pipes in his back yard. The hounds ran around them, and through Billy's yard, checking behind Billy's garage. ( Billy had been sitting on his front porch for most of the chase, watching the fox and hounds go by!) A couple of hounds tried to pick up the scent on the other side of Billy's house, but the chase pretty much blew up there. Hounds couldnt recover the line, and at 11am the hunt was called.
It took another 1/2 hour to locate 2 hounds and discuss plans for the rest of the day. Freddy and Jeff wanted to hunt on, so they went elsewhere.
But Tommy and Curtis, knowing that we would be hunting again the following day , were ready to call it quits. (They knew that both Bobby and I would have fresh hounds for Monday's hunt! )
By the time I hacked back to my horse trailer, it was just noon. Rap was a very good boy! (Note to self: the cinnamon cake recipe is a keeper! )
Monday, January 30:
Once again, 12 1/2 couple were out. But a very different pack than Sunday's 25 hounds. I didnt bother much with the cameras all weekend -but I did get some hound music both days, so i might try and post short footage from both days just to see if one can hear the difference in the sound of the cry of the two packs.
Today it was my 4, Tommy's 6, Bobby's 6, Curtis' 6, and Jim's (guest from Delaware again) 3.
It was 29 degrees and a cold wind from the NW was to blow all day at 10-20 mph sustained, and higher gusts. I had thought about bringing Mel, and was glad I didnt. The wind was brutal all day. He'll get his chance later this week....
We cast the hounds at 8:15. At 8:35, a red fox broke covert on the west side , turned south, crossed the road and set his mask towards Wyatt's chicken houses, via Gallo's field and TaborWoods. Once in the woods behind Wyatt's, hounds ran up and down the covert for a good 45 minutes. then the pack split. 6 1/2 couple came on a red that crossed over Burrsville rd close to where it intersects with Cattail Branch rd to the south. We missed viewing the fox, but we got a good look at the hounds tearing it up across the paved road and alongside a hedgerow. We drove down a clamshell lane to the "gravel pit" and got there just in time to view Charlie across the lane in front of us. I was only able to capture the hounds as they FLEW by:
All of mine were running this fox, save Marney. She, meanwhile, was with the other 6 couple running thier own fox around Wyatt's.
When Marney's fox threatened to cross the road in front of Wyatt's and head towards Tommy's house, they decided to break that bunch. And therein lies the start of two frustrating hours that followed. I was following the other bunch, thinking I had seen all of my hounds on. But tommy radioed to me that he was pretty sure he had seen Marney over at Wyatt's. I went around to where they were loading hounds to get her, but she wasnt anywhere to be found.
Meanwhile, the other fox went to ground after a good run through the cutover woods near the "girls' trailer".
It was now 11am.. I had my farrier coming at 2pm. Three of my four hounds were loaded. Only Bobby's Part-Time( we KNEW he was with the bunch my 3 were with), and Jim's Lark ( not my Lark) were still on the ground along with Marney.
The wind was really roaring now, so I drove my pickup all the way behind Wyatt's chicken houses and alongside the big ditch. Then I started walking the woods. I found Lark for Jim, but no sign of Marney anywhere. I walked, blew the horn and \called her until I had to leave to go home at 1 pm. Bobby had Part-time loaded by now.
This is the first time in the 4 years that I have had my own hounds I left a meet leaving one "out". But I could'nt miss the farrier- I needed to have a long talk with him regarding Rap's feet. Tommy lived only a couple miles from Wyatt's, and Bobby lived nearby, too. I knew they would keep an eye out for her.
But I was really, really annoyed at Marney. I told the guys that whomever found her, could just keep her. I won't have a hound that doesn't come in. ...
So I started to drive home. Thinking the entire way how I could get back to the meet before dark to look for her some more. And then, just as I was but 10minutes from home, my cell phone rang. It was a man who lived next to Wyatt's. He had picked Marney up on the road right at Wyatt's lane, taken her home and put her in his pen. And waited-I dont know how long- before he noticed the ID plate on her collar and decided to call.
The entire time I was looking for and calling her, she was downwind from me. And couldnt get to me. I was relieved to know she was safe And ashamed that I was so quick to assume she was being naughty (especially because none of my bitches have ever been a problem before.) Bobby picked her up and offered to take her home to his kennel, but Jim was still at the meet and he offered to give her a ride home to Delaware. (Turns out he lives only 3 miles from me). I wanted her home in her own kennel!
All 5 of my girls got steak and noodles with their kibble for supper ( courtesy of the dumpster diver again!). I made sure Marney got a little extra. :-)
...when it's just OUR hounds! Today's forecast was for rain to develop in the afternoon as a warm front moved our way. Fridays forecast sounded like a total washout, while today we supposedly had only a 50/50 chance of light showers. I'll take those odds to hunt, any day.
Tommy brought 3couple, Bobby brought 3 couple( he left Part-Time home!) and my 2 couple made for a small pack of 16 hounds.
When I was about 15 minutes away from the meet, my cell phone rang. It was Bobby calling to tell me that a fox was sitting on a dirt pile 200 feet from him, " just waiting for us!". I told him that as soon as Tommy arrived, release the hounds and go!!!! I'll hark mine when I get there.
As I pulled around a corner only a few hundred yards from where they started at Danny's Pond , the radio crackeled: "STOP RIGHT THERE , HOUNDS ARE COMING RIGHT TO YOU!" . I slammed on the brakes, jumped out and dropped my tailgate. It was perfect. Moments later, I followed the pack as they swept through the woods parallel to the road and right alongside me.
We had a total of 3 foxes over a 2 hour time period., covering an impressive amount of territory. This first red ran the woods from Danny's Pond to Dead End, making some large circles for 45 minutes before turning his mask west. Now he changed course and headed west via Douggie Grey's branch to the Beaver Dam. A check of about 2 minutes followed. This is where we all agree that the first change over in foxes occured, because the route of the pilot changed completely. This one ran farther west, going up through Wickie's woods and on to the "Little Coal Woods" and "behind Millers" . He spun around there, crossing back and forth over a large power line cutover for awhile and then decided to break covert on the south side. He ran in the open behind Milllers for several hundred yards, then ducked back into the Coal Woods. He made that swing 3 times. During the second time around, as the hounds ran the foxes' line over the open, a group of about 10 deer were running single file across the same field, alongside the hounds, but a couple hundred feet away. It was cool to watch - the hounds were oblivious to the deer.
After the third trip, Charles sought safe haven in a huge woodpile in the cut-over section of the woods. It was around 9:45. Tommy had an 11 am doctors appointment. Ok- so we'll walk in and get the hounds ( it's about a 1/4mile walk to get to the edge of the woods, and then we had to pick through the mess of the cut over timber....and did I mention the water?? ) JUST as Bobby and I were only a couple hundred feet from the pile, the hounds opened again. Did they flush that second fox back out -or was this another tag-team switch in progress?
The log pile where fox # 2 switched over to fox #3
When Tommy viewed the fox cross from the Coal woods , over the open and through power line cutover, he was certain it was a bigger, lighter colored fox. And this fellow also ran a very different pattern, leaving the Coal Woods, crossing the branch and making a run behind Geisels chicken houses.He returned to the branch very quickly, and then ran up and down it, parallelling Almshouse Rd. Finally, he broke covert, crossed the road, and went into the Slaughter Woods to the south. But within seconds of getting inside that covert , he was viewed by a car follower crossing right back over the road, to return to Miller's ( "behind Miller's" is all open fields)
Ok- NOW, it was 10 am.. Hounds were running so much harder than they had yesterday and I knew it killed Bobby to ask Tommy, "what do you want to do, big brother?? This is a perfect time to get them..."
But he was right. And so we did. We had a long view of this last pilot as he made his way across the green wheat- I tried to video, but I've decided that if the video isnt exceptional, I'm not going to bother posting. ( I've been told by someone that the videos are boring). And I couldnt get the fox in focus....
We havent hunted the Coal Woods and Millers yet this year, but we will definitley be back here . And soon.
And without any time constraints, Charles James!
...after missing two hunts because of the flu. And 5 hours in the saddle was more than Rap and I needed, but it felt good to be out on such a beautiful day. We'll both sleep well tonight.!
Our guests from Delaware were back again, but today our total number of hounds was only 11 1/2 couple.
Bobby left Shamrock home because he noticed Part-time humping her and naturally assumed she was coming into heat. He had also left her home on Monday for the same reason. I remember he mentioned earlier this morning that she wasnt bleeding, and that was kind of odd....This has relevance later in this report, honest!!
We drew Johnny-boy's woods at 7:55am, and at 8:06 we had a fox on the move. Part-time made the find and he and 4 other hounds got ahead of the others. There was some babbling going on by some of the guests' hounds which caused the rest of the pack to be unable to hear those front hounds. It took us a good ten minutes to get to them and get them to shut up long enough so that they would hark. ( The woods is virtually underwater, and the surrounding fallow cornfields are as wet as a soaked sponge. Rap was sinking in past his ankles with every step across the fields).
Our fox made one big sweep through Johnny-boys woods, running west to Frog Hollow where he was viewed crossing the dirt road by a car follower. He made a loop through Frog Hollow and came right back to where hounds found him. All with only 2 1/2 couple on his brush. But his decision to swing back worked in our favor and by 8:40, all hounds were on. This red gave the hounds a good chase until just before 10am, when he went to ground only a few hundred feet from where he had been roused. I was able to get to them and call them out, and by the time I had them on the edge of the field, the guys were pulling up along the dirt lane where we had unkennelled earlier. I had a very sloggy couple of hundred yards of wet field (planted in ground cover) to cross to get the hounds to the trucks. All but Part Time followed me out, and he wont follow anybody but Bobby, so my feelings weren't hurt, lol! ( this little tidbit also has relevance for later in this report!).
Bobby had to walk in and retrieve Party, who was doing what Party does best when he's not hitting a line - farting around. Meanwhile, the rest of us headed a bit north for the next cast. Bobby joined us only a few minutes later. While Tommy cast his hounds, we got a chance for a quick cup of coffee. The time was10:30am.
Rap wanted a bite of Bobby's sandwich. He got a peppermint instead ..
No sooner had we begun our brunch break when Tommy's hounds opened. I hopped back on Rap and we dropped the tailgate. ... And then Tommy's pack shut up seconds later! We walked ours into the woods towards his and you-know-who began to tongue. Our other hounds honored, Tommy's harked, and our next chase was gearing up. It was around 10:36.
This fox ran the "14 acre piece" and the woods on the north side of Wilhelm rd for about 1/2 hr. A little after 11am he crossed Wilhelm Rd , setting his sites for the woods where our first fox gave chase.....and went to ground in a hole about 100 yards in from Wilhelm Rd. This particular covert is rented by unfriendly deer hunters, and although the season is pretty much over, we try to stay out of it. Horse tracks would not be wise, so I dismounted and walked in to help get hounds away from the hole.
All were accounted for save 3 couple. Part-Time and my Marney were two of them. For the next ,o- almost two hours (!!!!!) we hunted for hounds. By 12:30, all were accounted for save... yep, Part-Time and Marney. What a pair to have out.....together!
At 1pm, I put a very tired Rap on the trailer , hopped in a hound truck and got a lift back to where the fox had crossed over Wilhelm Rd. I began to walk the woods where the fox went in, while the guys did reconnaissance on the roads. At the same time, Bobby walked into the "14 acre piece" . And there, he just happened to hear Marney yelp, one time. And THERE was Part -Time - all over her, trying to hump her. Now I KNOW she's not in heat, since she was just in heat in December...
Well, that explains it.....lol! Part-Time is becoming quite literally a pain in the arse. ( And Shamrock missed out on two hunts for no reason.)
Hunting tomorrow, but it will be only my hounds, Tommy's and Bobby's. YAY!!!! Since Shammy isn't really in heat, and neither is Marney, we should have a total of 9 couple out. Yeah - including Part-Time.
.....despite getting a flu shot last fall, I still caught the bug on Friday night. Yuk, don't want to relive this past weekend anytime soon....
So, I missed Sundays hunt, a short one of 1 1/2 hrs duration. The hounds ran one red the entire time and marked him to ground at 10:30am.
Today, 13 1/2 cple ran for a total of over 4 hours. The last chase resulted in the pack accountng for their fox after a two hour pursuit. My hounds missed out again.
Feeling much better today, expect to have my girls out on Wednesday. Will probably take Rap rather than Mel, since I'm not feeling mentally or physically ready to deal with the big guy..
Missed celebrating my mom's birthday yesterday, but I don't want to get anywhere near her until I am totally over this flu. Lunch at Mason's will have to be next week, mom!
The morning started off sunny, windless and 11 degrees warmer than the day before .
16 couple unkenneled at the meet with a more subdued sense of enthusiasm than they had the previous morning. (4 hours of hard running will do that!). But all hounds that had participated in yesterday's good chase returned for more. Our additional 1/2 couple was Part-Time -Bobby had left him home on Thursday because , as he put it then, "he ain't right"(!)
Whatever ailed Party yesterday morning had resolved by yesterday afternoon!
We walked the pack in on two sides of the covert: Bobby and I walked ours into the west side, while Tommy and Jim walked the others into the east side. There's alot of standing water in this woods, as there is everywhere in most places, and this coupled with the fact that hounds were not as anxious as yesterday meant that it took about 25 minutes before anything began to happen.
Roscoe, Reno,Pearl, Repo (all Bobby's) and Marilyn and Sara (mine) opened at 8:55 and began to run their fox west. As the other hounds began to hark, they ran into another red on the way. This pilot headed north. Wonderful. As perfect as the chase yesterday had been, the hunt today would prove to be a headache.
The bigger packs' fox ran for the next two hours, trying like hell to cross RT 317. We turned him at least 4 times. Each time, hounds came too close to the road for comfort for me.
I spent the entire hunt guarding the branch (def: woods with water running through it!) where it ran underneath the road.
Fortunately, during an early swing in his run Charles came very close to where the smaller bunch had just denned their fox. Bobby had walked to the pond where those hounds were digging at the hole to hark them to the big bunch. Just as he was getting to the pond, the fox that the larger pack was pressing ran past him. Right past him. Like, less than 50 feet. Charles then jumped into the pond and swam across it to the other side. Bobby watched as the pack followed. The entire time, he had the radio mike keyed. Besides hearing the hounds roaring as they flew past him, you could hear the splashing as they hit the water. And then this, " Awwww, where's that lady with the camera???!! Too bad she's missing this!" And on, and on, and on, lol! Damn....how often does one get the opportunity to witness that?!
At 11:00am, when two foxes broke covert right in front of Tommy and Olin, we all got there in time to break and load the hounds. I had had enough of doing highway patrol, as had the others. Hounds will get a well-earned day off tomorrow, and then go again on Sunday. In Delaware. And as far from a highway as we can get!
..15 1/2 couple ran the first red from 8:48am until the fox got tired and switched the pack onto a fresh red at 11:50am. ( This first fox ran in the open alot, and at around 11:30 he began to make some tight swings in the woods without keeping to his previous pattern of running back and forth across the wheat field seen in the video).
The fresh fox ran in the woods the entire time. At 12:45 when we viewed him cross over the dirt road only a couple hundred feet in front of us we decided to break the hounds . Their second pilot was headed into different territory, and although all hounds were on, four hours' running was enough. (We are hunting again tomorrow. When we invited our guests to come back again, they seemed surprised and said they would have to rub their hounds down with liniment tonight. We'll see if they come back tomorrow!!)
When we met at 8:30am, we thought we counted 15 couple , including the guest hounds from Delaware ( still shotgun season for deer in Delaware). But as you will hear, we actually had 15 1/2, lol!
It was 22 degrees at the draw, but warmed up to 42 by the time we finished.
Will be remembered as the day I mooned the fox when I went into the woods to pee and he ran right behind me...no video of that, thank goodness!
Watch Sara (the only lemon hound) as she pauses at the ditch before going through it.This was the third time this fox had made this huge circle across the open, and I can just imagine her thinking " OMG, we gotta run that field AGAIN??!" LOL! But she stayed packed up right with them all day. I love my hounds!
Sunday,January 15th was as cold and windy as the day before . 14 1/2 couple were put into the covert at 8:35. It was 22 degrees, and that north wind was still blowing...
I brought Rap and had parked my trailer at a blanket customers' house located about a mile or more away from where the hunted started .We had a nice warm-up hack over a rock-solid dirt road to catch up with the guys. If Rap wasnt sound, I'd know it real quick!
The video is chronological, so you will get an idea of how the day played out. The woods are very thick on the County House side, and thick and very swampy on the "branch" side. There was little open running today as the fox stayed in the woods most of the time.
Hounds found at 8:45 am, and the first couple minutes of the video shows Rap and me catching up with the pack . Hounds had split,jumping two foxes at the same time. But 5 1/2 couple quickly gave up their pilot and harked to the other bunch. (I do alot of counting heads when that happens,as you'll notice!) Also,remember that the FOV of this camera makes everything look farther away than it really is, most of the time when you see the hounds, i am right on top of them, watch full screen via Utube)
This fox stayed right in the County House ,running back and forth over the dirt lane that cuts through it several times. I guess he didnt want to run out in that wind, either! After about an hour and a half, hounds made a check in the woods and shut up completely, but for only about 45 seconds. When they began to tongue again, it sounded different, and the route of their pilot also changed. The fox made a couple swings through the north side of the woods and then crossed the dirt lane and took off through the branch side ,setting his sights for the Dead End woods. I'm pretty certain there was a fox tag-team switch at that check...
....Because this fox never returned to the County House Woods for the remainder of the chase, running the Dead End Woods side of the branch for the following 75 minutes. At about 11:20, I viewed him cross a path near Danny's Lot. The guys were out on a paved road, about 1/2 mile away, but had access to the area via a dirt drive.When I point and say,"he'll probably swing around", I was right. The fox made a circle back toward the dirt drive.
(Note: when I say "here they come' and you see a hound run past me and harking, that hound was not skirting. That was Bobby's dog, Roscoe,who Bobby had loaded a little earlier when I saw him getting ready to go "exploring" by himself, lol!. ) A hasty decision was made to break the pack, and the hound trucks were in position when Charles circled around and overtop of the drive. Nice. All hounds were on, and I noticed several had ice on their coats. By 11:30, all hounds were loaded and we decided to call it a day. Afterall, the Ravens game was to start at 1pm...
