Liberty Corner 12/30/21

 

Today was an odd hunting day.  We were supposed to be at Christmas Hill and we were, briefly.  We were all there and mounted up when about five deal ran across the field and into the woods, followed by a pack of hounds.  Not our hounds.  Apparently some deer hunters were out and about with there hounds.  We were milling about when we heard the first of several gun shots.

Matthew at that point said that unloading our hounds was out of the question.

We were standing around deciding what to do when MFH Liz King asked if it were possible would be willing to relocate to another fixture or stay and trail ride.  The vote was everyone to nothing to try to relocate.  Liz got busy on the phone and we were given permission to hunt at Liberty Corner.  So everyone loaded back up and off we went.  I must say there were some confused hunt horses including mine.  Munchkin could see why he should load when he hadn't gone hunting yet.

Unfortunately, Liberty Corner was kind of like "Twas The Night Before Christmas" - not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  Not quite 100% true.  We did see a rabbit and we did spook up a couple of pheasants.

We covered about seven miles today on what was an overcast  but nice day to ride.

Millington 12/26/21

 

The map above is the Boxing Day hunt at Farmington Hunt.  It was also a Junior Day and we had quite a few juniors out.  Before I get to far I will admit that the yellow indicating the coyote track is speculation based upon my conversation with Matthew afterwards.  Unfortunately,  my hound tracker was not picking up any of the hound collars.  That means I need to re-sync with Moe as I seem to be losing collars one at a time.  Hopefully I'll get that done at the next meet.  So all description below is a lot of guess work and speculation on my part.

It was a very warm day.  High in the 50's when we headed out and near 70 when we came back in.  There were a lot of tired horses.  Munchkin is incredibly fit and he looked tired from the combination of heat, distance and speed.

Down to the action.  Matthew initially worked through the woods by the meet but eventually ended up by the river.  The hounds had just crossed the river when they hit and took off - fast!  They took off and were running pretty much along the river from the backside of fox ridge farm and up behind Whipporwill farm.  They got a bit beyond Whipporwill and then crossed Ridge Road and ran past the pink barn.  Then they head back across the road and eventually crossed the river over to Percy Woods.  At Percy Woods they turned a couple of loops and then were back across the river and headed to Schelford.  The coyote was lost near the hanging bridge in Schelford.  

I really wish I had the hound track to get more exact and also to see the distance covered.  I'm sure it was a lot as the second flight covered 8.5 miles.  I am also sure there was some good speed on the hounds.  They hit and were gone fast.  So fast that we  couldn't hear them.  We were always in catch up mode the entire run.  By the way the run lasted for the better part of an hour and a half.

We provided quite the entertainment for the people on Ridge Road as the hunt was running up and down the road.  I saw several people taking pictures and video along the way.

The second flight was also moving quite fast.  At one point, probably not the whole flight, but at least some of us hit 24 MPH.  There was also some great riding exhibited by Rebecca B.  She was riding a horse she said that had only been out a couple of times.  As we were cantering down Ridge Road, he spooked at a person and had one foot in each corner and was sliding along.  Then he hit the pavement of the driveway of Fox Ridge and much scrambling ensued.  How he stayed upright and Rebecca stayed on, I'll never know but it was some pretty impressive riding.

The juniors were also great as they handled the speed and the endurance needed.  I'm not sure how many of them ride for that long at those kinds of speeds but they did.  What was really impressive was that there were really no checks to catch your breadth.  Our moving average was pretty the same as our overall average speed which means we weren't stopping for anything.

A really ,really good day.

Yadkin 12/21/21

 

 

 

 

Today we were at Yadkin and it was a good day for hunting.  Obviously a lot of people agreed as the fields were big.  I think we numbered over 40 souls including several juniors that were already on the Christmas break.  The map above is the summary for the day.  The blue line is the second flight and the red are the hounds.  The hounds covered about 9.7 miles while the second flight covered about 5.6.  

This map immediately above is a reduction down to just the fox run.  Hounds are the red line and second flight is the blue line.  We were about ten minutes into the hunt and had just come around the horse pastures and were ducking back into the woods when the hounds hit.  They were moving immediately and heading west when they intersected the farm road that comes off Buck Mountain Ford.  They were coming down the road and when they got to the base of the mountain, up they went.  They were just below the top of the mountain when they started to turn to our left (as we were positioned on the road).

The second flight was on the road when the fox bolted across the road and was spotted by a member of the second flight.  The hounds followed a few minutes later on exactly that line.  They then cut between some pastures and circled around in front of the house before carrying the run into the woods that are between the house and trailer parking.  It was in there that the hounds lost the fox.

It was a fast run that went for about 20 minutes.  During that time the second flight was doing some cruising around 18 MPH on those trails in the woods but the hounds were turning a pretty sporty 30 MPH at times.

Locust Grove 12/16/21

 

Today was hunting at Locust Grove which has been a productive fixture this year.  Today was a three fox day.  It was two short runs followed by a long run.  The map above the blue line is the second flight.  The yellow line is the first run.  The orange line is the second run.  The red line is the third run.

Matthew started off by looping around the field below the trailers.  Then he came up the hill and got the hounds into the woods by the meet.  The hounds were quickly onto a red fox that was viewed by Matthew and Carolyn when it crossed the driveway.  After crossing the driveway it headed downhill and went to ground in a culvert pipe next to the river.

Matthew gathered the hounds and headed along the river before heading up the hill to the big house at horseshoe farm.  The hounds found again and gave another red fox a run and it too went quickly to ground over the the sunflower field.

So two quick runs to get us warmed up on an already warming day.  Given the high temps you might have thought that was it for the day.  But not true.

From Horshoe Farm we headed up to Whiskey Ridge and immediately ducked back into the woods heading around around a quick loop.  Just about as we completed the loop the hounds were once again on a fox.  The run was heading through the saddle area down between the loops of the river.  They were about to the steep climb we did a few weeks back the last time we were at Locust Grove.  Then they made a turn and began working their way in the general direction of Free Union Road.

In the mean time there were some sightings of a coyote up on the ridge by the second flight and Carolyn.  Matthew came and joined the group and called for the hounds but they weren't coming.  They were busy working a fox not that coyote.  

While on the ridge we could really hear the hounds and they sounded good.  They were also fading away from us and then we got the report from Moe that the fox had crossed Free Union Road and headed into Camp Albemarle.  At that point the hounds were gathered and we headed in.

It was certainly a warm day.  We all look to take care of our horses by letting them drink from the rivers and streams.  But some people are more aggressive in taking are of their horses.  Today that person was Lou who graciously took his horse for a swim, not once but twice.  He was so concerned for her welfare that he dismounted in the river for her.

For the day second flight covered 6.7 miles and the hounds were a little over 7 miles.

THH High Thicket 12/10/21

 

Today Munchkin and I went for a change of scenery and were out with the Thornton Hill Hounds.  We started out at the High Thicket fixture.  I think it's been a decade since I've hunted from that area.  I don't have a hound track today because I wasn't tracking the THH hounds.  So all run routes are my best approximation.

We started to the north on a little loop away from the meet.  We were on that loop and almost in sight of the trailers when the hounds hit.  It started with a few but quickly the whole pack joined.  With the tight little hills the sound was awesome.  It was a steady run that generally continued north.  We went for about fifteen minutes on that run.  The yellow line on the map id the run.

We continued on north and then started to bring the track around.  We had one aborted run along the way.  Just as we were coming to the woods along the eastern base of Turkey Mountain the hounds started up again.  It was a slow start but quickly built with sound avalanching down the side of the mountain.  The hounds continued up the mountain with the fields following behind on a deer track.  After a little bushwhacking we got to one of the trails.  At this point the hounds were running above us just below the top of the ridge.  We could always hear the hounds and depending upon the terrain get a pretty good view.

As the run went on the hounds started turn down the mountain towards Fletchers Mill Rd.  It looked like they were going to keep following that line across the road but suddenly made a sharp turn and run right through the middle of the second flight.  They did cross the road and headed south across an open field.  They were running in the direction of Rudasil Mill Rd but instead bent south again.  A little while later the run ended.

The day was called at that point.  Munchkin and I covered about 8.5 miles while MFH Beth Opitz said the hounds did 11.5.

It always nice to get out and see different territory and a different pack of hounds from time to time.  It's been probably 7-8 years since I was last out with THH and I'll have to make it a point to get back.