Greenfields, February 26,2022

 

Today was hunting at Greenfields.  It was the best weather we have had in a well, the footing was good, and the views were spectacular.  Alas, it was not a very busy day. 

The hounds had multiple false starts where they'd get going and then be called back, or they would get going and stop suddenly.   This probably happened four or five times early in the hunt.  We did have one good short run near the end.  We were over on Liberty Corner and hooked into a field just off of Langhorne Road.  Top right of the track above.

It turned out that the way out of the field was blocked by downed trees.  Of course that is when the hounds hit and we had to loop back out of the field to get around to where the hounds were.  By the time we got around the hounds had gone silent.  It was a sporty little run.  The GPS on my horse showed a top speed of 21 MPH.

It was not to say the day was without entertainment.  The original plan was to cross from Greenfields over to Lone Oak (I may have that name wrong).  We had just crossed over and Matthew was hunting the hounds when BAMMM! a gun shot in a stand of trees along the field we were in.  It turns out there were people hunting rabbits.  It's the second time in the last month or so that we had to displace due to live gun hunting.

Change of plan and we were off to Liberty Corner.  We worked around Liberty Corner and not much was happening.  The first interesting thing is about technology.  I saw I had a good houndtrack when I got home except that the top of the track was missing.  It disappeared just as we crossed behind the kennels and then reappeared when came out from behind the kennels later in the hunt.  So that is the geeky interesting thing.

I was never aware, or maybe its new, that there is an Equine and Farm Animal rescue that borders Liberty Corner.  We passed it coming and going and they had it all - chickens, sheep, pigs (practice for Miller School), mules (in with the pigs and sheep) and horses.  As far as I know all of the FHC horses reacted very well.  

We did cover a lot of ground today - 10.9 miles.

Green Mountain Station, February 22,2022

 

Despite the iffy weather forecast for the day, we managed to get a hunt in in what turned out to be decent but gray weather.  We only really got rained on twice today and it was only for a few minutes and barely a mist.  It was actually a comfortable day and it had great promise with some damp ground, clouds and still air.

Lot's of promise, no delivery.

 We started out by hacking through the woods to the south down toward Esmont Rd.  There was very little for trails and a lot of bushwhacking through the woods.  The first half of the hunt featured a lot of bushwhacking.  The worst part of that was along the power lines.  That was pretty much all thorny thickets.  Even the hounds wanted no part of it and were traveling single file.

We eventually turned back north and continued working through the woods.  We popped out on Green Mountain Road by Nydrie and then back into the woods while paralleling the road.  In all this time, the hounds weren't always silent.  Multiple times they started speaking but never went anywhere.

Matthew worked around Coleswood pretty well and we had one brief run of about 100 yards.  At the end of that 100 yards, the hounds were sticking there heads down a hole.  So we are going to count that as running one to ground.

The rest of the day was kind of like the first half except we were out in the fields and not in the woods.

We got done before the rain game.  For the day we covered 8.6 miles.

Hunting Ridge, February 19, 2022

 

Today we were at Hunting Ridge.   The scenting conditions were not good.  We had a strong wind at the start and it kept getting windier as the hunt went on.  The ground conditions re:footing were improved but for scenting not so much.  The grass fields were very dry and crunchy as were the leaves in the woods. The footing underneath as kind of soft.

Going in the best we could have hoped for was that Matthew would get the hounds down low along one of the rivers and get the hounds out of the wind.  We were hopeful a run down low that might keep going.  It would have seemed that anything that got to the top of the ridge, the wind would blow away.

We initially started by hunting around Hunting Ridge.  The hounds did get speaking once but once the crested the hill into the wind, it was all over.

We crossed over Ridge Road and started hunting down towards Meechums River.  We got to the bottom there was no wind but also no scent.  We crossed over the river utilizing some dicey ins and outs of the river.  We had just crossed when the hounds hit and headed straight up the hill.  Sure enough, they came out of the woods on the Schelford training track and the scent was gone with the wind.  Yellow Line

From there we crossed through Schelford and dropped back down to the river. Nothing was happening there and we crossed the river over towards Laurel Ridge.  The hounds hit and headed back up the hill.  It looked like it was going to be another short run but the hounds manage to stay on the trail despite the wind and crossed over Ridge Road heading down to the Moorman River.  Orange Line

They turned left and followed the river for a while before turning back up towards the ridge passing the polo field and tennis courts at Whipporwill farm.  They crossed back of the ridge and continued back down toward Meechums where they put the fox to ground.

It was a pretty amazing run considering how hard that wind was blowing.

For the day we covered about 8.2 miles.

Indian Echo, February 12,2022

 

Beautiful day today.  A bit warm but the cloud cover kept things from being over cooked.  The footing has been improving rapidly.  The worst places are still the downhills which can be anything from greasy mud to crumbly.   They really test the balance of horse and rider.  Surprisingly there are still some places that are frozen.

Today we started out at Indian Echo but all the action actually happened at Yadkin.   We came out of Indian Echo and followed Buck Mountain Creek north.  It was pretty quiet as we made our way to McNeely's Shed and then crossing the road over to Yadkin.  Matthew was working the hounds over to the Johnson's when they hit.   It was a sputtering run initially with the hounds speaking off and on.  They were heading north towards the power line before eventually coming south again toward the horse paddocks.  They were in the woods just east of the paddocks and still speaking inconsistently when Matthew got them all together.

Once they were gathered, they moved in the direction of Buck Mountain and then they really took off.  They went past the barns and really got moving up the mountain.  They got to the top and the pack split into two groups.  One group seem to start milling around and it was determined that they had put the fox to ground.  It was a pretty good run even if it took us 4 miles to get there.

Matthew then started to hunt his way back and was at Mcneely's when he decided to call it a day.  The hounds were pretty spent from the warm temps and from running the mountain.

For the day we covered 8.75 miles.

Millington, February 2,2022

 

Today was the first hunt in almost a month.  You couldn't ask for a nicer day in February than we had today.  The footing was a whole other story.  We had everything: deep mud, mud, greasy mud, fozen ground, ice and snow.  Thank god for good studs.

If Lou P.  would have been out I'm sure he would have had a lot to write about with the creek crossings and working around the downed trees.  Most of the crossing were pretty muddy.  Not too bad as normal hunting goes.  Then we had a couple that could cause atheists to become religious.  The first was a very steep bank that kept narrowing down until there was a sharp drop off into the creek.  So a lot of slipping and sliding.  The second was a steep back that was frozen solid and still had some ice on it.

Both required the same technique.  Slip the reins,lean back, grab the pommel of the saddle, raise your eyes to the heavens and pray that your horse handles it well.  No one ended up in the creek at either crossing.  Probably says less about prayer and more about the amazing abilities of hunt horses.

On to the hunting.  By mu count there were seven times that the hounds started up.  Over one one hour period they seem to start up about every ten minutes.  In the map above those locations are marked by the orange stickpins and are numbered in order.  If you link one through six together it would have been a heck of run.  As it was, they were just short bursts.  My theory, not discussed or approved by Matthew, was that the changing ground conditions through the scenting off as hounds were covering ground that might have been muddy in the sun but became frozen solid in the shade.

Either way, the hounds sounded great.  It was so great to get out and see everyone and just have a fun day following the hounds.  We covered 9.6 miles today.