FHC, Mount Fair, November 29, 2022

Wally and I had a really great morning today at FHC at Mount Fair. The weather was beautiful and we seem to keep getting just enough rain to keep scenting decent.

We were about 20 minutes into the hunt when the hounds got onto a line in the woods not far from the trailers. The fox cut up from the woods back into the field where it was viewed by third flight. It continued on past the old house and exited across the road. It was a short run but a good start to the day. Yellow line

Mathew then took the hounds back and went back into the woods just below the trailers. We weren't long in the woods when the hounds started to speak and head up the hill toward the barns. It seemed like the had lost but were actually running heal. They figure it out and got back in the right direction. They did a big loop and this time went up by the barns where the fox was viewed by the third field I believe. We dove back down the hill and into the woods. We came back out into the field to see Matthew sprint up the hill to stop the hounds as the fox had again ran out of the territory. Apparently there was a meeting of foxes and the outlined all of the territory boundaries. Orange line

After we went across Browns Mill to Deep Rock farm. We were about halfway up the new farm road when the hounds headed right and took off through the woods parallel to Browns Mill and along Doyles River. It wasn't long before the fox high tailed it down the road and out of the territory. He also must have attended the pre-hunt strategy meeting. Red Line

After that we called it a day. We covered about 7 miles on a brisk moving day.

 

THH, Kennels, November 24,2022

 

 

Munchkin and I had a good morning at THH this morning. 

 

We got off to pretty fast start. The hounds opened all as one about twenty minutes into the hunt. It was only a 12 minute run but it was fast. It covered about 1.5 miles.

 

It was quiet for quite a while then a fox was spotted going through a stable. This was the same area where the killer mini lives that Wally encountered the other day. Munchkin never gave it a second look. It took a bit for the hounds to find the line but when they got it, they ran pretty hot. It ended up being about a 40 minute run.

 

So a pretty good start to Thanksgiving Day. We covered 11.25 miles in about 2:50.

 

THH, Thornton Hay Fields, November 22

 

Wally and i had fun this morning at THH. It was a nice change in weather.

I'm not sure if it was two three foxes that got run. Wally was pretty good except for about five minutes when he decided he didn't input for me. We got on a down hill canter and he decided to just roll on down the hill. It took two pulley rein circles to get his brain back. After that he was good.

The funny thing was when we had to go down a lane between two paddocks. There were horses in both paddocks. Wally was going along when a mini trotted over and stuck its head through the fence. Wally's reaction was "holy shit! What is that?" He got past it though. The next time back he didnt look twice at the mini.

It was a good day. We covered about 7.25 miles.

FHC, RedGate, NOvember 17,2022

Today we were at Redgate.  When we got to the meet the temperature was around 37 which is great. The wind that was whipping across the field was not great.  The best hope was to catch something on the leeward side of the hills to stay our of the wind.

We started out by looping around the field at the meet but didn't draw anything.  We crossed the road and went into field over the barway just off the road.  We went across the dam by the pond and headed up the hill.  We had just crested the hill when the hounds got started.  They were in the woods just below us.  They sounded good but as soon as they got high on the hill the voices dropped off.

Once they got over the top and dropped out of the wind they got going again.  This was going to be the theme of the entire run.  It was an awesome run as the hound kept battling through the wind and staying on that fox.  They ran north paralleling Millington Rd and eventually crossed the road near Carters Bridge.  We followed them and ran to the clear cut where we crossed paths with them.

We then backtracked around and caught up with them in the woods in BunkHouse.  The hounds then started back toward Millington and put the fox to ground.

It was an awesome run because it really showed off the hound work.  They kept battling through the wind to re-acquire the sent and eventually won the battle.  The run lasted for 50 minutes and the first flight covered 3 miles with a top speed of around 21.2 MPH. 

For the day we covered 6.84 miles.  The hounds ran a lot more than that.

THH, Mountain View, November 13,2022

 

Wally and I had a fun morning today with THH. It was also a joint meet with Rapp Hunt. I love joint meets when both hunts bring hounds. Today there 16.5 couple 33 hounds) of THH hounds and 7.5 couple (15 hounds) of RH hounds. It is always cool to have the two packs come together and work really well. It was also fun to see quite a few people from RH that I had not seen in a few years.

It was a cold morning as well. The temps were in the mid 40's and the wind was blowing. I wasn't expecting much with that much wind but it seemed we were constantly on the run. One run went about 2.3 miles and we covered it in about 20 minutes. There seemed to be several shorter runs but I lost track.

 

Later in the meet a coyote crossed in front of the second flight. Beth got the hounds around and got them on the line. The hounds took off pretty quickly. That lead us down a trail that would be politely called a slide. With the recent rain there wasn't a lot of footing to found and slide was all that was left to do.

 

So it was a good day.

 

Wally was pretty good although the first hour he was quite strong and fussy with his head. As soon as someone trotted he wanted to canter. This was his first cold day of hunting in two years. So I think he was a bit up from that cold wind blowing up his butt. Overall it was good experience for him to put in the bank. Lots of hills, good running and a cold wind. For the day we covered about 9.25 miles. At one point going up Schoolhouse Mountain he hit 17.8 MPH. His top end was 18.1 MPH today.

THH, High Thicket, November 6,2022

 

I hunted Wally on Friday. These days I rarely ever do back to back hunts because of my back. I really wasn't planning on hunting but kept thinking about it and then at 8 this morning decided to go. It was a great decision.

I was out with THH and we had two really great fox runs. The first was about 25 minutes and the hounds put the fox to ground. The second was about a 35 minute run. It doesn't sound like much except for how fast those runs were. Munchkin was up over 20 MPH many times. On the first run he went over 24 and on the second he was over 25.

His athletic ability is still amazing. On the second run, we got behind a little bit due to some people going in. By the time we got straightened out we could see the rest of the flight heading down the road. So Munchkin was cruising along. We had to jump a bar way which wasn't that big. There was a utility box a couple of strides past the jump. So it required an immediate turn to the left and then a turn to right to get down the road. I knew what was going to happen and committed to it. Munchkin came over the barway and turned in the air to the left. He landed, took one stride and then made the turn to right going down the road. All of this was done at a pretty good speed.

On the first run we had an interesting moment. We were coming up to a coop and were about a stride out. Just then a hound came alongside of us and Munchkin shifted to the left and jumped. My boot whacked the gate post pretty hard. Thank god for steel toed boots.

So a really fun day. We covered 8.7 miles for the day.

 

FHC, Chapel Springs, November 1,2022

 

Munchkin and I had a nice morning with FHC at Chapel Springs. It was beautiful out. Sunny, warm and a little breezy. Beautiful but not ideal for foxhunting. We basically worked Chapel Springs from top to bottom. The hounds spoke early but it didn't lead anywhere. 

 

 On the way back up just by the pond Mathew took the hounds and cut through the woods. The hounds started speaking quickly.  The fields meanwhile had to loop around the end. We came around at a good run and shot the gap between the sheds and the house. Then we continued on across the field to almost the fence line. When we got there the hounds had put the fox to ground.

 

So a slow day capped off with a short but fast run. It was kind of like getting a birdie on the last hole of golf - leaving you the feeling that you need to come back for more. Somewhere on that run Munchkin and I popped up to about 22MPH for about five seconds. For the day we covered about 6.5 miles.