Stonewall Hounds Blog

Hunt Report: Mar. 18, 2008

Filed under: 2007-2008 — Cheryl @ 7:30 am

Fixture:  Cedar Ridge Farm, 9 a.m.

Members:  Lili, Kate, Carol, Dr. Cheryl, Marie, Earl, & Howard

Weather:  mild and partly sunny

Hounds: 7 couple

I.D. Awards: None that anyone admitted

Tailgate/Breakfast:  In Carols’ kitchen (thanks!)

The Hunt:  (posted from Lili) Tuesday’s hunt was another bobcat day. Kate had the honors of catching sight of a small bobcat crossing the road while steady, old Dawson was speaking his long and beautiful voice heading the opposite way. There must be another family in the church pines. Thankfully raising bobcats and not coyotes. I think they did get on a coyote later but only Tidy persisted. She was picked up on the other side of Spring Mill Rd. behind the community center about 3 hours after we came in and after a delicious lunch in Carols cozy kitchen. Again, hoorah for the tracking collars (and the good food)!

Currently there are 7 females in the heat kennel and 2 hounds out from lameness issues. Other kennel news is that Sally has been bred to Kaptain and our newly drafted hound, Potomac Bishop, will be put with Adeline.

New Hounds

Filed under: General — Cheryl @ 7:27 am

Monday this week Lili and Kate drove up to Maryland to the Potomac Hunt kennels. Larry Pitts drafted 5 hounds to Stonewall, and we are all looking forward to meeting them:

• Three unentered females, Bijou, Britches and Jackie
• Two males are both entered, Bishop and Tennyson.

Lili says you’ve got to come see them! As well as Kaptains adorable and silly pups who are getting really big. We need friends and members to start coming out and help walk the puppies.

Welcome Bishop, Britches, Bijou, Jackie, and Tennyson (related to Tennesee!) Their names may change, and they will be bred with some of our Stonewall Hounds, and we thank PH for drafting them to us.

Hunt Report: Mar. 15, 2008

Filed under: 2007-2008 — Cheryl @ 7:45 am

Fixture:  Vassar’s Farm, 9 a.m.

Members:  Lili, Kate, Tom, Marie, Mary K, Cheryl, Earl, Howard, Paul and Buck, Jim, and Lealon  (Paul and Jim are brothers and Jim has Luke, Dickens, and Tilly now in his foxhound pack -unmounted)

Weather:  fairly warm and mild

Hounds: 7 couple

I.D. Awards: None

Tailgate/Breakfast:  Egg Salad from Marie at the trailers and some chips, yummy mango peach salsa & crackers and cheese

The Hunt:  Hounds found a little in the beginning, but were heading back toward the trailers and Rt. 746, so when it appeared they were heading toward the road, whips stopped them.

Lili then casts them in a different area, and they find a fresh line, and take it round and round in the cutover. I was following with Earl in the truck and jumped out and ran up to the cross road, and the gray fox crossed in between me and Paul & Buck (his son).

Hounds came out right quick on the line and continued to chase it, and the field and car followers viewed more than once, as the fox crossed back and forth trying to shake the determined pack.

At one point it popped up in front of Daffodil (who has shown little to no interest in hunting yet) and she trotted after it, somewhat confused as to why she found herself following the furry creature! He disappeared again, and hounds stayed true.

Then Lili saw Jeremiah actually grab the fox in his mouth, but when the fox turned and snapped at him, he dropped it and ran the other way! LOL

It was a great hunt for the hounds, they really got to chase a hot line and keep following.

After that exciting chase we moved along to the other side of the area we normally hunt. It was a very pretty area, and took us down to Ward’s Fork. Lili then picked up hounds (we had to wait for Able) and moved on. Then realize Tidy is no longer with them, so Earl and I track her in the truck and pick her up on the other side of the road. We carry her safely back to the trailers and everyone untacks and sits in the sun to relax.

We spent a good while there yakking and relaxing in the warm sun, enjoying Marie’s egg salad and the other snacks brought by Kate & Lili.

Hunt season is waning on us… but we still have a few more meets scheduled and then it will be trail riding time and PUPPY training! Hopefully lots of you will get out to the kennels often this summer to learn the new hounds and help with puppy/hound walking.

Hunt Report: Mar. 9, 2008

Filed under: 2007-2008 — Cheryl @ 4:14 pm

Fixture:  Wallis Farm, 10 a.m.

Members:  Lili, Mary K, Tom, Michael, Cheryl, Dr. Cheryl, 3 guests (Terry, Margo, and Liam from Ireland), Earl

Weather:  fairly pleasant, but humidity was very low, scenting not great

Hounds: 9 couple

I.D. Awards: That would be me. I took a header off Uzi (after warning the field about the right turn after the jump) when Uzi pops the jump and loosens his precious cargo, then proceeds to follow the trail to the right as instructed, dumping said cargo (ME!) on the ground like a bag of bricks.

Misc. Notations:  Submit your votes, should we rename 4 post road and call it “Mad Mud Road” ? 

Tailgate/Breakfast:  Ham Salad Sandwiches and beer. Not sure if we had anything else.

The Hunt:  We started off in the field behind Loee’s but the cows were uncooperative and very nosy. So as not to make them run (or worse chase us LOL) we left the field, via the new coop, and went toward the pine trail instead. Up at the gasline hounds begin to speak, Lili views a gray fox cross the gasline. They find in the pines, and we all head over to 4 post road to listen. Up and down, round and round.

I see a deer cross the 4 post road, but no hounds come out. Michael is stationed further above, and Lili below. Michael screams a tally ho and we go up and stop with the line just between us. We then see the pack come out and cross the gasline on the fox trail. That was about the best part of the whole day!

They hunt round and round in there and MK views yet another fox up on the gasline. Hounds are getting separated now, with Allison and Tennessee, and various others, MIA. There are so many foxes in there they can’t figure out which one to chase! Clara stays true to her original fox, the field goes up and down 4 post road more times than we care to count.

Finally we gather most, and head back toward Crane Creek & Loee’s. They strike in the woods, so we go on Tom’s new trail, up to the top, then thru woods and jump the log over the fence. Hounds go back so we jump back in (and have a slight detour to pick Cheryl up off the ground and catch her horse… ugh).

I think this was pretty much the end, we did hunt back to Loee’s, but nothing much came of it and we needed to try and find the missing hounds.

Meanwhile, back at the trailers, a man calls and says he has Allison and Tennessee over on Five Forks Rd. ACROSS 460. ACK. Probably 6 hounds are still out. We keep calling while Lili and Earl go pick up the errant hounds. A couple dribble in, and now we have all but Solomon and Soldier.

Soldier’s Night Out 

We track Solomon to the back of Loee’s and Soldier is just not even registering on the tracker. Lili goes home (it’s 8:30 now) and I drive around with the tracker, and find him over in Darlington Heights on Nursery Rd. I know he’s right in front of me, but won’t come out. So at 10:30 I give up.

The next morning I go back and he’s not there. So back in the car with the tracker, he’s moving further south! I get closer and closer, as I approach Darlington Heights, then take a back road that cuts into the middle of the block. Finally I have him on short range and he’s there, in front of me. SOLDIER!! He turns and goes back into the woods. Lili gets there a bit later and finally convinces him to come out.

Turns out he was at the end of Cork Rd., which as the crow flies, is over 7 miles from where we started, and across 4 lanes of highway…. WHEW, he’s a lucky hound.

Cheryl M.

Hunt Report: Mar. 4, 2008

Filed under: 2007-2008 — Cheryl @ 7:12 am

Fixture:  Quail Hollow, 9 a.m.

Members:  Lili, Kate, Judy, Carol, Marie, Cheryl M., Dr. Cheryl, Karen, Sandy (guest), Earl, and Howard

Weather:  Threatening rain, but it holds off for the most part and we enjoy not getting soaked!

Hounds: 7 couple (many females in  heat couldn’t come!)

I.D. Awards:  none today

Misc. Notations:  Roo Roo (young entry) shows a lot of promise and drive

Tailgate/Breakfast:  Carol brings sandwiches and others contributed what they brought for a simple lunch after the meet.

The Hunt:  Today was Tidy’s hunt. We started off back behind Quail Hollow and worked our way through the 4-wheeler trail. End up at the little field and hounds head over toward the pines. I notice Tidy working something at the curve of the farm road, (toward Spring Mill), but most hounds are over toward the pine trail.

Tidy speaks, and takes off to the right of the farm road in the woods. The other hounds honor her and join her back in the woods, and they all go running toward Nowlins Mill.

The field and whips get out to Spring Mill quick, and Howard and Earl are already there. We flank Spring Mill in case of coyote, but the game turns back, and makes a big circle. Hounds follow and everyone ends up back where we started.

They speak on and off but it gets fewer and farther between. We figure bobcat, but never see it. Tidy took the hounds on this hunt and we were all very proud of her!

Then we make our way over to the honey pot pines off New Chapel. We run into a small pack of beagles already hunting their little hearts out in the honey pines. They sounded great, although much higher pitched than our hounds. Lili tries to send our hounds in as an experiment, to see if they would join the beagles. Pepper is the first to run out with his tail between his legs!!

We watched and listened for a bit, the beagles were in full cry, and we thought we might view something, even if it was a rabbit! No such luck, and we moved on, but that was a fun little sidetrip to the hunt.

…Cheryl M

Hunt Report: Mar. 1, 2008 Joint Meet Farmington Hunt Club

Filed under: 2007-2008 — Cheryl @ 7:12 am

Fixture:  Bonnydale Farm, 10 a.m.

Members:  Lots of our members along with Farmington and some Glenmore Guests

Weather:  WINDY (YUCK) but not cold, and pleasant other than the 4-letter word wind.

Hounds: 9 couple

I.D. Awards: Jenner (Glenmore Guest) parts company with her new horse when he pops her over a jump. She hangs on and somehow gets back in the saddle only to be dropped when horse takes a quick prop many strides later!

Misc. Notations:  Glenmore and Farmington guests were all a lot of fun and we hope to see them back sometime soon.

Tailgate/Breakfast:  Oh my goodness! There was quite a spread, thanks to all members and many guests for bringing some really great stuff!

The Hunt:  Well with the wind it was pretty much nil. Hounds did find over by the church pines and ran up to The Meadows parking area (through the woods). A herd of deer popped up but no hounds were on it nor were they interested. We had a gallop from Plum Branch up to the Meadows to follow them. Other than this the hunting was not one of our best days by far!

This was, as most of you know, our hunt where the MFHA sent someone to assess us regarding our recognition status with MFHA. All went well and it looks like that will be coming soon! Lili was honored to have Farmington Hunt Club members join us, as she has known many of them for years and has a very high regard for them and their hunt.

All in all it was a very good day, except for the hunting!! LOL

…Cheryl