No one seemed to have clock-changing issues, and after greetings we were off. Everyone was hunting today, including Exton and Jameson, so seven couple, 14 hounds. And everyone was anxious to hunt… well almost everyone.
The first hunting area, the wooded patch (it’s woods, not a hedgerow) on the outer edge of the old race track, is usually the “settling down” area where the pent-up energy of the trailer ride is burnt off a bit… lots of running around, lots of greetings to the other hounds and to the Field and Staff, lots of “rest room” visits (so to speak), and only THEN do the hounds settle down to the business of hunting.
Today everyone settled pretty quickly, but Jameson and Exton seemed to be a bit shy and reluctant about joining in the festivities. They hovered along the outside edge of the woods, watching, but not quite engaging. At times they resembled young toddlers during their first school days, experiencing that shyness and unsurity of causes some leg clinging and hiding behind parents. So it was with Exton and Jameson, at times shyly hiding behind Jonathan. Hound psychology is puzzling sometimes as in their last few outings, Jameson and Exton exhibited the shyness, but then plunged right in with all the other hounds.
There was a “Tally Ho!” called early on from Staff on the inside of the race track ring, but the hounds did not catch the scent line and had moved far ahead and we were mostly not in a good position to turn them back for more investigation. So one rabbit, but not pursued.
We made our way around the outside perimeter woods of the racetrack, with hounds hunting well, and then we switched the track itself. I believe that I speak for many when I note that the racetrack was a bit of a dissight. The Marsh Creek grounds crew/maintenance staff must have been recently out to work on re-widening the racetrack walking path, as there were many cut branches, some strewn logs left in the wake of the cutting operations. Usually when they do a cutback they remove the cuttings, or at least move them to the side, but here we encountered a lot of left-behind branches, which at some points defeated the point of re-widening. And amid the budding trees and shrubs, all the dead branches just looked like a mess. A dissight indeed.
But back to hunting. We rounded the ring, with a bit of speaking and one area of intense noses-down hunting, but no finds. Jameson and Exton were now beginning to integrate themselves in with the rest of the pack. Jameson was following Iroise and Irmine, which is a good thing.
We hunted back to the start of the “spike” hedgerow where we re-grouped, letting Field and Staff get in position for the hunting of the spike. There’s just a short bit of field to cross to get to the spike hedgerow, so we packed everyone in and practiced walking. Margot, however, was not in a mood for practicing packing in and she dashed ahead of the pack and almost made it to the hedgerow, but Staff turned her back and we waiting a moment for her to “get behind” and eventually she did. (Foreshadowing for those literary types.)
The hunting of the spike was good, quite good. Hounds were working well, and working well together. Duchess and Ellie, the very energetic puppies, were mostly inside with their kennel-mate Boutonne. Jameson, as noted earlier was often following Irmine, sometimes Iroise, sometimes Neptune. Duval, although outside “looping” perhaps just a bit more than we would like sometimes, was also hunting well with Boutonne and Neptune. Colette and Countess, who continue to develop and who have been hunting well have been tending to follow their kennel-mate Margot. Zelda, to some gives the appearance of a bit of laziness at times, hovering on the outside. But watching her on Sunday, she was inside as much as outside, hunting well. When on the outside, Zelda was intently attuned as to what was going on inside. The very wily Zelda, as we’ve seen numerous times earlier this season, was just laying in wait, waiting for her colleague hounds to flush out a quarry rabbit.
All the way out the spike we went, up a bit of the wide hedgerow overlooking the lake, and then back down the spike, but on the opposite side. About midway down the spike, everyone, including Zelda, including Exton and Jameson, including Duval, were inside hunting and hunting very well. And while we found no rabbits on the return trip, the hunting was going so very well.
Cue the foreboding music. Things were going so well, that when we were re-grouping at the end of the spike, counting hounds, waiting for a couple of stragglers still hunting to catch up, I did that thing that I know I should never do – I paused and thought “you know, we’ve had a very good hunt so far and we just have this last little bit and we’ll have had a hunt with no incidents, with no riots, with no ill-behavior.”
All counted, all on, we started again to re-cross that short little bit of field to get back to the outer perimeter of the racetrack. There was no rabbit, there was no deer, there was no fox.. there was nothing that anyone could see, but about halfway across this short little bit, Margot, with Countess and Colette and Boutonne close behind, broke from the pack and took off into the racetrack area.
This would have been ok, as Staff were nearby, and this was the area where they had been intently hunting earlier, so there was the possibility that they would all just hunker down and again intently hunt this area.
But no, they had started to run and of course when one runs, they almost all run. And now they were running toward Chalfont Road. Argh!
Kate and Phyllis were in good positions to turn back just about everyone and we were mostly re-grouped within a couple of minutes as we made our way back to the trailer.
Unfortunately, however, Margot and Colette had made it across Chalfont Road and when last seen were headed through the housing developments on that side of the road down toward the lake.
While most went on to tea, we began the search for Margot and Colette. This was particularly frustrating as just earlier in the week Margot and Colette had been among the best at coming when called when we were practicing the biscuit tossing, in preparation for the Bryn Mawr Hound Show.
We were beginning to become disheartened, and that possibility that the unfound hounds might be spending the night outside was beginning to grow.
But then, at the bottom of Watson Lane, behind the horse farm (who knew that there was such a bit horse farm down there?!), horn a-blowing, there came Margot. A little reticent, clearly aware that she had been a bad girl, she now was walking behind… but we put her on a lead and began the trudge back up the hill to the trailer. One found, one to go.
Kate and Jonathan were now in a car driving along Chalfont and going down all of the side roads. Phyllis talked to a neighbor who had seen Colette (or who we presumed was Colette), on Watson. Now with Duval on a lead (as Duval and Colette get along well, and Duval is a great sniffer of other hounds), I was walking back down Watson to where Margot had just been found.
And then the phone lit up with texts and phone calls. As if nothing had happened, Colette all by herself strolled up to the in-progress tea, as if saying “what, you didn’t invite ME?!” Phew, all on, all trailered, and now time for a de-pressurized much appreciated tea!
And it was a good one!! Lots of very good snacks. The time change allowed a later sunset so it was still bright as the remaining bits of food and drink were tidied up and the tables were folded and stowed.
Some last notes worth noting. During the riot, Ellie, Duchess, Jameson, and Exton did not riot, or riot much, and stayed close by, within sight the whole time. So gold stars to them. Boutonne was really going to be called out for being such an excellent hunter today, really working inside about 99% of the entire afternoon… but rioting mars the record. More work with the zap collars ahead.
But still, if we could excise those last five minutes or so of the hunt, it would have been a most excellent day.
Back at kennels, still very daylight (up to now it is often twilight and dark when we get back to kennels), everyone save Duchess needed a good comb out… with a magnificent gift from Jonathan one of the great “old school” heavy metal combs with a handle! I can attest the new(er) one works as well as the older one (which is losing its metal teeth). Some of the hounds were just covered with burrs, poor Bijou. Margot had so many big burrs on her chin, it looked like she had taken up pogonotrophy!
Ellie, Duchess, and Duval have those coats that we just love, rough but smooth and so easy to comb (and they love the attention of being combed.) Fed, nearly everyone was curled up in the straw of the dog beds when I closed up, a sign that everyone was tired after the day’s hunting.
One rabbit, no chase, 1 hour and 55 minutes of great hunting, 5 minutes of rioting. But all hounds found and safe and sound back at kennels.
Many thanks to Staff Phyllis, Kate, Jonathan, John, Gillian, and Debbie.
We saw the Field, led by Field Master Valerie, lending a hand a few times today, shooing hounds to get back with the pack, so thanks to Diane, Dolores, Jim, and Pat too!
