Dear fellow fox hunters and horse enthusiasts,
Winter is wearing out his/her welcome
Poor parking and hunting conditions, combined with the need to take our young entries out in big country giving them a chance to work and not worry about traffic and running out of country, was instrumental in changing the fixture from Persia to Burwell.
We hunted from MFH Luke and Sam Matranga’s Foxtail Farm 1:00 Saturday.
Huntsman Dave, Whipper-in MFH Dave K- Jubilee Miller riding with him to get a feel for whipping in. Pocket Whip Bre, Whipper-in Keith R, whipper-in-training Brit V, with Daryl J riding along getting a chance to see how the whips work.
DVM Adam G and I made up the field. 15 NHH hounds went out, 7 of which were the P puppies. THEY WERE AWESOME!
They worked hard, one of the puppies-Ozzie 2 toes (I think that’s his name) was nipping at the tail of the coyote that we viewed!
Before we started hunting, Huntsman Dave had a meeting with a grease board and a map, laying out a plan on his thoughts for the day-knowing that the coyote could blow this plan completely out of the grasslands. But, we had a plan!
We headed south, jumped a couple of coops and came to this deep canyon which was thick with cedar trees. The last time we were there Huntsman Dave tried to blaze a trail and in the process losing his whip. He dismounts and walks down into the jungle determined to recover his whip-when suddenly Whipper-in Keith R views a big, hairy coyote and his Tally Ho! can be heard resonating through the hills. Huntsman Dave gives up his whip hunt and hustles back to his horse, remounts and away we go! The hounds run hard, but the coyote gives them a slip.
Huntsman Dave gathers ALL the hounds-the puppies are packing up well-and we hunt for home.
Things are going well, we’re following our plan perfectly. Then we have a slight glitch-the hounds strike and they’re gone…….
We hack home.
Sunday we hunt from Packards, again we start with a plan-I’m loving these maps, all the instructions that Huntsman Dave is giving to the whips. I wish I knew what he was talking about
I did get the part about staying away from the canyons to the south. The footing has been poor, frozen, slick and horses have fallen. We opt not to jump, getting all the gates and working our way carefully around as we find ourselves in the canyons to the south :/ The hounds give voice and we have a fanastic view of the hounds working as we listen to them as they work the line in and out of the trees. Suddenly they’re silent and Huntsman Dave encourages them to keep searching. They give voice again and we follow them through the canyons. Again they go silent. We wait patiently and we are rewarded with the hounds finding the line again. They eventually lose the line completely and Huntsman Dave gathers all the hounds, praising them for a day well done. I tried to capture on my helmet cam Huntsman Dave’s interaction with the hounds. He loves them, they honor him by trying hard and listening to him.
We hack home and have a nice brunch and a recapping of the day with Huntsman Dave in MFH Dave K’s trailer.
Another fun and successful trip, we are so blessed to be able to hunt in Burwell.
My rider of the weekend is Daryl Jensen. She learned to ride about 5 years ago and what a nice rider she has become! She has brought Harley along-first hunt was ugly-to giving leads over the coops this weekend. She shared with me how fun it was to ride along with the whips and the see all that goes one behind the scenes. Things the field doesn’t get to see or enjoy.
I have made a video using pictures from Brit, Keith and my head cam. I added music (you’ll have to mute it, Kristen) because my head cam has a lot of wind noise. I’ll get Jenny Nguyen and April Goettle to help me the next time Thanks for humoring me as I try to become techi
This Saturday we’ll be hunting from our new Arlington country, please rsvp to Mary Lynn Forst and John Kruger at mlforst1231@gmail.com The weather is forecasted to be 54
Carine and Indie
NHH Honorary Secretary