Cornelia Henderson and Banjo / Shawn McMillen photoI was brushing Banjo’s mane before a meeting of the Whiskey Road Foxhounds (SC). It was standing on end from static electricity, and I thought, “Oh, rats. It’s not going to be a very good day today….too dry.” Was I ever wrong!
And John Emery had apparently told Master Lynn Smith that if the hounds spent another day in the swamp, he wasn’t EVER going back to the Jackson meet. No worries there; John will definitely be back.
We started out toward Averitt Valley Road with hounds speaking in the woods on the in-country side. They worked hard, and first flight took off down and around Kirkland and in by the chicken houses. Second flight held up a bit and listened and watched, finally deciding to move along behind first. That’s when all hell broke loose in the middle of the country with hounds screaming away while we were still on the far edge.
We galloped along, tippy-toed silently past the chicken houses and down along the chicken house trail where second flight viewed a lovely grey coyote trotting across the lane out of the swamp and heading into the pines. Behind him was Piper (the white wooly bitch squeaking along on his line in her high, distinctive voice), Nickname, Larry the Hound, and a few others I don’t know by sight, but none of the usual suspects. First flight was in the big hayfield and we fell in behind heading toward the gun range. We noodled around there a bit, with some voice but nothing sustained, looped back and headed toward the hayfield on the in-country side of Beaver Dam, where everyone in both fields (except me) viewed the coyote away.
Our pilot led hounds in a big looping run in the cut-over where we viewed again as he headed toward Broken Dam with the pack on his heels. It was soon apparent he was going to Drafts and the fox pen, so both flights had a gallop down Chalk Bed, paralleling the action, if a bit behind it.
Kathy Viele developed a long-term relationship with the coyote.Second flight held up by the little cottage while first flight blasted down North Fork toward the fox pen. Kathy Viele was already there, and she didn’t just view—she developed a relationship with the coyote. Kathy reported his movements across the cut-over for about five minutes, and when he decided to loop back toward home, her vantage gave second flight their fourth view of the day as he crossed the road with hounds a bit behind him. (Kathy and huntsman Joseph Hardiman both viewed two coyotes in this area—our hunted coyote and others, going outta here.)
We hurried back to Broken Dam, but at that point it seemed the coyote was running along the foxpen and up toward the cattle field. Second flight opted for Beaver Dam to stay out of the way, as it appeared Joseph was starting to call them to him.
As we hacked in we could hear about three-and-a-half or four couple of hounds still screaming in the swamp. All in all, a most delightful day out with Whiskey Road. Woody’s new GPS tells us that first flight went twelve-and-a-half miles with a top speed of twenty-seven mph. Trust me, Second flight didn’t move nearly that fast! But we did have fun!
Posted March 29, 2013