December 21, Plainfield Road

After the hard rain Saturday night through Sunday morning, it looked like we would not be hunting, but around 8:30 a.m. the rain clouds cleared. The hunt met at Plainfield Road at 1:30 p.m. The pack consisted of 15 couple hounds including a new American hound from Why Worry Hounds, Keeper, and one of our new entry out for his first day hunting, Budweiser.

We moved off and Fred cast the hounds behind the meet. For the next couple hours the wind was blowing and hounds were having trouble holding a line. One would speak, others would honor, we would start to get excited about a run, then it was done and hounds were back in search of more scent.

As we started moving back toward the trailers, the wind began to die down and the temperature started to drop fast. Hounds lit up in the bottom behind the meet! They ran along the bottom, then swung around and came back to the swamp. The pack took a plunge into the cold swamp water, still in full cry, and ran, swam, and jumped through the low grounds. We watched and listened with no way to stop them from the bank; what an awesome picture it would have been!

Fred, atop his “trusty steed” (a.k.a. Judy’s wonderful Thoroughbred, Patriot), followed by Jennifer leading the field, raced along the trails around the swamp where the hounds had gone. We crossed a wide section of the creek, about chest high for most the horses, and raced on, hoping to get back with the hounds and stop them before they were out of the territory. Fred, Lloyd, Chris, and Jennifer galloped up the power line and into the woods on the far side as many of the hounds were still racing ahead in front of them. The rest of the field pulled up and waited on the power line.

We heard the horn; 12 couple of hounds along with their huntsmen and a couple of whippers-in came back out to the power line. As we headed in, being joined by more hounds on the way back, Lloyd and B-12 decided to provide more entertainment for us all. B-12 practiced his Lipizzaner style leaps and bolted, thinking the gun shot off of him was the cue.

On the way up the gas line the pack fired up again! Fred and Chris were able to get around in front of them once more to stop the action before it got too far along. Once all back together we moved on, heading back to the trailers once more. And again an “old faithful” spoke and the pack followed; scent was amazing! We stood in a small field by the road, just a little way up from the trailers, and waited for the whips to round up the hounds, who were “super changed,” as Fred called them back from the hot scent all around them!

Finally, for the last time, we started back to the meet. With all 15 couple tucked away in the Sedgefield hound and horse trailer, the hunt came to its close. There was much to talk about at the tailgate!