Monday February 25, 2008....I had to travel to Portsmouth N.H. this morning to address some business stuff so I didn't figure that today we'd be hunting. However I got home earlier than suspected and called Reggie to see if he'd want to hit the woods even though we wouldn't get out there until noon or so. He said "come on down" so off we went. I couldn't resist getting HANNAH back in the woods after a short layoff. Conditions were good with some two inches of snow over a crumbly cutting crust underneath. It was about 25 degrees out under sunny skies with no wind. In the world of hunting in these parts, everything looked great. We cast the dog and after minutes or so the dog opens up and a good run gets underway. I could tell by her voice the minute she opened that today was going to be good. Snow is funny this time of year with the sun hanging higher in the sky, and casting it's rays more directly against the earth. In some places the snow is melting easily and in other places the snow is made up of frozen cold crystals that never comes close to thawing. So scent is fickle sometimes as the hound traverses over the ever changing surface. We're hunting a spot that's fairly open in places and very hilly with a lot of small maple sapplings and birches an inch or so in diameter. Then there are patches of small pines and a few small really thick places and a lot of diversified contours and textures. The hound is driving well with nary a break in her barking sequence. Over and over she continues to drive over and down the many small hills in the area. The hare ran big and it reminded me that pretty soon the hormones in the bunnies would have them on the move once again. THE MARCH HARE is about to erupt on the scene and that always makes for interesting hunting and be prepared to "TAKE A HIKE". But this hare wasn't ready for a marathon, but did use up a lot of this real estate. At the 30 minute mark I caught a glimpse of a hare running well away to my right but I couldn't get off a shot. The hound had not stopped driving at all since the start. "DANG IT"! He got by me. As she came closer I noticed that she was too far left for her to be running the hare I just saw and what I did see was a stray. Oh well that's good. HANNAH drove away from us and got out of hearing for 5 minutes or so before we heard her heading back. A big and I BIG circle was made and back toward Reggie and I she came. YeeeoooOOWWWW, right down between us the bunny went without either of us seeing him. A few minutes later she checks for the first time. Five minutes passed before she figured it out and got back into the drivers seat. OOWW OOWW OOW without a let up some two hundred yards from me but closer to Reginald! A little while later POOOOWWW, the old "sweet sixteen" fired and the bunny died.
During this chase like I mentioned before, I had seen a stray and remembered where that occurred and headed that way. After finding the track I followed it a ways before I called her to me. A few blows on the horn and she came right in to me and in a short period of time she was off and running on this hare the same as before...POUNDING! I figured I'd go stand where I had seen him cross during the first run and so I went. I hoped that this bunny would MIS-REMEMBER where I had seen him earlier even though I did not MIS-REMBER where that was. (Roger Clement-pants on fire).
This bunny she drove steadily for a long time, but after an hour of running she ended up losing him where it was all tracked up from the earlier runs. NOT GOOD and I hate lost rabbits and we'd had our share of them this winter.
We worked her around some more and she once again locked on to a hare with some steady driving. This hare ran crazy, fast, and far but she never let up. Finally after a long run I saw the hare across a ravine just smoking up the woods with buring speed. The TERMINATOR flinched all by itself as it sensed the presence of "bunny breath". All by itself, the TERMINATOR locked on the hare in rapid fired mode and started blasting. The bunny rolled and skidded over the surface of the snow six feet "DEAD'RN A DOOR NAIL".
What almost was a no hunt day turned out to be a great hunting day!

Saturday February 23, 2008....We got a fresh 3 inches of snow yesterday so we anticipated a good hunt today under sunny skies. It was quite cold last night but when we hit the woods it was 20 degrees where we were. Hannah was still hurting from the cuts she got the other day so today we'd leave her home and hunt RUTH and the young dog LUKE. I ran Luke at the Beagle Club yesterday just after it started to snow and he had a real good, steady run at 18 degrees and he was picked up running. RUTH hasn't been hunted at all this winter but generally can run well on a tough snow. We got into the same cover we hunted the other day and found fresh tracks right off. The boys Christopher, Daniel and Joshua were eager to go and so were Reggie and me. After the dogs were cast Ruth did a bit of cold trailing which is not uncommon for her to do at the beginning of a hunt and it took a while to get a start. After 30 minutes or so of nothing LUKE opened and in a few minutes RUTH got into it with him. They got a pretty good spurt before they checked. A while later RUTH takes a line straight away from us and LUKE never opened. Straight as an arrow is usually a bad sign and bad luck continues to plague us. Sure enough she had hit a fox and headed out toward to the main road. I couldn't hear her but I knew this wasn't good. I hit her with the shocking system and started calling the dogs. All the while I was on their tracks and took off following after them. LUKE never opened but I saw his tracks where she had gone. Twenty minutes later both dogs came in to me where they had crossed the main road. So back to the truck I went walking up the road. This little incidence cost us a couple hours and finished RUTH for the day if not for her hunting career.
We had no choice but to hunt the youngster alone for the rest of the day. We weren't too far from where we had a couple of episodes with the "GALLOPING GHOST" and Reggie wanted to get after that "WASCALLY WABBIT" again. So we drove over there and walked up the snow machine trail and dropped the kids off at the crossings that this hare had used a lot the past few weeks. Reggie and I would work the dog toward the area we usually started this hare and hopefully the pup would be able to handle the job. As we neared the spot where the hare usually was found LUKE opens up at the spot I will call point "A". The hare moves east at first then starts a big swing heading north and curls around some more toward the west. YEP!! He's heading for the main road, so I high tailed it away from point "A" and snowshoed as fast as I could go toward the crossing at the main road where the hare crossed the last time we ran him. But by the time I got there the hare had reached the road but didn't cross it. He turned left running parallel to the main road and headed back toward the guys stationed on some good crossings. I saw LUKE run by me not 15 feet from the main road where the hare went minutes before I got there. I called on the radio and warned the kids that the hare was coming back their way, and to be on alert. I decided to stay up here at point "B" in case the rabbit would circle back again.
From where I was I got to hear LUKE run right out of hearing. A few calls on the phone told me he was still running but I couldn't hear a thing. It was a nice day about 25 degrees and the sun out. It would've been nicer if I could hear more of this hunt. Joshua called to say he didn't see the hare but did see the dog cross the snow machine trail we walked in on. THE GALLOPING GHOST rides again. He runs around us a lot but nobody sees him much. Danny called to say that he saw the hare but was too far to shoot. Well at least that's a plus. After listen to nothing up there on point "B" for another 15 minutes or so I call Joshua to ask if LUKE was still running and he said yes. But the dog was heading dead south and nearly out of hearing. Reggie said that he thought that the hare was heading toward a beaver pond where we pushed him to about 3-4 weeks ago. We're over an hour into this run now and LUKE has stuck to the rabbit really well. I decide to move and head toward the beaver pond. I'm close to the road so I just snowshoe right down the side of the road. I get all the way back to the truck but still can't hear a thing. I call Reggie and he said the dog was still running and had crossed the small brook coming out of the pond. WOW! That's a long way's from me but you got to do what you got to do. OH MAN! I just hate these snowshoes! So off I go heading toward that area I now call point "C". On the way I run into Daniel, so he and I head for the hound. After some fifteen minutes more of "shoeing" we can hear the dog, finally! Reggie calls again to say that he's on the beaver pond and that the dog was heading west. OH OH!! That meant that the hare was going to head back toward point "A" but Reggie was near the crossing at the upper end of the beaver pond where the hare would have to cross to head back to where this hunt began. I made an about face and headed toward the pond when Reggie called that the hare had beaten him there and was headed back to point "A". RATS!!! I call the kids and tell them to head back to thde snow machine trail. I head that way myslf and when I get there LUKE is on a check on the snowmachine trail. I walked up the snow machine trail east and couldn't see where the hare had crossed, then I walked on it the other way. I saw Christopher and as we walked, we see the hare track going right down the middle of the snow machine trail. This hare like times before ran up the snow machine trail some sixty yards then crossed it. I called LUKE and put him on the line and off he went. At this point in time we're 2 hours into the run and no shots fired. I decide to head for the stand at point "B" in case the hare makes that swing again. And I guessed right because that's where the hare would go. BAD NEWS IS!! I got there too late AGAIN! But at least I heard all of this portion of the run and got to watch LUKE run by me again. The hare did the same thing he had done earlier by running up to the road but not crossing it.
I was bushed from doing all this snowshoeing so I just waited and listened. I hoped that this hare wouldn't cross the snow machine trail again and head for point "B" which was 3/4 of a mile away. POW! POW! Two quick shots rang out from the point "A" area and later Christopher called to say that he had fired at the hare who was standing in the snow machine trail some 50 yards away from him. Probably the hare was going to cross and head for point "B" again but he didn't cross after the shots were fired and cut back in. LUKE continued to run and the hare made the big swing once again. Headed east, then north, then west heading toward the road ONCE AGAIN! This time the GALLOPING GHOST would GIVE UP THE GHOST!. THE TERMINATER was eager to eat some bunny and a while later THE TERMINATOR "rose up to the ready" and fired. At the two hour and fifty five minute mark the GALLOPING GHOST died. Thus ended ten hours of running this critter over the span of three hunts. LUKE did a good job all alone and we continue to hope that he'll grow up to be a consistent performer for us over the years to come.

Monday February 18, 2008....We've got an icy crust again today with 20 degree temperatures. The problem is that the crust won't support the weight of the dog, consequently the potential for a cut dog paw is highly probable. Reggie and I hit the woods with Hannah once again but have little faith that we'll last long. There's a place we call The Dance Hall that we hunt and we know that there are a few bunnies there. It takes a while to get a start even the though the hound hunts great. We get a short run that was picky, slow, and inconsistent. Scenting was poor and the dog ran poor and eventually lost this hare. We got another run that was much better and lasted a bit longer but eventually this one suffered the same fate as the first run. The hound tried to work a tough check but had trouble moving it so we picked up. No sense getting her cut up any more on this crust. At home I noticed that she was bleeding a bit so shutting this hunt down the way we did was the right thing to do........

Friday February 8, 2008....It's been a while now since we've gotten out in the woods with a gun in hand. We've had an unbelieveable stretch of rain, ice, rain, wet snow, rain, ice, crust etc. etc. We've taken pups to the Beagle club for exercise and managed to get my best hound RUTH out, only to get her all cut up from the abrasive crust. Today we have fresh snow, it's 21 degrees out with no wind and snow on the trees. Seeing would be impaired once again as well as hearing ability.
Reggie and I felt pretty good that we'd get a good hunt in today, as it's been a while since the dogs have run well. We decided to go see if we could run the "GALLOPPING GHOST" once again! That's the bunny who gave us a 4 1/2 hour run a week and a half ago and lived to tell about it. We walked in on the same snow machine trail we walked in on 11 days ago and never cut a track once again. We cut the hound loose and headed to the far corner of the swamp and we hit a few fresh tracks there like before and pretty soon she jumped the hare. SO FAR SO GOOD!!!!! I figured that the hare would run about the same as he'd run the last two times we got a start here but that would not be the case today.
Down the further end the chase went just out of hearing only to return back quickly on the other side of the swamp. Reggie was in the right place, but the hare just barely got by him in the blueberry bushes loaded with snow. I was lined up a hundred yards from Reggie and the hunt came my way. The hare cut across the swamp and I saw just pieces of him running, hi-tailing it out of the area without offering me a shot. Down the other end the hare went and back out of hearing. The hound was running straight out so I readjusted my position and waited. JUST A MATTER OF TIME AND HE'D BE BACK!!!!!
Now in conditions like this you just can't judge distance. They get out of hearing pretty easy when the snow is like this, but how far would out of hearing be???? She could be a hundred yards away today and after waiting in the silence she could be a half a mile away!!!! I waited and waited and waited some more. NOTHING!!! I called Reggie and he said he couldn't hear her so I decided to move. As I moved the thought ran across my mind that she'd be back to run across my vacated spot sooner or later. But you can wait just so long! So I hiked it up the way she went and followed her tracks where she went running out of the area. Twenty minutes later I hit the main road that we drove in on and sure enough the hare had crossed the main road. I still couldn't hear her, but I called Reggie to let him know what had happened. I saw the hare track just off to the side of her track where they crossed the road and took a picture. It didn't come out too good but here it is. We know the area pretty good here so I moved in off the road a few hundred yards to a point where I could barely hear her running steady. They've crossed this road in years past when pressed hard and usually they'd come back sooner or later. She made a couple circles way off but I held my stand and before long she was humming pretty good coming my way. Reggie was still back on the other side of the road and couldn't hear her running. The hare made a wide swing and got by me and headed back toward the road. OH OH!!! I snowshoed as fast as I could and got to the road too late. I walked up the road to where they had crossed once again and saw their tracks going back about 20 feet from where they had crossed earlier. The double crossing maneuver that this rabbit pulled on me turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Sure, I don't want my dog crossing a main road but this scenario turned out to my benefit. As I looked at both sets of tracks I looked down the road from where I had just come from and saw a black object in the middle of the road 20 feet away. As I walked up to it I saw that it was my $1300.00 dollar "TRACKING DEVICE"!!! I always wore it on my belt and as it turned out the loop on the case had broken and the unit fell to the ground right there in the open road. Had it dropped off in the woods any earlier or any later I would've lost it for sure!!! THANK YOU LORD!!!
I gladly picked up the TRACKER put it in my jacket and took off after the hound in pursuit of the hare. I decided to go in a ways from the road but take up a stand not far from where he had crossed before. I still couldn't hear the dog but figured she was still after him. Reggie called to say he could hear her which nice to know. I waited in a spot where I could see pretty good and after a period of time I could hear her driving. A while later the hare swung my way and I could hear her coming right at me. I scanned the cover back and forth watching for a glimpse of the running bunny. Slowly the straight line that was coming my way began to bend to my left gradually and the hunt got by me just out of sight. I swear that a hare can smell you just like a deer often does. Sure enough the hare went right back across the road again slipping by the TERMINATOR that was itching to blast this bunny to smithereens! Back across the road I went too and she continued to drive hard.
Once again this bunny got lucky and avoided the fireing squad! Because as I worked my way around the bush trying to get on a crossing where the bunny had crossed by several times on this side of the road my snowshow bindings broke. OH OH!!! This ain't good!!! Can't go without snowshoes with all the snow we have so I told Reggie what had happened and said we'd have to catch her the next chance we'd get. A while later we caught her and ended another great run without shooting a bunny. Man!! We're getting more hotdogs than rabbits lately, but we've got some good memories of this GALLOPING GHOST that keeps getting away.

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