5thgearwide
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Dec 2017
Location: VA
Posts: 128 |
Night 11
I guess the ballots are in and the people voted for the second level of tryouts to be kept on record so here we go. Took Cindy along with 3 other dogs last night back to the spot we hunted the first night when she didn’t do much... and it was somewhat of a deja vu. We had a big cold front coming in brought by some steady winds right after loads of rain this week. We got out right at dark and the temps were mid 40’s by the time we got back to the truck and think we were in the low 30’s. We hunted some field edges on our way to some oak hardwoods and Cindy was in full play mode with the other young dogs till we got to the timber. I snapped her back on the lead once then cast her again and the second time she WENT. She got 3,4,5,600 yards deep in a few minutes, assuming she would find me when she circled back through we pushed the other dogs on. We had went a few hundred yards and the other dogs had struck a good track, I checked the gps and Cindy was .71 miles, back at the truck.... then past the truck, and was hunting what was supposed to be the “tail end” of our walk for the evening. We stayed with the dogs that were working a track they came treed, we elected to harvest this one for the 2 young dogs that were at this tree and after a few minutes of pew pew’s the coon started out on his death flight only to land in a deep crotch of the mighty poplar he clung to for dear life just minutes before. So there he lay, 30 feet off the ground, wedged for eternity. After a few failed attempts to find a way to get him out we tarried on and accepted a draw on this one. We continued on making our way slowly back towards Cindy checking side hollers and creek bottoms on our way and when we finally got within a few hundred yards of where Cindy had been working we had a beautiful bawl mouth strike and race up the raging creek.... then it just ended, the dogs came back. Nothing to show for it except for curiosity that will bug me for a week. We pushed on up the ridge to strike again and this is when Cindy made her reappearance she came through in front of us on her hind legs winding with all her might, bouncing all around, tail wagging, ran and reran a track 3 or 4 times before locking down on a big oak that we shined briefly and deemed a den tree. The other dogs came treed 80 yards over the hill so I left Cindy to tree her heart out here and we walked to the mighty pine the other dogs had. After 25 bullets whizzing into the mighty swaying pine, rocking back and forth from the 15mph winds, trying to hit the gleaming eyes of the elusive ringtail. We finally accepted defeat from this one due to the fact that we were out of bullets, so we decided to call it a night. We gathered the hounds and headed for the truck but when we got back to Cindys den, all the dogs lost their mind on the lead, bug eyed, chopping like lumberjacks, bawling like they were staring at a coon in a cage and it gave me a little more confidence in the little gyp. She didn’t leave as well last night as she had been, but when she did she really went, she got deep, she wasn’t worried about the other dogs, when she found the right tree, she treed hard and she stayed even with 2 other dogs blowing the top out 80 yards away. I am curious as to why she went that far away from the rest of the dogs, but if I could read a dogs mind I would be set. I’ll do my best to keep the viewers updated on the second leg of Cindys training, so for those interested, stay tuned!
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Cedar Ridge Kennels
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