fyork
New UKC Forum Member
Registered: Nov 2007
Location: ME
Posts: 11 |
I Got Light Footed
Light-footed, what is that, what does that mean?
I’m going to try to explain what it was for me, not anyone else. It started around two years ago when I was convinced that what I wanted for a female to breed to my personal “star dog” (Rooster, English Redtick) just wasn’t available or I just couldn’t open the right door. I had been silently (mostly) reading on the internet pages (UKC) and (Houndsmen.com) about a strain of English hounds that were equal to or better than most. It’s something that most every breeder tries to convince you of, so that you will buy their dogs, right? Well if that were true, then why won’t they answer my inquiries? Who to h e double l do they think they are and why should I bother to keep trying to make meaning full contact with them? I’m no rocket scientist, but I have sifted through a lot of “BS” over the past 60+ years and at my age there might not be time to do it to many more times. Therefore I need to get this one right if I want to continue with big game hounds’ for a few more years.
Somewhere in all the posts about what was behind these dogs and all they were accomplishing litter after litter it became apparent that someone else had already done what I dreamed of doing, producing a line of hounds that were above average in heart and intelligence with the physical attributes to get the job done, day in and day out without constant vet bills. All that was left to do was to find a way to buy some of these hounds to try and prove to myself that it could be done. Even that was difficult, but it was worth every bit of the effort and money expended to achieve the goal, at least the first floor, because I’m convinced that there are many more floors to climb in this house. You have to believe, (I’m a great pessimist) you have to keep trying every day you can and look for the small improvements and ignore the bad times. You have to do what Jess says “put the dogs down, time in the woods will bring out the best in these hounds” because it will. Enough, this is what happened yesterday and is why I feel I’ve been “Light-footed”.
We were checking bait sites and on the 4th site, we found that nearly a full bucket was gone. What was left was pretty soggy, but the cover didn’t show any water in it although it was covered with wet leaves from a hard shower just prior. There were no prints that were readable in the leaves, probably buried under them. We had 6 dogs in the truck, one older female (Fannie) that can start a track, but refuses to run alone anymore. One light foot male (Clyde) 4+ years old but only last season with us and on bear, who has been improving every time out this year once the cob webs were gone and he was in shape. Two young light foot females (Bonny) 15 months who has been doing a good job of staying with Clyde and has been in on a half dozen races and trees, the other (Zeva) 14 months has yet to show a lot of interest in bear even though she ran a couple of short bobcat races last winter. The other 2 dogs were from the last litter from Rooster and have been slow to show interest in anything other than playing, one male (JD) that belongs to my shotgun companion Jeff and one female (Abby) which are both just over a year old. We let Fanny and Clyde go at the bait, she going around in circles and crisscrossing know entrances and exits to the bait site with Clyde in tow. About the third pass Clyde struck and headed up an old skidder trail, again known to be a favorite route. At this point we released Bonnie and Abby even though we had heard nothing more from Clyde. When they passed where Clyde had opened Bonny also struck and Abby was full of herself just to be there like she was chasing the other dogs around the house. Clyde was beginning to bark more and the Garmin showed he was out beyond 475 yards and moving fast, Bonny was getting close and she had opened again and it was obvious that they were going to run something, but what we didn’t know. It was nearly 3 hours before we saw what they were running for sure and it was a very nice bear. Just before, I had put Bonny back in the box because she acted like she had had enough and I wasn’t sure what they were running except that it wasn’t anything with hooves. Clyde refused to give up and was down in an old chopping hidden from our view and not saying much when a large bear popped over the bank and into the road maybe 50 yards beyond the hunter, who unfortunately was looking back at me. My mistake as the guide should always be with the hunter. I started the truck and sped up to near where the bear crossed, had to literally drag Bonnie from the dog box and lug her to the track and set her down on the track at which point she began to bark and took off on the track. The other two guys had gotten Zeva and JD out of the box and all 3 were driving the track. Clyde came up over the bank and we guided him to the other side of the road and he opened again and was gone. We looked at the Garmin and the first 3 were out over 350 yards and really letting everyone know they had the bear in site, by the time they reached 475 yards Clyde had caught up and they were really pressuring the bear. We then proceeded to make a second mistake and misread the Garmin, going to the wrong road expecting them to cross again and loosing time that would have allowed us to get in position. It was apparent that we were turning the bear with the pickup and needed to back off and let the hunter walk the road to get the bear. He did that and in fact had to run up hill to be in position and when the bear came into the road it was a good 125 yards ahead of him and the shots missed. Another mistake by the guide as had I been beside him, I would not have let him take the shots at that distance. Zeva was in the road with the hunter and again when Bonnie came out above where the bear had been she came back down to the hunter/truck. We checked for blood/hair and found none, by this time Clyde and the bear were nearly 600 yards ahead and we tried to get to them and ran out of road. Have to drive approximately 7/8 miles now to get back on the other side of the mountain for another chance. We were too late and all we saw was wet tracks where the bear and Clyde crossed. Repeated the previous action by dragging Bonnie from her box and carrying her to the track and again she took off and quickly caught up with Clyde and the bear on the edge of a large bog. The bear was following a previous track from earlier in the day now and we knew where he was headed and how to cut him off for the needed shot. Well some days you have all the luck and other days you don’t, as the bear ran through a group of rabbit hunters in full pursuit of a snowshoe hare and had the road blocked. The bear turned and started back through the piece and almost came to the road when a vehicle full of bird hunters rounded the corner and I rushed to beg them to set still until we got the shot at the bear. Zeva and JD were no longer on the bear and in all the confusion the bear got around the corner between the bird hunters and rabbit hunters and crossed unseen. Clyde and Bonnie stayed with this bear about another hour and when it looked like they had either cornered it on a point next to the pond or had lost it in the pond; we tried to get in on foot. It was too late as the bear had swum evidently and they were now silent and headed out the back track. I never had a better loss on any hunt as Clyde had been on the ground for the full chase 16+ miles and just about 7 hours and Bonnie for all but about 1 hour and maybe 3 miles less. I consider that I let them down not the other way around as they did it all on their own, I believe this gives me the privilege off being light-footed with many more to come. I no longer need to find a female for Rooster, what I wanted has already been done for me and I can enjoy what time I have left and be just as proud of Jess and crew’s accomplishments as I would have my own.
Fred York
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Fred
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10-11-2009 12:18 AM
