Hunting Saturday January 27, 2007 10:00AM
Busch Wildlife Area

Huntsman: Eleanor Hartwell
Whips: Jill Wagenknecht, John Korenak, Gene Deutsch, Lee Deutsch,
First Field: Mary Hensel, Robert Millbaugh, Eddie Beyers, Roger Smith, Ron Ausman, Bob Wilmott and daughter Gina, Jean Mutrux, Abby Mutrux, Sara McGranahan, Leslie Ayers, Michael Murphy, Leslie Granger, Tess Fleishli, Sue Marshall, Morgan

8 ½ couple of hounds. I recognized, Nabisco, Wise, Cheerful, Twilight, Iris, Daphne


GPS readings 20.3 miles 3 hrs 5 minutes moving 1 hour 3 minutes stopped. Max speed 26.6 mph
Moving average 5.8 mph

It was a cool and cloudy day. Not all the snow had melted from the previous weekend. It was very muddy. The hounds had not been out in two weeks due to weather. We parked at John Korenak’s barn and entered the wildlife from there, near lake 38. There was quite a good show of people. The temperature started at 31 degrees and increased to 35 degrees. Barometric pressure was steady and it was overcast although the sun would peek out quite often. The ground was very muddy, especially in the plowed fields. Winds were from the West Northwest at 5 to 11 mph.

The first two hours were pretty much blank. It was still a challenge negotiating the trails due ot the recent ice storms and many limbs and trees were down. After two hours we heard some of the hounds speak and we watched them take off but they soon lost. After a while they started speaking again and we were off on a pretty good chase. We were standing on gravel road behind Eleanor and listening to the hounds when we watched a bushy coyote cross the road about 30 feet in front of Eleanor. The hounds came along shortly afterwards and we were again off on a long run. We ran for nearly an hour and the hounds sounded tremendous the whole time. After four hours we headed in, although I think the hounds wanted to keep hunting. Robert and Staff stayed out a while to gather hounds. Mary lost a shoe on the way back and many people had bloody scratches on their faces from the downed limbs in the trail. Mary had her helmet knocked off by a tree limb and had a pretty good bump on her head. From the blank morning, something must have changed to make the scenting conditions improve so much.

John Korenak provided homemade chicken and dumplings that was delicious and really hit the spot after a long cold hunt. Lee Deutch brought a salad. We really appreciated John and Beth's hospitality.