Hunting Thursday March 20th, 2008 10:00AM
Busch Wildlife Area
Western Challenge Kickoff

Huntsman: Eleanor Hartwell (Seamus)

Judge: Grosvenor Merle-Smith (Spellbinder)

Whips: Jill Wagenknecht (AJ), Gene Deutsch (Waffles), Lee Deutsch (Belle), John Korenak (Titan), Emily Korenak (Rocky), Lil Lewis (Woody), Richard Finke (MFH Shawnee Hunt)

First Field: Tess Fleishli (fieldmaster)(on her horse), Robert Mihlbaugh, Stephanie Mihlbaugh, Robert Wilmott (Crusader), Michael Murphy (Fred), Jean Mutrux (Pee Wee), Abby Mutrux, Sarah Zenisek, Jane Liesmann, Sue Marshall, Leslie Granger (Maurice), Mary Smithing (Topsy), Kim Graber (Guest on Ronnie)

Junior Field Lei Ruckle (Floyd), Mackenzie Bussard (Bert), Cissy Calvrid (Mescal), Barbara Fey (Wolf Creek Hunt on Buddy)

Oldest rider 82, youngest rider 9. Four Juniors total.

11 1/2 couple hounds

GPS readings 15.8 miles 2 hours 55 minutes moving 1 hr 42 minutes stopped. Total time 4 hrs 37 minutes. Max speed 21.8 mph
Moving average 5.4 mph

Lunch/Brunch – Provided by Bob Wilmott and his wife Cathryn. A lovely selection of honey baked ham, salmon, pasta, salad. Cheese Cake and Ice Cream for dessert. Picnicking at it’s best! Certainly a challenge considering the location of the fixtures was changed and there were no food preparation services on site.

We had record rains this week and had to move the meet from the planned Hill ‘n Hound Fixture to Busch Wildlife Area. The wildlife area has many access roads so it is easier to navigate without having to go through mud all the time. The day dawned beautiful, clear and sunny. It promised to be warm too. The temperature was 48 degrees when we started out and was 62 degrees by the time we finished. Barometric pressure was falling and wind was from the Southeast at 0 to 9 mph.

Mary Hensel MFH was on hand to welcome the judge and visitors even though she was unable to ride due to a fall from a young horse last week. We started out headed westward across the field that is on the north side of a series of lakes along the main road (Lakes #15, 2, and 1). The mud was very deep. We continued westward and then started heading north. At 10:30 AM the hounds started speaking and we were off. The
Run started at 10:32AM and lasted 22 minutes and 3.7 miles. Average speed was 10 mph. The run is highlighted in turquoise on the less detailed topograph track. I never saw the coyote myself but I heard that the junior field had a great view and that it was a very large, dark, almost black coyote. There was a hound right on his tail too. We ran for what seemed like forever. I was grateful for the access roads which provided reasonable footing in most places. After the run Eleanor gather the hounds and I took lots of photos. We were within sight of the main office building not far from where we had parked so a few people elected to head in. Those that had not been hunting regularly did not have much horse left and some had shoes off.

We then headed north and followed along on the roads while Eleanor drew the hounds through the heavy brush. We came upon the famous “ditch of death”. A massive ditch in the road that usually causes some problems. It was a good day and the entire field navigated it with no problems. I heard that the Junior field also navigated it without incident. We crossed a field where we saw several deer running and a couple more people lost shoes. They decided to head in. We were now up by Lake 33. The judge came up behind us. His horse had cut an hind leg on something and had also lost a front shoe. Although it was not a bad looking cut and looked clean it was bleeding pretty well. A couple of Juniors donated their stock tie’s while Lei Ruckle bandaged her leg in fine pony club fashion in order to put pressure on the wound and stop the bleeding. Robert then kindly loaned his horse to Grosvenor so that he could continue with Eleanor and took the horse in. The rest of the day was pretty blank until we got near the place we had jumped the coyote originally. We could hear a hound speaking in the woods, and sure enough it was Daphne whom we hadn’t seen in a couple of hours. The hounds joined her with Eleanor’s encouragement but nothing was found. Eleanor then gathered up the hounds and we headed in. I think everyone was ready to call it a day by this time and have a wonderful brunch.