Hunting Wednesday February 18th, 2009 – 10:00AM
Busch Wildlife Area

Huntsman: Eleanor Hartwell (Jack)

Whips: Jill Wagenknecht (Mescal), Gene Deutsch (Waffles), Lee Deutsch (Rocky), John Korenack (Titan),

First Field: Lei Ruckle (Fieldmaster on Ronnie), Jean Mutrux (Pee Wee), Leslie Granger (Lucy DoD), Robert Mihlbaugh(Fitzwilliam).
Second Field: Tess Fleishli (PT), Leslie Ayers (Gabe), Maggie (Oakie)

More than two hounds

GPS readings 13.9 miles – 2 hrs 5 minutes moving, 40 minutes stopped. Moving average 6.7 mph. Max speed 24.2 mph. Total time 2 hrs 45 minutes.


It was warm and misty as the temperature was dropping. The wind was picking up as a cold front was coming in. The temperature was 46 when we started and 45 when we finished. The winds were strong gusts coming from the west. The barometric pressure was rising. Jill made the masterful decision to waive the normal informal weekday hunt attire in favor of rain coats. There was a mist in the air. Footing was very muddy but at least with the wildlife area we could stay on the trails for the most part.

We departed from the usual meeting area near the entrance. We headed straight north. After a couple of miles we started heading west into the wind. We soon saw a huge herd of deer, maybe 15 or so in all. Eleanor did well to keep most of the hounds off of them as they ran right in front of us. We stayed in that field for a while and then started working along the edge of it. Soon we heard speaking. We doubled back in time to see the hounds cross the road but not the quarry. The hounds took off and we were running. The run started at 11AM, went for 52 minutes, was 7.1 miles long at an average speed of 8 mph. The one map shows the turquoise outline of the run. The distance between dots is an indicator of the speed we were going.

We came to as stop a little before noon. We were at the far west end of the Wildlife area near Hwy D. I was on one of my young horses and I had an airplane to catch so I headed in with Jean Mutrux. The rest of the group came in about 20-30 minutes later. It was a great day.