Hunting Sunday March 12, 2006 10:00AM
Busch Wildlife Area

Huntsman: Eleanor Hartwell
Whips: Jill Wagenknecht, Mary Hensel, John Korenak, Lil Lewis, Gene Deutch, Lee Deutch, Betsy Park
First Field: Werner Kugler, Gerda Kugler, Eddie Beyers, Myra Taylor, Lei Ruckle, Jane Liesman, Bob Wilmott, Tom Neese, Geri Waushausen, Jean Mutrux, Abby Mutrux, Shelby, Sarah, Leslie Ayers, Leslie Granger


GPS readings 8.15 miles 1 hrs 31 minutes moving 19 minutes stopped. Max speed 17.2 mph
Moving average 5.0 mph

It was a warm and muddy day. There had been thunderstorms the night before with considerable precipitation. The fixture had been moved from Hopewell to Busch Wildlife in hopes that we could stay on the roads at Busch. There was quite a good show of people. The temperature started at 53 degrees and increased to 61 degrees. Barometric pressure was falling 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 East at 3 to 4 mph.

There were some new horses in the field today. Tom Neese brought his new grey Thoroughbred who was quite nice, Jill Wagenknecht was whipping off of her homebred Trakehner and I was hunting my coming four year old who is also a third generation hunt horse for me. I hunted his grand mother starting in 1987, I hunted his mother the last three seasons until I sold her in December. I was anxious to try him in the field to see how he would be. We started off across the dam and headed down a small road in the woods, we then headed across a field where the mud was quite deep. We moved along for a while and then Mrs. Lewis viewed a coyote. The hounds followed it along the edge of the woods and were running full cry. A couple of us dropped back at this point to save our horses in the deep mud, but then lost the field. We decided to hack on the roads and listen on the radio. We knew that they were at lake 22 and then across from the high school but we didn’t know the territory well enough to get there. We ended up hacking in. We’d been out 1 ½ hours which was plenty for my young horse.

Jean Mutrux brought Chili and Guacamole and managed to have quite a good brunch with no electricity available. We had girl scout cookies for dessert which was a big hit with all.