9/27/2008 - Island Pond, VT

Date of hunt 9/27/2008
Location: Boulder Pile
Weather Wet/Humid
Temperature 57 °F (Start)
Dogs of Bailey
Running Partners Lanny Forgays, Dean Decker, Danny Christianson, Craig Bannister
Other Dogs: Bones, Rose, Smoke,Mercy
# of Rabbits Ran: 3
# of Rabbits Shot 1

Story of the hunt:
Alarm went off at 4am. I was out of bed rather quickly, as I was quite excited. Dean fixed coffee, had a small breakfast. We loaded up the dogs and made our way to the Boulder Pile. It rained all night, but had stopped by the morning. Got to the Boulder Pile really early, wanted to beat everyone else in. Waited for daylight and set the dogs down. The males were really after Bailey, wouldn't leave her alone. We checked her and quickly found that she was really swollen, in heat. Put Bailey back in the box with a bark collar on. Took her a few times before she realized that if she stopped barking the shock would stop. Made our way down in, Rose got one started. It was the small one that turned a couple of small circles that Lanny and I ran when we ran there. It circled by Dean, he shot twice and missed. I worked my way down deep and saw a
glimpse of the rabbit (70 yards) and it circled back up to Dean, who shot it at about 10 yards. Worked down lower and Rose started another rabbit. It made a really tight circle and came back around to us. I shot once and missed. It circled around and started to head to the road and circle back. A tall Bluetick came into the sounds of the hounds and disrupted their run. They went out across the road with the Bluetick and took us a while to get the dogs back. Went back to camp for
lunch.