Category Archives: Master’s Report

Dear ORH Member,
The remainder of our hunts will be at 9:00 am Daylight Savings Time. That time change and the warming (can you believe it?) necessitate 9:00am if we are to get a whiff of scent.

As a reminder about this season, we did not hunt Oak Ridge after Opening Hunt. The deer hunters had given up so much of their season because of the special events that we agreed not to hunt during their season. As luck would have it, everything changed January 2, 2022. As deer season ended the first whopping snow storm smacked us and this weather drama continued for 5 weeks. We would clean up the home fixture and bam another storm. After those 5 weeks there were intermittent storms and winds. We concentrated on the home fixture and never got to clean up Oak Ridge. Given the storm last weekend we must try again to open trails and places here. It never seems to end.
I bring this up because summer means a lot of work before the beginning of cubbing on Sunday, September 11, 2022. If there is any way you all can pitch in when work parties are organized, please do.

As you know, we are well foxed. A coyote has joined us. There may be more than one. We have run him/her once or twice. He doesn’t appear to be pressing our foxes. As there is enough to eat, there is no reason to do so.

You all will probably remember this season as I do: strange, bitter cold, followed by a warm spell then more snow, rain, sleet, slush. The Spring equinox will be March 20 this year. Surely that is a sign that winter is really over. Hope so.

Up and over,

Rita Mae

Note from the typist: Closing Hunt will be March 27, 2022.

Master’s Report January 2015

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HAPPY NEW YEAR
     All men are created equal. All women are not. Our late neighbor, Mr. Jefferson, might be surprised at this statement. His relationship with women, starting with his mother, was, for lack of a better word, shifty. What a fascinating man, bristling with contradictions, a bit like members of Oak Ridge Hunt Club.
     I delight in your eccentricities, yours and my contradictions, your kindness and your sometimes raucous humor. Thank God. No one in this club will ever be bored.
     2015 awaits. Let’s tear it up!
     Rita Mae and The Hounds
WINTER HOUND NUTRITION
     Studies vary on this but “Ducks Unlimited”, Jan./Feb. issue 2015, just published a report on retriever caloric needs in cold weather: 80% more calories per pound.
     Foxhounds, while swimming across rivers, creeks and ponds, perhaps need a bit less. However, they do need more for, like their gun dog brethren, they might be out four to five hours. While the gun dog sits a great deal of time, the foxhound keeps moving.
     The other accelerated need is water. Hounds need more water for their digestive system. While they drink during hunting, we always have plenty of fresh, clean water once back at the kennel.
     Our food bills shoot upwards in the winter, as does the electric bill. You don’t pay the electric bill but you do contribute to the food bill via your dues.
     Three factors have pumped up the bill: winter, a new feed, a few more hounds. We changed the food last year as Chestnut Hill altered their feed. I like to try things for one full year and we switched to a bigger commercial brand, more expensive but no hounds have lost weight. Yes, we have a few with very high metabolisms. We could stuff them three times a day, they will stay lean. Also, our M line doesn’t put on weight until their third year. A few of them are lean.
     John and Toot monitor the food before I get to it. Chestnut Hill had proven wonderful plus it was a Virginia company and we were doing business with friends. We didn’t want to switch foods but necessity drove us to it and the hounds look good.
     Much as you’d like a touch of fat on them in winter, that’s the time you can’t add a little lard. Fat is warming but right now, mid-season, the hounds have reached their true hunting condition. During the bitter cold we pick them up as soon as the hunt is over. Even in the party wagon, their body heat helps.
     No Oak Ridge hound has ever suffered from hypothermia or frostbite. Now that we have the tracking collars, as always, thanks to Stuart Jones, this worry is off our shoulders. We are always working toward perfection concerning hound care and altering feed due to the season is one of those special tasks.
     As the food bills are up, we must find homes for some older hounds and we have two Z youngsters, just coming on one year, that we could give to someone. This is a blood line that needs to prove itself and if it does, we still have enough young ones to go forward. Maria, John, Toot and I (and any other whipper-in so inclined) will make a list, post photos and perhaps some of you will be kind enough to give a friend a home.
MASTER’S REPORT
     Mid-season. Can you believe it? The hound work has been excellent. The weather has not. There were days when we had four seasons in one day.
     For all that and deer season to boot, we continually pushed out foxes, lately traveling in pairs. While we have enjoyed a few long runs, mostly they’ve been short. The fox either goes to ground or we lost scent in the wind or rising heat. Perhaps the rising heat loss is over, so I look forward to those true winter runs.
     We returned to Cherry Hill since our encounter with Flower. Miss Henderson told us that Flower had been to the back porch. She swore she had never seen a skunk that big. Yes, we agreed. Hounds, whippers-in and myself are hoping that Flower will keep to himself for the remainder of the season.
     Maria has helped with the fixture card, I’m still making the landowner calls. Call the huntline. The wonderful experience of being Amtrack’s first writer-in-residence put me back and on my return I had but one week to get things together.
     I especially thank Kathleen King and Kim Eastep in giving me a day of their time to help deliver landowner Christmas gifts. This year it took four days and I have seven presents still outstanding. This is an important hunt club function and a delightful one.
     I also thank Karen and Mark Catron for feeding us on Christmas day when we finished that day’s run. Kathleen, Kim and I will ever remember our Christmas dinner.
     Hounds and I will see you in the hunt field.
     Onward,
     Rita Mae

Master’s Report

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Flower’s First Hunt…..
     Sunday, November 23, 2014, hounds met at Cherry Hill at  9 AM.
     Overcast, chilly but not cold, the ground was dry but a hint of moisture played in the air. You could feel a front coming in. The question for hounds and I, would it come soon enough?
     Ten couple rolled down the farm road, poked around in the tobacco sheds, kept going. Allie veered into the pasture behind the second tobacco barn and a few hounds accompanied her. Others stayed to the left of the road. Lots of feathering but no opening.
     Down at the creek, the black coop to one’s right, the pack bounded across the creek and worked with more interest. Piper opened, then Allie opened and Orchid jumped in but remained quiet. Within minutes the pack crossed through the creek to the south side and kept working. The bank rises, is steep, there’s but one path up. Becky Birnbaum rode up to the crest and moved along while Maria Johnson pushed ahead of the creek path. Hounds worked up, came back and kept on for a half hour, moving ever eastwards. Allie almost ran out of the territory but she returned to the horn. There’s thick mountain laurel at the tight end of the creek before climbing the hill and everyone nosed around in there. A den, at the base of a tree, attracted attention but no action.
     Finally, we rode to the top of the hill, could see Variety Mills Road. Pack together again, although Allie was lagging. We rode along the woods’ path at the edge of the big meadow, down we returned to the creek.
     A light wind presented no problem but the dried leaves and hard ground made scenting difficult. I hunted back the way I came, I rarely do that, but I thought hounds and I might pick up a fox in the pasture where Allie nosed about. Tried the edge of that, by the creek. Nothing, up we went to the lovely top of that chunk of land, made a circle, came down by the coop, steep, and drew the feeder creek. There’s a den there and I hoped that nice red had taken a stroll. Hounds raced ahead. Well, this went on and on with the same result, a bit of boo hoo but no real music or run. And we did pick up some of the red’s scent in the woods behind Miss Henderson’s sheds.
     Trolling the pasture, all at once the pack exploded. Joyous music. My back was turned as hounds circled behind me, came in front of me, ran back and the music filled the air. People started yelling. Priscilla Friedberg led First Flight. Just as I trotted up, hounds coming straight for me, I spied a large black animal. We have black foxes at Cherry Hill, a moment of hope surged. “Was a black fox visiting our red fox a bit early?” Hounds bellowed then shut up. Not a peep.
     The quarry, a skunk, large enough to be a cocker spaniel, fired. The lead hounds rolled on the ground, eyes stinging and a wall of fragrance wafted over the pasture. The skunk, not at all worried, ambled to the red fox den and popped in. If the fox minded, he or she had sense enough to be a genial host.
     The tail hounds came up and backed off. However, Mocha, a first year entry, knew her job was to dig. In she went, butt up in the air, tail wagging. Not a good place to be. Had I gotten off to grab her stern and pull her out, we’d both receive another blast and worse, the pack would come to me.
     So, I did the sensible thing, I blew the four distinct notes and sure enough, the first whipper-in to appear was Maria. I made her do it while I led off the pack. Fortunately, she didn’t have to dismount as Mocha listened to her and did notice, once she stuck her head out of the den, that the long end of a thong dangled near, too near.
     Had Maria wished to take revenge, she could have hugged me once were back at the trailers. She restrained herself but both of us wore a light dash of eau de peu.
     Kept hunting, but the poor hounds could only smell those skunked the worst.
     While this was not our best hunt, it certainly will go down as an unforgettable one.
     At the tailgate, Miss Henderson on her ATV, we all toasted the skunk which Amy Burke dubbed Flower, for the skunk in “Bambi”. Let’s hope that was Flower’s first and last hunt.

Thanksgiving Hunt and Master’s Report

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AN EARLY CALL…..
     The Weather Channel, using the American model and the European, gives two different forecasts for Wednesday, Nov. 26. The European model predicts snow for Wednesday.
     Given that this is Thanksgiving Eve, so many of you have big plans, lots of people under roof, let me make an early call.
     If it does snow, I will cancel Friday’s hunt and move our High Holy Day to next Sunday.
     As you must braid, see to guests, this will be more difficult if the weather is bad. Even if it clears for Friday, braiding wondering if you can trailer out for Friday morning seems an unnecessary stress.
     If the weather holds and the American model is correct, of course, we will hunt.
     Look for an early call Wednesday evening. 540-456-8787 Huntline
     The bad weather, if it comes, should not affect Saturday’s foot hunt. That call will also be on the Huntline by early Friday evening.
THE CHILDREN’S HUNT…..please park at The Run-In Shed
      Thanksgiving, the second High Holy Day, is our children’s hunt. A brief review of our modus operandi is in order.
     Thanksgiving Hunt begins with awarding of the hunt button and colors.
     After this happy occasion, Huntsman and staff take a handful of steady Eddies, the children follow. As some are on lead line, this isn’t a long walk, usually down to the polo field. After the kids have walked behind hounds, perhaps seen a fox, they return to the trailers.
     Then the adults walk, trot down to the Arena where the rest of the hounds await us and off we go.
     Should a fox appear when you are with the children, here’s the drill. Stand still. The Huntsman will stand still. The whippers-in will stay with the hounds. Parents, friends will turn the children back to the trailers. Once the Huntsman and the Field Master determine that moving off will not frighten the kids or set off their ponies, adults will go toward the hounds.
NOVEMBER 29, Waldingfield Beagles, 3 pm
     Eat too much? Run it off with the beagles at Tea Time Farm, meeting at the Upper Barn. If you have visitors, children, too, this is an excellent way to introduce them to hunting with hounds. People are on foot, can get close to the beagles, see the action.
     The beagles run much like foxhounds but the circles are smaller, the range of the game, rabbit, being smaller. The biggest difference between beagling and foxhunting is when beagling, you are hunting a prey animal. When foxhunting, you are hunting a predator.
     Actually, when beagling, you hunt what the fox hunts. It is instructive for those fox hunters who wish to learn more about their quarry, but most of all, it’s great fun. Better yet, no one will part company with their horse.
     Following the run, we celebrate with a tea.
     Hope to see you Saturday.
OPENING HUNT….
     Oak Ridge, vast and beautiful, always delights us as well as our guests. November 9 proved no exception. True to form the day became warm. When hounds were picked up we had various temperature readings from 68*F to 73*F.
     Sixty five to seventy five riders went out. The number is a bit shaky because some returned early. There were thirty car followers. Hard to believe but yes, thirty, and the breakfast hosted over two hundred and twenty people including Oak Ridge’s wonderful Hollands and other landowners, without whom we would enjoy no sport.
     We picked up two foxes but scent didn’t hold. We ended on a coyote and there again, scent didn’t hold. Dee Phillips, whipper-in viewed and the field saw some lovely hound work. Not much of a run though. Then again, would it be Opening Hunt without unseasonable warmth and spotty scent?
     Mark and Karen Catron won the Jean Beegle Award amidst much cheering. Their name, engraved on the silver platter, now follows eight or is it nine others? At any rate, it is a high honor and much deserved.
     Wayne Dawson won the Guess-the-Temperature-at-Noon award and promptly donated the monies to the hounds.
     I was thrilled because the hounds did the best they could in the circumstances and also for the very first time I was able to sample some of the over-the-top hunt breakfast. I actually managed to eat half a plate, a victory of sorts.
     The formal season is now upon us.
     Good Hunting,
     Always and Ever,
     Rita Mae