Dogs evolved to run in packs. We are gradually selecting them to be surrogate children living in houses with only the occasional walk outside. The true dog existence is most closely emulated in fox hunting.
Today the Old North Bridge Hounds fox hunt met at the Delaney wildlife area in Stow MA. The day was bright and clear and the foliage not too wet from the rains the night before. Four of we foxes ventured out to spread our anise over hill and dale with the additional help of an old friend from Cambridge, Magie. At any moment in time one of us is in the woods climbing hills and fording swamps laying the drag scent. The others walk along the trail calling to us at intervals to keep the dragger form becoming lost. There were a couple of moments when I had to move quickly as my feet were rapidly sinking into the mire. At such moments it is not advisable to stop and think about one’s situation but to move with swift abandon.
About two thirds of the way through the drag Maggie and I left our dragging duties to return and view the hunt’s return from the wild. As fate would have it, we took a wrong turn and went in a direction opposite to that of our goal. After about a mile and a half we stopped at a farm house situated next to an orchard. No one seemed to be around but in a few minutes, a heard of women sheparding three year olds emerged from the trees. During the earlier laying of sent I had picked up a plastic dragon lost in the woods and was still holding it. Magie and I greeted the apple pickers hoping to get directions back to Delaney. It turned out that one of the pickers and shepherdess of small children was an old friend. She didn’t seem to recognize me at first probably because I was rather disheveled and standing there holding a plastic dragon. After reluctant recognition she helped us with directions. Another shepherdess who was at the time breast feeding a one month old said that she helps place out of work fox hounds in new homes and would be glad to place any that we had available. I gave her my business card as we have the occasional hound that does not hunt and would benefit from a more domestic life style. The directions worked and Maggie and I made it back in time to see the hounds return voicing all the way. Magie survived her first foxing in great form and soon departed the wildness of Stow for the civilization of Cambridge.
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