90 plus degrees driving me crazy

[kwolf]

I know I'm not alone in this , I will be so glad to get some cooler weather!! I think today is the 13th day this summer with 90 or above. I did manage to get out one night last week and one morning real early last weekend with some decent runs each time . I am not a 2 to 3 hour runner for those that know me , when I go I like to let them run long and hard . But some running is better than no running. I don't know how some people can go all summer without getting them out that would make me NUTS for sure. Chance of rain this evening , hopefully I can get them out in the morning for a few hours to try to keep what little sanity I have left. Ron Preston

[Hubbard84]

I agree! I'm sick of this heat and dry weather! That and having to go camping and do other summer stuff lol
I'm ready to run some hounds. Gotten them out but too few and far between for my liking. That being said I've seen one pup die of a heat stroke and it wasn't pretty. Get them out when you can.

[S.R.Patch]

If heat were the only thing that kept me home I'd feel very fortunate. This has to be the wettest July on record! Two cuttings of hay and plenty of pasture, everyone seems to want to use their vacation days in this heat so no days off for me, we've got my father walking real good with the walker and now are working on getting him to use just a cane, his left eye was damaged so much from the accident they did a cornea transplant so we're doctoring that along and it's looking good.
All I can say is, God is great and life is good!
Keep the faith, the rust on the dogbox latch will wear off when we climb out of this valley...

ps... ole Clem & Tank have learned to unbuckle their fasteners once in a while and go for an unsupervised night of rogue running, you gotta make the best of what your handed I guess that's their excuse...lol

[warddog]

That is the truth Patch. I am retired and have been for a few years now but to tell you the truth I do NOT know how I had time to work and take care of the property. It seems like whenever I think I can get some free, ME time something happens that needs my immediate attention or another project in the honey-do list. I also have a couple neighbors and a cousin that are up in age that I help as well. Seems us old folks have to tag team things to get them done and I'm not as good as I once was when it comes to the four letter word of WORK! My mind says get er done but my body says BREAK TIME! It also takes me awhile to get going in the mornings as since retirement that has changed as well. I used to want to get up and get going to work as fast as I could thinking the quicker I got there the quicker I could get home. Now, it is up late and sleeping in later too! Getting up early to go deer hunting about kills me and I have to tell myself the quicker I get up and get to my stand the quicker I can take me a nap.

[S.R.Patch]

Ken, we're in that stage of life where, "We're not as good as we once were, but we're as good once as we ever were"...

[Newt]

Warddog that is about the best and most accurate description that I have seen of "The Golden Years" .
Twenty years ago I would set the clock at 5:00 AM get out and run the beagles while it was still cool. Now I wake up and force myself to get up.
I went out this morning at about seven, stayed out until about nine, dogs ran a couple in a circle but it was as bad scenting as I have seen lately. When the cottontail came out of the beans the race was over.
I've given up on the Weathermen predictions of rain in this area. They are as unreliable as politicians.

Looking forward to good days ahead. Things could be worse. I noticed that in the summer of1936, prior to global warming, there were 78 days of above 90 degree temperature in this area.

[kwolf]

First things first , SR PATCH I hope all ends well with your dad and he keeps coming along better each day . Secondly GOD is GREAT and and this is a great day and we should be thankful for our blessings. Sometimes I can complain too much, for things could be worse. Now I did get up at 5:00 AM this morning , there had been a small shower come thru just before that , I loaded the boys up and cut them loose before daylite . The 1st couple races were your basic 1/2 grown rabbits but then the last 2 hous plus were real good races the last 2 rabbits running between 3 and 4 miles each for a total of 13 miles for the morning, I was very pleased to say the least. We will get thru this hot spell in time , but untill then get up early or cut them loose at dark and have a good chase . Ron

[513Moogie]

I'm running the pregnant bitch tonight and it's cooled down some in southeast Ohio. She'll get a couple of hrs. to run on real dry turf and woods without any thick brush. We've had drought conditions here and it's bone dry as heck. I'm new but hope to become a regular.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey Ron
I agree with you completely ! We have had the last 23 days in a row that have been over 90 and some hotter and everyday with heavy humidity.I am so ready for the cooler weather.
Like many of you have mentioned,I have not run my dogs much in this weather.First off,I don't much care for it when it's so hot and humid that I'm sweating just sitting on a camp stool listening to the dogs run.Secondly, when it's this hot AND dry and half the rabbits we jump are about the size of a Crappie and don't hardly want to run the races aren't really that great to listen to.And lastly,it's hard on the dogs just as it would be for any critter, man or beast to perform at a high level of exertion in those conditions and I do consider running hounds when it's that hot to be extreme conditions.
I got up early this morning and saw the temp. was 70 at 6:00 a.m.when I turned all five of mine loose.First couple races were those half grown rabbits and then got on a couple that got up and ran good and the dogs were driving.At 10:00 a.m. the temp. was already 86 and I ran in on a good race and downed the dogs and leashed up.Glad I did too as once they were stopped they got a little wobbly and were looking pretty played by the time I got back to the truck and got them some water.
S.R.Patch,Warddog and Newt.Don't know how old you guys are but would guess we're all about at that same point.I turned 65 this year and for sure things do change.
I guess the best thing about it is that now being retired I can run the beagles whenever I want to and feel no pressure to go when it's not enjoyable.
I get a kick out of guys that talk about running dogs when it's -10 below or 90 above.Heck man,I ain't going when those are my choices !!
I know that there are folks who have only one day a week to run and they have to go when they can................. glad it's not me anymore.
I started running hounds 50 years ago and have chased most things chaseable with them.
It used to be that I would coon hunt throughout the week,hunt Friday night until midnight,sleep 3-4 hours and get up and go meet the bear hunters and bear hunt all day Saturday.Coon hunt Saturday night,get what sleep I could and run the bear dogs all day Sunday.That schedule usually lasted till mid-November when deer season opened.Then it was coon hunt at night and deer hunt the weekends until snow put the coons in their dens.Even then,when we would get a "January thaw" and the temps would get up above freezing for a week I'd strap on the snowshoes and take a dog out and try and find a coon that had come out of their den and gone down to the creek for a drink and a little walk.
In my 20's and 30's I didn't mind hunting the north country and the cold and snow.Went hunting with renowned old time cat hunter Alphonse Demers one cold morning with the thermometer reading 6 degrees.We cut a cat track early in the morning and Alphonse told me to take a stand up in the rock ledges and "when you hear the hound coming keep your eyes open and don't let that cat get by you in the ledges.Put the lead right to em!" He would take the hound and walk out the track until they jumped the cat.
The temp. never got out of the teens all day and for 7 hours I stayed on post,freezing my tail off and straining to hear the Buck dog pushing the cat back to his home den.As the sun went down I hiked out of the woods to Alphonse's truck,got it started and sat there with the heater going full blast and wondering what had happened to the old man and should I go for the police or game wardens.At 6:00 p.m. I saw a flash light coming through the woods and it was Alphonse and Buck.They had tracked that cat over 15 miles[ on snow shoes ] and then lost the track when the cat crossed a highway and Buck couldn't find the track again.That was just the kind of old school hunter Alphonse and his brother Frenchy were.
One January morning I took my 11 year old daughter Beth and my beagle Steady Eddy out to Larry Pond to see if we could get a hare up.It was a sunny,blue sky morning and the temp. was hovering right at -10 below zero.
I had decided to cut across the pond on the ice and hunt a balsam thicket on the other side.We were headed towards a little cove that was thick with cat tails and there was an enormous beaver lodge the size of a pick-up truck there and Beth wanted to go closer to check it out.I should have know better but as we got close, there must have been a channel that the beavers were using that kept the ice from forming thick and I fell through up to my waist.
I quickly pulled myself back up on the solid ice and told Beth"we've got to get to the truck right away !"By the time we got to the truck I was frozen solid from the waist down and could no longer bend my legs as my pants and boots were frozen solid.My hands were so cold that I was unable to get my fingers to work and could not get them in my frozen pockets to get my keys so we could get in the truck and get it started.
Beth was started to freak and began to cry as I was getting a little worried myself.My teeth were chattering so hard I could barely speak and probably was getting hypothermia.
Beth finally was able to pry my pants pocket open and get my keys and open the truck door and with some further instruction got the truck started.After quite awhile of the heater blowing full blast my pants thawed enough that I could bend my legs and use the clutch and we headed for the house.
I remember running the beagles one night with Ted Peercy here in Tn. and a real bad storm blew in and we were a ways from the truck.Trees were snapping off and coming down and the lightening was coming down all around us,the rain coming down sideways.Ted said" I think we're in a sh*tstorm here and it's getting dangerous".Ted and I with 6 beagles ended up huddling in a culvert that went under the road while a tornado was tearing up houses a 1/2 mile away.
Dan Lea and I were coon hunting one night along the Etna Rd.Our dogs had gone deep and it started to rain and then it got serious and turned in to a real"toad strangler ! Way off in the distance we could hear them treeing and knowing neither hound would leave with their game up we slogged our way through the sodden woods to them.We found both hounds stretched up on the wood telling the world they had em and it was raining so hard it was impossible to even look up to spot the coon.I literally could not look up !Dan said WHAT ARE WE DOING OUT HERE !
My old hunting buddy Frank Higgins used to say"it's one thing to get caught out in it.It's a whole other thing to get up off the couch and go out in it".LOL.
Bottom line,yes I remember being a lot younger and nothing could slow us down,90 degrees or -10 below,didn't matter.Have I turned in to a "fair weather" hunter? Hmmm,to a certain degree probably yes.
Anyways,thanks S.R. Patch,Warddog and Newt for sharing your thoughts on these "golden years".
A time is coming somewhere down the road where recollections [like those above] and hunting stories will be only cherished memories of old geezers,but until then let's run some dogs when it cools down !!!!!!!!!!!

[two mile]

Running in the morning if anyone wants to join.

[warddog]

Shady Grove beagles, loved the stories. I ALWAYS read your post as your experiences with coon hounds and beagles seem much like mine. Never ran cat or bear but got a couple hounds from my uncle who did run bear. They didn't make the bear hound grade for him but did run and tree coon. Not great coon hounds but could run and tree decent. Back in those days I was having a hard time finding a good coon hound and had went through about every breed there was and got my first and last plott hound as a bear hound reject that LOVED porcupines! Good thing for me we had none here but that Plott brought evidence that her LOVED them with him. In those days I was out late, getting up early to go to work or at times merely taking a shower, changing cloths and going to work. Those days are long past gone for me now and if I am up late, I'm sleeping late too! LOL Although I still love the music of the hounds the sacrifices made to do it has dwindled quite a bit. The same goes for piling limits up day after day as these days I would much rather hear the music of the hounds over the crack of the gun. I do still love to eat game and can flat out wipe out a platter of fried rabbit or squirrel but I've never been able to eat a tailgate full even in my best days bellied up to the table.

[S.R.Patch]

I ain't quite that old but I'll start my 40th yr of shift work come Oct, mostly all have been midnights as I don't handle the politics and crowdedness of days. We used to hunt every day and 4-5 hrs of sleep was enough but boy I tried that again acouple yr ago and I run out of gas after a short week spurt...lol
My best coon hounds were a couple English red ticks male/female, straight and easy to handle. My buddy had plotts for bear and coon, the plotts had fight and grit.
We always left a set of keys in the bumper of the truck in case there was any trouble, anyone could get the truck.
Me and Monte hunted the UP one week of -5 deg stuff and that was ruff hunting. Every low area we'd go to get out of the wind, we'd find the deer herded up, bust them out and deer running everywhere. The abundant snow was dry and crunchy under foot. We ran hare, Monte's old male and Lucy made the checks but we took advantage of every deer house we found, one place there was an old oil tank with windows cut in the side, a wood floor and a stool to sit on. I warmed in that for a while till Monte hollared at me on the radio asking where I was, then i told him of the little hide-a-way I'd found out of the wind.
One year we hunted the drifts were belly deep and I thought, what the heck are we doing out here. We had to go to high ground where the wind had pushed the snow to a walkable depth but the hare ran under the snow covered juniper and out into the deadfalls where the snow collapsed in on the hounds, burying the track. That was another bad day... Yup, the beagle bug is a bad sickness for sure...

[Hare Chaser]

52° here @ 5:00 a.m. Shame I can't be rich. Work has to come before chas'n hare.

[snowshoehareguide]

08/08
75 | 44 °F



just another day in paradise-

[Hare Chaser]

08/08
75 | 44 °F



just another day in paradise-

Must be nice to have been born handsome and rich!!