Fox Hunt

Monday afternoon.... and it's snowing again.

There's not much that I can say about that (that hasn't already been said.)

I'm thinking that Madame Spring has decided to catch a later train.

It seems her baggage arrived about a week ago...

but she remains yet-to-be-seen!

The dogs don't seem to mind the snow,

but I have to admit that I am ready for it to leave us!

It's hard to believe that this summer marks the third year since Sammy and Oakley

came to live on the farm.

Since their arrival, our losses from predators has dramatically decreased.

These two boys love to hunt,

and the chase....there's nothing better!

The other evening, after dark, I was out closing up the animals for the night

and doing the last feeding,

when I heard Sam and Oakley barking (like crazy) down in "the holler."

The holler is a small valley to the back of our house that runs between our house

and that of Dr. Becky, on the next ridge.

(You can see Sammy staring wistfully into the holler in this picture...

(probably remembering "the incident.")

It seems the ruckus heard that evening was Sam and Oakley

with either a coyote or a fox cornered in the holler.

Barking....howling....shrieking... such scary sounds were coming out of the darkness.

I called to the dogs.

They ignored.

More barking.

More shrieking...to me it sounded like a fox.

Then the cry of a wounded dog.

Panic struck me.

My heart sank.

I called to the dogs again.

Finally, two four legged figures emerged from the woods, out of the pitch darkness.

Into the house I bade them.

The reason for the wounded dog cry was instantly obvious.

Sam had sustained a couple of nasty bites on his nose.

Oakley was bleeding from somewhere, but his black coat

prevented us from seeing his wound.

It wasn't until the next morning, when the dried blood appeared

that it was apparent that Oakley had been bitten in both his ear 

and under his eye.

I spoke with Becky, and she decided to give them each a Rabies booster.

(All of the dogs are always up to date....but we thought we would play it extra safe just in case.)

We started them on antibiotics to prevent abscess. 

Considering that both dogs received wounds on their face,

we concluded that they had chased a fox into it's hole,

and proceeded to taunt it.

Sticking their noses into the hole made the dogs easy targets.

Having a secure feeling that our birds are safe when free-ranging 

is the upside of having two dogs that like to hunt.

The downside is always the possibility of injury...

not to mention the skunk sprays (several each year) and porcupine quills

that go along with this activity.

Oh, you silly boys....

will you ever learn?

(Probably not.)