DRS
Old Mossy Horns
We almost did not hunt today. What the heck! Wasn't raining here at 4:30 so we went to load up. Got them loaded by 5:30. Headed east. Cast at 7:00. Dogs jumped right out the box. It was on. Had a deer almost jump into the truck, of course I didn't have my shotgun. Then they split up and deer and dogs running three ways. Two packs running into each other and losing out in a major swamp. Took a little bit but the trail dogs got it going again. Third pack of dogs caught up. The others are smoking one. My kennel partner makes the last cast, turning the caught hounds to the pack. Mean time, the pack is running a decent buck, we try and cut him off. Kennel partner has his young children with him, before he can get ready the buck jets out 20 feet away. A good buck, for the area. I go around, run into another hunter, he said it's a good buck. Hounds take him across a hundred acre corn field. Kennel partner is on the opposite side, hounds heading his way. Dogs 400 yards out he sees the buck slipping toward him. Bam! Truck door slams,Daddy! Buck gone. He turns my way and crosses to far for a shot. I load the hounds, didn't want them to get where they were headed. We round a few more up. I ask where is Buddy. I had a "?" Less than 20 minutes after he cast him to the pack. The "?" still in the same block. He said he had a signal, good, until he said it was where I had the "?". What! Well, that's strange, for multiple reasons. The main one, Buddy don't stop. Well, my kennel partner puts on his hip boots crosses the big ditch and walks up a smaller one about 200 yards, easier than beating that thick brush. He thinks there is not enough water to drown him, he is not hung in a bush. Oh no! There is a leg sticking out over the spoil from digging the ditch. He climbs to the top. Buddy is dead! Looks like he had been squeezed and dirt all over him. A little higher and he sees the den right over the spoil hill. Now my friend gets concerned. He quickly unbuckled the collars. Said he wondered what broke ever stick he heard. He didn't want to leave Buddy but he thought he better get out of there quick. Especially, being unarmed. The hard part was telling his 3 and 5 year old that Buddy was not coming home, that a bear had killed him. We are grateful that my friend was not attacked too. Buddy was a good hound and had a great demeanor. We owe many a race to him, for finding the deer. Going to miss him for sure. All I can say is he died doing what he loved. I can handle what happened to him better than someone shooting him or getting hit by a car. This was Buddy's last cast. Here is Buddy, last year.
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