|
I
do want to tell you the story of our second day of hunting,
because it is a story of community, and represents what our sport
should encompass, and why it is so important that we all defend
our right to hunt open country, respect land owners, and defeat
every effort to curtail our sport here or abroad. We were the
guests of Robert & Pat Green, whose ranch parallels the Madison
River, just outside Three Forks. The town bears its name because
here the headwaters of the Missouri River originate at the
intersection of the Jefferson, the Madison, and the Gallitan
Rivers. On this day, 1 ½ hours into the hunt, we found ourselves
on the banks of the Madison, having just followed hounds on a
blistering line after a viewed coyote that carried us all to the
water. Hounds and Huntsman moved studiously along the river bank,
and sure enough, struck a line that carried hounds back away from
the river, heading south.
Accustomed to our deep
Nevada sand footing and its dry, difficult sagebrush rich
scenting, our hounds were as if possessed hunting in Montana. Firm
footing, relatively high moisture, and section after section of
wheat fields rolling up from the river provided them a veritable
raceway. We quickly lost sight of hounds, and began to gallop,
following by ear. Forty-five minutes and some 12 miles later, only
the fittest staff horses were in the chase. Five couple of
following hounds had been collected, but the front of the pack was
miles ahead, still heading east, or so we believed.
With horses spent and hounds away, we ultimately returned
to the trailers 5 hours after casting to find Judy Vose waiting
with a message. The Sacagaweeha front desk attendant had received
a call from Randy, a local resident . He had read the front page
article in the Bozeman Daily Standard published that morning
featuring our group and describing what we were doing in town with
hounds, horses, and all our fancy clothes. He thought someone
might be interested to know that his mother-in-law had just called
him wondering if there was a group of "dogs" in town this weekend.
She was curious because she had just seen a bunch of tri-colored
hounds chase a huge coyote across Highway 287 in Willow Creek, 10
miles south of Three Forks.
Interested indeed, Lynn, Judy and Gayle Horn take off toward
Willow Creek with truck and hound trailer. There they catch up
with Randy, who has received a few more calls from his
mother-in-law as well as other townspeople, describing sightings
of our hounds and their increasingly pressed coyote. By following
telephone leads, Lynn and helpers succeeded in driving to within
the sound of hound voices. Hounds had turned west, and continued
on for another 5 or 6 miles before silence suddenly fell. Lynn had
no way of knowing that voices were temporarily dimmed because her
pack was swimming the Jefferson River in pursuit of their quarry.
The angelic mother-in-law, who by now was serving as first
whipper-in in her 1998 Cadillac, once again viewed hounds emerging
from the river in time to stop traffic on the next major road they
had to cross to disappear into the cliffs rising from the
Jefferson’s banks |
Ultimately, the coyote
triumphed as hounds were unable to hold the line ascending the
rock face. Randy discovered a road leading to the river bank where
Lynn patiently blew in hounds, which returned slowly as they had
once again to swim the river to rejoin their huntsman. So ended a
special day of hunting. Special not only because our hounds were
brave and true across some 30 miles of country, but because our
hunt became part of the community that day. With car followers,
phone followers, hotel staff, all sharing in the excitement of our
hounds’ work. One of our staff commented, "I never realized before
what the culture of hunting must be like in Europe and the UK. It
was so wonderful to feel that the local residents were with us,
sharing our excitement." Everyone present at the Three Forks meet
appreciated the community’s participation in our activities. We
can’t wait to return to Three Forks!
People Who Hunt
Jared & Angela Norrell
Everyone noticed when Angela
Norrell appeared for the first time in the Red Rock hunt field.
She just is one of those people. Big smile, big energy, big eyes.
Turned out beautifully, well mounted, lovely in the saddle. And
hungry to hunt. Not interested in conversation in the field, not
interested in who’s who, just interested in following and
understanding hounds. When hunting’s done and the evenings unfold,
well that’s a different matter. Angela loves life, and doesn’t
appear ready to waste a minute of it. We experienced the energy of
Angela last year when she joined our first annual Red Rock Hounds
Montana meet. We couldn’t wait to get more.
Angela lives in Washington state, where she is a member of the
Woodbrook Hunt. We at Red Rock were lucky to continue our
relationship with Angela this year when she also became a member
of Red Rock Hounds and joined us for several days of hunting
during the season and once again made the trek to Montana in
April. Angela was half of our winning fast time hunter pace team
in March, and served admirably as an assistant whipper-in in
Montana where staff always rides out in pairs.
Jared is Angela’s husband. Although he has not yet joined us in
the hunt field, he aspires to do so and in the mean time is fully
occupied with another hunt. Jared has just been promoted to Major
in the U.S. Army. In the past year Jared has completed multiple
tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Army’s 75th
Ranger Regimen. We met Jared for the first time in Washington at a
spectacular dinner donated to the Woodbrook Hunt Ball Auction by
Dick Secor and his wife Linda.
Based on Angela’s style, character, and energy, we should have
been prepared for Jared. Just like his wife: big smile, big
energy, big eyes. This guy is ridiculously handsome, intelligent,
with an infectious sense of humor and a disarming air of
gentleness. We conversed over dinner about his work with the
Rangers, and his perception of our country’s position in the
Middle East. When Jared speaks of his mission one is struck by his
comprehension, his global awareness, his passion, and in certain
areas, his frustration. I am overwhelmed with a sense of
confidence in this man’s ability to carry my best interest with
him when he goes to war. Jared held us spellbound describing his
cooperative relationship with a village leader in Afghanistan,
then injected a jarring reality check, briefly touching on field
work in Iraq "catching the bad guys". |
