This is a short story written by Nick Microutsicos for a writing contest, which required the stories to be written from the perspective of an animal. The 13-year-old son of an avid foxhunter, Nick has heard many hunt recollections, so he chose to write his story about a fox and his siblings.

Resting at the foot of an old oak in the early hour of dawn, I heard a rumbling in the distance. Leaping up, I heard my sister Ruby yelp, “THE HOUNDS!”

“Let’s give ‘em a good chase!” brother Randall cried exuberantly.

He shot off and ran straight towards the surprised hounds and jumped into a tree, disappearing in the pine boughs.

Ruby and I separated  and ran opposite directions, she along the river, and I along Mr. Pickett’s cow fence. The hounds circled, trying to find us, but we were much too sly for them.

With the price of gas soaring over the summer and horse events everywhere suffering low attendance, the organizers of Virginia Hunt Week (VHW) made a tough decision to cancel for this year. Before we had long enough to mourn the loss of VHW ’08, a new idea was born – the 4 Day Hunt Weekend Extravaganza!  The Masters of the Oak Ridge Fox Hunt, Glenmore Hunt, Rockbridge Hunt and the Bedford County Hunt teamed up to offer foxhunters four days of hunting and socializing in their different hunt countries, with an afternoon of Beagling and the Glenmore Hunt Ball thrown into the mix.

Now that hunt season is in full swing, check out some news from various hunts. Read on for links to some good hunting stories and events.

The honey hole gets sweeter each time we go back. “The Hill” proved to be up for the challenge again Sunday morning. The impending heat put a burden on the pack to produce good sport early on in the meet.  The hounds were released and bounded forward like uncaged lions. I mounted my horse and called the hounds ahead to the first covert which consisted of tall grass with some accompanying briars. The hounds that had just earlier looked like uncaged lions now tiptoed through the covert like newborn kittens as they tried to avoid even the slightest prick from a briar.  Once this unforeseen obstacle was overcome we progressed to the top of the hill for a regrouping.  As the hounds and field gathered to recast we were met with a wonderful surprise.