The hunt commenced at the carpark of the Watsonia railway station and the first hunt was just a few kilometres away in the Cresswell forest wildlife reserve. Dough VK3JDO had placed the transmitter in the centre of some blackberries as has become traditional with some teams these days. First in was VK3BLN with VK3HDF and VK3PW second VK3YQN and VK3BYY just made it before time expired. Mark BYY lives nearby and so brought his two sons out to have a look at foxhunting.
Hunt 2 saw Chris VK3CHR park in a new estate in Bundoora and YQN was first to find him; all but two teams located this transmitter.
Hunt 3 was the most difficult of the evening with Greg VK3VT taking a stroll along a “vermin proof” fence which separates a housing estate from a park by the Plenty river. By placing the transmitter over the edge of the river gully Greg was able to convince the hounds that he was in the park on the other side of the river. After much running (the road into the park is closed at night) the hounds found they had to cross the river and then climb a cliff to get to the transmitter. First in were members of the VK3ZPF team who were new to the sport and had not acquired all the sniffing skills – particularly up close work. after some instruction from the fox they located the transmitter and the clock started. Bruce VK3TJN was the only other hound to find this transmitter but there were several in the area when time expired – Ewen VK3OW was close as was David VK3XAJ who was at the base of the cliff.
It took some time to round up the hounds after this hunt and there was still one team missing when the hounds departed to find the next transmitter. They were finally located and reunited with their runner – some 10 to 15 minutes into the hunt. Doug JDO was sitting just on the limit of the Melways at Map 182F1 in Bindts Road and VK3YQN again found him first with all bar two teams finding him within the ten minutes. While looking for this spot the fox team had discovered that when coming from the north there was a hump in the road which if approached at speed could cause the car to fly. Unfortunately none of the hounds came form this direction and so Doug did not see any flying hounds.
The last hunt of the night saw Cris VK3CHR at the end of Hillmartin Rd in Plenty; all hounds bar one found this spot within 5 minutes with VK3HDF leading the way. Supper was held at the home of Chris VK3CHR and all agreed it was an excellent repast; most teams were well on their way home before 00:30 on Saturday morning.
Results:
Team 1 2 3 4 5 Total Place
VK3YQN 8 0 4 0 4 16 1
VK3HDF 4 4 10 1 0 19 2
VK3BLN 0 3 10 4 4 21 3
VK3ZPF 10 7 0 4 5 26 4
VK3PW 4 10 10 5 1 30 5
VK3OW 10 5 10 10 3 38 6
VK3BYY* 9 10 10 10 10 49 7
VK3HBD 10 10 10 10 10 50 8
*VK3BYY only attended for the first hunt.
At supper it was agreed that the next hunt would be a week later to allow for those who are taking part in the John Moyle field day.