After mixed numbers throughout the year the Melbourne Fox-Hunt Group came out in force last Friday. The highest number of teams since February 1999 hunted the VK3ZPF Christmas hunt.
Eight teams assembled at the start location, outside Disk Smith Electronics in Springvale, where a simple instruction sheets was handed out.
The first hunt, started at 8:15 and the eight teams had a good signal to chase. VK3VT joined in midway through the first hunt. The first transmitter for the night was hidden in a new area of the Lynbrook housing estate. First in was VK3BLI followed by VK3TVB and VK3PW. All other teams, except VK3VT, managed to find the fox inside the 10 minute time limit.
The second hunt, a three legged event, promised some fast and furious action. The first leg was in a large shrub at John Lindsay Reserve in Patterson Lakes. First in was VK3PW beating VK3TVB, VK3HDF and VK3VT by less than 20 seconds. The second leg was at the end of Brigantine Court, about 800 metres from the first transmitter. The order of arrival here was quite a surprise with some teams making considerable gains on their first leg performance. Based on leg time VK3HDF was followed by VK3BLI, VK3VT and VK3YQN coming in forth after showing up last at the previous leg. The third leg was down a bicycle track at the eastern end of Armstongs Rd Seaford. The order of arrival was again shuffled with VK3BLN taking the first place on leg time
followed by VK3TVB and VK3PW. Teams VK3HDF, VK3TXO and VK3HBD has considerable trouble with this leg of the hunt and earned themselves 10 points.
The third hunt for the evening was a single leg hunt located at The Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve in Frankston North. Most teams coming in from the north had quite a run to the top of the hill with VK3HDF making it ahead of VK3BLN and VK3YQN. All other teams except VK3PW located the fox before time was called and the hounds regrouped.
For the last event the fox was caught out by a police blitz at the final location for the evening. Not wishing to bring undue attention to the hounds, a new supper location was found and the last transmitter was hidden close by.
All hounds except VK3YQN found the final transmitter with VK3TVB narrowly beating VK3VT, VK3BLN and VK3TXO to the lair.
Supper was at Ballam Park on Cranbourne Rd Frankston. VK3YQN had lodged a protest that they were unaware of the frequency of the last transmitter and called for the last hunt to be discarded. The VK3ZPF team considered long and hard the implications of discarding this hunt and, since the final result was not greatly altered, it was included in the evening’s totals.
The following results were announced:
VK3TVB 10 points
VK3BLN 13 points
VK3PW 17 points
VK3BLI 23 points
VK3HDF 24 points
VK3VT 24 points
VK3YQN 35 points
VK3TXO 35 points
VK3HBD 46 points
The final results for year 2000:
VK3HDF 36
VK3VR/JMD/MZ/TVB 32
VK3BLN 28
VK3YQN 24
VK3PW 16
VK3HBD 15
VK3VT 11
VK3OW/BLI 11
VK3ZPF 10
VK3TKQ 5
VK3TXO 1
Congratulations to the VK3HDF team for their outstanding effort for the year.