Category: Fox Hunting

Six hounds rocked up at a shopping center carpark near the corner of Ferntree Gully Rd and Burwood Highway in perfect conditions for a night of challenge and fun. A GPS waypoint file is included below.

Hunt 1 was straight into a unusual hunt with unusual rules. There were 5 ARDF transmitters in the same area about 10 minutes drive from the Start. 1,3 & 5 were very close to each other (about 40m) wheras 2 and 4 were more distant. Teams could drive or drop off as many runners as they liked, but the trick was a homing beacon on another frequency could be turned on at any time, and since this was to be scored using the normal 10 minute timing teams could not delay too long hunting this or risk losing more points than they could gain by going for another ARDF. A dilemma ! Teams were also required to find the homing transmitter within 15 minutes of it first being found or lose all their ARDF points as well as getting 10 for the timed part. This was to give a defined finish to the hunt so it wouldn’t drag on forever.

OW still attempted to fool father time but it didn’t work and they lost all their ARDF points, as well as coming in 22 minutes after the winner. BLN had found the homing as well as all 5 ARDF transmitters. Mention must also go to KIR team who managed a credible 4 on this hunt, also finding all 5 ARDFs, making them 2nd. VT scored a total of 5 (with 4 ARDF’s). [ Note the ARDF’s were scored as 2 points for every ARDF TX *not* found, to fit in with the inverse scoring system ]. What did people think of this hunt ?

Hunt 2 was a more conventionally run 2 legged hunt. Hunts were scored on leg time, so even if a team does poorly on the 1st leg, the 2nd hunt is entirely independent. This tends to bring up some unexpected results at the end of the night ! Leg 1 wasn’t far from the ARDF location but tricky to get to. BLN again won this one, followed quickly by VT and BQZ, then OW. YDF and KIR both found it 5 minutes later. Leg 2 was a nice drive in the countryside, being located on the far side of Cardinia Reservoir in some grassland beyond the dam. On leg time VT and YDF were equal first to the well hidden YQN Pajero, followed closely by BQZ. All others were over 10 minutes, some having visited all sorts of interesting and fascinating rural locations on the way.

Hunt 3 was again 2 legged in order to save re-group time. Steve and Nathan were under a bridge on an equestrian (that’s horse for the ignorant) trail. They also found someone’s prize marajiana plant secreted in the same location. A glowing bollard decoy was used not far from the real fox just to annoy Roger. Well at least, we were told it was glowing, but by then that might have been the hash talking. YDF seemed to have recovered from the slow start and won this leg too, followed 4 minutes later by BLN and VT, then OW, KIR and BQZ (see that bollard really worked!).

Despite being last on the first leg, BQZ managed 1st on the 2nd leg, which was in a bastard location in a thin bit of green park hemmed in by private properties back near Rowville. OW did a bit better on this one with a 4 to come 2nd.

Hunt 4 was going to be somewhere else I’m not going to reveal, but as usual time contraints meant we had to skip it and straight into the 2 legged supper hunt. The first leg was possibly the hardest location to access on the night being in the middle of just plain white on the Melway. VT braved the long grass to find this one first, followed by a group of BLN, BQZ and YDF a minute later, closely then KIR and OW.

There were a few signal problems on the final leg, aggravated by the long distance back to Ashwood. Still everyone knew where supper was, so no prizes for guessing which way to head ! OW took honours on leg time (being last on the 1st leg does seem to help !), followed by BQZ and YDF on leg times. All other teams took over 10 minutes.

It was a high scoring night with only BQZ and YDF not scoring a 10. BQZ only missing the first place by 1 point. Bollards !! BLN started well, but they seem to have difficulies with 2 legged hunts (dropping off too many runners on the 1st leg perhaps ?). OW did very poorly on the first hunt by losing their ARDF scores (but they be the rules!) but improved markedly during the night.

Here are the scores:

YDF: 6,6,0,0,5,2,3 /22 (1st)

BQZ: 8,1,2,8,0,2,2 /23 (2nd)

VT: 5,1,0,4,10,0,10 /30 (3rd)

BLN: 0,0,10,4,10,2,10 /36 (4th)

KIR: 4,6,10,7,7,3,10 /37 (5th)

OW: 20,2,10,5,4,4,0 /45 (6th)

Fox hunt report – 12 December 2003 Four teams assembled at the north end of Cardigan St Carlton on a mild evening (with forecast of showers). Roger VK3HRL briefed the teams and shortly after 2010 the first hunt commenced.

The 1st fox was a remotely keyed VK3ZEO Special concealed in an “L-type” fire hydrant cover just around the corner at the north-west end of Keppel Street. VK3OW couldn’t hear signal and were instructed to head south – 40m south is still south. VK3BLN was first in, followed two minutes later by YQN and YDF (who were distracted by seedy events in an unrelated vehicle). VK3OW ended up in very heavy congestion in Richmond.

The second hunt started from the same location (Cardigan St). Dennis VK3BQZ had concealed the fox in a length of plastic pipe in a new industrial estate in Network Drive Port Melbourne (under West Gate Bridge near Boeing). There were some signal strength problems which required a few overs from the car rig. VK3YQN was in first followed nine minutes later by VK3YDF. BLN and OW could hear the fox but failed to arrive within the time limit.

The third hunt was a two-legged event, just as the rain set in. Graeme VK3ZEO and Roger VK3HRL placed sequenced foxes about 800m apart in Williamstown North / Newport. The foxes were keyed by a 70cm transmitter operated by Graeme and they transmitted in sequence on 145.300 MHz. To get hounds into the area Roger put up some overs from the car. All hounds found Graeme first – BLN (0), YDF (1), YQN (1) and OW (4). True to HRL’s hunt planning form, progress of some teams was impeded by a very long freight train (PacNat 5MP4, with two NRs and a DL in the shafts, for readers’ interest). “We’ll pick you up where we dropped you” “No, I can’t get back there’s a big train in the way. Why don’t you come to me?” “I can’t, there’s a big train in the way.”

For the other leg (and scored on leg time), VK3YDF found Roger first, followed by OW, BLN and YQN. Peter C of the YQN team takes the honours for finding Roger’s fox without equipment (it was sitting in plain view on a railway signal cabin). Most others went straight for concealed car.

While Roger went home to get supper going, Dennis and Graeme ran the fourth hunt, another two legged event which also turned out to be the supper hunt. With a rapidly fading fox, Dennis placed himself in Maribyrnong St Yarraville, deceptively close to, but not at, the rail freight terminal. Hounds got in as follows:- YQN (0), BLN (2), YDF (2), OW (9).

On the second leg, Graeme and son Norman went to ground in the Paisley Park golf course. Order (based on leg time) was YQN (0), YDF (2), BLN (4), OW (7).

Christmas supper was held at Roger’s QTHR. Hounds and fox team partook in a barbecue, the left-overs of which were strategically buried by a very grateful woofer for later consumption.

Overall scores:-

	Hunt 1		Hunt 2		Hunt 3		Hunt 4     Total   Place
VK3BLN	0		10		0+6=6		2+4=6	   22      3
VK3OW	10		10		4+2=6		9+7=16	   42      4
VK3YDF	5		9		1+0=1		2+2=4	   19      2
VK3YQN	2		0		1+7=8		0+0=0	   10      1

Well done VK3YQN!
73s,
Roger Lewis VK3HRL

The October hunt was run recently by the VK3MZ (et al) Team. Six hounds took part – with the KIR team accepting Geoff’s invitation to dinner that evening – only to discover that he had been talked into helping out with the hunt (sorry guys – maybe we could go out next month??). The meeting location was the Doncaster swimming centre carpark and promptly at 8:22 the hounds were called in for the first hunt.

This was a single leg hunt tucked away at the end of a long and winding road in what appeared to be public space. With no fences in the area we wandered down to the edge of a creek and concealed the fox. Nearby residents were attracted by the movement and wandered out to see what was going on – and we took the time to be courteous and informative about what was happening. They were thrilled to see the first team in – VK3YQN – and how they located the fox after only 2-3 minutes of sniffing. Second in was VK3BLN who waded the creek and climbed the embankment to get in about 2 minutes later; apparently dense undergrowth on the other side of the creek had prevented them from driving all the way to the transmitter on this hunt. While many other hounds appeared on the other side of the creek, none of them were able to find the stepping stones used by David – as a result, no other hounds got in before time expired. There was a protest about the location and this was neatly sidestepped by Geoff at the time because the protesting team had not submitted copies of the appropriate forms before time was up (I mean if people could protest after the hunt was over – say at supper – the end result would be quite unfair). Subsequently, Mark (VK3JMD) offered an independent opinion It’s a protest of second against first. It has good grounding It is easier to let it go but the right thing is to admit a mistake on the foxes behalf and cancel all scores for that hunt. YQN have a history of such violations in the past (Braeside Park when we ran a hunt at my place last) for being on private property and this shows past offence and a disregard for the rules.

The second hunt was a 2 legger; with the two transmitters about 400 metres apart as the crow flies..but about 5km by road (i.e. about 1-2 minutes drive if you’re in the VT vehicle). First into leg 1 was YQN with BQZ and BLN narrowly behind. Next in was YDF then Greg, VK3VT, who had inadvertently found the 2nd leg first – and then sped off to find the 1st leg. The 2nd leg was tucked down yet another dead end road on the edge of a state park – with the fox concealed at the base of a tree on the edge of the forest. While YQN was first into the 2nd leg, we were using leg timing – and as a result the VK3VT team came first place on this leg (the combination of Greg’s driving, a V8 and knowing where the transmitter is was quite hard to beat).

The 3rd hunt was a single-leg hunt in a court north of Warrandyte. First in was VK3BQZ, with BLN, YDF and YQN close behind. The 4th hunt was hidden in a small laneway at the end of a long road. Surrounded by private property – there was only one way in – plus the way that Roger found (but he assures me it was legal, and if Roger says so, that’s fine by me ;-)). First in was Greg VK3VT, followed 9 minutes later by BQZ and BLN a few seconds after time was up – but given the benefit of the doubt.

The 5th hunt was in a court in Donvale – with YQN coming taking out 1st place followed by YDF, BLN, TXO, BQZ and VT.

The final hunt for the evening was on the Eastern side of the Yarran Dherran nature reserve. Adam from the YDF team came in first after a long run – followed by Greg and team who had come from the other side of the park. As we sat on the hillside waiting for other hounds to arrive two vehicles found their way onto a dirt-track on the other side of the creek. We watched the landcrab hurtle along the track at high speed – only to hear the distress call about 60 seconds later as they plowed into a large puddle – as water poured into the cabin they debated who would go down with the ship – – but Graeme wasn’t prepared to cooperate. The VT team were kind enough to make a brand new snatch-strap (for which we promised him 0.1 bonus points) available for a rescue attempt and after much preparation and three attempts, the (even more battered than normal) landcrab was pulled free. A highlight of the evening was the video recording of the bogging – and de-bogging – made by Adam VK3YDF. This was shown at supper and is likely to be a feature part in any future fox-hunting movie.

Scores announced at supper were

1 YQN 13

2 BQZ 14

3 BLN 15

=4 VT 18

=4 YDF 18

6 TXO 26

Allowing for protests and adjustments,

1 BQZ 11

2 YQN 13

=3 VT 14

=3 BLN 14

5 YDF 15

6 TXO 23

Six teams met at the Riversdale Station Carpark for a night of short multi legged hunts. Hunts were scored on order of arrival on the last leg only.  

Hunt 1 was a 2 leg hunt with the first transmitter only 100 or so meters from the start location. First in on this leg was VK3BQZ.. The final leg on this hunt was about 500 meters further down the railway line in Frog Hollow Reserve. First in was VK3YDF followed by VK3BLN and VK3TXO.  

Hunt 2 was a single leg hunt to a park at the rear of Penguin books near Camberwell Junction. First in was VK3YQN, followed by VK3BQZ and VK3YDF.  

Hunt 3 was a 2 legged hunt in two alley ways of Trafalgar road in Camberwell. The two transmitters were no more than about 300 meters apart. First in on leg two was VK3YDF followed by VK3BLN and VK3YQN.  

The first leg of hunt 4 was in a service lane behind the servo on the corner of Warrigal road and Riversdale road Most hounds found this very quickly. The next leg took them to the tram terminus on the corner of Riversdale Road and Elgar Road where VK3YDF found the fox first followed by VK3VT and VK3YQN.  

Hunt 5 was a multi leg hunt at fordham reserve in Blackburn South. Here hounds had to find 3 transmitters. First in on this leg was VK3BLN followed very closely by VK3VT and VK3YDF.   Hunt 6 found the hounds driving less than 5 minutes away to find the fox in the Eley Road park. First in was VK3BLN followed by VK3TXO and VK3YDF. Geoff, VK3VR managed to find this fox after having a night out at his local Greek restaurant.  

Supper was held at Ron’s house after 11 hunts at 11.30pm where the following results were announced.  

1. VK3YDF – 6

2. VK3BLN – 9

3. VK3YQN – 15

4. VK3VT – 18

5. VK3BQZ – 19

6. VK3TXO – 20  

73 Andrew VK3KIR

Scores for last months hunt run by VK3TXO.

Hunt 3 was scored on the final leg only, so the first leg possessed no scoring points it was merely there to get you within the vicinity of the much lower power final fox.

Anyway here are the Scores:

Team                    Hunt 1  Hunt 2  Hunt 3  Hunt 4  Hunt 5  Supper
Total
VR/MZ/TVB/JMD   0       0       1       3       3       2       9
YDF                     8       2       0       0       1       0       11
YQN                     8       8       9       1       0       3       29
BLN                     1       7       4       1       10      10      33
BQZ                     3       4       10      2       6       10      35
OW                      10      7       8       1       5       8       39
KIR                     10      10      7       3       5       8       43

1st place       VR/MZ/TVB/JMD
2nd Place       YDF
3rd Place       YQN

Joshua Mesilane on behalf of the TXO team

The VK3YDF team ran the June 2003 foxhunt. Four teams assembled at Bayswater Railway station (64G4) on a cool and otherwise clear evening. Points were awarded on position rather than time with teams not finding the fox awarded two points higher than the last team for each hunt.

The first hunt was located between factories (65B2) in Boronia just a short drive from the start. We decided to hide the vehicle, so as to not attract too much attention. Some wood lying nearby came in handy to create a box. The foxes hiding spot between factories (reflections galore) was beside some blackberries. These blackberries proved a very good distraction. The fox was sitting in a hole in the wall about 2M above the ground. First in was Mark VK3YDF, hotly followed by Gary VK3TXO (for BLN). Doug VK3JDO (for VK3OW) then Dennis VK3BQZ. The fox almost gave his spot away laughing, David VK3BLN was heard cursing on 146.575 “I’m stuck in a swamp, and I don’t think I am going to find the fox.” The fox soon regained composure and resumed writing down callsign’s.

The second hunt was at a place in Ferntree Gully that is known by locals as “the Rock” (74E3) and is famous for clear views of the suburbs of Melbourne, which are almost as good as from Mt Dandenong. It is not all that popular mainly because you can’t easily drive there, although there was a fire track that ran just above where the fox was hidden. We were actually expecting to see the BLN vehicle to find some way to get onto this track but instead David elected to scale the hill and even after doing a big loop around the fox still managed to find it first. Mark VK3JMD followed soon after with Dennis VK3BQZ managing third place. There was no sign of the OW team who it is reported dropped their runner at Ferntree Gully railway station, which was more than a kilometer away from where the fox was situated.

The third hunt was to be found mobile, in Knox City (63K11), hiding the car earlier ensured that no one recognised it. We initially began transmitting from the ozone area (the new bit). However, the police had some kind of hoon car blitz on.. So we cleared out to avoid possible problems. The remaining time was spent in the older section of Knox, mostly upstairs near Myer. First on the scene was the Denis VK3BQZ team, however they were piped by the VK3JMDMZTVBKIR team. Third and final was Gary (on foot) for the VK3BLN team. The OW got a bum bearing, and not content with the view from the rock, headed up Mt Dandenong.

The fourth hunt was next to Dandenong Creek on the edge of the Police Paddocks Reserve in Dandenong North (81J12). The idea was that there was a bike track on the opposite side of the creek that would be the obvious place for the fox to be hiding. All teams took the bait only to discover that the fox was on the other side of an otherwise uncrossable creek. Ian VK3MZ was the first to work out what was going on and despite an encounter with cow deposit on the way managed a comfortable first place to the fox. BLN followed later for second place just beating Dennis VK3BQZ who took third. Doug VK3JDO from the OW team took fourth place.

The fifth hunt was yet again mobile this time on a bike track between Stud Road (72K8) and Glenfern Rd (74A5). First in was the VK3BLN team followed a few minutes later was the VK3JMDMZTVBKIR team. Next in (a few minutes later) was the BQZ team, their first runner Graham (VK3ZEO) found the official fox photographer, Denis VK3BQZ however found the fox. The OW team had some problems with the mobile idea and didn’t make the cutoff.

All teams retired to the supper location, QTH of Steve VK3YLE where the following scores were announced:

  team     hunt 1 2 3 4 5  score  place
VK3JMDMZTVBKIR  1 2 1 1 2     7     1
VK3BLN		2 1 3 2 1     9     2
VK3BQZ		4 3 2 3 3     15    3
VK3OW		3 - - 4 -     22    4

Well done to the JMD/MZ/TVB/KIR team for their narrow win over BLN. TheVK3BQZ took points for third place – their team continuing the climb up the scoring ladder.

VK3YDF Team
(Steve, Bryan, Adam, Paul, Benn)

A reasonably mild evening saw seven teams of hounds meet at the traditional meeting place at the top of Swanston Street.

After some delay caused by a number of factors (teams and fox), the first hunt got underway with the teams chasing the first of four legs. This was located beside the Darebin Creek in a gully leading off to a tributary (near a bike track). The hounds soon had the measure of the slow CW and located Dough VK3JDO and Chris VK3CKH. First in was YDF with YQN and VR/etc close behind. Other teams straggled in after these.

The second leg saw the fox on a bicycle riding along the Merri Creek bike path between Bell St and St Georges Rd- those who deployed the right tactics soon had their calls in the log and were off after the next leg. Unfortunately the battery that had been charged the day before gave out on this hunt and so there were some teams badly affected by this. However as each leg of the hunt was scored separately it did not affect the overall score too badly. TVB/etc were the best with YQN coming in second – the rest got 10 but this was probably a function of the battery problem.

The third leg was on a bike track (have you picked the theme yet?) near the Ivanhoe golf course. I think the nearby fence must have had an effect and this leg proved very difficult. YDF led in TXO with BLN sneaking in seven minutes later. The rest took longer than 10 minutes.

Our final leg saw a return to the bike track beside the Darebin Creek with the fox again on a bike (different rider) riding between Bell St and Grange Rd. MZ/etc was the best team on this leg with YDF TXO and BLN following up.

Scoring was done on each leg in a similar fashion to the normal hunts with the shortest leg time scoring 0 and a point per minute for teams after that with a maximum of 10 points. Scoring in this fashion there were joint winners of the first hunt – YDF and VR/MZ/JMD/TVB on 13 points each, next was YQN with BLN a ways back in fourth.

The second hunt of the evening was a two legged affair – Once again Doug JDO lead the hounds to a reserve by the Plenty River on a bike track (yes another one!) Near Para Rd in Montmorency. First to locate Doug was TVB/VT/JMD/MZ, Geoff managed to find the nearby blackberries on his way out but the fox was not actually aware of these when selecting the spot. All teams found Doug and Chris within the 10 minutes.

Second leg saw the fox sitting on Cresswell hill in Macleod and as all the new roads in the area are just being built access was a problem – on my Melways this looked to have bike tracks planned so the theme was upheld although they could only be considered mountain bike tracks at the moment!. First to this was YDF with YQN close behind, BLN made it just before time and JMD/etc just beyond time other teams were in the area but difficulty in finding the access tracks proved to be their undoing.

Supper was at the home of Chris VK3CHR and for the first time for a while there was food left over – is everyone watching their weight or did we over cater? Or worse was the food unpalatable? Results were announced but the actual calculations of leg times had not been done so the results published here are the official ones. Winner for the evening was YDF with 14 points, second VR/MZ/JMD/TVB (how do they know what to call out!) on 23 and just one point away third YQN.

Scores are as follows (While discussions are encouraged there may be little chance of changing them!). Actual times and leg times are available for those that are interested.

                  MZ    YQN   TXO   YDF   OW    BZQ   BLN
Hunt 1
 
      Leg 1       3     2     10    0     8     6     5
      Leg 2       0     5     10    10    10    10    10
      Leg 3       10    2     10    0     10    10    7
      Leg 4       0     10    5     3     10    10    7
      Total       13    19    35    13    38    36    29
 
Hunt 2
 
      Leg 1       0     2     8     1     6     2     2
      Leg 2       10    3     10    0     10    10    9
      Total       10    5     18    1     16    12    11
 
      Grand       23    24    53    14    54    48    40
      Place       2     3     6     1     7     5     4

73
Greg VK3VT

  The VK3YQN team conducted Friday night’s hunt, with seven teams taking part.  Six started from the agreed meeting place, while VK3BLN was *unusually* late and started while in transit from Ringwood.  Weather was cool but clear, perfect for foxhunting.  The were four two-legged hunts, all on 2m although frequencies had to be changed from time to time to avoid upsetting other amateurs occupying “our” frequencies.

    On each hunt the first fox was on for 10 minutes from first discovery and the second fox for 20 minutes from its first discovery.  All hunts were scored on leg time, ie the time each team took on each leg compared with the fastest team on that leg.  So if you took 16 minutes and the fastest  team took 10 minutes then you would score 6.  Note that if you took 16 minutes and the fastest team took 3 minutes then you would score 16-3=13 but 13 > 10 so your score = 10.  Teams that did not get in on a leg automatically scored 10 for that leg.  Teams not in on Leg ‘a’ but finding leg ‘b’ were scored according to the time between leg ‘a’ being turned off and their arrival at leg ‘b’.

    Maximum score for the night was (10 + 10) x 4 = 80 points

    Hunt 1:  The first leg was on a emergency vehicle access road under the Westgate Freeway near the (inbound) Shell service station.  BLN arrived first (0 but subsequently disqualified (10) because their rolling start gave them too much of an advantage),  followed by VK3MZ (0 due to BLN disqualifiation) and VK3ZPF (3).  The second leg was behind the Yarraville Tennis Club on Cowper St.  BLN (0), ZPF (2), HDF (3), MZ (5), PW & VT (9), HBD (DNF = 10).

    Hunt 2:  First leg on new industrial estate beside Kororoit Creek off Little Boundary Rd Laverton North.  BLN (0), MZ (1) PW (9).  The second leg was on the old Melbourne Outfall Sewer off Jones Rd Brooklyn.  BLN (0), VT (3),  HDF (5), MZ, ZPF & PW (in but too late = 10), HBD (DNF = 10).

    Hunt 3: First leg 100m south of railway line beside Laverton Creek Altona.  BLN (0), MZ (1), HDF (3), PW (4).  All others DNF.  Second leg in new housing estate in Point Cook around the Melway 207 J3 area.  ZPF (0), VT (1), PW (4), BLN & HDF (7), MZ (in but too late = 10), HBD (DNF = 10).

    Hunt 4: First leg on Melbourne Water disused outfall sewer in Hoppers Crossing.  VT (0), HDF (2), BLN (3), PW (4), HBD (5 – yippee), ZPF & MZ  (DNF = 10).  Second leg in new housing estate behind Roger’s house, 202 B8 area.  MZ (0), HDF (7), BLN (9), PW, ZPF, VT & HBD (in but too late = 10).

    Supper was held at Roger’s house.  Children and my_wife@home.com.au left undisturbed – thanks.

    Scores were calculated, re-calculated, discussed, announced, corrected, announced again, checked further and corrected once more.  Mental arithmetic needs more effort.  So, after the tenth check, I am now confident that I have it right.  Scores as follows:
 

Team            Hunt                                                                                        Total
                            1                    2                    3                    4

VK3HBD        20                 20                   20                  15                        75 = 7th
VK3ZPF            5                 20                   10                  20                        55 = 5th
VK3PW           19                 19                    8                   14                        60 = 6th
VK3VT            19                 13                   11                 10                         53 = 4th
VK3HDF         13                 15                   10                   9                         47 = 3rd
VK3MZ             5                  11                   11                10                         37 = 2nd
VK3BLN         10                   0                    7                  12                         29 = 1st
VK3YQN………………………………………………………………………. = 1st too, well how about that (joke only, no flames please).

    Sorry about all the confusion, but it only affected all of the placings a lot.  BLN’s disqualification on hunt 1a ultimately didn’t matter.
 

Fox for the evening was the VR/TVB/MZ/JMD team. There was a good turnout – with 8 teams starting.

The first hunt was in a dead-end lane behind the cinemas in Glen Waverley. The hounds got into the area rapidly, but had some difficulty finding the correct entrance to the lane we were in. First in was YDF, followed closely by TXO, OW, BLN and VT; YQN, KIR and BQZ had dropped runners on the other side of the centre and took another 4-5 minutes to find their way in.

The second hunt was a Fox-O’ring event – a format made popular in recent times by Bryan (VK3YNG). The YQN team starred on this hunt – finding all 3 transmitters and the homing beacon in only 34 minutes. The were followed by BLN on 38 minutes and YDF on 39. The OW, VT and TXO teams also found all transmitters with KIR and BQZ only having located two.

The next hunt was supposed to be on one side of some horrifically dense blackberry bushes in Endeavour Hills (a spot that was in fact used by TXO only 2-3 months later). As we were pushed for time, we converted this to a mobile hunt to take the hounds back towards the next hunt. We transmitted as we headed back along the Mulgrave Freeway, seeing one or two hounds heading in the opposite direction as we headed North. We went to ground behind the AFL offices in Mulgrave. First in was VK3KIR followed by VK3OW and VK3VT with VK3YQN and VK3BLN taking the minor placings.

The next hunt was in Monash University and all teams found their way into this one. First in was VK3BLN – their good performance only being possible due to the dry conditions and the fox’s decision not to go too close to any sort of water course…as we had no recovery gear that night.

From Monash hounds took a longer drive to the area of Tally-Ho technology park. The transmitter was intermittent (to annoy the YQN team) and was tucked down a walkway at the rear of one of the buildings. First into this hunt was VK3KIR with Bruce from the YQN team second – climbing over a fence from an adjacent site to reach the transmitter. The YDF team drove directly into the transmitter stopping about 5-10m to let Adam get out for a run. This made the location a *little* more obvious for the other teams – with BLN and BQZ coming in moments later. Ewen, VK3OW, chose to take the same route to the fox as Bruce – but much less elegantly. As “time” approached he was entangled on the fence and the creepers covering it – so we moved the transmitter about 60 cm so that he could catch a glimpse of it and get in before time was up.

The final hunt for the evening was another Fox O’Ring event run by Ian, VK3MZ. Once again, VK3YQN took out line honours for this multi-transmitter hunt (if only they could learn to hunt ONE transmitter as effectively…). Next in was VK3TXO followed by VK3BLN, VK3VT, VK3OW and VK3KIR.

Supper was at the home of Geoff, VK3VR – lots of food was served – most was eaten. Scores for the evening were announced;

    1 YQN    11
    2 BLN    16
    3 YDF    24
    4 OW     27
    5 TXO    29
    5 VT     29
    7 KIR    34
    8 BQZ    52

Apologies for the delay in publishing these scores – we felt that leaving it for a week or two would allow a feeling of anticipation to build…