The bright, crisp notes of huntsman Vincent Tartaglia’s banded brass horn heralded 2006 as the Rombout hounds moved off across a fresh snow cover on Jan. 1. Twenty-two couple led the silent parade of more than two dozen riders.

Hounds and horses trotted across MFH Suzie Cannavino’s Gone Away Farm, in Hyde Park, N.Y., past a sturdy stone wall and glittering pine boughs to the first covert. Michael Citrin led the field astride Oscar, a seasoned chestnut hunter who doubles as wife Adrienne’s splendid dressage mount.
Tartaglia cast hounds into the woods, with snow tumbling from the branches as they ran. He drew Kurten’s toward Edition Farm and Pragman’s. While whipper-in Cannavino watched Jolly ’01 work tracks in the snow, she encouraged him to move along to Spooky Hollow Rd., although this covert drew blank.

Hounds moved down Spooky Hollow to Browning Rd. and went in behind the old Browning Farm. They drew low along the bottom of the swamp, where again Cannavino saw tracks and hounds opened. Running hard, they went high and to the east and ran back toward Browning Farm.

At this point, it was clear that there was more than one coyote. Wheel whip Judy Sandola viewed a very large coyote, but not the hunted one, on Clinton Ave., coming out of the Lovinger covert, going east.

Further down Clinton Ave., closer to the Browning Farm, Christine Tartaglia–who was following in a car–viewed a second coyote that crossed in the same direction about a mile below the first one viewed. With at least three coyotes, the pack split on the latter two. Poor scent prevented hounds from carrying the line any farther, so the whip put hounds back onto huntsman Tartaglia to draw again.

After Sandola viewed, hounds were lifted to the line and cast into the covert, where they opened immediately. They ran north, crossing Fox Run Rd. and down along Wappinger’s Creek. Then the pack split.

One coyote headed to Tim and Gayle Novak’s. Again Sandola viewed, this time the hunted quarry, with Tartaglia and the field following across a high pasture. The footing was dicey in the woods where the sun hadn’t reached. Horses and riders stepped gingerly.

Cannavino, riding forward, viewed a black coyote east of Fox Run Rd. going west. When it saw her, it turned. Another coyote took hounds to the Big Woods at Burdis’ running toward Salt Point Turnpike. These hounds turned back and headed toward the cry of the Novak coyote as hounds rejoined.
While there was much quarry about on this first day of the year, scent was marginal, and the entire pack was never able to settle on one line. Despite the challenges presented by the fresh-fallen snow, the field was treated to what turned out to be an exhilarating run of almost 30 minutes. Hounds were then loaded up and the field hacked back to the meet.

A potluck feast to rival any catered affair of the season was spread throughout Gone Away Farm’s dining room, and it seemed a harbinger of days ahead.
“It’s been a fun and challenging season. Our hounds have performed superbly, and there has been plenty of quarry,” said Cannavino. “We move into new kennels later this month, and our hopes and spirits could not be higher.” Donna Ross