We had a long beautiful hike today , a bit higher up in the mountains , where there were plenty of cougar and , especially , moose tracks . 3 of my 4 dh girls are quite keen huntresses and I always love the transformation when they get interested .
One can hardly imagine those beautiful hounds becoming even more beautiful ; but , when they hunt /become excited about some prey they sense , they do - I am speaking for all dhs here , not only mine . These are moments ,that make me happy in an instant , no matter how down I might have felt before . Luckily here they can chase in relative safety and , due to the terrain and it's particular difficulties , they never got anything bigger than a small marmot .
My puppy girl Hermione is already a keen huntress - at the age of 8mths ( she started with about 6mths ....) - and I managed to snap a few nice pics today of a " totally transformed Hermione " , gone the sweet , innocent puppy look , replaced by intent and a keen eye , concentration and athleticism . I will post a few - perhaps others have similar ones ...
BTW , I am not a huntress , just enjoy seing them so much when they are in their element and enjoying life to it's fullest....

Here the next one , Hermione concentrating very hard while trying to figure out from where the scent of the moose is coming

now she hast started " her hunt "

and this was taken between some of her " hunts " today - she seems to be looking into a totally different world , having reconnected with her breed's glorious past as a revered working , hunting hound

Oh what a beauty she is, and very lovely photos.

Lovely photos. I agree with what you feel. We are not hunters but watching the hounds when they hunt is magnificent and breathtaking. I just wish we had more open ground for them to have a full chase.

She has the most beautiful face.

She is really beautiful! Lovely pictures

She is very beautiful

You can see the concentration on her face She is gorgeous.

one of mine always gets that look when we turn on the lure coursing machine but I am sure he would have that look if we were to find red deer

He might surprise you and look even more intense ! Mine do lurecourse - some of them - and though they really like it , their intensity then can not be compared to a real hunt .
Thanks for the compliments - I was almost surprised when I had a look at those pics - she has a wise face anyways , but this is something else , no more puppy .....

Selective hearing starts now

Oh , it started some mths earlier - she has a fair bit of experience with that by now - like every good hound should.....

Great pictures, wish we had things to chase, the nearest Eris got to chase anything was a kite in the sky today and it was not the feathered variety.

As long as he is not " high as a kite " now all is well .....

Fab pictures! Looks like you have loads of room to roam. Jock and Dougal chase rabbits, birds paper bags that blow in the wind! in the park. They have seen and chased deer but thankfully did not catch. Might have gotten into a bit of trouble from the Queen if they had caught them!

Fantastic pictures, you have really captured then in hunt mode , ears pricked, neck stretched. They are stunning photo's of stunning dogs.

I stood out in the garden last night watching them have their last week, when Murphy as usual barked furiously at the back of the shed,noe bear in mind it is about 11pm, so I get the hose and pretend he is going to have a bath (works a trat!) when all of a sudden, on top of my neighbours shed, is a beautiful red fox, staring at me, thought it was a cat at first, till he turned sideways and I saw his point face. He must have been 25 feet away from me, but didn't move, just stared me back, Murphy and Paddy in the mantime are sniffing the air frantically, I called my husband but it was too late to get a picture.

I can imagine that , red fox , how exciting for them /you all ! Mine get reallly riled up over coyotes here - it is always a spectacle , as coyotes do bark and howl a lot .
The dog in the pics is all the same , my 8mths old puppy Hermione - kennel Caoinlan's C-litter ; she is a combination from lines all over the world , the strongest influence perhaps coming from Australia ( Nelungaloo ) . Thanks for the compliments .