The Athens County Amateur Radio Association held a foxhunt on Sunday, Sept. 3rd.
Despite it being Labor Day weekend, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, hid carefully as the fox and provided transmissions and clues on the ACARA simplex frequency.
Despite getting off on the wrong foot, both Carl Denbow, N8VZ, and Kirk Groeneveld, KC8JRV, eventually zeroed in on the fox location, and it became a race to see who would arrive at the Waterloo Wildlife Area first.
Due to the distance of the fox’s location from central Athens city, both hunters found the clues given to be helpful in narrowing the field of search. The fox was at 844 feet elevation. Kirk arrived at 1 hour and 18 minutes into the hunt, having taken off in two different directions and not hearing the fox frequency at first. Carl found the fox at 1 hour and 21 minutes, barely three minutes behind Kirk.
As it was a hot day and yard work chores beckoned, there was no meal held after the hunt, though a photo was snapped.
The next Athens Co. Foxhunt may be held later in September and Carl expressed interest in hosting a hunt in mid-October if possible.
Kirk Groeneveld, KC8JRV, ACARA Foxhunt Coordinator
