Beagle , bear, wild boar or Jester hill panther

Well I was caught twice today without my rifle, Once this morning. If you read my other blog you know I had a chicken killed by a coyote last week and since then I have been patrolling the lane every morning with my rifle , kind of like a prison guard. Mainly to have my scent in the area to scare off any varmints. This morning however I left my rifle next to the door, and as I started down the lane I jumped a grey fox, laying there in ambush for my hens. The grass next to the lane was only about five inches high and yet he was just laying there. I cut the grass this afternoon.
                                      The second time was this evening at about seven thirty I walked out to the pond to check on  Kenny Ray. When I got there I decided to turn Fisher one of my Beagle hounds loose for some exercise.  Doc my other beagle run loose all the time, well they ran around the pond and up and down the lane and I decided to take them out and see if we could get up a rabbit and have us a race. The dogs ran into the brush and I was standing on top of the ridge checking on a persimmon tree to see if it had any fruit. Just then I heard the dogs bark about two hundred yards from me in the edge of the woods where Kenny Ray thought he seen a bear last week. They were barking at something but not moving out with the track{scent} and they do not cold trail. They were barking like a coon hound on tree, that's when I heard the brush start breaking and a low growl and like a dog cry for just as second and yet the dogs stayed in the same spot. Now I had no gun , no shirt and my boots were not even tied. I began to holler back at Kenny Ray to go get my gun. He jumped om his four wheeler and went back to the house to grab my rifle. Another four or five minutes passed and the digs still barking but now were moving to my right and now about a hundred yards from me. Kenny Ray returned with my rifle and we started into the woods toward the dogs and as we approached Kenny Ray spotted one of the dogs just as they started back to my left toward where the commotion began. So we turned toward the point to try and cut them off.  This time the dogs and the prey went low on the point and the underbrush so bad you can not see the bench from our position. As we listened to the dogs run they slowly went around the ridge into a old clear cut and once again they seemed to have stopped but there barking intensified, again like they had it treed and by now it was getting dark, in fact I looked at my watch , ten minutes to nine.  the barking lasted about ten minutes then all was quiet. I was getting eat up with mosquitoes and had Kenny Ray go get my tee shirt, he was gone about ten minutes and returned with my shirt and asked me dad have you heard anything I said no son. He the asked me what I thought they might be running. I said well son it is not a rabbit or deer as they do not run like that, I said they were running like the dogs I hunted over in Tennessee wild boar hunting, and while I have hunted bear but not with dogs, son I am not sure what it is. He then asked me dad do you think the dogs are hurt? Are you going to go in after them. Son I do not know and I began to call the dogs in. At nine thirty still no sound and no dogs coming to my calls. I said son let's us go get my truck and drive out through and listen for them.  We returned with the truck and I stopped where we last heard them and I began to call once again, we waited a few minutes and I drove down about twenty yards and there was Fisher coming in to my calls finally but no Doc. Fisher had his tongue hanging down to the ground  and was wore out Kenny Ray picked him
up and I said son check him over and see if he is hurt, Kenny Ray replied no dad no blood just wore out, I began to call for Doc But he never came in or barked. Kenny Ray asked dad what are you going to do, son nothing I can do for now we will wait till morning and see if Doc comes in.