with Horse and Hound

November 21, 2013

Coyote Population Rising in North Carolina

Coyote Population Rising in North Carolina Populating just the western part of North Carolina only ten years ago, coyotes are now said to be in all one hundred counties, according to an article by Michael Charbonneau for the Capitol Broadcasting Company. Nor have coyote sightings there been confined to rural areas. This year, seventeen separate sightings occurred near homes in North Raleigh, downtown in the state’s capital of Raleigh, and at Raleigh-Durham airport where two were killed in October by planes on the runway. One farmer who expects to lose at least five calves to coyotes each year recently lost twenty in one week. Coyotes are not protected in North Carolina and may be trapped or shot depending on where they live. Posted November 21, 2013
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The Whipper-In Revealed

2012 11 23cheshire-0172Stephanie Boyer, professional whipper-in, Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA): “I am the huntsman’s eyes and ears, and I have to be honest with him at all times concerning what I see, whether he wants to hear it or not!” / Jim Graham photoYou may have noticed that the whipper-in has been Foxhunting Life’s theme this week. We field members watch these heroic figures, intent in their mission, standing in the irons, galloping on, claiming their “right-of-way” when passing the field, but what do they actually do?

For the answer to this question, read “The Whipper-In Is the Huntsman’s Right Hand” below.

The article “Whipper-In: What’s in a Name?” compares the differing agendas of the professional versus the honorary whipper-in and examines the best use of the whip they carry. “The Galloping Whip” by Brooksby is a poetic tribute to Charles Isaac, a nineteenth century whipper-in with the Pytchley (UK).

For anyone with aspirations to whipping-in one day, a particularly useful book devoted to the subject is Whipper-In by Dennis Foster, Executive Director of the MFHA. Indeed, it’s a good read for anyone interested in how the whipper-in, huntsman, and hounds work together in the field.

According to Peter Beckford, the whipper-in can be the decisive ingredient in turning a mediocre hunting day into a brilliant one. Here’s what he had to say in his classic, ageless 1781 treatise, Thoughts on Hunting.

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