Newly appointed Old Chatham MFH Jef Murdock tells how it feels to hunt hounds for the very first time. / Nancy Kleck photoOn a recent Saturday the Old Chatham Hunt (NY) had a rare hunting day. Hounds ran their first coyote hard for an hour before huntsman and staff had to stop them from going into country where it was difficult to follow. Hounds then found another coyote and ran it through their wooded country in fine voice for another forty-five minutes to finish an excellent day of hunting. What’s remarkable about that? one might ask. Nothing, except that the huntsman had never hunted a pack of hounds before in his life until that day.
At the end of last season, Old Chatham members made some difficult and controversial organizational changes in an effort to improve their sport. A new huntsman—Tommy Hopkins—was named, and a new Master—Jef Murdock—was appointed. Hopkins had been whipping-in for years and was familiar with the hounds, but Murdock, though he’d been following hounds as a field member for years, was better known for his skiing acumen—he owns the popular Butternut ski area in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts—than for his prowess with foxhounds.
Hopkins, Murdock, and kennelman Stephanie Lee—ignoring all the controversy and buzzing phone lines—embarked on a rigorous hound exercise and training program last spring. With the help of many dedicated Old Chatham members, they worked with the pack all summer to get them fit and biddable for hunting this season. Then, during a weekday hunt, shortly after Opening Meet, the huntsman got temporarily sidelined.
Murdock found Hopkins lying unconscious by a tree he had head-butted. With a Saturday meet coming up at the home of whipper-in Gail Day, a breakfast to follow, and the huntsman recovering from a concussion, a decision had to be made: postpone all meets for a couple of weeks or pass the horn to someone. But to whom?
Murdock, who had never before hunted hounds and is scarcely able to blow a hunting horn, accepted the challenge. He hunted hounds that Saturday and in so doing experienced the epiphany that captures so many foxhunters and changes their lives forever—the high that comes the first time you hear the hair-raising cry from hounds you have put into covert, encouraged as they hunted, stayed with as they ran, and ultimately helped to turn a good hunt into a great hunt.
“It was so exhilarating,” recalled Murdock. “We all put up with so much controversy in the spring and to reach this point…to be there when they opened and to have that feeling of ‘Here we go!’ It made it all worthwhile.”
The bonus for Murdock came during the second run of the day. After twenty minutes of hard hunting, hounds flashed over the line and flew straight into a swamp. Murdock thought the coyote went right-handed, but Field Master Francisco Palacios thought hounds were right, that the coyote ran straight. Murdock followed hounds into the swamp as best he could. Hounds tried, but they couldn’t recover the line. Murdock blew a few weak bleats on his horn and brought hounds back out to where he thought the coyote had turned.
Sure enough one hound spoke, another agreed, others honored the cry, and the roar swelled. Murdock cheered them on, and hounds ran for another twenty-five minutes, the woods ringing with their cry. Once again they were entering difficult country, so with hounds and horses tiring and scent failing, they decided to call it a day.
Field Master Palacios made eye contact with the neophyte huntsman and sealed the day with three words that Murdock had never before heard in that context. “You were right,” said Palacios.
“I’ve been foxhunting as a member of the field for years,” said Murdock, “but I’ve never before been in a position to make a difference in the outcome. I know I made mistakes. I know I should have kept my mouth shut at times. But it was a great feeling to be part of it…to be so involved.
“Everyone was thrilled with the day and slapping me on the back at the breakfast, but the fact that hounds hunted so well for me, despite my mistakes, is testament to where Tommy and Stephanie have brought this pack with all their hard work, and to all the others who believed we could have good sport here at Old Chatham.”
“It was a great day for all,” wrote Gail Day that evening after all the trailers and guests had left. “Tonight as I walked in from the barn the coyotes were howling away, surely talking about their escapades of the day. We’re all tired; our horses are tired. What great sport!”
Posted November 11, 2014