The Belle Meade Hunt Masters believe that the more field members understand what huntsman and hounds are up to, the more they will enjoy each foxhunting day. To that end, Epp Wilson sends the occasional email to the membership reviewing the day’s hound work. With virtually every foxhunt in North America entering puppies right about now, here’s a timely one for all.
Epp Wilson and hounds / Lauren Giannini photo
Those of you who came out yesterday morning know how well the hounds worked. You also know that we jumped a coyote by the Foxboro Mare Barn and ran him into a culvert on an old logging road in Wilson Woods. Not only was this good training for the puppies, it was even better than one might first think.
Earlier we had drawn mostly blank except for two incidents of puppies starting what we believe were deer lines. And we were able to get them to leave those lines by hollering at them. Why do we feel confident that they were deer lines? There were numerous clues:
• The only hounds speaking were puppies.
• The older hounds ignored those lines. They looked me dead in the eye as if to say, “Boss, that’s not a good line. That is crap. And I am being good.”
• Another clue is that the pitch of the cry was very high, and there were only two speaking: Lady and Pork Chop. High pitched cry is not always bad. Mock is one of our best hounds and her cry has a high pitch. So we have to be careful and not simply assume that if the only voice has a high pitch it must be wrong. It helps a lot to see who is speaking. Sometimes we can see them, but sometimes the cover is so thick we can’t.
• Another clue was that the cry went from zero to sixty mph in two seconds!
• Also, the hounds speaking so excitedly were in the middle of the approximately one-hundred-foot circle of hounds that were drawing. If it had been a good line, one or more of the hounds that had already gotten to it would have noticed it and feathered and perhaps begun trailing.
We don’t have to see the deer to know that it is a deer line. The old hounds know. And they tell me or Barbara or whoever is hunting the hounds that day. It is up to us to tune in and listen to the hounds. They communicate with us very effectively. But, if we don’t listen and respond correctly, they will quit telling us. We can ruin the pack in a few hunts.
Consistency is absolutely crucial in maintaining a deer proof pack. Communicating with the dog in the language the dog understands is a big part of that. We need to remain aware that we are always bringing puppies along. It is the nature of a pack of hounds. It is simply part of the dynamics.
We can have one hundred percent of the pack one hundred percent deer broke. But, the hounds age out quickly, and some are lost each year to accident, injury, and illness. So, we must bring puppies along constantly. And most puppies would be just as happy running deer as fox or coyote.
We are told that the deer musk is easier to smell and run than coyote or fox. When puppies start developing their sense of smell, it opens up a whole new world to them. Many of them are fascinated by scent and simply want to run anything they can smell—rabbits, armadillos, deer, fox, coyote, squirrels, other hounds or dogs. It is up to us to train them to run the right things and to ignore the wrong things.
So, why was yesterday a great training day? We started and drew blank for a while and the puppies got bored. Then they tried to run deer. Twice. Then we found a good coyote and ran him well and marked him to ground. The puppies got to experience the wrong thing and be chastised. They were also ignored by the other hounds. The peer pressure from the other hounds is a factor, and often a good training aid. Monkey see; monkey do. Then they got to experience running the good game. A coyote. It was also good that the run was only about fifteen minutes, so the puppies did not get left behind. Then they accounted for him by running him into the culvert. They got positive peer pressure this time. Every hound was there and happy and engaged, most of them speaking and trying to get into the pipe. Then they got the approval and encouragement of the staff.
Tomorrow’s hunt with be a good test. We’ll be able to see if the puppies learned from yesterday’s experience.
Posted September 7, 2017