Grand Champion of Show, Bedford County Detroit 2017 with handler Laura Pitts.The 2019 Carolinas Hound Show was hosted by the Moore County Hounds on May 11th at Lyell’s Meadow in the Walthour Moss Foundation, a paradise for horsemen and naturalists in the sand hills of Southern Pines, NC. The Foundation was formed in 1974 by Pappy and Ginny Moss, MFHs of the Moore County Hounds (NC), as a charitable trust of 1,700 acres preserved in perpetuity. With additional gifts through the succeeding years from Ginny Moss and others, the Foundation now totals more than 4,000 acres and represents Moore County’s principal hunting country.
Hounds competed in three rings, Crossbred in Ring 1, Penn-Marydel in Ring 2, and English, American, and Foot packs in Ring 3. That one ring is dedicated entirely to Penn-Marydel hounds, and English and American foxhounds are combined in one ring with foot hounds, strikes this reporter as a noteworthy indication of the growing affinity for Penn-Marydel foxhounds amongst North American hunts well outside of the breed’s native region of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. Concomitantly, the consequence must be a reduction in the numbers of Pure English and American types now being hunted in these southern Atlantic states.
Dr. Jack Van Nagell, MFH, Iroquois Hunt (KY) judged the Crossbreds in Ring 1; Jake Carle, ex-MFH and huntsman, Keswick Hunt (VA) judged the Penn-Marydels in Ring 2; and MFHA president Tony Leahy, MFH, Fox River Valley Hunt (IL), judged in the English, American, and Foot Pack Ring. Lt. Col. Dennis Foster, former Executive Director of the MFHA judged the Unentered Championship and Grand Championship classes and the Juniors. MFHA Executive Director David Twiggs and Adrianna Waddy were Apprentice Judges.
For the Grand Champion Foxhound of Show, Judge Foster pointed at Bedford County Detroit 2017 (Shakerag Grenadier 2012 ex Moore County Dita Vonteese 2014), a fine-looking young Crossbred dog hound that has completed two seasons of hunting. Both tail male and tail female lines are mainly Penn-Marydel—Shakerag on top, Moore County, Millbrook, and Red Mountain on the bottom.
“He’s such a happy dog,” said Bedford County huntsman Larry Pitts. One of the most successful breeders of top showing and performing American hounds during his long career at Potomac Hunt (MD), Larry was one of the relatively few huntsmen in North America still committed to maintaining the old traditional pure American bloodlines as distinguished from the Penn-Marydel type. Larry has an open mind, though. “I’ll probably breed him in a year,” he said, “most likely to a Penn-Marydel.”
“He has a bubbling personality…never down,” Larry says. “If he does something wrong, you just have to tell him, and he won’t do it again. He has no bad habits. I never have to tell him twice what I want. And, he’s always so happy! I showed him last year, and all he wanted to do was play with the other hounds in the ring. My daughter, Laura, showed him this year; she has really done well with him.”
Detroit gets his English blood in the middle of the pedigree on the male side, which goes back to a double dose of Duke of Beaufort Mostyn 1992, a highly regarded sire of superbly performing hounds in the field both in England and the U.S. Interestingly, last year’s Grand Champion foxhound at Carolinas, Deep Run Warrior 2015, also went back to Duke of Beaufort Mostyn.
Foxhounds were entered at Carolinas by Aiken Hounds (SC), Bedford County Hunt (VA), Camden Hunt (SC), Goodwin Hounds (NC), Goshen Hounds (MD), Green Creek Hounds (SC), Lowcountry Hunt (SC), Moore County Hounds (NC), Princess Anne Hunt (VA), Red Mountain Foxhounds (NC), Red Oak Foxhounds (VA), Sedgefield Hunt (NC), Whiskey Road Foxhounds (SC), and Wiggins Hounds (SC).
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Posted May 17, 2019