Out of the Stick Pile
Click image for larger version. / Joanne Maisano photo
Following the foxhounds of the Blue Ridge Hunt from their meeting at the Reid Family’s Stonebridge fixture the other day, photographer Joanne Maisano got herself in the right place at the right time. Camera in hand, watching hounds mark the stickpile, Joanne shot an action sequence that wildlife photographers dream about. Be sure to click the image for a larger version. You don’t want to miss the expressions on the faces of every living creature captured in that single moment. Not a word of text is necessary!
(Front to rear) fox, hounds, and huntsman Graham Buston
We’ve selected a series of photos from Joanne’s action-sequence to present a slide show of what transpired, and one version of what might have been running through the fox’s mind during its escape. Click on the readmore link (below, open to everyone), then click on the first image (below) in the sequence.
Sculptor Expresses Love of Animals Through Her Art
“As a child, I enjoyed watching the antics of foxes in the surrounding countryside,” says sculptor Carrie Quade. “I rode my ponies and horses in the farmland surrounding my home and also had the opportunity to ride with a local foxhunting group. In all my observations of foxes, the behaviors and attitudes were distinctive.
“While much of my bronze sculpture expresses some of my favorite animal personalities, my curiosity for new subjects, sculpture mediums, and Three-D technology has given me new inspiration for creating and casting sculpture.”
Scotland’s SNP Would Alter Hunting Ban; Trample Ancient Codes of Law
Scottish National Party (SNP) Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham proposes to tighten the screws on foxhunters in that country. Scotland was the first nation in the UK to pass a hunting act affecting foxhunting. Now the SNP wants to tighten the act with measures that border on the oppressive, if not the actual contravention of basic […]
Bull Run Hunt On a Spree at Belle Meade
Bull Run’s Spree was the top scoring foxhound in the Belle Meade Hunt Foxhound Performance Trials held in Thomson, Georgia on January 20 and 21, 2017. Of thirty-six hounds competing, Spree won three of the four scoring categories: Hunting, Trailing, and Endurance. In the Full Cry category, he was second.* His combined score led the field in points.
Six foxhounds from each of six hunts competed—Belle Meade Hunt (GA), Bridlespur Hunt (MO), Bull Run Hunt (VA), Farmington Hunt (VA), Fox River Valley Hunt (IL), and Mill Creek Hunt (IL). The three top scoring hunts, based on the combined scores of their hounds from first to third, were: Bull Run, Fox River Valley, and Belle Meade.
Trial Huntsman Sam Clifton was called upon during the award ceremonies to announce his choice—the hound he’d most like to take back to his own kennels. Huntsman’s Choice is an honorary award and receives no official prize, but, as in past trials, Sam’s reasoning for his personal choice was worth hearing.
Late for Dinner
No, not a diving contest, though a pretty one. The winning photograph in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Contest is Angela Bohlke’s photo of a red fox hunting for a vole in Yellowstone National Park. Bohlke won a seven-night safari in Kenya as well as a camera prize package from Nikon. Next year’s competition opens on […]
NYC Carriage Drivers Take the Offensive
Mayor de Blasio, have you no romance? (c.1960 original vintage poster by Stan Galli and other antique horse-related posters are availabe from Chisholm Gallery.)Just three weeks after embattled New York City horse carriage drivers filed a lawsuit against NYCLASS, three leaders of that animal rights group—the Executive Director and two organizers—have resigned.
During his 2013 mayoral campaign, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to remove the iconic horse-drawn carriages from the city’s streets. The FBI has been investigating that campaign pledge as it relates to donations made to NYCLASS by top de Blasio supporters; donations from NYCLASS to deBlasio’s mayoral campaign; how those donations related to de Blasio’s pledge to wipe out the horse carriage industry; and threats made by NYCLASS in 2013 to de Blasio’s chief rival in the mayoral race, Christine Quinn.
Randy Rouse, MFH, Donates Middleburg Training Center to Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation
Loudoun Fairfax Hunt Master Randy Rouse has donated a well-known Middleburg, Virginia property to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. The transaction was completed on Thursday, December 29, the day after Randy celebrated his one hundredth birthday. “I can take a tax writeoff,” Randy said to The Fauquier Times. “At my age, I’ve got to start thinking […]
Hunting Secrets Revealed!
For any huntsman, staff member, or field member, wouldn’t it be helpful to know the specific time intervals on any given day when the fox or coyote is most likely to be afoot? And when it is most likely to be lying up? These times vary each day according not only to the phases of the moon, but are influenced also by how closely the moon rise and moon set correspond to the times of the sunrise and sunset in your particular hunting country.
Wouldn’t it be helpful also to know which specific days of the month you will experience average, good, or best conditions and the recommended time intervals for hunting on those days? There is a fascinating resource on the web that many sportsmen and women—hunters and anglers—use to advantage.
Epp Wilson, MFH and huntsman of the Belle Meade Hunt (GA), refers to this calendar regularly. “The game table predictions are more accurate than not in our experience,” says Epp.
Fox Eradication Program In Tasmania Lives On
No one has ever seen a live fox on Tasmania, an island state off the southern coast of Australia. Yet fifty million dollars have been spent over a ten year period to fund the fox eradication program. An occasional dead fox has been found, and fox scat has been noted, but many believe the evidence […]
Free Market Funds Largest Purse In Thoroughbred Racing
Florida’s Gulfstream Park is offering a new race—the Pegasus World Cup—featuring a twelve million dollar purse, the largest in Thoroughbred racing. The first running will be on January 28, 2017. The mouth-watering purse, funded by a free-market concept, has attracted an international scramble just for a place in the starting gate. Each of the twelve […]