The young lady was waiting in line—a long line, all the way outside the building—at the Virginia Foxhound Show when a soft-spoken, older man started a casual conversation. Where are you from? What hunt? Did you bring hounds to the show? How are they bred? What is your country like? He was interested in all she had to tell him about her hounds and her hunt. Then he strolled off.

“Do you know who you were talking to?” gushed a friend nearby.

“Have no idea.”

“That was Melvin Poe!”

Arguably the most well-known and best-loved professional huntsman in North America, Melvin is recognized not only for his skill with hounds and his natural sense of venery, but for the sort of man he is.

I was reminded of that incident, which happened a couple of years ago, just this year at the same show. I was standing near the American Foxhound ring when I noticed Melvin, down on his knees, with a red ring-neck foxhound belonging to the Misty Morning Hounds (FL). The hound had not yet entered the ring, and Melvin was giving a clinic for the benefit of the handlers on how to stand up a hound for the judge.

Misty Morning MFH Alexis Macaulay was in the circle, and later we talked about that example of Melvin’s generosity. In FHL’s most recent Hunt Report, Alexis talks about Misty Morning’s red ring-neck foxhounds and sportsmanship.