Hounds

−From The Hound Intelligence Series published by Hounds magazine―an oversized 335-page collection of stories about remarkable and memorable hounds from around the hunting world.

Julie Whitlock McKee told me about her favorite foxhound at the Midland Fox Hounds (GA)―a hound that she walked as a puppy.

“He is a beautiful tri-colored dog hound who is as honest as the day is long. When the correct quarry is being chased, he is right there up front. He may not be the beauty king that goes to the shows, but if there is any doubting in the minds of the hunt staff as to the correctness of the pack, they look for Brecon to tell them if the pack is right. Which is quite handy in a pack that has a lot of young entry.

Randy Waterman, MFH, (foreground) hunts the Piedmont pack in the 1991 Piedmont-Midlang Hound Match. Farnham Collins, MFH, Millbrook Hunt (NY), (behind) is a judge. Watchman would surely have been with the pack this day but is unidentified.  /  Douglas Lees photo

Watchman is a popular name for dog hounds around the foxhunting world. 'Watchman' appears in at least fifty different hunts in the North American Studbook, not to mention the studbooks of England and Ireland. Nevertheless, whenever you hear the name Watchman in a foxhunting conversation, you can bet they're talking about Piedmont Watchman 1989.

Joanne Maisano photo

We’ve had hot weather hunting reports from many quarters across the Mid-Atlantic and southward. The West Coast as well. Hot weather hunting can be devastating to hounds because... bless them... they will try to keep up with the pack even when overheated and failing. Some hounds will be more susceptible to heat exhaustion than others, and the result can be fatal if neglected.

What follows is an excerpt from the author’s excellent book, Letters to a Young Huntsman.

Foxhounds of the Orange County Hounds (VA)  /  Douglas Lees photo

We would start roading (mounted hound exercise) around the middle of July. I really wanted the youngsters off couples by this time as a couple wrapped around a horse’s leg can be an ugly thing. Once puppies are used to going out with the horses, then it’s time to start introducing them to things like sheep, deer, cattle, etc.

This should be done as low key as possible; the worst thing you can do is make a big deal of it. If you have staff swinging whips and speaking loudly to the hounds, it’s only going to jazz them up. If you stay relaxed and cool, the hounds will pick up on that and remain cool themselves. Theses are things that they will see every day out hunting and everyone has to act accordingly.

American Foxhound

Dogs, wolf-like canids believed to be related to an extinct species of wolf, are known to have been with us for 15,000 to 35,000 years. Humans from Siberia who crossed the Bering Strait when still a land bridge more than 10,000 years ago are believed to have had dogs in their company. Those dogs perhaps even made the human migration possible by pulling sleds. These are thought to be the common primogenitors to all American dog breeds.

Another huge influence on American breeds, and substantially more recent, were those pets and working dogs brought to America by early explorers and colonists. Many of these immigrant dogs most likely bred with native American dogs, creating still more new types to be ultimately bred for special purposes and domesticated further.

Julian Barnfield, MFH and huntsman, "at the end of a cracking Autumn hunting morning...the hounds had been amazing."Julian Barnfield, former huntsman of the Cotswold, Heythrop, and North Shropshire Foxhounds (UK), has retired from the field but plans to use his breeding experience to assist foxhound breeders worldwide. Barnfield has associated with a leading European equine reproduction company to form Elite Kennel Fertility. Barnfield is a director of Elite, as is Tullis Matson, whose multi-award winning Stallion AI Services Ltd is one of the leading equine reproduction services in Europe.

Barnfield and Matson were Joint-Masters at the North Shropshire. American foxhound breeders—whether hunting a Crossbred pack or simply seeking an outcross to revitalize close bloodlines, should benefit from the services, facilities, and knowhow of the new company.

Here’s a first in the centuries-old history of hound shows—an International Virtual Hound Show!

Hound associations around the world have signed on so their member hunts may enter hounds in classes for staghounds, foxhounds, deer hounds, beagles, basset hounds, and mink hounds, and let the champions be crowned. Fourteen hunting associations are supporting the event, including the Masters associations in North America, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and France. Entry Forms are ready upon which to record entries in thirty-six divisions in nine separate catalogs.

Potomac Jefferson 2005, the toast of North American Foxhounds, winning the Grand Championship at the 2007 Bryn Mawr Hound Show one week after capturing the same honor at Virginia. (L-R): George Hundt; Vicki Crawford, MFH, Potomac Hunt; Larry Pitts, huntsman, Potomac; Lance Taylor; Jake Carle, ex-MFH, Keswick, judge. /  Karen Kandra Wenzel photo

At breakfast this Thursday morning, Joan reminded me that Memorial Day was just a few days away. Boy, it sure didn’t feel like it.

Normally, we’d have been recently back from our hunt’s kennels having watched the practice hound show, afterwards assessing our hounds’ prospects for ribbons and trophies at the Virginia Foxhound Show. Which should have been on the calendar for this weekend. We would have been looking forward to seeing old hunting friends from across North America, and I would have been assuring Joan that I had remembered to send in our reservations for the reception at the Museum of Hounds and Hunting and the dinner under the tent at Morven Park (whether I had, in fact, remembered or not). In short, I would have been looking forward to an important and unique weekend of camaraderie and foxhound study.

Coming through the pecan grove at the Larry Knox summer house / Allison Howell photo

Three foxhounds from the Shawnee Hounds (IL) finished among the overall top ten scorers (out of twenty-four hounds that completed the trials) propelling Shawnee to first place among the six other competing hunts. Following Shawnee, in order of finish, were Hillsboro Hounds (TN) second and Tennessee Valley Hunt (TN) third. Other competing hunts were Belle Meade Hunt (GA), Midland Foxhounds (GA), Mission Valley Hunt Club (KS), and Bull Run Hunt (VA). The trials were hosted by Belle Meade in their Thomson, Georgia country on January 17-18, 2020.

Shawnee supporters were ecstatic as the results were announced. Not bad for first-season huntsman Kalie Wallace! Shawnee Master and former huntsman Dr. Mark Smith, who has been the brains behind the hunt’s breeding program, handed the horn over to Kalie at the start of this season.