Hunt Reports

Why Worry?

Norman Fine December 14, 2010 Hunt Reports

The Why Worry foxhounds
Charles Sainsbury-Plaice photo

"Would you like to ride up with me?" asked George Thomas, MFH and huntsman of the Why Worry Hounds. Thomas is a direct descendant of the Bywaters family of Virginia—renowned foxhound breeders of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—and he hunts a pack of Crossbred hounds, most of which carry the old Bywaters bloodlines. The meet was at Basset Hill in Aiken, South Carolina, home of Ward and Mary Lou Welsh. I was being offered a chance to watch a lovely pack of hounds work their country.

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The Kildare Foxhounds

Noel Mullins December 7, 2010 Hunt Reports

Kildare_Foxhounds_Huntsman_Chris_Francis__Whip_Ado_Moran_on_Stanley_Jacksons_avenue The Kildare Foxhounds, kennelled on the grounds of Punchestown National Hunt Racecourse in County Kildare on the east coast of Ireland, met recently at the village of Grangecon in County Wicklow. The countryside and the village were a sea of autumn colours; even the roads were a carpet of multi-coloured leaves.

Hounds met at Moore’s Pub which is run by Paul Moore, the fourth generation of the family. It is still a gem of an old-fashioned pub and was originally an old coaching stop. It is a sensibly laid out pub for hunting and racing fans, as when you are sitting at the short bar having a drink, you can also pick up a copy of The Irish Field, The Farmer’s Journal and The Racing Post which are strategically positioned within arms reach.

Historic Hunt Coat Acquired by the Chevy Chase Club

Norman Fine November 21, 2010 Hunt Reports

Visiting Masters and guest speaker flank General Nulsen's Chevy Chase Hunt coat. (l-r) Malcolm Matheson, MFH, Orange County Hunt (VA); Anne McIntosh, MFH, Blue Ridge Hunt (VA); Norman Fine, Vickie and Skip Crawford, MFHs, Potomac Hunt (MD)

The Chevy Chase Club in Maryland, the surviving organization of the Chevy Chase Hunt Club, acquired a valuable historical artifact on Wednesday, November 17, when a scarlet hunt coat and canary vest belonging to Brigadier General Charles K. Nulsen was donated to the Club by Charles K. Nulsen III. The coat and vest bear the buttons of the Chevy Chase Hunt and have been hanging in a New Hampshire home belonging to the family for nearly a century.

The Chevy Chase Hunt was active from 1892 to 1916. It was a highly respected hunt of its time, but short-lived because the Master, Clarence Moore, perished on the Titanic in 1912.

The Green Spring Valley Hounds at Dover and Dark Hollow

Noel Mullins November 8, 2010 Hunt Reports

Slipping quietly away

Many of the MFHA-registered packs in North America have close associations with Ireland and the UK either through hunt staff, field members, jockeys, or through the many Irish and British field hunters and racehorses that grace their hunting fields. One such well known pack is the Green Spring Valley Hounds in Maryland, USA. They met a few weeks ago at Ned Finney’s farm at Dover and Dark Hollow, which is close to the Maryland Hunt Cup racecourse and Shawan Downs racecourse.

Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds: An Oasis in Suburbia

Norman Fine October 25, 2010 Hunt Reports

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If you want to see stunning hunting country, I commend you to FHL’s latest Photo Gallery slide show. We feature Elisabeth Harpham’s lovely photos of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Unionville, Pennsylvania.

The Cheshire hunting country is an oasis between the developed suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. This is hunting country for any foxhunter to drool over. But you have to know that country like that just doesn’t happen by a stroke of luck. It’s the product of years of commitment by strong-willed individuals determined to protect what they have.

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The County Louth Foxhounds at Dunany Estate

Noel Mullins October 3, 2010 Hunt Reports

Joy and Caroline Bellingham with huntsman Noel McKeever and hounds

Following the County Louth Foxhounds famous black, tan, and white Old English pack is a double pleasure when combined with one of its most popular autumn hunting meets, the Dunany Estate on the northeast coast of Ireland.

Despite the inconvenience of some of the issues presented by reaching the grand age of ninety-two, Joy Bellingham together with her daughter Caroline were out to view hounds draw the woods around their extensive estate. Both were enthusiastic followers of the Louth, Meath, and Kildare foxhounds when they hunted.

Erik’s First Fox

Nina Schug September 21, 2010 Hunt Reports

Erik Olsen Photo

Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled all through the night. With the dawn a quiet reverence prevailed. Horses and riders filed silently through a North Carolina pine forest. An occasional "Hound, please" was heard.

It was August and the beginning of Tot Goodwin’s and Green Creek Hounds’ summer hunt week. Scent was quickly diminishing with the rising heat and humidity.

Photo Essay: Old Dominion Hounds

Karen L. Myers September 20, 2010 Hunt Reports

(September 11, 2010)

The photo essay is posted at KLM Images.

Shadow as second subject

Creative use of shadows

Always be alert for unexpected bonuses. I did not deliberately frame this shot to capture the shadow, too; I just tried to place myself in such a way that the subject was well lit. But when I looked at the results afterward, I was pleased to see two subjects striding along the horse trailer, not just one.

Picking hounds out of the pack

A study of hounds heads

There’s a lot of action in a pack of hounds, but many complications as well.

No matter how small the group, at least one (usually right in the center of the frame) is doing something you don’t want to record for posterity. Even when they are all well-behaved, they may be arranged unhelpfully, with heads buried, shadows cast on each other, and so forth.

Puppies of Two Species

Glenye Cain Oakford August 27, 2010 Hunt Reports

Four-year-old Trevor (left) meets one-year-old Driver (right).

Courtesy of Full Cry: A Hound Blog

WHAT a beautiful day Saturday was! It started with a crashing thunderstorm that prevented me from riding over to catch our trailer ride to the day's hound walk, so we houndbloggers went out with the hounds on foot for what turned out to be a Very Special Morning.

Iroquois huntsman Lilla Mason brought the hounds, including one-year-old Driver and many of the BA litter, to Boone Valley Farm instead of to the usual meeting point on the farm across from The Corners. The change of location was exciting to the hounds. The older hounds, Paper among them now, associate Boone Valley with nearby Pauline's Ridge, one of the richest coyote coverts in the hunt country and understandably a place that holds great interest for experienced hunting hounds.

To the puppies, the field trip was especially exciting. New sights, sounds, and, most importantly, scents! New country to explore!

Video Link

New Zealand Huntsman Is Worthy Successor to David Wendler at West Hills

Scrutineer July 20, 2010 Hunt Reports

Huntsman Scott Neill

California’s West Hills foxhounds—organized sixty-three years ago by song-and-dance man Dan Dailey and boasting the late President Ronald Reagan as a founding member—were compelled to learn a new vocabulary disguised in a down under accent last season.

For the prior fifty-five years David Wendler, one of the most experienced huntsman ever to carry the horn, had led the West Hills Hounds over difficult and dry terrain, hunting a pack of independent-minded American hounds primarily of the July strain (with some Orange County red ring neck blood). When it came time for Wendler to retire, West Hills was in a quandary. How to keep up the high level of sport in what some believe to be the most demanding hunt country in North America?