Sean Cully, MFH and huntsman (center), with hounds of the Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt (PA). To the left is Brady Cully, whipper-in; to the right is Dr. Edward Franco, Joint-MFH and whipper-in.
When hunts merge, the resulting whole can often become greater than the sum of its parts. Take the case of a once-small hunt in Pennsylvania—the Blue Mountain Hunt. It was established by Sean Cully, MFH, in 1999 as a farmer’s foot pack. It became a mounted pack in 2009, was Registered with the MFHA in 2011, and became a Recognized pack in 2014.
Through unanticipated but judicious mergers, Cully’s little foot pack has stabilized a historic foxhunting country in Pennsylvania, rejuvenated the oldest subscription pack of foxhounds in the United States, and become a national influence and model for the sport.
Blue Mountain enjoyed friendly relations with their neighboring pack—the venerable Rose Tree Foxhunting Club which was established near Philadelphia in 1859. When the Rose Tree Masters asked Cully if he would take over their historic pack, he agreed. Blue Mountain merged with the Rose Tree Foxhunting Club (PA) in 2015, and Rose Tree members became subscribing members of the newly combined Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt (PA).
Foxhounds of the Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt
Rose Tree, of course, was historically one of the early packs of Penn-Marydel foxhounds and a primary repository of original bloodlines for generations, but Cully’s Blue-Mountain hounds were Crossbreds—Modern English to American bloodlines—and were Cully’s preference. Surely the result, a Crossbred pack, had to be a disappointment to those whose hunting lives and heritage were historically associated with the creation of the Penn-Marydel foxhound in America, but the good news for most is that foxhunting in the area was stabilized and strengthened by the merger. And, thanks in great measure to the former Rose Tree Club and others in the Pennsylvania-Maryland-Delaware region, the Penn-Marydel foxhound is now well and firmly established as the foxhound type of choice for many hunts across North America and a go-to for out-crossing by many other influential breeding kennels.
Now moving from strength to strength, Sean Cully—currently a Director of the MFHA for the Pennsylvania District—is announcing the merger of the Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt with Floyd Wine’s Saxonburg Hunt in Sewickley, PA. With this merger, Rose Tree-Blue Mountain not only again extends its hunting country in Pennsylvania, but also acquires Saxonburg’s southern country along with kennels and stabling near Salley, SC, not far from Aiken. Adjacent to many miles of pine stands and acres of swamps, the terrain is vastly different from that hunted in Pennsylvania, and Cully and his members will likely find gray fox and bobcat along with the red fox and coyote most commonly seen in the home country.
Rose Tree-Blue Mountain will continue to hunt the Pennsylvania country in York, Cumberland, Perry, and Berks Counties from August 1 through the end of March except for those occasional—and welcomed—winter trips to South Carolina.
“We are excited for this opportunity and cannot wait to see what South Carolina hunting has in store for the Rose Tree-Blue Mountain hounds,” said Sean Cully.
Posted July 7, 2020