Radnor huntsman Joe Cassidy and hounds at Big Bend / Diana Rowland photoThe gray uncertain sky and falling barometer suggested that winter was not yet finished with us. Nevertheless, I had rearranged my previously planned trip to Aiken after Joe Cassidy called. Joe hunted Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) for eighteen years and is currently huntsman for the Radnor Hunt (PA). This was an opportunity for me to hunt in his back pocket.
Joe had taught me to hunt hounds while I was MFH at Loudoun Hunt (VA), and he hunted with me when I carried the horn for a couple of years, making the drive with his wife Leslie and their very large dog Luca each weekend.
The meet was at Big Bend, the long-time residence of Frolic Weymouth, well-known for his immense contributions to open space conservancy. It was a Saturday meet, March 16, 2013, and as we sat waiting for the last of the field to mount and the clock to strike 11:00, Joe turned in his saddle, handed me his horn, and quietly told me that I was hunting the pack that day. I confess to a moment of stage fright, made some knuckle-head comment about strike hounds to which he replied, “Really,” and then we headed off to the first covert—a thick patch of brambles, ground cover, and trees about the size of a football field.
Hounds were relaxed and at ease as we jogged the half mile to position ourselves to hunt the Big Bend, a peninsula of several thousand acres formed by a huge switchback turn in the Brandywine River. It’s shaped like a big toe with a narrow neck at the base.
The first covert suggested that game was about, but it did not hold. We moved to the next draw—an enormous wood running a mile long and about half that wide. Hounds struck, worked the line, and with encouragement and their own drive made it good. We drove our quarry forward for the next thirty to forty-five minutes. After accounting for our fox, we took in the whole of Big Bend over the next hour and a half, steadily putting foxes up which were lying tight in the thick undergrowth. As we finished the day, the weather finally turned, and a wet, heavy snow started to fall.
As you fill your hunting diary with visits to surrounding hunts, I recommend that you make time for Radnor. Given its proximity to Philadelphia, the country is limited, so the day is not about being out four or five hours. What they have is a well mounted field, knowledgeable Masters and Field Masters, and a very keen pack of hounds that truly love their work and, as proven by this amateur, are willing to hunt hard, drive forward, and try-on to find Charlie!
Michael E. Hoffman, ex-MFH, Loudoun Hunt (VA) and Kilkenny Hunt (IRE)) has hunted hounds in the U.S. and Ireland and was the 2001 owner-rider winner of the Maryland Hunt Cup on his favorite foxhunter Solo Lord.
Posted Tuesday, April 30, 2013
(l-r) Huntsman Joe Cassidy, honorary whipper-in J. David Hucker, guest huntsman Michael E. Hoffman / Diana Rowland photo