How to pass the horn: Fred Berry, MFH, Sedgefield, after 35 years as huntsman passes the horn to whipper-in Randall Wiseman Carty.
When the hunting season starts this fall, the Sedgefield Hunt (NC) will field a new huntsman. After thirty-five years carrying the horn, Fred Berry, MFH, has passed it on to a first-year professional huntsman, Randall Wiseman Carty. First-year notwithstanding, Ms. Carty will hardly be new to hounds or hunting.
Randall started hunting with Sedgefield at age nine and was a regular in the field by age twelve. At fourteen, she was plucked from the field and sent to ride up with one of the whippers-in. Two years after that, at sixteen, she was whipping-in on her own.
Last hunt of the season and last hunt for Randall as whipper-in. / Edward Haynes photo
But I had to wonder. In this age, when most foxhunters in North America go foxhunting primarily for the joy of riding their horse across the country, how did Randall come to decide that she could handle a pack of hounds in the field on her own? So I asked.
“I had a unique perspective on hounds,” Randall replied. As she continued, I realized what a dumb question that was…for this woman.
Border collie, Tack, gathers sheep for young Randall, circa 2005.
“I was training my own Corgie for obedience and agility trials when I was ten,” she explained. “I had a Border collie, too, and we did sheep trials.
Budweiser, a foxhound out at walk on the Wiseman farm, ran with the beagles and learned agility tests as well, circa 2011. / Lauren Giannini photo
“By the time I was in my teens, we would have a dozen foxhounds on the farm each summer between seasons. I got them ready for the hound shows. There was one hound, Budweiser, that was special, so I taught him to do most of the agility equipment, too.
Randall’s first couple of beagles, Farmington Warren and Whisker / circa 2008
“I also put together a small pack of beagles―six couple or so. Forbes Reback and Sherry Buttrick, both Masters of Beagles at the Farmington Beagles in Virginia, gave me my first couple. My uncle Buck had the Clear Creek beagle pack in Kentucky, and he gave me more. After I got the pack hunting, I spent quite a bit of time hunting with Codie Hayes [huntsman, Golden’s Bridge Hounds (NY)] and with Lincoln Sadler’s beagle pack [huntsman, Moore County Hounds (NC)]. I was always involved in dog sports and always tuned in to hounds.
“Budweiser hunted with the beagles, too!”
Sedgefield staff, 1969. Randall’s father, a whipper-in, is second from right.
Randall grew up on the family farm. Her mother was a dog trainer; her father hunted regularly with the Sedgefield and whipped-in during Fred Berry’s days in the field; and her dad’s mother ran a riding school. Randall and her husband, Clint Carty, have built a new kennel for the Sedgefield hounds on the farm.
Last season, the Sedgefield Masters―Fred Berry, Jan Sorrells, Richard Weintraub, and Martin Schlaeppi―sent Randall to visit other hunt kennels to see how other hunts, Masters, and huntsmen managed their individual establishments. In May 2022 she started the year-long MFHA Professional Development Program under the tutelage of former huntsman Andrew Barclay, the MFHA’s Director of Hunting. That’s a terrific program, initially implemented by Tony Leahy during his tenure as an MFHA director in which selected hunt staff members are enrolled for a year of exposure to other hunts and other huntsmen, are partnered with a mentor like Andrew, and given a small library of books on hunting and a stipend for travel.
Daughter Parker, 4, prepares to show Sedgefield PorkChop in the Young Handler’s class at the Carolinas Hound Show.
On that day this year in early fall, when Randall mounts up to begin the new season, the hunting horn tucked firmly in her coat, none of it will be new to her. She has already been hunting the pack in seasons past for more than ten years, whenever asked by Fred. Now, Fred will whip-in to her. She has spent a lifetime preparing.
“I feel so blessed to have this opportunity at Sedgefield, and to have a dream-team of whips and the Masters’ support,” said huntsman Randall Wiseman Carty.
Posted June 21, 2022
Buck Carty, 2, walking hounds with his mother, the huntsman.