Brazos Valley Mystic: LIke Father, Like Son
Brazos Valley Mystic 2010 / Liz Callar photoBrazos Valley Mystic 2010 was judged Grand Champion of the Southwest Hound Show for the third consecutive year, matching his sire’s outstanding performance there. The show was held on April 20, 2013 at Greenwood Farms in Weatherford, Texas.
Mystic’s success is no stroke of luck; he’s the product of a royal breeding engineered by Brazos Valley MFH Sandy Dixon. She put her own sire—Brazos Valley Catfish 2006—to a Potomac-bred bitch that she entered in 2006—Brazos Valley Meadow.
Catfish won three consecutive Grand Championships at the Southwest Hound Show in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and Meadow brought her own credentials from Maryland. She was bred by Potomac huntsman Larry Pitts and is by Potomac Jefferson, Grand Champion of both the Virginia Foxhound Show and the Bryn Mawr Hound Show in 2007. Jefferson was knockout handsome.
Lonesome Palm Hounds Dissolved
The Lonesome Palm Hounds (FL) has dissolved as of May 1, 2013. Established by the Kerry Kornacki Family in 1991, the hunt was Registered with the MFHA in 1994 and Recognized in 1996. The mixed pack of Crossbred, English, and Penn-Marydel hounds hunted red fox, gray fox, coyote, bobcat, and the drag in northeastern Florida […]
Radnor Hunts the Big Bend
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.
Bourbon or Whiskey Balls
Bourbon or Whiskey Balls are a breeze to make, and they retain their alcoholic zing!
‘Ware Flitters!
Huntsman Andy Bozdan at the Tennessee Valley HuntWhen I was learning to whip-in I would watch the huntsman and the way he effortlessly walked his pack out in the spring and summer. This particular spring the swallows had arrived early and would flit low across the fields in front of hounds. To my surprise he let his hounds chase them.
Keen to learn, I asked why he did not want me to turn hounds back. He said that this was their time off, and he wanted them to relax and unwind.
A few months later we were out for our first early morning cubhunting. Hounds were held up for a few minutes at the meet and then we move off across a huge stubble field toward our first draw. Huntsman and hounds were halfway across the field when out of nowhere came several swallows flitting down and in front of hounds!
Fox Hunt by Winslow Homer
Fox Hunt is one of the well-known works of the renowned American artist, Winslow Homer (1836–1910).
In this ominous painting, a fox struggles through the snow in search of a meal. The Atlantic roils below, and the sky above is dark with another approaching storm. The fox has captured the attention of a flock of equally hungry crows that circle above, the nearest threatening to blot out the entire scene in blackness. It was not unusual in the long Maine winters to see a flock of crows attack a weakened fox adrift in deep snow. The red berries peeking through the snow drift provide the only relief to this somber moment.
Foxhunting in Ocala, Florida
In September of 1896, Ocala, Florida wasn’t preparing for the influx of horse show enthusiasts from the north as it does now. At the time, however, a recent resident to the town was planning to establish a fox hunt there, according to columnist David Cook in Ocala.com. John Vogt told the Ocala Banner he was […]
Downing to Montreal: New Huntsman for the Oldest Hunt
Karen Myers photoDennis Downing will be the new huntsman for the Montreal Hunt (PQ) next season. Established in 1826, the Montreal Hunt is the oldest hunt in North America. Downing moves there after eleven seasons hunting hounds and showing fine sport at the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA). The British-born and -trained huntsman has been in […]
Fox Hunt: Sport for Ham Radio Enthusiasts
What is a fox hunt? Well, it depends on whom you ask. If you are talking to a ham radio operator, he/she is apt to tell you that foxhunting is a sport over the airwaves in which ham radio enthusiasts search for a hidden transmitter—the fox—using directional antennas. In one form, an amateur radio club […]
Tell Me a Story: My First Foxhunt
Karen Myers photoIn my last blog, “How I Came to Go Foxhunting,” I told my story, and readers gave us some good stories in return. (See the Comments section after the blog and our Facebook page.) The next logical step in this tell-me-a-story series is “My First Foxhunt.” What do we remember aside from that kaleidoscopic blur of new images and sensations? Once again, I’ll tell you my story, then you can tell us yours.
The things that stick in my mind from my first foxhunt forty-five years ago, surprisingly, have little to do with foxhunting. Hounds? I’m sure there was a pack of foxhounds involved, but they certainly don’t stand out in my mind. As I explained in my last blog, I came to hunting through a love of horses.
Like most first-time foxhunters, I suppose I was primarily concerned with complying with the bewildering rules of hunting etiquette and with keeping me and my horse out of trouble. There are, however, two things I do remember about that day with perfect clarity: (1) romance and (2) the late J. Quincy Adams, MFH.