A View from the Second Flight at Whiskey Road
Cornelia Henderson and Banjo / Shawn McMillen photoI was brushing Banjo’s mane before a meeting of the Whiskey Road Foxhounds (SC). It was standing on end from static electricity, and I thought, “Oh, rats. It’s not going to be a very good day today….too dry.” Was I ever wrong!
And John Emery had apparently told Master Lynn Smith that if the hounds spent another day in the swamp, he wasn’t EVER going back to the Jackson meet. No worries there; John will definitely be back.
We started out toward Averitt Valley Road with hounds speaking in the woods on the in-country side. They worked hard, and first flight took off down and around Kirkland and in by the chicken houses. Second flight held up a bit and listened and watched, finally deciding to move along behind first. That’s when all hell broke loose in the middle of the country with hounds screaming away while we were still on the far edge.
Aiken Huntsman Weds; Goes to Sea
Katherine Gunter and John Dunbar were married on June 9, 2012, at Tybee Island, Georgia. Katherine has been huntsman for the Aiken Hounds (SC) for the past four seasons. Prior to Aiken, she was professional staff at the Whiskey Road Foxhounds (SC) and the Bear Creek Hounds (GA). John laid the drag for Aiken Hounds […]
Penn-Marydels Are Getting Respect
Unentered Aiken Trailer was Grand Champion of the Carolinas Hound Show to the delight of (l-r) huntsman Katherine Gunter and Linda McLean, MFH. / Louisa Davidson photoWith stunning examples of the modern English foxhound setting the beauty standard of our time, the Penn-Marydels have long been considered the ugly ducklings of the show ring. So outclassed were they that when shown in the same ring with the modern English or well-bred Crossbred, they never even earned a second glance from the judges.
That view is changing, and we are seeing some spectacular examples of foxhound conformation in the Penn-Marydel ring. So good in fact, that in two cases at least the Penn-Marydel entry has eclipsed all others.
Byers and Peace: New Joint-Masters at Aiken
Larry Byers and Joey Peace are new Joint-Masters at Aiken. / Randy Wolcott photoThe venerable Aiken Hounds (SC)—a pack steeped in the history of North American sport—has appointed Larry Byers and Joann “Joey” Peace as Joint-Masters. Established in 1914, the Aiken Hounds hunt the drag through the Hitchcock Woods.
On the Road: A Huntsman’s Perspective
On the Road: A Huntsman’s Perspective
Visitors from the Rappahannock Hunt at Memorial Gate in the Hitchcock Woods for a meet with the Aiken Hounds / Karen Raiford photo
This article—about foxhunters on the road and the joys of visiting—is being published in four installments: 1. A Huntsman’s Perspective, 2. One Master’s Perspective, 3. Another Master’s Perspective, and 4. A Member’s Perspective. Here is the first installment.
On January 20, 2012, members of the Rappahannock Hunt left the familiar hills and mountains of Virginia for the mostly flat, somewhat sandy hunting territory along the border between South Carolina and Georgia. Some of us have been making this pilgrimage for more than fifteen years now.
Foxhunting and Polo: A Sporting Crossover in Aiken
The Tallyho Cup (foxhunters and polo mallets) and Polo Saturday (polo players and hounds) debuted in Aiken, South Carolina this season, reaffirming the traditional Aiken bond between foxhunting and polo. The two sports have been entwined in Aiken since the early 1900s, when all the great polo names of the day—Hitchcock, Knox, Bostwick, Corey, and others—played polo in Aiken and rode to hounds as well.
Polo Saturday
In keeping with this historic tradition, Linda Knox McLean, MFH sent out an open invitation to all of Aiken’s polo players to cap with the Aiken Hounds on their polo ponies while wearing their polo gear. Dubbed Polo Saturday, the day was the brainchild of Theresa King, who hunts with the Aiken Hounds and plays polo on her foxhunter.
Whiskey Road Hunt Week, Aiken, SC
Installment Five
Whiskey Road MFH David Smith (left) greets Toronto and North York MFH Wolf von Teichman.Betsy and friends escape frozen Virginia for a week of hunting in warmer climes. We bring you Installment Five of her daily blog, exclusive to Foxhunting Life.
Monday was an open day. Gene and Barbara Hough joined me, Tom, Jackie, and Don for a hack in the Hitchcock Woods. We grabbed lunch at Rio Pablo, an excellent Cuban place downtown. There was a benefit for the Hitchcock Woods Foundation that night at the Wilcox Hotel, one of the town’s oldest and most grand buildings.
Tuesday dawned cold and frosty but with that promise of spring in the air. There was a pretty good breeze, though, and I was uncertain of scenting conditions as we headed east towards Bill Scott’s Fairview fixture near Lexington.
The Scotts own thousands of acres of managed timberland—pine forests cut for pulpwood and lumber—providing excellent habitat for game of all sizes. Gene Hough told me about hunting at Fairview a few years ago when the hounds held a four hundred-pound boar at bay until the huntsman dispatched it (then famously burned it at a pig roast later!).
Whiskey Road Hunt Week, Aiken, SC
Second Installment
Betsy and friends escape frozen Virginia for a week of hunting in warmer climes. We bring you Installment Two of her daily blog, exclusive to Foxhunting Life.
(l-r) Whiskey Road Field Master Geri Rapp, Fairfax Hunt members Ray Moffett, and PetraProbably seventy-five riders in the field this morning from the Batesburg fixture. Whiskey Road hosted a stirrup cup and snack before the meet after which huntsman Joseph Hardiman moved off with the mixed English and Penn-Marydel pack, east towards the cow field adjacent to the fixture.
Hounds struck immediately, coyote, probably, a brace or possibly a leash, and split into two or three groups. Hardiman went with one group, Master/whipper-in Lynn Smith with another, and (seemed like) Master David Smith and the main field with still another.
Why Worry?
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.
It’s Because of the South
Question:
On a visit to Aiken, South Carolina in February, I had a day with the Whiskey Road Foxhounds. The pack consisted of mostly un-entered puppies. I’m sure the huntsman had his good reasons, but I found it unusual. Why would he do that?