The hunting enthusiast is never tired of talking of the subject he loves, and I only hope the reader may not grow weary of reading long before I have finished my book. The honour the editors of the Ha...
I am afraid I have been led away from my legitimate subject, and in discussing shooting I am trespassing on ground that will, I expect, have a volume to itself in this series. In America they classify...
It is never safe to predict anything that refers to hunting, and it is always the unexpected that comes to pass. Those who are connected with the hounds have a special interest which the ordinary foll...
Without wishing to detract from the merits of any other form of hunting, I must give precedence to the chase of the fox. Not because it is the most popular—though of that I suppose there is no doubt—b...
His head was what we should call 'snipy,' and he was decidedly on the leg. Crossed with the terriers of the period used for bolting foxes, which were either black-and-tan or red, the fox-terrier as we...
The three famous Belvoir huntsmen, Goodall, Goosey, and Gillard, have improved and handed down to posterity a strain of blood that will leave its mark on every kennel in England ; but it must not be f...
In starting your pack you may buy a few bitches that are not quite straight from a good kennel, but always insist in seeing the sire and dam, though that is a proceeding I should strongly advise you t...
Until lately it was the custom to remove certain little buttons and flaps that are of no apparent use from the inside of the ear, in order to mark the different litters. Now a system of tattooing has ...
I shall speak of hunting in another portion of this work, but before we leave the hound I should like to add a word or two on feeding. Custom and experience have proved that the best old oatmeal and h...
I am sorry to notice that many packs have now very little music, and I consider this a great fault. It must eventually tend to breed mute hounds, and a hound that runs mute is a rogue who will spoil y...
The horse and the hound were made for each other, and the fox is the connecting link between the two. This remark of the celebrated Jorrocks has always seemed to me a very happy way of explaining the ...
When badgers are very numerous they become a nuisance in another way, and that is by opening the earths after the earth-stopper has been his rounds. They do good, however, in keeping the fox-earths cl...
A fox must have a dry place to lie in, and that place must be free from all disturbance. This is all he wants, but this he must have or he will not patronise your covert. The dry place may be a bunch ...
If I were going to make a covert I would choose, if possible, that it should be about ten acres and, if there was any slope, that it should face south-west. Round the outer edge I would have the doubl...
The fox has many enemies besides those that may be called legitimate, and the sheep-dog is the one that gives him most trouble. Fortunately the sheep-dog, in most instances, is too much of a cur to ta...
Pessimists tell us that fox-hunting will not last many years ; but as the number of people who hunt increases every season, I do not think we need pay much attention to this doleful view. It may be th...
I need hardly say that your hand should be ever ready to go into your pocket when it is a question of local charities or some institution that interests the farmers of the district within which you hu...
An M. F. H., to be perfect, must embody all the virtues of a saint with the commanding genius of a Kitchener and the tact of a diplomatist. To find these qualities combined is well-nigh impossible, so...
We ought always to assist the Master when we can, and not make his task the harder, as I am afraid we often do. We should remember that whereas we as individuals think solely of ourselves, he is plann...
Some men are natural huntsmen and others only acquire the art by hard work, but no man need despair of handling hounds fairly well if he has the necessary qualifications and a thorough love of the spo...
Unless a man who is hunting hounds has a certain amount of confidence in himself, he will never be able to act at a critical moment with that decision and promptness which the occasion requires. There...
The abbreviated term 'whip' is the word now generally used, but the headline to this chapter is the correct name and full title. There have been instances where a man over thirty has taken a whip's...
A good voice is an advantage to a whip, but let him beware how and when he uses it. Men with good voices are very apt to be too fond of making themselves heard on every occasion. A quick ear is a more...
I have felt considerable diffidence in offering my opinions on the subjects already reviewed, but in venturing to write on the mysteries of the huntsman's science, I am more than ever conscious of the...
You may occasionally have some good gallops in cub-hunting, and, of course, that is what your field will desire ; but you must not study either your own inclinations or theirs. Your duty is, first of ...
Fortune favours you, for the cub has gone away, and that is more than you could have expected. Out with your horn and blow a cheery blast as you gallop to the point of exit. Eighteen couple out of. th...
Have your servants well mounted on handy horses that can gallop and jump. You cannot expect your whip to be on the spot when he is wanted if he is riding cattle that do not know their business, and ar...
What a pace hounds run! what a head they carry ! They seem to skim over the yellowy-brown surface; the bastard turf, made up of twitch and coarse herbage, answers the purpose of the best old turf. Thi...
With one eye on the pack and the other roaming the country ahead for a sight of the form that shall gladden your heart, you have little time to note the fences you are jumping, or otherwise you might ...
One of the most frequent and annoying causes for hounds checking is the intervention of a sheepdog. When it is evident that a dog has chased the fox, you should immediately make a wide cast forward an...
Halloas are at all times to be regarded with extreme care, as they will very often be the means of putting you on the line of a fresh fox ; but you must take advantage of them occasionally, and when y...
An approaching storm will destroy scent, and when the squall has passed it will be as good as ever again. We know that the fermentation of milk is caused by a bacillus, and yet a thunderstorm will cau...
As i have said, with a failing scent and a fox only ' half-beat,' a huntsman must exercise all his science and skill to achieve the desired end. He must press hounds on without lifting them, never tak...
The pleasures of fox-hunting being largely dependent on the horse you ride, I think it will not be out of place here to discuss the animal and its peculiarities. The country you intend to hunt in, ...
There are so many books on the horse now, that every one knows what the perfect animal should be like, but I may as well give you my ideas. To begin with, I prefer a big bold eye in a sensible head, w...
There is no better place than the hunting-field to learn the art of horsemanship, yet in a crowd of three hundred at the covert-side you can generally count on the fingers of one hand those that are r...
The ambition of a young man who is really keen should be, not to jump a bigger fence than some one else, but always to be in the same field with hounds. Experience only will teach him the shortest way...
You may look on a horse as a steel spring from his nose to his hind feet. When extended to his highest speed, the steel straightens out at every stride to its full length, and at that moment—when hind...
'A diff'rent hound for every diff'rent chase Select with judgment; nor the timorous hare O'ermatched destroy, but leave that vile offence To the mean, murd'ring, coursing crew, intent On blood and spo...
Now we come to the consideration of the best type of hound to use, and here I hesitate to give advice. If you want a smart twenty minutes' gallop, you cannot do better than buy draft foxhounds, or you...
At the beginning of the season, or when you are first starting your pack, I advise you to go out as soon as it is light and try to trail up to a hare. You ought to know beforehand where the hares feed...
Condition is of course the most important thing with small beagles, and does not always get the attention it deserves from young masters. I must refer you to what I have already written on the subject...
Experience only will teach you the most likely places to find a hare, and then if you go into another country all your preconceived ideas will be at fault. It is the nature of the hare to protect hers...
In most parts of England two hundred years ago, both red and fallow deer were scattered fairly plentifully over the land. Every large owner of the soil preserved herds in his woods and parks, which wa...
The greatest charm in this sport is the wildness and shyness of the otter. There is hardly a stream of any size in England in which he is not found, but unless hunted he is very seldom seen, and in co...
There are some packs that have been in existence for a great many years, and nothing is omitted that will conduce to the welfare of the hounds ; but there are other packs that change their masters at ...
There is a last word I have to say which ought to have been first, and that is about subscribing to the hunt you patronise. Before you buy your horses, order your clothes, or decide on the size of ...
Chapter I. Introductory
