Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound

Foreground (l-r): Michael Brown, huntsman and Oliver Brown, MFH, Rappahannock Hunt with host Epp Wilson, MFH, Belle Meade Hunt /  Karen Raiford photo

This article—about foxhunters on the road and the joys of visiting—is being published in several installments: 1. A Huntsman’s Perspective, 2. One Master’s Perspective, 3. Another Master’s Perspective, and 4. A Member’s Perspective. Here is our second installment.

I first met the Ambassador of Foxhunting, Ben Hardaway, MFH, of the Midland Foxhounds (GA) in 1973. It was Ben’s first trip to Virginia, and I was in awe of this traveling foxhunting circus. His members were so excited as were his hounds to show their adaptation to a different territory. Many more times did he come to hunt with us, and I also had the pleasure of being invited to hunt with him in his country. But I envied being able to take your own hounds to strange territories. So after hunting in Midland several times and becoming enthused, my son Michael and I made our first trek south with hounds in 1999.

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.

McDuffie County, home to the Belle Meade Hunt in Thomson, is one of five northern counties in the Clark Hills Partnership of Georgia. The Partnership highlights attractions in each of the counties that tourists will enjoy, and Belle Meade’s famous Opening Meet is promoted as one of the offerings for McDuffie.

“The 46th Annual Blessing of Hounds and Tally-Ho wagon ride was held recently and it was a wonderful day,” wrote Editor Angela Gary of MainStreet Newspapers. “Riders in scarlet coats recreate the old English fox hunt."

“Wagons are filled with people ready for adventure. Socializing is a big part of the festivities so everyone brings plenty of refreshments. We had our picnic baskets filled with chicken salad sandwiches and pecan bars from Chinaberry in Thomson and climbed in our wagons for the day’s hunt.

“We rode through the rolling countryside of McDuffie County as the foxes and hunters on their horses ran ahead of us. It was a great up close and personal view of this amazing event—certainly one of the most unique events you will attend.”

Posted January 24, 2012

Karen L. Myers photoLast month we announced a new feature on Foxhunting Life --- Hunt Club Pages. We have a page for every North American hunt with all the articles we have published about that hunt or referring to it. Now we want to make your hunt’s page even more informative.

We have added space for historical or descriptive text about each hunt plus a link to the hunt’s website. The description and link will always appear first on that hunt’s page—before the articles.

As the result of recent storms through Georgia, fifty percent of all the trails in the Belle Meade hunting country are blocked, according to Epp Wilson, MFH. Hounds and coyote are able to get through, but not horses.

“There are more large trees down across our trails than I have seen in forty-five years of hunting this territory,” said Wilson. “The country is virtually unhuntable.”

The Belle Meade Masters have called out their membership and friends to come and help. They need tractors with mowers and front-end-loaders and people to operate chain saws and four-wheelers.

The Saturdays of August 13 and August 20 have been designated as official workdays.

Posted August 10, 2011