Master and huntsman Alexis Macaulay calls hounds to water at day's end / Carolyn Carnes photo

At the time that Mac and I started our pack, I had never before drag hunted. The territory I was able to secure, however, was public land, and the regulations stated, "taking of fox is strictly forbidden." While that has since changed, we have such a steady pack on the drag at this point that I hesitate to send it live. Also, we hunt on several small, privately owned fixtures that are extremely popular with the members because of the interesting terrain and abundance of jumps, and in those fixtures it would be impossible to hunt live because of the size.

In the beginning, since I knew nothing about the sport, I read everything I could get my hands on about drag hunting. I experimented with various scents and scent combinations, but the pack was light on cry, so I sought help. The hounds, which had been drafted from the Middlebury Hunt (CT) when they disbanded, were live hunters, so we had a double challenge—the blind leading the blind.

Huntsman Donald Summersgill (right) and staff with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds

As I sit and write this on the 6th of May, finally we can say we have had two days of really good weather! The sun is shining, there is not a cloud in the sky, and the birds are in fine voice. A proper English early summer’s day, which even if I say it myself we richly deserve.

However, wherever I look there are fields of oilseed rape at half the height they should be, the wheat and barley crops are as thin as I have ever seen in my lifetime, and, what is more, the weather forecast for the next day or so is for high winds and rain. The rain believe it or not is much needed even after the wettest winter on record, but the wind is something we can well do without. We have just come out of the driest April in nearly a hundred years. Never mind; I hope that you all had a good end to season and that your weather is behaving rather better than ours.

The weather notwithstanding, I think we have come out of this last season pretty well. Having had two fascinating days beagling towards the end of March with the Christchurch and Farley Hill and the Royal Agricultural College, my season came to an end with the Exmoor Foxhounds and the Devon and Somerset Staghounds at the end of April.

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.

Foxhunting photographer Gretchen Pelham / Jennnifer Calderwood photo

Gretchen Pelham’s photos have been published in numerous magazines, in Foxhunting Life, and in our annual Foxhunting Life Calendar. After telling her I was impressed that she could juggle reins, hunt whip, and camera, she said that when she rides her own horse, she uses double reins! But, she said, the whip is useful. When taking pictures, she puts it under her leg, horn up, and hooks the reins over it. That way, she can use both hands on the camera! [Ed.]

I don’t have a picture of my whopper of a cropper in the hunt field, mainly because I was the one taking the pictures. I always hunt with my Canon 20D equipped with a 300mm zoom lens shoved down the front of my hunt coat. When I see a moment worthy of a shot I put the reins in one hand, drag the camera out, and start shooting.

 Sometimes I have plenty of time to shove the camera back down my coat before my Field Master takes off, but mostly I’ve learned to shove it down with one hand while breaking into a gallop. The coat really holds the big camera steady, and I can jump anything without fear of the camera coming out and clocking me on the chin.