Loudoun West huntsman Martyn Blackmore blows his fox to ground.Aiken Hounds huntsman Katherine Gunter and I had been planning this trip for months. South Carolina summers are tough, and no sooner had we returned to Aiken after the 2011 Virginia Foxhound Show and found ourselves enveloped in ninety-plus temperatures that we began to think about September and a possible hunting vacation.

Everything came together well. We don’t begin our own cubhunting until October, which left September free and clear for adventure. Where shall we go? We had a wonderful invitation from friends in Millbrook, NY, so we decided to make the big push north, out of the heat first, and work our way back south.

Huntsman Andy Bozdan at his first TVH Opening MeetArriving to take up your post as huntsman three days before your first meet is probably not the traditional way to begin the season. However, after months of tussling with the U.S. Immigration Department I finally arrived at the Tennessee Valley Hunt on 13 September 2011.

Through September and October the hounds and I were finding our way. The meets were still very new to me, and the hounds were quite wayward in terms of running riot and biddability. We were walking out every day, and hounds slowly but surely began to respond to my voice and my horn.

Author Tom Howland and Candy Linville catch up with friends at the hunt's reunion.  /  Jim Sykes photoThe South Creek Foxhounds, Florida's oldest hunt, revisited their roots at Robert Thomas's Two Rivers Ranch on May 5, 2012 for a sentimental reunion. Established in 1965 as the Two Rivers Hunt, the hunt's current name was adopted in 1995.

What an outstanding reunion we all had out at Two Rivers Ranch! For some of us, just entering the drive off of 301 was enough to shed a tear or two and initiate many warm memories. I can’t remember them all, but there were flashes of different parts of the ranch, old friends that have since passed (or those that I hadn’t seen in ages), memorable horses, hounds, the old kennels and barn.

Author Hugh Robards is huntsman of the Saxonburg Hounds (PA).  /  Alex Farnham photoThe foxhounds of the Saxonburg Hunt in Pennsylvania now have a winter kennel in South Carolina of which full advantage is taken from January 1 to the end of March each year. Since Mr. Floyd Wine, MFH invested in property close to the small town of Salley (population about 450 and home of the annual Chitlin Strut!), the harsh Pennsylvanian winters are no longer an obstacle to continued hunting.

As the country hunted is shared with the Edisto River Hounds it was decided this year to have a Hunt Festival Week. Each pack hunted on alternate days with tailgate parties, dinner parties, and a Hunt Ball thrown in for good measure.