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Latest News

By the Way

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Click Resources/Travel for lodging, stabling, and field hunter livery. Use the Search function to find listings at your destination.

Latest Foxhunting Articles

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Literature

A Conversation with the Author, Grosvenor Merle-Smith

groro book cover.smallThe Hunting Horn: What to Know and How to Know It, Grosvenor Merle-Smith, introduction by Tony Leahy, former president, MFHA, Dementi Milestone Publishing, 2021, hardcover, landscape, color, 8.5 x 11 inches, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-7360885-5-5, $75.00. Order from the website, or contact via email.

Grosvenor Merle-Smith’s new book is a labor of love. Between its covers, you’ll find everything you ever wanted to know―even things you never knew you wanted to know―about hunting horns.

Your editor knows of no resource that compares to this meticulously researched, artistically designed, and lavishly produced book. The book’s title and cover design were heavily influenced, with the author’s tongue in his cheek, by an old pamphlet written by L.C. Cameron for Köhler and Sons, The Hunting Horn: What to Blow and How to Blow It. That pamphlet was the subject of a recent Foxhunting Life article. For any foxhunting library, these two publications―Merle-Smith’s and Cameron’s―constitute the sum and substance of just about all that's known concerning the hunting horn, its history, materials, manufacture, sources, and music used in hunting the fox with hounds.

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Hunting Days of Yore

Virtually every coop, bridge, landmark, or covert in the Belle Meade Hunt foxhunting country (GA) has a name, so that huntsman, mounted whippers-in, and road whips can accurately and concisely communicate the location and direction of hounds by radio for their safety. What does this have to do with the late Major Kindersley, MFH of Ontario's Eglinton and Caledon Hunt? Only that one of the coops very often in the middle of the hunting action at Belle Meade is named “Major Kindersley’s Coop,” and virtually everyone who has hunted at Belle Meade is familiar with the name. But what do many of today's younger foxhunters know of the man? Here's the Major's story.

major charles kindersley

Charles Kindersley was born in Dorset, England, in 1900, and grew up with the traditional family pony in the South Dorset hunting country. When World War I broke out, the nearby army camp had to give up its beagle pack. The hounds were rescued by the local vet who, after seeing Charles’ interest, let him hunt the pack. This bit of experience would turn out to be highly valuable to the future Eglinton Hunt in Ontario, Canada.

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Hunt Reports

On December 14, 2020, members of the Belle Meade Hunt (GA) enjoyed their best hunting day of the season—up to that point! Master and huntsman Epp Wilson has allowed Foxhunting Life to publish an account of the day’s sport from his informal, after-hunt notes. For the benefit of our readers who love to better understand how the top huntsmen of our times produce sport with hounds, Epp has expanded on a few of the Belle Meade methods and protocols that may surprise some traditionalists. Your editor has only to say, however, that the proof is in the pudding, and that he knows of no other hunt that draws more enthusiastic hunting visitors, year after year, from hunts all across North America, than does Belle Meade.

epp and maidenMaster and huntsman Epp Wilson and Belle Meade's Midland Maiden 2013.

We met at 3 PM from the kennels. Fifty-six degrees: good. Dew point 46 degrees: not so good. Wind from the west at 7 mph: good. Game table* was low at 14 percent average for the day: not good.

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Our Hunting World

jim meads and dierdre hanna.small.ginnie beardThe author with renowned sporting photographer Jim Meads at the Peterborough Hound Show / Ginnie Beard photo
Life is full of amazing flukes—or coincidences—but for me by far the largest percentage have had something to do with foxhunting. So, starting at the beginning, I can hear the phone ringing and on the other end of the line is my Aunt April.

“You’ll never believe it,” she said, “but I’ve just been to the dentist and while sitting in the Waiting Room I picked up a copy of Hounds magazine. Remembering that you write for them, I was very interested to have a look at it. Imagine my amazement when I opened it and there was a photograph of my mother! She was riding side-saddle on her horse, San Toy, ready to hack to the meet.”

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People

swan.charlie.hhcropA Horse&Hound Legend of the Sport, Charlie Swan was Champion Jockey for 9 consecutive years until his retirement.

The bond between son Charlie and father Donald shone like a beacon when I had the opportunity to speak to them both during the lock-down. Charlie begins their story.

“Dad adored his riding, whether it was hunting or riding as an amateur. And I guess he passed that on to me. He loved the training and always had a few horses for me to ride. My great-grandfather on my mother’s side was champion flat Jockey in England and rode a Derby winner. I would have often looked to Dad for advice, and I gained a lot of experience with him.”

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Hunt Reports

miss rodeo and truckA celebrity in the hunting field, Miss Rodeo USA 2020

In any sport, there are many terms that might be unfamiliar to anyone outside the circle. In rodeo, for example, not everyone might know the term bufford, dog fall, or union animal.* It was the same for me stepping out of my comfort zone to learn new terms in the foxhunting community. I rightfully earned the title of cropper within the first five minutes of the hunt. This is how it went.

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People

sean cully.mullins1Sean Cully (center) hunts his hounds at a joint meet in Geneseo, New York, hosted by Marion Thorne, MFH and huntsman of the Genesee Valley Hounds (at left). /   Noel Mullins photo

The first time I met Sean Cully he was Master and huntsman of the Blue Mountain Hounds (PA), and he was hunting an up-to-weight Irish Draught hunter. Blue Mountain, established by Cully in 1999 as a private foot pack, had been recently Registered by the MFHA.

On the occasion of our meeting, Cully was visiting Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Pennsylvania, celebrating their centennial year in 2013. Between then and now, this former Master and huntsman of a small foot pack has stabilized the foxhunting countries of two additional hunts in Pennsylvania under his Mastership and added winter fixtures near Aiken, South Carolina.

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Latest

peggy poe at Melvins 90th.leesPeggy Poe at Melvins 90th birthday celebration / Douglas Lees photo

Peggy Poe of Hume, Virginia, passed away peacefully on January 18, 2021. She was eighty-eight.

Peggy was best known for her unfailing hospitality, her devotion to her family, and her fifty-one year's marriage and partnership with legendary huntsman Melvin M. Poe.

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Latest

john dean.jim grahamHuntsman John Dean and the foxhounds of the Radnor Hunt   /  Jim Graham photo

John Howard Dean, III, huntsman of the Radnor Hunt (PA), died in Paoli Hospital on January 16, 2021. He was hospitalized fighting Covid-19 along with other issues over a period of weeks. According to the Masters’ announcement made the day following his death, John appeared at one point to be on the mend but his condition reversed.

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Wildlife

 Red Fox_MCR-212_2X0A9225.tiffRed Fox  /  Mike Roberts photo

A recent study reveals that wild mammals—even big predators—are getting portions of up to half of their diet from human leavings, crops, or smaller mammals that live near people. The study included wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, coyote, foxes, fishers, and martens across the country.

These wild animals are relying less and less on foods found naturally, as human population spreads and presents wildlife with domestic dietary alternatives. The outcome naturally puts wild creatures in conflict with one another, and leads to more human-carnivore encounters in territorial boundary areas and suburban backyards.

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People

jeepJeep Cochran and her Calf Pasture Bassets

As dedicated, passionate—some might even say fanatical—members of the global sporting community of those who hunt with hounds, we all feel the loss of our treasured activities as the COVID pandemic rages across our countries. During this time of suffering it seems insensitive to mourn the departure of a single individual from our sporting scene, but in this case a large group of people has lost the opportunity to celebrate the career, times, and exemplary hunting life of the retiring Master of the Calf Pasture Bassets, Evelyn "Jeep" Cochran.

What? Is she dead? Emphatically not! But the pandemic has robbed all her friends of the chance to celebrate her life, her hounds, her triumphs too numerous to tally...at hound shows, at field trials, and over the course of a sporting life lived over an impressive span of years.

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Norm Fine's Blog

kohler hunting hornSurely, one of the thrills of the foxhunting field is the sound of the huntsman’s horn. When huntsman and hounds are out of sight, the horn keeps the knowledgeable foxhunter informed as to the progress of the hunt.

When the huntsman doubles it in covert, that’s a good time to check your girth. When you hear the Gone Away, you watch your Field Master and anticipate that moment when the saddle tosses you standing in your stirrups and dancing to that seductive three-beat rhythm. The knowledgeable foxhunter can distinguish when the huntsman is blowing Gone to Ground to celebrate a successful conclusion, or simply collecting hounds after a loss. But have you ever tried to blow the thing yourself? Not easy!

More Articles ...

  1. A First-Year Huntsman, Her Hounds, Her Sport
  2. Ken Adams, ex-MFH (1930–2020)

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