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Latest News

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Latest Foxhunting Articles

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Fox Hunting News

 

rsz 1mfha img 4914Photo from the 2007 MFHA Centennial Fieldhunter Championships, by Gretchen Pelham

The 2022–2023 hunting season becomes the foxhunters’ year of the horse as the Masters of Foxhounds Association (the “MFHA”) organizes a series of horse competitions across North America. The MFHA Field Hunter Championship is more than a celebration of the foxhunting horse; it’s a chance to earn regional and national field hunter titles that distinguish riders and their hunts. Additionally, it's an opportunity for hunts to raise funds.

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Hunt Reports

The Master and Huntsman for Red Oak Foxhounds gives a hunt report back in the heat of August. Her favorite hound, Red Oak Alice, didn’t disappoint.  

Red Oak Foxhounds cooling off in the pond after their run. Photo by Theresa Miller

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Horses

Sarah Martin Leather 1 GPS gun knifeSarah Martin Photo

Sarah Martin, MFH and Huntsman for Ozark Highland Hounds in southern Missouri, got inventive when she decided to have custom leatherwork made to solve her appointments issue.  

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Gretchen Pelham's Blog

Big Sky 5Big Sky Hounds Montana Hunt Country, Photo by Gretchen Pelham

There are many commonly used phrases to warn fellow foxhunters of perils when riding outside of the arena. Such as “Ware wire!” and “Ware hole!”. Out West, there has been a worrisome increase in rattlesnake numbers during this Autumn Hunting season. The Big Sky Hounds just announced they must cancel their next hunt and will move some of their future fixtures due to increased rattlesnake activity. They had a horse and hound get bitten just this weekend. Also, a Big Sky Hounds member was recently bitten by the most venomous rattlesnake in the world, with a one-in-a-million adverse reaction. 

Some research on bites from rattlesnakes with the Center for Disease Control found estimates that between 7,000-8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States each year, with about five or 0.07% of those people dying. Horse mortality rates from snake bites are approximately 9%, mainly with small foals or unhealthy, elderly horses. Most horses get bitten on the nose due to their curiosity. This presents the complication of nasal passage swelling to a point that prevents breathing. The mortality rate for canines bitten by snakes is about 5%. There is a preventive vaccine and an anti-venom for canines. However, both options are so expensive that they are not practical for a whole kennel of hounds. 

Fair Warning – the two stories below will have two photos of rattlesnakes.

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Our Hunting World

TVH 101k 3Photo By Gretchen Pelham

Anyone who follows foxhunting in England knows that the sport has been under assault for decades. Illegal for 17 years, its successor, trail hunting, took a big blow last year following the hacking of an online meeting of the MFHA.

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Fox Hunting News

Trip Hoffman Memorial Riding Scholarship Applications Being Accepted

TRYON, NC (June 20, 2022)— The Tryon Hounds is proud to present the Trip Hoffman Memorial Riding Scholarship for fox hunting enthusiasts in Polk, Henderson, Rutherford, Spartanburg, and Greenville counties for the 2022-2023 hunt season. Fox hunting has been a part of the areas culture for nearly one-hundred years and enjoyed by equestrian enthusiasts who appreciate the sport and tradition. This scholarship helps ensure the sports place within the community for future generations by assisting with membership dues.

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Gretchen Pelham's Blog

I have respected Norman Fine for so many years, and when he offered me Foxhunting Life, I jumped at the chance.  I started my foxhunting career late in life, about 20 years ago.  I discovered that I loved the thrill of the chase, the challenge of the ride, the history of the sport, and the communion with the outdoors.  Most especially, I love to travel to other hunts. And I love to write and photograph those trips.  I’ve been taking at least one cross country trip a year to foxhunt. 

riding boots by door

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Latest

blurry hunt photo

Last year, a senior UK foxhunter and board member of the British MFHA, Mark Hankinson, was found guilty in Westminster Magistrates' Court of contravening the despised Hunting Act of 2004. He was also ordered to pay the court £3,500 in fine and fee. The deputy chief Magistrate concluded that he was "clearly encouraging the mirage of trail laying to act as cover for old-fashioned illegal hunting."

The case involved the question of whether or not Hankinson, in a webinar seen by about one hundred hunt leaders, promoted ways for hunts to covertly hunt illegally by making it appear they were trail hunting.

This year, a court heard his appeal and considered whether Hankinson's words were intentionally encouraging an offense. The court decided to the contrary, reversed the original verdict, and Hankinson was adjudged not guilty.

Hankinson explained he was referring to the practice of laying dummy trails to fool saboteurs.

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Picture of the Week

coyote coming out of corn

It was the first hunt of the 2016 – 2017 season for the Tennessee Valley Hunt in East Tennessee.  I never saw this coyote come out of the corn. I had been listening to the hounds just ROAR around in that corn for an hour, when I saw this beautiful tweed coat against that landscape. I wanted to get photos of the coat with the Cumberland Mountains behind it, so I took a burst of about 5 photos. I never saw the coyote through the lens as I took the photographs of the coat.  Unbeknownst to me, the coyote had photo bombed the shot. 

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Norm Fine's Blog

norm.kleckThe author in informal cubhunting attire / Nancy Kleck photoTraditional foxhunting attire is important to me, but I’m not a fanatic.

Why is it important? Respect...for three hundred years of sport, art, literature, and the men and women who had the passion, energy, and intellect to formulate and leave us one of the most exhilarating activities known to man. For these reasons it pains me to see the concepts of appropriate attire ignored in many hunting fields today.

There is good reason to dress modestly and uniformly. Foxhunting is about the hounds and the quarry; it’s not a stage for man or horse. Its dress code can be described as stratified uniformity—stratified between staff, Master, and field so we can quickly identify who’s who in the heat of battle, and uniformity so that we all maintain our modest place in the overall scheme of the sport.

Why, on the other hand, am I not fanatical about correct hunting attire? Because there is no single truth.

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Remembrance

Melvyn Haas photoDr. Melvyn Lawrence Haas (1940--2022) Dr. Melvyn Haas, ex-MFH, died August 27, 2022 in Aiken, South Carolina.  He was eighty-two. Dr. Haas was a founding Master of Foxhounds with Whiskey Road Fox Hounds.  

Dr. Haas was born March 16, 1940, in New York, New York to the late Adolph and Manya Haas. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and M.D. from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in 1965. He moved to Aiken, South Carolina in 1972 and practiced Neurology for over fifty years. He was a faculty member at Augusta University and was affiliated with Aiken Regional Medical Center. He was dedicated to his many patients. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and brother.

More Articles ...

  1. A Message to Subscribers & Friends
  2. Kumbaya
  3. Crossing the Country to Help our Huntsman Exercise Hounds
  4. Huntsmen on the Move in 2022
  5. The Mystery of the Red Fox
  6. The Kriz Horseshoeing Dynasty: A Tribute

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