ON HUNTING. n 



scent. If scent were always good few hounds would do 

 well enough ; any pack of curs will hunt a fox if scent is 

 good enough ; but scent is often faint and catchy good in 

 covert or bad out, and vice versd. When scent is bad 

 one hound may pick up the line and bring the others to it, 

 and in drawing for a fox an odd hound " hits off " the line 

 and the balance of the hounds join in. To hunt a country 

 four days a week sixty couples of hounds used to be thought 

 not too many. Nor were they, as hounds will not turn out 

 too often ; their feet may be damaged, and for many reasons 

 some may be kept in kennels. Since the war many packs 

 are much depleted, hounds having been " put down " in 

 deference to the Food Controller. Later in the season brood 

 bitches are laid up and the pack further reduced. Some 

 huntsmen hunt all bitches together on one day and all dogs 

 on another, and do not mix the packs till late in the season, 

 when, from shortage of hounds, they must. Other huntsmen 

 mix the packs, putting in a few big bitches with the dogs 

 and a few small dogs with the bitches. Bitches are apt to 

 be flighty ; dogs work closer, the latter help to steady the 

 bitches, but bitches undoubtedly sharpen up the dogs. The 

 main idea is to get the best hunting qualities out of each. 

 Hounds are very expensive to keep, and if you want to do a 

 real good turn and become popular, " walk " a puppy — that 

 is, after he is weaned from his mother, take him or, better still, 

 take two, and keep them for a few months till they are old 

 enough to go back to kennels and form the new entry for 

 the coming season. 



The foxhound is a lethargic, lazy-looking, handsome 

 animal at the covert side, serious and sagacious, no playing 

 about or gambolling like other dogs. But when running 

 a fox he is a different article altogether, full of dash and drive 

 and, when closing up on a beaten fox, with his hackles up, 

 tremendously fierce and keen. I have seen foxhounds when 

 used for stag hunting, go for a stag at bay time after time 

 and receive some cruel wounds from his horns. Foxes in 

 coverts are found by what is called " drawing " for them. 

 Hounds are put into covert and spread themselves out, and 

 one or another is likely to put the fox on his feet. A hunts- 

 man usually, if it suits the covert and agrees with the direction 



