FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



upon all the dens which the foxes are known to 

 occupy. Terriers are employed at these earths, 

 which either bolt the foxes to the guns or worry 

 them underground. A big hill-fox can stand a 

 lot of punishment, and I have known one to kill 

 a small terrier, but if the latter is a sizeable dog 

 with plenty of courage, the fox is doomed unless 

 he gets " out of that." A fox which runs the 

 gauntlet of the guns, stands a better chance of 

 life than one which fights the terriers, for though 

 a running fox offers a fair mark, he is proverbially 

 hard to hit. I once saw a fox bolted from a 

 rocky earth, and get safely away, after six barrels 

 of B.B. shot had been sent after him from the guns 

 of three men who were all good game shots. 



Apropos of shooting foxes, I killed a certain 

 number in Canada by stalking them in winter. 

 It needs very careful stalking to " jump " a fox 

 from his bed, and put a bullet or a charge of shot 

 into him as he goes away. This method can only 

 be employed in snow, when the tracks of the fox 

 can be followed. In the woods we often hunted 

 foxes with slow hounds, posting guns on the well 

 known runways. The foxes used to circle round 

 in the vicinity, and somebody was nearly certain 

 to get a shot. As each red fox skin was in those 

 days worth £i, there was a certain amount of 

 incentive to hunt for the pelt as well as sport. 



There was and stiU is some demand for healthy 

 cubs and adult foxes for re-stocking purposes, 

 and if the consequent supply had been confined 

 to foxes from the non-hunting districts of Scot- 

 land and other parts of Great Britain we should 

 have been spared the epidemics of mange that 

 have so often broken out. A healthy hill-fox 

 makes a welcome change of blood, and helps to 



74 



