112 The Bedale Hounds, 1832-1908 



Hounds hunted seventy-nine days and 

 killed twenty-one brace of foxes. 



Early in the year 1884, the scarcity of 

 foxes in parts of the country was com- 

 mented upon in a letter to the ' ' Yorkshire 

 Post;'' and a somewhat heated correspon- 

 dence took place. A paragraph from one of 

 the letters seems worth preserving. 



*' My idea is that owners of estates who 

 let their property are morally responsible 

 for the tenants; and in a good hunting 

 country like the ' Bedale,' ought as soon 

 to think of letting an estate to people who 

 they thought would cut down the coverts, 

 or pull down the house, as to a man who 

 would exterminate foxes, or try to stop 

 hunting." 



Major Dent having notified his intention 

 to resign the Mastership of the hounds at 

 the end of the season, a General Meeting of 

 the Hunt was held on the 14th January, 

 when an offer was made by Captain Garrett, 

 16th Lancers (of Crakehall), to hunt the 

 country with a subscription of £1,600, and 

 that a brother officer of his (Captain Wild) 

 should be his huntsman. The name of Mr. 

 W. D. Russell, of Newton House, was also 

 mentioned as a successor to Major Dent. 

 The country did not favour the idea of an 

 amateur huntsman, and Mr. Russell did 

 not come forward to take the hounds; so 

 the appointment of a new Master remained 

 in abeyance. 



By February, matters had arranged 



