Scent, loi 



older hounds noticing it. The same hounds 

 would "cry" a running fox at three times the dis- 

 tance. 1 have personally, upon several occasions, 

 winded a hunted fox several feet from the line, 

 and at night it is easy for a hunter to tell by the 

 scent if a running fox has passed a given point, 

 especially if in a hollow. 



A flagging or worn-out fox at the end of a 

 run is supposed not to give as strong a scent as 

 when hard pushed in the midst of a run, and a 

 sleeping fox, or one lying quietly, will give but 

 comparatively little scent. 



A high wind is particularly unfavorable and 

 destructive of scent. Dry ground, leaves, and 

 grass retain but little scent. A hot sun is also 

 detrimental to scent. 



It has always been to me one of the mysteries 

 of scent why freshly plowed ground should prove 

 such a poor scent retainer, even when moist. I 

 can only account for it upon the basis that fresh 

 earth is a good disinfectant and kills scent, as is 

 evidenced by the principle of the old-fashioned 

 earth closet, though in plowed fields we have no 

 stubble or grass to catch and retain the effluvia 

 of the body scent, or trees and brush to shield the 

 line from wind and sun — both scent destroyers. 

 I am more inclined to believe in these than in the 

 theory of some who claim that the "pad" of the 

 fox gets coated with the soft earth in crossing 

 freshly plowed fields, and thus prevents the pad 



