294 THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOUNDS, 



referrino- again to the huntsmen's diaries for the last 

 two or three seasons, the cub-hunting results have not 

 during those years been quite up to the usual average, but 

 this has been chiefly owing to hot and dry weather in 

 the autumn of the years 1900 and 1901, which curtailed 

 the number of days that hounds were able to hunt in the 

 months of September and October, and, as a matter of 

 course, this materially affected the result in the way of 

 kills ; thus, for the cub-hunting season of 1900, only ten 

 and a half brace of cubs were accounted for, and for 

 the season of 1901 the score happened to be precisely the 

 same. 



A propos of this department of fox-hunting, Mr. Otho 

 Paget, in the Haddon Hall Library volume on hunting, 

 has some excellent remarks w^iich we venture to quote 

 here. 



" Cub-hunting," says Mr. Paget, " is the period when the pack and the 

 coming season are made. If the Master and huntsman then work hard, they 

 may look forward to enjoying themselves later on. Not later than the first week 

 in September, nor earlier than the middle of August, may be set down as about 

 the time to commence operations. Whilst the weather is hot, hounds should be 

 at the covert side as soon as there is light enough to view a fox awaj'. Pay no 

 attention to what people may say about the ground being too hard, or the weather 

 too dry. If you have given hounds plenty of road work during the summer, 

 their feet won't suffer, and there is very often the best scent in exceptionally dry 

 weather. In cub-hunting you need never consult the wishes of your field, and all 

 you have to think of is what will be the best for hounds. The first morning you 

 take out the young entry, go straight to a covert where you are certain there is a 

 litter, and if you know of one in a small spinney that is not a regular draw in the 

 season, it is the very thing you want. You must use every means in your power 

 to catch a cub, and do whatever you think most likely to attain that end. Do 

 not sicken the young hounds by giving them a long morning to start with, but 

 take them home directly they have killed a fox. If you have plenty of country, 

 they would be all the better to be hunted every other day, instead of a long hard 

 day twice a week. You must remember that if you kill a fox in a small covert, 

 you cannot expect to find a really wild one there for at least two months after- 

 wards. Therefore, in your anxiety to get hold of a cub in October, do not forget 

 your future sport in November. I know that many well-known authorities will 

 not agree with me ; but I consider that you ought never to kill a fox in any except 

 very large and strong coverts. Those places which command your best country 

 ought to be treated with the very greatest care. I would never stop cubs from 

 going away, but would always rather trust to catching one in the open. If there 

 is a drain not far away which your earth-stopper knows they have been using 

 during the summer, it is a good plan to have it unstopped, and then you will be 

 pretty certain of running one to ground, when, by the aid of a terrier or a spade. 



