The Hunting Year 



huntsman and his hounds. They will have 

 learnt to be alert and soon on the move ; they 

 will have got to know more country, and if 

 there has been sufficient rain to fill those spoil- 

 sports, the big drains, they will be obliged to 

 make good points, and this means sport. 



As an instance of this may be given the 

 wettest of wet seasons, 1903-4. Opinions 

 differed about that season, some stating that it 

 was a good one, whilst others pointed out that 

 hounds had rarely, if ever, beaten the horses 

 well, and so it could not have been a good one. 

 There was something in both contentions; in 

 the personal experience of the writer there were 

 very few good days. That is, there were very 

 few days which would stand out in any season ; 

 and it was decidedly not a good scenting season. 

 But there was a lot of good hunting; foxes 

 made good points, and there was a very good 

 average of sport, due no doubt in some measure 

 to foxes not being able to find shelter in the big 

 drains. There is not much known about foxes, 

 but their adaptability to circumstances, of which 

 this is an instance, is remarkable. 



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