The Hunting Year 



season is of necessity a short one, and puppies 

 take a good deal of licking into shape when 

 they come up from walk. 



So far as the sport itself is concerned I am 

 in favour of the early start rather than the late 

 one. But though the hours from noon to four 

 o'clock on a dry, windy March day are generally 

 unproductive of sport, after four o'clock one 

 frequently falls in for a nice little gallop. 



It is very amusing to notice how some 

 huntsmen will draw the country in March, so as 

 to have a pretty certain find about four o'clock 

 or half-past. I have, on occasion, seen many 

 schemes resorted to to prevent the selected 

 covert being disturbed before the favourable 

 hour, some of them transparent enough. If a 

 fox has been hunted I have occasionally seen 

 a huntsman cast about all over the country in 

 the quite hopeless attempt to hit off the line. 

 I have also seen a huntsman try for a prob- 

 lematical outlying fox for an hour or more. 

 Then he would trot off to the covert he had 

 " saved," and very likely have a run. 



One huntsman friend of mine used to say: 

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