FOX HUNTING IN NEW ENGLAND. 



ERNEST RUSSELL. 



Down through all the years of which 

 history brings us record, Reynard the Fox 

 has come enveloped in clouds of con- 

 demnation. Credited even by his enemies 

 with an inexhaustible fund of sagacity and 

 cunning, possessed of a cheerful and devil- 

 may-care audacity that half wins us to him, 

 the shady side of his character is always 

 kept in evidence and we are never allowed 

 quite to admire even his virtues. His re- 

 peated and humiliating defeats at the hands 

 of Brer Rabbit in the fascinating pages of 

 Uncle Remus are sure to be welcomed, by 

 the prejudiced minds of young and old 

 alike. He and his kind stand pariahs among 

 our animals, relentlessly hunted by man 

 and dog, trapped, poisoned and shot when- 

 ever opportunity offers. 



Yet who among us would rejoice to wit- 

 ness his extermination? Who among us 

 but feels a timid half sympathy, half respect 

 for the very adroitness of his villainy? 

 We place him in the category of vermin, 

 stigmatize him murderer and thief, place 

 bounties on his head, and still the brainy 

 little outlaw goes slipping through the cen- 

 turies with a cheerful persistence that com- 

 pels admiration. Surrounded by the allied 

 forces of his enemies, he exists in defiance 

 of them and in practically undiminished 

 numbers. He does not require protective 

 legislation. He survives. 



It has been my good fortune, often with- 

 out injury to him, but never without the 

 zest of true sport, to hunt the red fox in 

 tiis New England haunts and in New Eng- 

 land fashion. To our Southern and West- 

 ern friends and to those in Merrie England, 

 the methods in vogue among fox hunters 

 in this region will appear at first glance to 

 rob the sport of much of the charm incident 

 to their conception of it ; but we have to 

 take conditions as we find them, and sports- 

 men in other sections may rest assured the 

 fox hunters of New England feel not one 

 whit apologetic for their chosen sport nor 

 for the quality of it. Deprived by the na- 

 tural features of the country from the thril- 

 ling spectacle of hunting on horseback, in 

 gorgeous raiment and with large packs, 

 there is vouchsafed to our sportsmen in 

 copious measure that highest pleasure of 

 ideal sport, the opportunity for individual 

 effort, for the surmounting of real difficult- 

 ies, for final triumph that taxes brain and 

 physical stamina in many ways. 



The popular conception, or rather miscon- 

 ception, of our sport is that of a chilled and 

 lonely hunter standing at a barway 



through the tedium and discomfort of £ 



winter's day, listening for the baying 

 hound and waiting for the fox to come to 

 him. As a matter of fact your true hunter 

 seldom waits long for the fox to come to 

 him; he goes to the fox. Here come into 

 play his knowledge of an interesting and 

 diversified country. Often it is the habits 

 and vagaries of the particular fox afoot 

 that tax his skill, and not infrequently 

 the chase which he must follow leads him 

 miles away. He observes the multitude of 

 woodland happenings that is the reward of 

 the forest rover, he experiences that thrill 

 which comes from close contact with Na- 

 ture, and always he must have in mind his 

 quest; he must be alert and quick to take 

 advantage of unforeseen opportunities, keen 

 to detect and speedy to avail himself of 

 the little things which in hunting so often 

 lead to victory. We trust that he has the 

 idealizing mind, the invaluable companion 

 of a genuine sportsman, which cheers him 

 even under the most adverse circumstances ; 

 but often even the chronic pessimist will 

 find the chase an inspiring one. Defeat 

 will frequently be the lot of the cleverest 

 hunter, but if he be of the right mold it 

 will serve but to sharpen his ardor, increase 

 his respect for the fox and add to a hunt- 

 ing experience whose memories shall con- 

 sole him when age steps in and bars him 

 from his cherished df.ys afield. 



The type of fox hound most used in New 

 England is a product of evolution. He fits 

 into his environment as naturally as does 

 his master and becomes a type by himself. 

 More solidly built than his Southern broth- 

 er, with shorter legs and heavier muzzle, 

 he symbolizes endurance and determination 

 rather than speed ; while his sense of smell 

 and the discrimination with which it is 

 used leave little to be desired. 



There are many grades of hounds here, 

 as elsewhere, but, be it understood, I speak 

 only of the patriarchal stock, born here, 

 bred here, trained through generations on 

 the local fox in its chosen home of the rug- 

 ged hills, swampy lowlands and upland 

 pastures of pastoral New England. The 

 dashing Southern hound has been tried 

 here, has shown his m^ny excellent quali- 

 ties, yet not being fitted to the existing con- 

 ditions, he has had to give way before his 

 deep voiced Puritan rival. 



In the autumn of '99, hearing of a fox- 

 hound, 5 years old, which had gained a 

 more than local reputation in an out-of-the- 

 way district of New Hampshire, I visited^ - 

 the locality, saw him at work, and promptly 



became his possessor, He was immediately 



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