Can anybody suggest resources for learning how to read the behavior of the hounds during a hunt and technical stuff about wind direct and the scent, etc?
Its really something you learn by observing. If you can attend a dachshund or a beagle field trial, you’ll get a chance to observe hounds working up close and personal. With the dachshunds and brace beagles, you get to see individual hound work. Small pack option beagles are more like a foxhound pack. I know the dachshunds and beagles aren’t the same as a fox hunt but the principles of scent work are the same.
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[URL=“https://www.amazon.com/Foxes-Foxhounds-Fox-Hunting-Richard-Clapham/dp/1473327210”]https://www.amazon.com/Foxhunting-Watch-Listen-Foxhunters-Library-ebook/dp/B00IKEKXPU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487539957&sr=1-1&keywords=9781586671211
https://www.amazon.com/Foxes-Foxhoun.../dp/1473327210
https://www.amazon.com/Ronnie-Wallace-Foxhunting-Michael-Clayton/dp/1904057128
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MFHA put out a booklet on the nature of scent: http://shop.mfha.com/collections/guidebooks/products/the-mysteries-of-scent
If your huntsman is amenable, you could also ask to ride in his/her pocket for a day, explaining that you would like to learn more. Assuming everything is going reasonably well, you might have the opportunity to ask questions and you’ll certainly have an up close and personal view of what the hounds are doing.
I have had a lot of luck asking my huntsman questions after the fact, too. Like “I noticed that back at [particular location] when the pack split you chose to follow [this group] instead of [that one]. How did you know which one?” As long as I wasn’t interrupting the hunt or otherwise distracting her, our huntsman was great about taking the time to explain and teach me.
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I second going to watch a foot pack if possible, basset or beagle. You only have to worry about yourself and tend to be closer to the action than you are able to be on horseback.
As as a master I once knew used to say, only the hounds know if it’s a good scenting day.
It also depends on what your pack will hunt. Coyote are REALLY stinky, so even on a warm, dry,low humidity, breezy day (Horrible scenting), you can have an amazingly awesome day.
Depending on how close your field master keeps you up with hounds, you can get a feel for how the quarry uses changes in terrain. For example, our FM had use in the perfect spot to see the red fox come out of the woods, cross a field, go across a riding ring, across a gravel road and back into another field. You could see and hear the subtle changes in pace and cry from hounds across each surface. Or the day I watched a fox run out of the woods, into a field, stop a preen on a hard surface road, look at the field, look back at hounds, drop into a creek. Hounds came flowing to the road and checked. They took a long while to find the line again. Or the time I watched a pack draw a covert. The pack was only allowed to chase red fox. I watched 2 deer pop out, then 2 coyotes, that took separate lines and then the red fox popped out. There was a slight breeze. You could see that the scent had shifted slightly off the original line, but the hounds stayed true and only followed the line that the red fox took. Such an honest pack of hounds!
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I third going out with a foot pack. You see far more hound work without the horses. You also can stand with a whip out on the boundaries and ask them about what is happening.
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I don’t know of any beagle or other hunts on foot but I’ve found some of the recommended books.
I have enjoyed watching bird dogs work, coon hounds, and a pack of beagles being hunted to flush rabbits so they can be shot by a hunter. My labs out for a trail ride with me can be fun to watch. It’s hard to know what they are after, especially the female, because they will hunt everything…deer, coyote, rabbits, skunks, woodcocks, pheasant, dove, field mice, moles…you get the idea.
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