Thanks! I’ve enjoyed hunting with the club for many seasons, and was honored to be asked to whip in and then apprentice as huntsman. Imagine my surprise when I was asked to be Joint Master.
Hunting with a footpack is a lot of fun. You don’t have to fret about a horse, you can go out in most kinds of weather, and you can get pretty darn close and really see how a pack of hounds work.
The 5 couple (at the trials at Aldie) was pretty amazing. Hounds struck within a minute or two of being cast, and then all hell broke loose. The rabbit ran straight up the a hill and into the woods near a quarry, and there was no way for staff to get through except go through brush and briars to get through to some old logging roads.
All we did was let 'em work. It was like putting the hounds in the corn - you just stand outside and listen.
Whippers-In (we are only permitted two - and they are on foot) stayed ahead just in case the pack switched or split. They didn’t. It was many minutes of hounds in full cry in very dense brush and woods. You didn’t need to see them to know what was happening, and which hound was speaking. They’d run, check, recast, pick it up, run it, check, recast, pick it up, run it, check, recast, pick it up, run it.
I just stood there, smiling and bursting with pride. You see, one of the voices I heard was one of the first litter I’d whelped out on the farm. He’s all grown up now, and turned out to be a lovely hound.
Anyway - we all eventually emerged from the dense woods, tired and happy. The rabbit had gone to ground and was fine, the hounds were fine, the humans were ready for an Aleve and a beer.
Spring and summer is time for hound training and hound shows, so we’re all busy busy busy. Entries are coming in for the Virginia Foxhound Show, which is held Memorial Day weekend, and then the next weekend is the 100th anniversary of Bryn Mawr.
Between hound shows and kennels and training and farm work and horses and community service - I’ve been pretty busy.
I often wonder what normal people do with their time. And then I think - who cares. I get to work with hounds and horses!
Please contact me if any of y’all would like to cap with a footpack. We do have a lot of fun!
