Wadsworth Questions

If you go to about segment 57 or 58 of the video on the home page of www.MFHA.com, you will hear exactly what it is. (Just click on the web link, the show starts running automatically unless you click ‘skip intro’). We tend to call it a ‘holler.’ I do recommend watching the whole show as it gives you an excellent guide to the different horn sounds and huntsman’s verbal urgings and communications with the pack. Not to mention the wonderful sounds of the hounds.:slight_smile:

Gee, Hardaway never chewed me out for carrying a whip! I’ve carried one since almost the beginning of my hunting addiction in 1971, actually I have two given to me by one friend and one family member (what a great Christmas THAT was!) maybe in 1972.

It is true, though, and understandable, that some hunts get a little uncomfortable about it. On the one hand- and I think this is per Wadsworth though I don’t have the book in front of me- you SHOULD carry one because of its general usefulness and in case you are asked to help with the hounds in some manner. For example, it can be used as a leash or even a couple in a pinch for some hound emergencies. Also handy for ponying horses (either staff horses, or, say, bringing back a horse that has ‘lost’ its rider).

On the other hand, there is nothing worse than the whipper- in wannabe (if you’ll pardon the expression!) in the field who decides to try to hit a hound. This is a mortal sin and you WILL rot in hell for all eternity, there is no forgiveness or penance possible.

True that you don’t halloa unless absolutely certain, and even then not under all circumstances. Much depends on what the huntsman wants the whipper in to do. Because the halloa ‘will’ lift hounds’ heads and that can be a bad thing. And a halloa at the wrong time can turn the quarry and/or mess with its scent pattern- at a minimum you wait some period of time til it is away before making noise.

More valuable than the halloa if you view is to stand on the line and tip your hat in the direction the quarry has gone. The huntsman can come right to you if desired or just let the hounds work on if they are running, and you basically are confirming they are right.

I can’t say I have seen one lately but you know, Wadsworth is the bible, and you could have some fun if questioned by smiling sweetly and saying ‘see page xx of Wadsworth’s book!’

I always thought Oxford grey wasn’t grey at all, but a black with white flecks throughout.

Can’t say I’ve ever seen one in person, though.

Beverly, thanks for providing the link to that video. I’d tried to find it earlier and couldn’t. And yeah, that call sounds nothing like “halloa”, does it?

How much it sounds like the rebel yell is hard to say since there’s much dispute on what the rebel yell itself sounded like – or if there was just one:

http://www.stonewallbrigade.com/articles_rebelyell.html

I carry a hunt whip and it has come in handy twice, once to give to a field member who was asked to whip, and recently to hang on to a pony that had knocked down a fence to come hunt with us.

I always figured that’s where we got the rebel yell - from the view halloa.:slight_smile: I remember the screech my great-grandpa would let out when he and his hounds were on a rabbit:D - had I been a Yankee it would’ve frozen me in my tracks.:yes:

Grandpa was too young to have fought in the War, of course, but his daddy and his uncles all did.

The yell is a very primal sound. It does send chills up the back.