LETTER XIX
Finding, by your last letter, that an early hour does not suit you, I will mention some particulars which may be of use to you when you hunt late:—An early hour is only necessary where covers are large and foxes scarce: where they are in plenty, you may hunt at any hour you please. When foxes are weak, by hunting late you have better chases: when they are strong, give me leave to tell you, you must hunt early, or you will not always kill them. I think, however, when you go out late, you should go immediately to the place where you are most likely to find, which generally speaking, is the cover that hounds have been least in. If the cover be large, you should draw only such parts of it as a fox is likely to kennel in: it is useless to draw any other at a late hour: besides though it be always right to find as soon as you can, yet it can never be so necessary as when the day is far advanced. If you do not find soon, a long and tiresome day is generally the consequence. Where the cover is thick, you should draw it as exactly as if you were trying for a hare, particularly if it be furzy; for when there is no drag, a fox, at a late hour, will lie till the hounds come close upon him. Having drawn one cover, let your huntsman stay for his hounds, and take them along with him to another: I have known hounds find a fox after the huntsman had left the cover. The whippers-in are not to be sparing of their whips or voices on this occasion, and are to come through the middle of the cover, to be certain that they leave no hounds behind.
A huntsman will complain of hounds, for staying behind in cover: it is a great fault, and makes the hound addicted to it of but little value; yet this fault frequently is occasioned by the huntsman’s own mismanagement. Having drawn one cover, he hurries away to another, and leaves the whipper-in to bring on the hounds after him; but the whipper-in is seldom less desirous of getting forward than the huntsman; and, unless they come off easily, it is not often that he will give himself much concern about them. Hounds also that are left too long at their walks, will acquire this trick from hunting by themselves, and are not easily broken of it. Having said all that I can at present recollect of the duty of a whipper-in, I shall now proceed to give you a further account of that of a huntsman. What has already been said on the subject of drawing and casting, related to the fox-chase described in a former Letter. Much, without doubt, is still left to say: and I will endeavour, as well as I am able, to supply the deficiency, by considering, first, in what manner he should draw; and, afterwards, how he should cast his hounds.
The fixing, a day or two before-hand, upon the cover in which you intend to hunt, is a great hindrance to sport in fox-hunting. You, that have the whole country to yourself, and can hunt on either side of your house, as you please, should never (when you can help it) determine on your place of hunting till you see what the weather is likely to be.1 The most probable means to have good chases, it to choose your country according to the wind.
It will also require some consideration to place hounds to the greatest advantage, where foxes either are in great plenty, or very scarce.
Hounds that lie idle are always out of wind, and are easily fatigued.2 The first day you go out after a long frost, you cannot expect much sport; take, therefore, considerably more than your usual number of hounds, and throw them into the largest cover that you have: if any foxes be in the country, it is there that you will find them. After once or twice going out in this manner, you should reduce your number.3
Before a huntsman goes into the kennel to draft his hounds, let him determine within himself the number of hounds that it will be right to take out, as likewise the number of young hounds that he can venture in the country where he is going to hunt. Different countries may require different hounds: some may require more hounds than others. It is not an easy matter to draft hounds properly; nor can any expedition be made in it without some method.4
I seldom suffer many unsteady hounds to be taken out together; and when I do, I take care that none shall go with them but such as they cannot spoil.
When the place and time of meeting are fixed, every huntsman ought to be as exact to them as it is possible. On no account is he to be before the time; yet, on some occasions, it might be better, perhaps, for the diversion, were he permitted to be after it.5 The course that your huntsman intends to take in drawing, ought also to be well understood before he leaves the kennel.
If your huntsman, without inconveniency, can begin drawing at the farthest cover down the wind, and so draw from cover to cover up the wind till you find, let him do it. It will have many advantages attending it: he will draw the same covers in half the time; your people cannot fail of being in their proper places; you will have less difficulty in getting your hounds off; and, as the fox will most probably run the covers that have been already drawn, you are less likely to change.
If you have a string of small covers, and plenty of foxes in them, some caution may be necessary, to prevent your hounds from disturbing them all in one day. Never hunt your small covers till you have well rattled the large ones first; for, until the foxes be thinned and dispersed where they were in plenty, it must be bad policy to drive others there to increase the number. If you would thin your foxes you must throw off at the same cover as long as you can find a fox. If you come off with the first fox that breaks, you do not disturb the cover, and may expect to find there again the next day; but where they are scarce, you should never draw the same cover two days following.6
Judicious huntsmen will observe where foxes like best to lie. In chases and forests, where you have a great tract of cover to draw, such observation is necessary, or you will lose much time in finding. Generally speaking, I think they are fondest of such as lie high, and are dry and thick at bottom; such also as lie out of the wind, and such as are on the sunny side of hills.7 The same cover where you find one fox, when it has remained quiet any time, will probably produce another.
It is to little purpose to draw hazel coppices at the time when nuts are gathering; furze-covers, or two or three years coppices, are then the only quiet places that a fox can kennel in: they also are disturbed when pheasant-shooting begins, and older covers are more likely. The season when foxes are most wild and strong, is about Christmas: a huntsman then must lose no time in drawing; he must draw up the wind, unless the cover be very large; in which case it may be better, perhaps, to cross it, giving the hounds a side-wind, lest he should be obliged to turn down the wind at last: in either case, let him draw as quietly as he can.
Young coppices, at this time of the year, are quite bare: the most likely places are, four or five-years coppices, and such as are furzy at bottom.
It is easy to perceive, by the account you give of your hounds, that they do not draw well; your huntsman, therefore, must be particularly attentive to them after a wet night. The best drawing hounds are shy of searching a cover when it is wet: yours, if care be not taken, will not go into it at all. Your huntsman should ride into the likeliest part of the cover; and, as it is probable there will be no drag, the closer he draws the better: he must not draw too much an end, but should cross the cover backwards and forwards, taking care, at the same time, to give his hounds as much the wind as possible.8
It is not often that you will see a pack perfectly steady where there is much riot, and yet draw well: some hounds will not exert themselves till others challenge, and are encouraged.9
I fear the many harriers that you have in your neighbourhood will be hurtful to your sport: by constantly disturbing the covers, they will make the foxes shy, and when the covers become thin, there will be but little chance of finding foxes in them: furze-covers are then the most likely places. Though I like not to see a huntsman to a pack of fox-hounds ever off his horse, yet, at a late hour, he should draw a furze-cover as slowly as if he were himself on foot. I am well convinced that huntsmen, by drawing in too great a hurry, leave foxes sometimes behind them. I once saw a remarkable instance of it with my own hounds: we had drawn (as we thought) a cover, which, in the whole, consisted of about ten acres; yet, whilst the huntsman was blowing his horn to get his hounds off, one young fox was halloo’d, and another was seen immediately after: it was a cover on the side of a hill, and the foxes had kennelled close together at an extremity of it, where no hound had been. Some huntsmen draw too quick, some too slow. The time of day, the behaviour of his hounds, and the covers that they are drawing, will direct an observing huntsman in the pace which he ought to go. When you try a furze-brake, let me give you one caution—never halloo a fox till you see that he is quite clear of it. When a fox is found in such places, hounds are sure to go off well with him; and it must be owing either to bad scent, bad hounds, bad management, or bad luck, if they fail to kill him afterwards.
It is usual, in most packs, to rate, as soon as a young hound challenges. Though young hounds are often wrong, yet, since it is not impossible that they may be sometimes right, is it not as well to have a little patience, in order to see whether any of the old ones will join, before anything is said to them? Have-a-care! is fully sufficient, till you are more certain that the hound is on a wrong scent. I mention this as a hint only: I am myself no enemy to a rate: I cannot think that a fox was ever lost, or a pack spoilt, by it: it is improper encouragement that I am afraid of most.
When a fox slinks from his kennel, gets a great way before the hounds, and you are obliged to hunt after him with a bad scent; if it be a country where foxes are in plenty, and you know where to find another, you had better do it.10
While hounds are drawing for a fox, let your people place themselves in such a manner, that he cannot go off unseen. I have known them lie in sheep’s scrapes, on the sides of hills, and in small bushes, where huntsmen never think of looking for them; yet, when they hear a hound they generally shift their quarters, and make for closer covers. Gentlemen should take this necessary part of fox-hunting on themselves; for the whipper-in has other business to attend to.11
I approve not of long drags in large covers: they give too great an advantage to the fox; they give him a hint to make the best of his way; and he frequently will set off a long while before you. This may be prevented, by throwing your hounds into that part of the cover in which he is most likely to kennel: for want of this precaution, a fox sometimes gets so far the start of hounds, that they are not able to do anything with him afterwards. Also, when hounds first touch on a drag, some huntsmen are so careless, that, while they are going on with it the wrong way themselves, a single hound finds the fox, and is not caught any more by the pack, till he has lost him again.
Foxes are said to go down the wind to their kennel; but I believe they do not always observe that rule.
Huntsmen, while their hounds are drawing, or are at a fault, frequently make so much noise themselves, that they can hear nothing else: they should always have an ear to a halloo. I once saw an extraordinary instance of the want of it in my own huntsman, who was making so much noise with his hounds, which were then at fault, that a man halloo’d a long while before he heard him; and, when he did hear him, so little did he know whence the halloo came, that he rode two miles the wrong way, and lost the fox.
When hounds approach a cover which it is intended they should draw, and dash away towards it, whippers-in ride after them to stop them: it is too late, and they had better let them alone; it checks them in their drawing, and is of no kind of use: it will be soon enough to begin to rate when they have found, and hunt improper game. When a huntsman has his hounds under good command, and is attentive to them, they will not break off till he chooses that they should. When he goes by the side of a cover which he does not intend to draw, his whippers-in must be in their proper places; for if he should ride up to a cover with them unawed, uncontrolled; a cover where they have been used to find—they must be slack indeed, if they do not dash into it. It is, for that reason, better, not to come into a cover always the same way: hounds, by not knowing what is going forward, will be less likely to break off, and will draw more quietly. I have seen hounds so flashy, that they would break away from the huntsman as soon as they saw a cover; and I have seen the same hounds stop when they got to the cover-side, and not go into it. It is want of proper discipline which occasions faults like these. Hounds that are under such command, as never to leave their huntsman till he encourage them to do it, will then be so confident that they will not return to him again.
Were fox-hounds to stop, like stag-hounds, at the smack of a whip, they would not do their business the worse for it, and it would give you many advantages, very essential to your sport;—such as, when they have to wait under a cover-side; when they run riot; when they change scents; when a single hound is on before; and when a fox is headed back into a cover. Hounds that are not under good command, subject you to many inconveniencies; and you may, at times, be obliged to go out of your way, or be made to draw a cover against your will. A famous pack of hounds in my neighbourhood, I mean the late Lord C——n’s, had no fault but what had its rise from bad management: nor is it possible to do any thing with a pack of fox-hounds, unless they be obedient: they should both love and fear the huntsman: they should fear him much, yet they should love him more. Without doubt, hounds would do more for the huntsman, if they loved him better. Dogs that are constantly with their masters, acquire a wonderful deal of penetration, and much may be done through the medium of their affections. I attribute the extraordinary sagacity of the buck-hound to the manner in which he is treated: he is the constant companion of his instructor and benefactor; the man whom he was first taught to fear, and has since learned to love. Ought we to wonder that he should be obedient to him? Yet who can view without surprise, the hounds and the deer amusing themselves familiarly together upon the same lawn; living, as it were, in the most friendly intercourse; and know that a word from the keeper will dissolve the amity? The obedient dog, gentle when unprovoked, flies to the well-known summons: how changed from what he was! Roused from his peaceful state, and cheered by his master’s voice, he is now urged on with a relentless fury, that only death can satisfy—the death of the very deer he is encouraged to pursue; and which the various scents that cross him in his way cannot tempt him to forsake. The business of the day over, see him follow, careless and contented, his master’s steps, to repose upon the same lawn where the frightened deer again return, and are again indebted to his courtesy for their wonted pasture—wonderful proofs of obedience, sagacity, and penetration! The many learned dogs and learned horses, that so frequently appear and astonish the vulgar, sufficiently evince what education is capable of; and it is to education that I must chiefly attribute the superior excellence of the buck-hound, since I have seen high-bred fox-hounds do the same, under the same good masters. But, to return to my subject.
Young foxes that have been much disturbed, will lie at ground. I once found seven or eight in a cover, where, the next day, I could not find one; not were they to be found elsewhere: the earths, at such times, should be stopt three or four hours before day, or you will find no foxes.
The first day you hunt a cover that is full of foxes, and you want blood, let them not be checked back into the cover12 (which is the usual practice at such times), but let some of them get off: if you do not, what with continual changing, and sometimes running the heel, it is probable that you will not kill any. Another precaution, I think, may be also necessary—that is, to stop such earths only as you cannot dig. If some foxes should go to ground, it will be as well; and if you should be in want of blood at last, you will then know where to get it.
It is usual, when people are not certain of the steadiness of their hounds from deer, to find a fox in an adjacent cover, that they may be on their right scent when they come where deer are. I have my doubts of the propriety of this proceeding. If hounds have not been well awed from deer, it is not fit that they should come among them; but, if hounds be tolerably steady, I would rather find a fox with them among deer, than bring them afterwards into covers where deer are. By drawing amongst them, they will, in some degree, be awed from the scent, and possibly may stick to the fox when he is found; but should unsteady hounds, when high on their mettle, run into a cover where deer are in plenty, there is no doubt that, the first check they come to, they will all fall off. I always have found hounds most inclined to riot when most upon their mettle: such as are given to sheep will then kill sheep, and such as are not quite steady from deer, will then be most likely to break off after them. When hounds are encouraged on a scent, if they lose that scent, it is then that an unsteady hound is ready for any kind of mischief.
I have already said, that a huntsman ought never to flog a hound. When a riotous hound, conscious of his offence, may escape from the whipper-in, and fly to the huntsman, you will see him put his whole pack into confusion, by endeavouring to chastise him himself. This is the height of absurdity. Instead of flogging the hound, he ought to encourage him, who should always have some place to fly to for protection. If the offence be a bad one, let him get off his horse, and couple up the dog, leaving him to be chastised by the whipper-in, after he himself is gone on with the pack; the punishment over, let him again encourage the hound to come to him. Hounds that are riotous in cover, and will not come off readily to the huntsman’s halloo, should be flogged in the cover, rather than out of it:—treated in this manner, you will not find any difficulty in getting your hounds off; otherwise, they will soon find that the cover will save them; from whence they will have more sense, when they have committed an offence, than to come to receive punishment. A favourite hound, that has acquired a habit of staying back in large covers, had better not be taken into them.
I am more particular than I otherwise should have been, upon a supposition that your hounds draw ill; however, you need not observe all the cautions that I have given, unless your hounds require them.
Some art may be necessary, to make the most of the country that you hunt. I would advise you not to draw the covers near your house, while you can find elsewhere: it will make them certain places to find in when you go out late, or may otherwise be in want of them: for the same reason, I would advise you not to hunt those covers late in the season: they should not be much disturbed after Christmas: foxes will then resort to them; will breed there; and you can preserve them with little trouble. This relates to the good management of a pack of hounds, which is a business distinct from hunting them.13
Though a huntsman ought to be as silent as possible at going into a cover,14 he cannot be too noisy at coming out of it again; and, if at any time he should turn back suddenly, let him give as much notice of it as he can to his hounds, or he will leave many behind him; and, should he turn down the wind, he may see no more of them.
I should be sorry that the silence of my huntsman should proceed from either of the following causes:—A huntsman that I once knew (who, by the bye, I believe, is at this time a drummer in a marching regiment) went out one morning so very drunk, that he got off his horse in the midst of a thick cover, laid himself down, and went to sleep: he was lost; nobody knew what was become of him; and he was at last found in the situation that I have just described. He had, however, great good luck on his side; for, at the very instant he was found, a fox was halloo’d; upon which he mounted his horse, rode desperately, killed his fox handsomely, and was forgiven.
I remember another huntsman silent from a different cause: this was a sulky one. Things did not go on to please him: he therefore alighted from his horse in the middle of a wood, and, as quietly as he could, collected his hounds about him: he then took an opportunity, when the coast was clear, to set off silently, and by himself, for another cover. However, his master, who knew his tricks, sent others after him to bring him back: they found him running a fox most merrily; and, to his great astonishment, they stopped the hounds, and made him go back along with them. This fellow had often been severely beaten, but was stubborn and sulky to the last.
To give you an idea, before I quit this subject, how little some people know of fox-hunting, I must tell you, that, not long ago, a gentleman asked me, If I did not send people out the day before, to find where the foxes lay?
What relates to the casting of hounds, shall be the subject of my next Letter.
