DRAWING AND RUNNING IN COVERT
Remember that the moment the hounds throw off you are as much on duty as a sentinel at a Royal Palace, and if any of the field is foolish enough to try and engage you in a conversation you should respectfully, but firmly, decline to have your attention taken off the hounds. Always remember that the Master is your master, and not “the field” or any member of it. I have actually seen a whipper-in standing in a ride, in a wood, where we had a beaten fox before us, and where there were several fresh foxes, waiting while one of the field fumbled for some time in his pockets, to find a sovereign for him, I suppose.
When a large covert, where there are plenty of foxes, is being drawn up wind, which should always be done if possible, the whippers-in should both keep near the hounds, about level with the leading ones and a bit wide, one on each side of the pack, and should not ride on to view a fox. You will get no credit from the huntsman for holloaing a fox a quarter of a mile off when the pack have unkennelled a brace and are on the point of dividing close to him. I have more than once seen a whipper-in get so far up wind of the pack that the latter have found a fox and turned short back down wind, and he has gone riding on and known nothing about it. Besides, it is far better for hounds to find their fox for themselves than that they should be holloaed to him over a ride, and they should always be allowed to do so in the cub-hunting months. The case is altered later on in the season, and if a woodland is drawn down wind, or there is no wind at all, or if foxes are very scarce, or the covert is very thin. In most of these cases one whipper-in should keep well ahead of the huntsman, or the best, or perhaps the only, fox may slip off without being seen, and get a long start. There is a vast difference between up and down wind, and thick and thin covert, yet some whippers-in never seem to understand this.
Wherever you are, as soon as you hear the hounds find, and your huntsman cheer them, get to them as soon as you can, and take a ride parallel to that along which the huntsman is riding, so that you may have the pack between you and him; do your best to maintain to his horn and holloa, and prevent the pack from dividing. If they cross a ride into another quarter let him know at once. Stick to your hounds and never mind the foxes.
In cub-hunting when your orders are to head the fox back, be careful to stand well out from the covert, keep your eyes, as the American saying is, skinned, and crack your whip and holloa at the fox the moment he shows his face; it will be too late to do so if he gets twenty or thirty yards away before you see him. When you have turned him back, let the huntsman know by holloaing “Tally-ho-back!”
If you are in a ride which you have been told to prevent a fox from crossing, a little judicious use of your voice may help to do what is wanted, and will do no harm, as long as the pack are running with a good cry; but the instant they throw up, shut your mouth and tap your saddle, or you will get their heads up at the very moment when every hound should have his down looking for his fox. Nothing is more irritating to a huntsman than to have the attention of his hounds taken off at this critical moment by a whipper-in holloaing “Loo-Loo!” just when he ought to be perfectly quiet.
In watching a ride or looking out for a view anywhere, never take your eyes or your attention off for a moment. If you do, the fox will surely cross at that very instant, and you will look an idiot if you tell the huntsman the fox has not crossed or gone your way, and the pack come and take the scent up with a good cry. When the hunted fox crosses be sure you holloa “Tally-ho-over!” and if he turns back “Tally-ho-back!”
You will do more harm than good by turning a fox back in a wood unless he is almost done, as hounds will run him better on fresh ground, and if he keeps straight on. But when he is beaten he should be kept back in one quarter if possible. This should always be done, both in cub-hunting and regular hunting; also if there are many fresh foxes in the covert, so as to avoid changing on to one of them.