CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: WATCHING A HUNT FROM BROAD HOWE “BORRAN.”
The nature of the soil, being permanent, has much to do with scent. I am inclined to think that poor land carries a better scent than good land, while heather and moorland are more conducive to it than cold grass fields.
I know a district, all grass and moorland, in a limestone country, where scent lies very well indeed, except actually on the bare limestone. On the extensive outcrops of this kind of stone hounds are generally brought to their noses, unless the limestone is damp with rain.
A white frost is often bad for scent, and almost always so if the sun gets out at all warm. In the afternoon, should the ground harden again, hounds may be able to run quite well. I have noticed that towards evening, under varied conditions of weather, scent is often better than earlier in the day. Snow, if damp, and not too deep, often carries a good scent. In deep, soft snow, hounds can soon account for their fox if they get away close to him, as their greater length of leg gives them the advantage in such “going.”
When all is said and done, there appears to be no absolute rule to go by regarding scent. The “dark” day previously mentioned comes pretty near to it, however, and I always expect good scenting conditions on such a day.
Seeing that the true charm of all field sport is its “glorious uncertainty,” it is perhaps just as well that we cannot pick and choose our hunting days, but must take the good with the bad, and be thankful for them.
“So I wish you good speed, a good line, and a lead,
With the luck of each fence where it’s low,
Not the last of the troop, may you hear the Who—whoop,