K. & D.O.H. Returning to the Main River.
(Copyright by R. F. Lees, Blackpool).
To face p. 79.
Many an instance comes to mind, when if hounds had been put to water three or four hours earlier, they would have had a hot cross-country drag, and probably a fine swimming hunt at the end of it. We have known hounds meet at nine o'clock at the foot of a Lakeland beck, and travel several miles up-stream without a whimper. On nearing the source, they spoke to a drag in the depths of a shady ghyll, and carried it at a fast pace out on to the open fell. There the sun was beating down with tremendous power, and under its influence the drag died out. Hounds were on the line of a travelling otter, and had they hit off the drag in the ghyll at five or six o'clock instead of nine, they could easily have carried it over the watershed, and down a runner which enters a tarn in the next valley. A good hunt was thus spoilt, simply because of a late start.
An advantage of meeting early lies in the fact that you perhaps find and kill your otter before the real heat of the day begins, thus making things easier for both hounds and field. It is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule as regards the time of meeting, for as already mentioned, this will be influenced by the character of the water you are going to hunt, and, if you are dependent on subscriptions, the keenness or otherwise of your subscribers.
In the case of making a start with a newly organised pack, containing a good proportion of unentered hounds, it is advisable to get out early in the morning until such time as your hounds begin to understand their job and take an interest in the business. Scent lies stronger both on land and water during the early hours, and if your few entered hounds find and mark their otter, the unentered ones have a better chance when their quarry is eventually put down.
To a lover of hound work, the drag left by an otter during his nightly wanderings, provides as much of interest when hounds can own it, as the actual hunting after the otter is afloat. With entered hounds which try the banks carefully it is possible to find an otter without touching a drag at all. This frequently happens after a late meet, when the huntsman is a real trier, and can depend on his hounds. Still, we imagine that the majority of keen otter-hunters enjoy watching the pack at work on a drag, and the music seems a fitting prelude to the chorus that arises when finally hounds mark and acknowledge in no uncertain tones that their quarry is "at home."