The Sportswoman's Library, Vol. 1 of 2

by Unknown

Quietness and trust in her hounds are the two qualities without which no woman can hunt a pack successfully. This brings me to the subject of the hounds themselves, and though it may seem rather like putting the cart before the horse, to speak of hunting them first, yet it is certain that no one will find the hounds of much use until she knows how to handle them. The first point of course to decide is the kind of hounds you mean to have, whether dwarf foxhounds, stud-book harriers, or the old pure harrier.

H. E. Coles. Redditch.
BUXOM, BENTLEY HARRIER.
(Winner of Champion Cup, Peterborough. 1897.)

The pure harrier has undoubtedly the advantage in tongue, but though good music is a charm it is not so necessary with harriers as with foxhounds, as the former are generally in sight. As against this they have, unless very carefully bred, a lightness of bone and a tendency to splay feet and flat sides. Here again, however, we shall see presently what the experience of those who have taken the matter in hand has been.

Dwarf foxhounds are only to be recommended in countries where hares are bold and strong and go away like foxes, for most countries they have too much drive, and will be continually flashing over the line, and if you compare the hunting of one of these packs in an ordinary country with that of good stud-book harriers, the balance of sport in the long run is sure to be with the latter. What the foxhounds gain in speed they lose in the tendency to over-run the line. And now we must face the question of what a stud-book harrier is. A pure harrier, with an infusion of foxhound blood some generations back, so that now the hare-hunting instinct of the former, and the good feet and shoulders of the latter are combined in the shapely, compact, little harrier to be seen taking the prizes at Peterborough, is, I suppose, about as good a description as we can have. The nose and the patience characteristic of the good old-fashioned hare hunting hound are necessary to good sport, and that power of hunting a cold scent down a road, which they transmit to their descendants, is a most useful one. But the make and shape which will enable them to stay through a long day's hunting, and a certain amount of drive which adds greatly to the sport, come from an infusion of foxhound blood. Then, after at least three generations devoted exclusively to the chase of the hare, we may hope to get the happy mean between the drive forward on the one hand, and the pottering and towling on the other, in which lies the pleasure and success of hare-hunting.

When you have got over the preliminary difficulties of starting a pack you should draft down your hounds till you have as level a lot as possible, 18-19 inches being about the general standard. Larger hounds than these will smother the hare, and smaller ones cannot get over the fences of any ordinary country. The ultimate aim of everyone is, of course, to have a level pack, as otherwise, no matter how good the hounds may be, they can never have the smart appearance in the field so dear to the sportswoman's heart. I would always prefer to have even two or three couples short, than to spoil the look of the pack by having out hounds either too large or too small. It is not in any case desirable to have out a large pack to kill hares, from eight to fourteen couple being quite enough for any country. Some twenty couple of good stud-book harriers then in kennel, will be enough for you to have a smart workmanlike lot of the requisite number in the field, two days a week.

There are no hounds so full of faults, both of make and disposition, as harriers, and it is never an easy matter to buy a pack ready made. The best way, therefore, to begin is with unentered drafts from known kennels, such as the Boddington, the Aldenham, and the Bath and County, and then to breed and buy as opportunity offers.

I would remorselessly draft hounds that do not throw their tongues, and this in spite of the fact that mute hounds are often good in other ways, and the rest of the pack will fly to a trustworthy one directly it begins to feather on the line. This recalls the amusing hypothesis recently made by a brilliant writer on sport, that hounds have a system of signalling with their sterns, analogous to the "flag wagging" of our army. Did the original idea of signalling, this writer asks, come to some gallant officer while he was watching hounds feather on a scent? If not, many will agree that the system might have originated in this way.