After the fall
of the leave to the last frost—that is the traditional foxhunting season, when
the fields lie fallow. What we otherwise think of as November to March.
However, cub hunting (when young hounds were trained with drag hunts, might
begin as early as October, depending on the weather and the keeness of the
hunter.
In England, the
record of the oldest foxhunt dates back to mid 1600's and the second Duke of
Buckingham, who hunted the Bilsdale pack in Yorkshire
dales.
Each hunt is
composed of a Master—usually the man who owns the hounds. The Master may employ
"whipper-ins" to help keep the hounds together. Hunting is informal
in the 1700s—anyone can join in to follow the hounds (as in that wonderful
scene from the movie, Tom Jones, when
the Squire cannot resist the call of the huntsmen's horns). Those horns are
actually signals to the other huntsmen and the pack as to where the fox is
headed.
The Duke of
Bedford's hounds hunted actually stags until 1770's. But by 1780's fox hunting
took over in popularity. Enclosure Acts and reduction of forests mean less stag
hunting. And hare hunting was generally regarded as more a necessity of country
life.
Hunt
territories varied widely. The fifth Earl of Berkely hunted an area from Berkley Castle to Berkley Square, stretching 120 miles. Most
hounds were kept by rich individuals, and they often invited local farmers to
hunt with them, for very often you depended on the locals allowing your hunt
access over their farms—there's still no way to predict which way a fox will
run.
By 1810,
there were only 24 subscription packs—or packs that you could pay to belong to
and hunt, as opposed to requiring an invitation from the Master. But this would
double, so that by the mid 1800's hunting became a more a matter of
'subscribing' in exchange for the right to hunt with the pack.
The golden
age for hunting in Leichesterchire is 1810 - 1830. This starts off with Hugo
Meynell, who hunted his foxhounds from Quorn Hall in Leicstershire from 1753 to
1800. His record run was 28 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes.
During this
time, there's as many as 300 hunters stabled in Melton Mowbray--with some
gentlemen keeping up to 12 hunters. You could hunt 6 days a week with the still
famous packs—the Quorn, the Cottesmore, the Belvoir, the Pytchley. Lord Sefton,
Master of the Quorn from 1800-02, went through 3 horses a day—which is why you
might need a dozen horses.
Ptychey's
record run was in 1802, when the pack covered 35 - 40 miles in 4 ¼ hours. With
horse medicine being about the same as for people—horses were bled after a
long, tiring day. So the life of a hunter could be a short, hard one. In
Warwickshire, a hunter might fetch 200 - 500 guineas. But in Leichestershire, a
hunter could cost up to 800 guineas.
Wellington's officers took to hunting in their
regimental scarlet coats. These started to be called hunting pink (the story
goes that this was after the tailor Mr. Pink, but there's no evidence this is
true). Each hunt, however, has its own colors—a color of leather boot tops,
coat color and collar color and even button design. It's said that Brummell
never hunted past the first field, for he hated to get his white-leather boot
tops muddied.
Ladies were
also found in the field. Mrs. Tuner Farley hunted for 50 years. Lady Salisbury
was master of the Hatfield Hunt from 1775 - 1819. She hunted old and blind, in
her sky blue habit, with a groom leading her horse and yelling at her to,
"Jump, damn you, my lady." From 1788 to 1840, Lord Darlington hunted
his own hounds 4 days a week in Yorkshire and Durham, with his 3
daughters and his second wife, all in their scarlet habits.
But between
late 1700's to about mid 1800's, when the jumping pommel was invented for the
side saddle, ladies were more the exception than the rule, and they were more
likely to be advised to "ride to the meet and home again to work up an
appetite."
Traditionally,
each hunt always has a designated meeting place—a gate, or an inn, or even a
house. You meet, the hunt cup is taken—folks drink to stave off the cold. You
might meet around 11 and hunt all day—or until it's dark. Bad weather does not
stop hunting--wet weather means the scent will be high (so long as it's not
pouring). Ice can be dangerous—that's when you get broken necks and legs.
A hunt really
is lots of standing around. Galloping to and fro. Trotting from cover to cover,
hoping to draw a fox. Some hunts kept tame foxes they could let go if the day's
sport proved too slow. Some areas had to curtail their hunting to allow the fox
population to come back.
Hunting was
always viewed as a sport for everyone, but the reality was that it cost money
to keep a pack of hounds and hunt them. However, anyone could take a horse and
follow, if the master allowed it, and some followed the hunt in their
carriages.
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