Beagles Column
Matthew Higgs
Well I said it would rain!
We’re enjoying a good season with scenting conditions allowing hounds to run hard most days which is a pleasant improvement on the same period over the last two years. Add to that the fact that the ground has taken the rain in this part of the world extremely well after a very dry September so we are not carrying the usual balls of mud on our feet and it makes it a pleasure to be out with hounds.
We were lucky to be invited to take our hounds to the Alston Festival this year. Edna has already written eloquently of the week’s charms in last month’s TMV and for many beaglers it has become an unmissable part of the season.
It had not dawned on me until we got there that it was the thirtieth “Hare Week” (a fact that made some of us feel very old!) which by any standard is a notable record. Dave Tyrell, somewhat irreverently dubbed “the father of the Alston Festival” is a veteran of all thirty “Weeks” and gave an amusing overview of their history and the fun we’ve had along the way at the celebratory Dinner held in the Alston House Hotel.
Much credit is owed to Simon Beckett now senior master at the host pack, the Weardale and Tees Valley, and John Elliott, who has just left the mastership, for the huge amount of work involved in organising the event over all that time. I’m afraid Simon has come in for a lot of good natured banter over the years but it takes a remarkable person to entertain so many different packs in their country over that time.
It is a considerable act of faith to take to the field with a pack your not entirely in control of, being entirely dependant on the away team’s expertise and I must admit when I’ve been in that position my nerves have been shredded. It’s all very well risking upsetting your hosts, the farmers, with your own hounds but when you are reliant on a visitor remembering and reacting promptly to hazards it can be a little like knitting with gloves on!
Of course behind the masters there has always been a formidable team ensuring the Week runs smoothly. Sadly long serving secretary Paul Kunzer is no longer with us but Shirley Beckett, Pat Harvey and current secretary Grahame Chaplin all deserve our thanks.
It was nice to see ex master Julian Rowbottam on the Fell again this year. David rather unkindly pointed out how well he coped the year Simon succumbed to flu half way through the week. I well remember how courteously he treated us from a meet on the Dew Bog. We’d taken a while to find and then hunted furiously for twenty minutes before the hare ran out of bounds with the hounds gaining. His regret at having to stop us was palpable. Back at the trailer with a twinkle in his eye and a quiet smile he gratefully admitted his astonishment that we had actually listened to him!
The only sadness of the week was that the host pack was “off games” with the cough and therefore didn’t hunt. On the plus side that meant we were able to see the Per Ardua and the Stokesley Farmers as there replacements. Perhaps “see” is a little exaggeration with the latter as their afternoon outing was cursed by thick fog.
Both the West Somerset and the Warwickshire kennelled on the same farm as us (interestingly the W Somerset contracted the cough whereas we and the Warwickshire fortunately did not) and the in the early evening it rather resembled a Breughel painting as we walked out our separate packs on different parts of the farm.
As Edna said last month events such as the Alston Festival are an invaluable opportunity for beaglers to see other packs in the field. When several are out in similar country over a week it can be fascinating. It astonishes me that some hunters never stray from their own country and home pack since so much can be learnt from watching other packs – even if it is only how not to do it!
“a good crowd of youngsters whose enthusiasm was immensely cheering”
With Repeal a tantalisingly closer prospect the importance of maintaining best practise and passing on the age old skills has never been greater. The young person’s day run by the AMHB was held at Radley College this year and again attracted a good crowd of youngsters whose enthusiasm was immensely cheering.
It was good to see contingents from several harrier packs as well as the foot packs and while the majority of those attending are from the school and college packs as you would expect, there is increasing representation from other hunts too.
I was asked to chair a session on “whipping in” and was lucky enough to secure the services of David Bragg, who was a master of both the Westerby Bassets and Warwickshire Beagles in his time; Richard Lloyd, huntsman at the Pendle Forest and Craven Harriers; and Mike Smith, huntsman at the Old Berkeley Beagles, as well as my wife.
Sadly there was probably not enough time to do the subject justice nor for all the panel to say what they wanted to and with a wide range of experience in the room some of what was said may have been above the heads of one or two just beginning their hunting career but I hope we managed to convey that there was so much more to “carrying a whip” than whip cracking and shouting at hounds!
It was fascinating listening to Richard outlining what he wanted in a mounted whipper in who can obviously be so much more mobile and able to respond to a situation more rapidly than a beagler on his feet. When we shared our hunt country with the Aldenham Harriers they were able to hunt far more tight bits of country safely than us simply because on a horse they could get to danger spots much more quickly than us.
“sharp enough to react to any situation before it happened”
What Richard was looking for was someone on his “buttons” behind him, sharp enough to react to any situation before it happened, and I believe you have to be sharp with a mercurial pack of harriers. As a beagle huntsman, I too like a whipper in reasonably handy to me as, by keeping close to the pack that helper is able to see what is going on and I hope nip problems in the bud, but not all huntsman do.
In Alston it was an education to watch the W Somerset staff spread out on the Fell as the day began so that at least one of them was in touch with their flying pack and close to the trail all day.
All the panellists at Radley agreed that good whippers-in were crucial to good sport and how commitment and an ability to anticipate problems can enable them to really contribute to the days sport. A good whipper-in rarely gets the appreciation he or she deserves as so often they have solved the problem before it has happened.
There is a world of difference for instance, between getting to the hedge so you are able to quietly rate the puppy that looks at a roe deer as it bobs away and noisily stopping the pack half a field later as they race after it. Equally a whipper in who can quietly swing a flock of sheep away from hounds as the feather on a line or get “ heelways” as hounds are brought to a view to ensure they hunt in the right direction are worth their weight in gold.
There was much discussion on the importance of clear and concise information being given to the huntsman who wants to know the direction of travel of the line, where it came from and clearly where it went and how long ago it was. The importance of never embellishing information with conjecture was also stressed. Some whippers in can never resist telling you where they think the line progressed far beyond where they saw it!
Kate rightly observed that much of the value of a good whipper in is developed in the summer on exercise and in kennel when you can get to know hounds and they you. Nowadays, of course, many whippers in cannot get out with hounds over the summer but they can learn how to handle them quietly.
We had a couple of hound puppies staying in our kitchen last month and it astonished me how they would hear the slightest noise from upstairs and be ready for you as got up in the morning.
There is no real need for noise out hunting then, as tempting as it is to shout and call (especially if you think your voice is a good one!). I am, I’m afraid, as guilty as the next man when the pressure is on and tempers are short but there is little point in shouting at hounds and certainly not unless you are the right side of them and in a position to stop them.
Again there is little value attempting to drive them and if you can’t get a hound to follow you - you need to put them on a bit of string. Neither do I have much time for whip cracking and would happily join Joe White, the Airedale kennel huntsman, in cutting off the thong of an offenders whip if I was only brave enough!
David Bragg had much of interest to say and outlined what a whipper in should carry on a hunting day, though a 10p piece to make a phone call is now obsolete in this age of mobiles.
After the mornings talks we went down to the Radley kennels where the masters of the College pack gave us an entertaining tour. Much of the value of the school and college packs is the confidence they bestow on those who become involved in them. Certainly my time with the Wye College learning to talk to farmers and handle problems did me, I believe, as much good as any time in the lecture room.
May I take this opportunity to wish all hunting men and women a very Merry Christmas especially those at the sharp end. Good hunting and who knows what the New Year may bring!Matthew Higgs