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The Eton College hunt

Chapter 21: APPENDIX IV. LETTER FROM A MASTER OF HOUNDS OF FORTY YEARS’ EXPERIENCE.
By Anthony Crommelin Crossley
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About This Book

The author traces school beagling from informal origins through the establishment of separate Oppidan and College packs, their later amalgamation, and the succession of masters and whips that shaped sporting life. It recounts notable seasons, the interruption of war, and a later flourishing period, using anecdotes, records, maps and illustrations to portray typical runs and kennel arrangements. A second part assembles practical contributions on hare biology, kennel management, beagling technique and the humanitarian questions surrounding the sport. Appendices provide lists, a record of sport and contemporary notes to complement the narrative and practical chapters.

APPENDIX IV.
LETTER FROM A MASTER OF HOUNDS OF FORTY YEARS’ EXPERIENCE.

Behaviour and Control of Field.

When a Master is hunting his own hounds it is very advisable to have either a joint Master, or a field Master, whose business it is to keep the field well away from huntsman and hounds when they come to a check. The field should remember that to press hounds at a check is most disastrous to sport, and they should keep well away and wait till hounds hit off the line, and certainly not follow the huntsman about when he is making a cast. In hare hunting this is most essential, as a hare will often run back on its own line or squat; if the field is walking about on the line it is impossible for hounds to pick it up. The huntsman should know to a few yards where the hounds last had the line, and the moment that he says “Hold hard” everyone should stop and stand perfectly still and not talk: the least thing will get hounds’ heads up, and once up it takes time to get them down again. Another thing, never halloo a hare; if any one sees a hare, hold up his cap at the place where he has seen the hare; if the huntsman does not see him, go to the huntsman and tell him, 1st where the hare was seen, 2nd how long it had been gone, 3rd which direction it was going in; a minute lost in giving correct information will often save many minutes in getting hounds properly on the line.