Beagling is foxhunting in miniature, the hounds are smaller, the
kennels are scale models, hunt staff are fewer and the cost is a
fraction. The range of grandeur is much the same, however, and while
a field of five or ten can meet on a wind-swept Northern moor,
charging the cost of a drink for the experience, a hundred may meet
in front of a big house in the Home Counties, with hounds arriving
in smart vans and trailers, and the staff dressed as for the
Heythrop. whether those up on the fell have better sport than the
southern folk is a debatable point, but they win hands down when it
comes to getting thoroughly well lubricated and filling public
houses with songs about foxes on rocks, Joe Bowman and men from
Denby Dale. The Stour Valley Beagles
The beauty of beagling is the closeness the follower can be to the
action. If the hare, hounds and huntsman have all read the script
correctly then the well-situated follower can witness the day's
sport from the safety of his shooting stick. This, of course,
irritates the staff no end because they may run past this shooting
stick half-a-dozen times and see rather less than its occupant.
The
thruster is equally well catered-for because, as long as he gives
hounds a bit of room, keeps out of the huntsman's earshot when the
pack splits six ways on two litters, and makes sure that all is seen
that somebody up front should have seen, ready to impart knowledge
to the panting huntsman, then the thruster should be welcome. The
only danger for the fast beagler is that the Master may put a whip
in his hand and tell him to get to the top of that hill / by that
road / next to that farmer's ostriches / to them hounds two miles
away that are exercising the fox that the Kissmeoats Farmers'
Foxhounds left behind the previous day. The most useful member of
the field is one who cannot tell a hunted hare from a fresh one. by
them you will not be approached 45 minutes after you have caught
your hare, to be told that they changed and that the real one is
absolutely cooked in the withy bed. "Absolutely cooked" is a
misnomer for hares which have just got out of their form, yawned,
stretched their legs and wandered off at a lope to find out if
Farmer Mangold's barley tastes any better this morning - oh, and
what are those noisy dogs doing over there?
Almost all information from people who know a hunted hare from a
fresh one is to be treated with as much courtesy and salt as you can
muster. Anybody who knows enough not to have learned the difference
between a hunted hare and a fresh one can generally be relied upon
to tell you within two feet where to catch your hare.
Beagling as with any other sport, can have its faux pas, the most
offensive of which is calling the professional huntsman a
"kennel-huntsman" which may lead to industrial action and the need
for ACAS. Another blot on the copybook is saying something like, "oh
yes, there were a brace of hare (sic) in that field when the hounds
came through", meaning the foxhounds; meaning our beloved little
jelly dogs are not hounds which they are.
Hare populations in many countries are waxing, which the pessimistic
beagler will tell you is a bad thing. A large population of
hares means that no time is lost searching for something to hunt. It
also means that if you end a hunt you have not too far to go before
you are off again. The thing to do when confronted with many hares
is to keep hunting the same area, which is something the beagler can
do, but which a harrier pack usually cannot. The important thing is
to bring back any hounds which get outside the circle, otherwise you
might find yourself with one couple of young hounds, and the rest of
the pack hunting round and round in circles three parishes away and
having added to their tally four times without telling you.
The best thing about a healthy hare population is that hounds become
totally focussed on that quarry, something which is important to
young beagles that would hunt a bush if it gave off a scent and
moved fast enough. Too many in the beagling would thing that beagles
will never run steady to riot. This of course is rubbish. The Dummer
and the Brighton and Storrington are both steady packs (and not pet
hounds either) with tallies well above the average. Making a riotous
pack steady does not happen overnight. It takes years of selective
breeding, but is greatly helped by delicate use of the whip (which
means catching them in the act and telling them what you think of
them) and a fair bit of draughting. What makes life easier is if the
riot is only in half the country (as in ours at the Stour Valley)
that you do not need to be rid of perfectly good hounds that happen
to like the smell of roe.
it is often said that the best training ground for an MFH is a
school or college pack of beagles. You would be foolish to disagree.
By running after little hounds you should learn respect for your
hunter when you take on a mounted pack. The young MH has the benefit
of a lifetime's knowledge from the kennel-huntsman who will usually
impart that wisdom as colourfully and succinctly as he knows how,
sometimes followed by the RSM's "Sir".
Beagles tend to hunt themselves and, while they will ignore a
useless huntsman, a young paragon with athlete's legs will have them
eating out of his hand. Hunting beagles gives more opportunities in
a day of seeing hounds at close quarters and of trying to give
assistance than might be possible in a month hunting Charlie.
Moreover, because the smaller hounds' noses work that bit better,
the chances of coming out of a check are that much greater. But
beagling is more than a training ground for the up-and-coming
foxhunter; it is the height of venery.
Liam Thom
1997
