Dogs chase animals - that is a fact. As ex Labour, anti hunting MP Roy Hattersley found out when his dog killed a goose in St James Park in 1996. His dog didn't care that Mr Hattersley was anti hunting, he was just doing what dogs instinctively do - hunt and kill. However, if dogs are allowed to hunt - as in fox, deer, hare, drag and "clean boot" hunting, they are far less likely to chase and kill quarries other than those they are intended to pursue. Less likely than a domestic dog when placed in a similar position. A pack of hounds stability on their intended quarry is very much the responsibility of the "Huntsman" and his "Whipper-in" (the "hunt staff"), these are the people who control the hounds.
Hunting the Clean Boot is not drag or trail hunting. Bloodhound packs registered with the Masters of Bloodhounds Association (MBHA), may only hunt the clean and unadulterated scent of human beings. Whilst most of the riders following these packs of hounds may only be looking for a great ride, there is the opportunity to watch hounds working hard to keep on the line of the intended quarry - the human runner/s. Human scent is far weaker than that of animals - and millions of times weaker than a drag or trail. Human scent is very susceptible to ground and weather conditions. As such other wild animals (known as "riot") that have much stronger scents than humans, can be very tempting to young inexperienced hounds. All packs of hounds will have a proportion of young hounds in the pack, so the huntsman will always have to be alert to the possibility of hounds rioting (changing onto an unintended Quarry). Handling hounds during a hunt takes much more skill than the average hunt follower would probably appreciate. Thanks to some brilliant photographs by Sharon Thayer, I can demonstrate a situation that could have been a problem, had our hounds not been well trained and properly handled on a hunting day.
In the first photograph we see the blue line of where the human Quarry has run some twenty minutes previously, and the red line where the deer have come from, and where they are going. The hounds are using their noses to follow the scent of the human Quarry and are running at speed. As such, because the hounds don't know where or when the Quarry will turn, they can naturally over-run the turn. The yellow line shows the route by which the hounds could run off the end of the human line, and end up on the line of the deer. You will notice, that the huntsman is not yet in sight and will not be aware of the deer yet. However he will be not too far behind the hounds and watching both the hounds and the country in front of them. There were 7 couples (14) out hunting this day and the first picture shows the lead hounds.
In the next photograph, you can see the hounds have crossed the line of the deer. You will notice the third hound in both photographs is a distinct hound, in that she is tan with a light coloured nose, thus showing the photographs are sequential. The huntsman saw the deer as they went up the hill to his left and he moved up closer to the hounds. He will be watching all the hounds carefully to ensure none change to the stronger scent of the deer. In this instance, only one hound showed any inclination to change to the deer and she was very quickly stopped by the huntsman.
In the final photograph, we see the huntsman has dropped back behind the tail hounds, the risk now being over. However this is just 2 - 3 minutes of the sort of judgments the hunt staff will be making throughout the entire hunting day. Maybe 200 yards further on, a hare will get up, maybe a walker has crossed the line, there are hundreds of possible distractions for the hounds and the hunt staff will have to stay sharp, without interfering with the hounds unnecessarily. Interfere with the hounds too soon and the hounds will learn nothing, interfere too late and the hounds might run into danger. It is all about concentration and skill in making good split second judgments. For the average hunt follower the sport is the riding and jumping. For the hunt staff and people who enjoy hound work, the sport is all about the skill of the hounds to pursue their Quarry, with minimal help or interference from the huntsman. It doesn't matter which category you fall into, this is the beauty of the sport. It holds different attractions for different people.
The only thing the mounted followers need to remember is that the hounds and the hunt staff need room to do their work. It takes time and patience to build reliability and confidence in hounds; and this process creates a strong bond the between the hounds and their huntsman. Hunting is not an exact science. Each hunting day is a constantly evolving mixture of thrills and problems of varying proportions. Riot, or the possibility of riot is just one of the many complications any huntsman may encounter during a hunt.
With thanks to Sharon Thayer for brilliant photgraphs.
