Bijou Springs Hunt Has Weathered Many Changes In 25 Years

The Colorado hunt calls some of the country’s most spectacular scenery home.

The word “bijou” means jewel in French, and the Bijou Basin east of Colorado Springs on Colorado’s high plains is certainly a jewel, with lush pastures and rolling, pine-covered hills. There are ponds and streams and abundant wildlife. Pikes Peak, called “America’s mountain,” towers on the western horizon.

In the 1970s, one of Colorado’s three recognized foxhunts began calling the Bijou Basin home. Bob and Sandy Platts formed the Rivers Divide Hunt with a pack of mainly American hounds that they brought with them from northern New Mexico. The pack hunted primarily on the 20,000-acre Killian ranch near Calhan. The quarry was coyote—faster than the fox and more elusive.

In 1983, the Platts decided to disband the hunt and drafted their hounds to other hunts. A group of Rivers Divide members, who had become avid foxhunters, decided to continue hunting in the Bijou Basin, and so the Bijou Springs Hunt was formed.

The Arapahoe (Colo.), North Hills (Neb.), Mission Valley (Kan.) and Roaring Forks (Colo.) hunts generously contributed hounds from their packs, and the members—led by MFH Rich Fortmann, MFH Martha Love and her husband Jerry, and several others—set about getting permission to continue to use the Killian ranch.

Big Changes

The Bijou Springs Hunt was registered in 1984 and recognized in 1993, and the hunt continued to grow and prosper. Local businessman and aviator, Harry Combs, bought the ranch. The hunt leased 10 acres from him and converted a ranch building into a kennel and a garage into a clubhouse. In addition to hunting on the ranch, hunter pace events and trail rides were held.
   
Then, in April of 1999, the hunt received the devastating news that the ranch had been sold to ITT mogul John Malone. Malone informed the hunt members that they could no longer hunt the property, but they could continue to rent the kennels for the hounds.
   
For the next few years, the hunt hunted various fixtures up and down the front range. Mostly the tracts were small—none over 3,000 acres—which was frustrating for huntsmen and hounds. One fixture bordered on a major interstate which posed great danger to the hounds. Also, the hounds had to be hauled from kennels to hunt country which, in many cases, amounted to 50 miles each way. The trailering added to the difficulty, especially on the icy winter roads.
   
The year 2005 marked a huge turning point in Bijou’s history. First, only a month before the opening meet, Huntsman Gary Worrall resigned, having accepted the post of huntsman for a new hunt in Colorado. The hunt went through a major reorganization. Nancy Mitchell, who had frequently hunted the hounds on Wednesdays and served as a long-time whipper-in, took up the horn. Many hunt members pitched in to keep the hunt running. It was a crash course in running a foxhunt.

Learning Quickly

With only a few weeks of experience hunting the pack, which included several first-year entry, Mitchell took them to the Arapahoe Hunt’s Rendezvous, a joint meet with hunts from all over the Rocky Mountain Region. Mitchell was the first female huntsman ever to hunt the Arapahoe territory. But from beginning to end, the hunt was a rousing success, with the Bijou pack accounting for a coyote to cap the day.