oxhunters have a saying: “There are those that hunt to ride and there are those that ride to hunt.” But what about those who hunt of foot, following Beagles and Basset hounds in their pursuits of rabbit? What’s their motivation?

Not surprisingly, it’s much the same as most avid hound followers–the thrill of the chase. A vast majority of foot followers started out hunting on horseback, and many still do.

Foxhunting is part of Lawrence Bright’s legacy. Bright, of Floyd, Va., is MB of the Octorara Beagles. “My grandfather was a foxhunter, J. Stanley Reeve [noted author and sportsman], who hunted with Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds [Pa.],” Bright said “My family foxhunted. I was a whipper-in for a private pack of foxhounds and I used to see Beagles out on Sundays.

“In college, I went out foxhunting and whipped in with the Androssan Beagles [Pa.]. I came home one Sunday and had to make a choice. I decided that I couldn’t afford a pack of foxhounds and I didn’t have a horse. I could just load the Beagles up and go.

When time is limited, you can only do so much,” Bright said. “It came down to keeping the horse fit or keeping the hounds fit.

“Now, I go out three times a week from August through May. I’m a full-time farmer with beef cattle and hogs and when the springtime comes things are happening here, so I don’t begin to play until late summer.”

For Bright, following hounds on foot allows for a much closer view of the action, and a better understanding of the sport. “When hunting Beagles, there is no distraction of the horse. One of the big shocks of my life when I got older was to see there were a lot of people who didn’t know what was going on in the hunting field,” Bright said.

“I have been hunting for 56 years–my whole life. There was never a time when I didn’t think that I wouldn’t have a pack of hounds, it just never occurred to me that I couldn’t have a pack. Now, I am living out my fantasies,” Bright said.


A Lifelong Passion
But foot following isn’t for the faint of heart. “You need to have an innate addiction to the sport. All of us have relatives that are indifferent,” William Bobbitt, MB of the Glenbarr Beagles (Va.), a private pack, said “It also helps having your wife as fanatical as you are.”

His wife, Mandy, is MB of the Bedlam Beagles (Va.), her own private pack. “We will hunt one pack in the morning and one in the afternoon and whip in to each other,” William said. “We compete against each other too.

“I’ve always liked Beagles and scent hounds and had two or three that I hunted. One year, I went to [the National Beagle Club trials] and thought that looked great. I got interested in developing a pack that was responsive. I enjoy the discipline and control,” William said. He put his pack together in the 1970s, and the Glenbarr Beagles were registered in 1981.

Mandy foxhunted with Huntington Valley Hunt (Pa.) and Beagled with a private pack around Philadelphia. “I started foxhunting, so I had an introduction to the routine,” she said, “William and I both had a pack before we were married. It’s a family addiction.”

With a foot pack, “you can see what’s going on, who is doing the good work and who gets into trouble, you see the whole thing,” Mandy said.
“I really enjoy when you breed your own hounds and watch them start and learn more and more. Some are independent; some are wide and fast. I like them closer on a check,” she said. “I enjoy being outside, being in the fields in the country. It’s a nice way to spend the day, or at least a couple of hours. When the hounds run a rabbit well, it’s rewarding.”


Their Legs Are Shorter
Bassets engender the same rewarding feelings. “I’d had an AKC Basset growing up and I got one for a wedding present,” Mrs. Peyton S. “Jeep” Cochran, MB of the Calf Pasture Bassets (Md.) said.

Another former foxhunter, Cochran explained, “When I was foxhunting, I thought I’ll just get two or three hounds and take them out when I’m not foxhunting. But, it didn’t work. Now I see more of the country on foot than I ever did on a horse. I have not had as much fun doing anything in my life as I’ve had with Bassets,” Cochran said. She has 12 1/2 couple.

“I hunt very often. I go to South Carolina in the winter and hunt every day,” she said. “I also hunt hare in Canada once a year. I’ve been going to a ranch in Montana. Betsy Park [MB of Sandanona Hare Hounds (N.Y.)] and I cast on foot while hunting hare and then jumped on a horse when they struck,” she added. “I’ve had a blast.”

Someone who came to the sport through riding, but not foxhunting, is Beth Dixon, MB of the Cedar Way Basset Hounds, who recently relocated to Three Forks, Mont. While Dixon comes from the hunter/jumper world, hunting changed her life. “From the very first time I hunted, I was instantly entranced,” she said. “The sound of hounds speaking in the woods got under my skin. I just wanted to do it all the time. I was hooked.”

Dixon had had a thriving training and showing business in Pensacola, Fla.

She would take riders to Auburn University in Alabama for shows, and there got to know Herb Schneider, who was the hunt seat coach.

Schneider also had the private pack the Cedar Way Bassets. So, Dixon would ride on Saturday and hunt with the Bassets on Sunday. She whipped-in for about eight months. Sometimes, Schneider took his Bassets to Hard Away Hounds (Ala.), where Mark Dixon was joint-master and huntsman at the time. Beth accompanied him, and not only got valuable hunting experience, but also found a husband in Mark.

Schneider died of a heart attack in June 2004 and left his pack to Beth. At that time, she was in Maryland where her husband, Mark, was huntsman for Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds. Beth flew to Alabama and drove the bassets back to Maryland, and she now has 101�2 couple.

“I hunt my pack almost identical to foxhounds. They are packed up to the covert and then I send them in by voice and call them out with the horn. We hunt a smaller area, though. I encourage them to hunt a little slower so they don’t overrun the line, and I try to keep them close so they hunt together. Once on scent, they stay together in a pretty tight group,” Beth said.

“Bassets have an exuberance for hunting that is contagious. All human traumas disappear. I think it is why I will always do it, their happiness. They are always ready to go. Even on a blank day, I am happy to have gone out with them,” Beth explained.


Memorialized Through Hounds
Sometimes when a person passes on, his or her pack of hounds become more than just a legacy and continue as a living memorial. The Cedar Way Basset Hounds are just one example. The Roscommon Beagles (N.Y.) are yet another.

Dr. Joseph C. O’Dea died in July at age 85, leaving behind a small bitch pack of 13-inch hounds that he nurtured over the years. He felt immense pride and a sense of accomplishment when they were finally registered with the National Beagle Club of America in 2002.

His hounds, however, will not be disbanded but will continue as part of the fabric of the historic Genesee Valley in Western New York. Randy Kozlowski, jt.-Master of the Roscommon Beagles for the past seven years, has taken over responsibility for the pack and moved them to his farm, where he is building new accommodations.

“My wife Carol’s relationship with Joe is what brought me into the sport. Once I started whipping-in, I grew to love watching the hounds hunt and anticipating their every move,” Kozlowski said. “I enjoyed being in the right place at the right time for Joe. I whipped in for 18 years,” he added. O’Dea hunted the hounds into his late 70s.

“Sometimes it’s a hard transition to hunt them, but it helps to be a better huntsman if you’ve whipped-in. You know where to hunt, where to cast, where to put people. I have good people–all the whips foxhunt and have been doing it for a long time,” he said. Kozlowski also foxhunts.

Roscommon has a large field of followers on Sunday afternoons, from 30 to 40 people. “We even get Martha Wadsworth [jt.-MFH and former huntsman of Genesee Valley Hunt] out occasionally and once in a while Marion Thorne [jt.-MFH and current huntsman for Genesee Valley Hunt].”


Donna Ross