102 WWW.THEFIELD.CO.UK
I
t’s rare for members of
the mountedfieldtoride
up to the huntsman at
the meetandenquire as
tohowmanyhoundsare
out,nevermind establish
whethertheirsportistobe providedbya
bitch,dogormixedpack.WhenNigelPeel
putit tohishuntcommitteethathewished
toconverttheNorthCotswoldhoundstoan
all-bitchpacka coupleofmonthsintohis
thirdseason,severalmemberspointedout
that hounds had beenshowing fine sport
andthatit wouldbeunwisetorocktheboat.
Buttheyweresomewhattakenabackwhen
theMFHrevealedthathehadnothunted a
doghoundsincetheopeningmeet.
Peel’sdecisionwasinfluencedbya con-
versation with Captain Farquhar’s kennel
huntsman, the late Brian Gupwell, who
recalledwonderfulspringhuntingwiththe
Beaufortbitcheswhenoutoftheircomfort
zone inthe wildhillsaboveBath.Hewas
also motivated by a desire tokeep fewer
houndsinkennelsandpreservethehunt’s
tail female lines rather than nurture stallion
hounds.“Wedraftedourdogs totheRad-
nor,whowereincreasingtheirhuntingdays
andendedupwithlesshoundsdoingmore
hunting– thebitchesranuptogetherbetter,
thesportwasofa highorderandthekennel
managementmucheasier,”heremembers.
Huntsthatmeettwoorthreedaysa week
duringtheseasonhavetraditionallymain-
tained a mixed pack, but although both
sexeshuntandareexercisedtogetherthey
are always kennelled separately. In these
circumstances,a thirdlodgeisnecessaryto
houseany bitchesthat come into season,
known as ‘hot bitches’ in hunting jargon.
Themanagementadvantagesofconverting
toa single-sexpackareobviousbutanother
benefit is that bitches don’t have to miss
uptosixweeks’huntinga yeardepending
ontheircycle.Consideringthatmosthunts
nowholdtheirclosingmeetinMarch,and
nonekillthemetaphoricalMayfox,thatcan
adduptoa sizeablechunkofhunting career
wastedinthehotbitch’slodge.
Whilstfoxhoundsthriveonregularwork,
thereis a limittoeventhisbreed’sprodigious
stamina, and unless sport was consistently
poor, few hounds could hunt consecutive
days on a regular basis. This was clearly
demonstrated at the only performance-
based hunting competitionever staged in
thiscountryintheautumnof1999,whenthe
olderhoundsperformedwithnoticeablyless
shineonthesecondsuccessivemorning.For
this reason, mostfour-days-a-weekpacks
such as the Middleton in North Yorkshire
(whose former MFH, Frank Houghton-
Brown, organised the competition) have
historicallyfavoured huntingseparate dog
andbitchpackstoensurenohound is asked
to hunt two days in a row.
SINGLEDOUTFORPRAISE
Peel’s decision mayalso have hadsome-
thingtodowith a bitchpack’s glamorous
reputation, for the fairer sex have long
been considered superior to the boys. In
hunting literature, poetry and prose, it’s
invariablythe bitchesthat are singledout
forpraiseandwhereverseparatepacksare
maintained, the cream of the best hunt-
ing country is consistently their preserve.
The bitches ran up together better,
the sport was of a high order
Above:theWynnstayhunttraditionally kept more
bitchesthandoghounds
Topright:theVWHhuntsmanprefersdoghounds
ondifficultscentingdays.Belowright:the North
Cotswold’s hounds in full flight
SARAH FARNSWORTH; TREVOR MEEKS
