The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-05-11
A Fox Hunt in Old Virginia.


A Fox Hunt in Old Virginia.
1t was Christmas morn in the veal
1869, 'whenewe, that is 4 half dozen
old Firginians and the writer, deter
mined or a fox hunt, emerged at an
early hour from our respective place:
of abode to try our fortune in the
chase, 1t was a real old fashioned
Southern hunt, not such as we used t.
have N Ohio, when Captains Smith,
Jones, Robinson and Brown, eomman-
ded the. circumference of Il circle with
y radius offouy or fixe miles, and all
the big boys and young men, and some
of the OLD men, with horns and bells.
and yells awakened the slumbering
foxes and drove them toward the cen
ter, there to find themselves sur
rounded and at the tender mercies OF
the blood thirsty hounds. No we gave
licnard 4, fair chance for his life
That, is, wc-allowod him to run for it.
AT early dawn we met ut a designated
spot about three miles from Christians
" lie, GMecklinLurg. county. To be
successful in this kind of Il hunt, you
must not ,tarry; long in bed. ''The
early bird catches. The werm;" and if
you wait until late the dogs can not
we'll follow the track, forthe fox being
n nj Int wandeger retires n tearly dawn,
and of course his trucks bccome less
easily detected by the sagacious hound
as they become older When we ar
riyed,a at 5the appointed place We had
twenty dogs,iof various spots, ,%eolors.
ages, SIZE aud afsetnessg and their
VOICES differed. NJ muck in tone ana
LRitch9 as twenty bellsTeF twenty 81 human
Voices Atleast their master seemed
to know, each dogs voice and notonly
that b4t +obn0wY What each meant by
his bayIlgs Assameiigrecn pup, be
trayed by his yelp,l that he. was in
pursuit of aHJ"e pld hare |frabbit) che
was immediately warned either by
harsh wQrls OF strokes, Aratshes muIt
not be lei off by Tsuch small game
The older CANNES that had rscrved an
apprenticeship needed no sach 7repfi-
mand.. "High away there" cries one
old hunter TO his favOrite dogs. Then
Bounce and Fleet ana Catch, 'redou
bic their efforts tn smell out a track,
and before long the knowing ones dc
eide they have struck n trail, and are
sure from the twists and turns that it
is a grey" Now we, speed on our
horses Keeping in sight, hut not too
near, lest The dogs being anxious
would run too fastiand lose the Track:
Now they are at fault, they hold a,
bowling, and Trust soon discovers that
IT runs this way, and Ill follow him.
Faster and faster we go over logs and
fences and bitches, one compelled to
dismount III order 10 get yea n stream
and under the trees ut the anne time,
Now they are at fault again, and hold
an universal smelling. Bounce de-
c,des it went that way, AMI all rely
ing on his Judgment follow. Now
they have .tjumpeP' him and all is ex-
citement, both with men anddogs, and
we stop not for woods, brush, or
fences, but dash along at a: high RITE
of speed. An offending limb. antfith-
standing my prone pos ton on my
horses neck, brushed off my hat, and
before it was recovered my comrades
were out of sight in the dense forest !;
but by following the sound of the
eager hounds ] soon overlook them.
Now we are but three in number, one
old Nirginian, Oh account of age and
obesityew We left long ag and others
thouGhahead of him are far behind the
fox. We now came, upon a darkey,
with dishereAed hair and dilated eyes,
who in his intense excitement cried
out 'faS way nassa, de fox run right
across DIS 'ere lot gis now-you'rright
onto him.. lie amt no ways ahead"
Here i've had just been bafiled, and
some of the tardy ones. caught almost
up withrus. Bnt 'Toff We 90 again in
the direction; indicatodtby Sambo and
the dogs and beforeeweAlave gone five
hundred yards, right in the open fekl
we espy Rcnarl with tongue out
and tail down; holly pursued by the
almostworn out dogs. Now its. ..flikety
brindle," "hnrra. boys who get
there first; No mercy on horscs-no
stopping for bitches or branches, "The
fastest horse will viii, sir. - 81
Poor old grey fox, the foremost dog
has got him, and twenty Others are
doing their utmost to- get . tooth in
him, but there is hardly. room for, SO
mary, and there; lisa constant scram-
bling to get in the ring Already
your writer is along side, with hat. in
hand, exulting at the success, whilst
Mr.. j., and Mr.. B., who coming up
in a few seconds, dismount instantcr,
jeopardizing their hands and limbs,
amongst the t%wenty-one dogs ego
for" the. -caudal ~,appendage of the
friendless fox, and soon, Mr.. b. emer-
| ges from the noise and confusion with
the coveted tail ; but j. contented as
he got his hands upon the fox first the
narrative" belonged 10 him, and after
some alteration the unnecessary APP
pendage was delivered to him. Now
you will wonder if 1 was fifty yards
ahead. 1 did not get the wanted trO-
ply. Too green in the business-did
not understand the rules of the chase;
Just sat there on my horse looking
with establishment at the recklessness,
with which hands and feet and dogs
and fox were mixed up. l claim no
merit for being there first but give my
horse all the glory One thing l must
explain, that is. how we came out with
twenty n dogs and started only with
twenty. A dog joined our party to
ward the'close of the chase and it was
he that first caught the fox. This
was a little piece of unfair play, but
we could not control the Intruder
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