Morning journal and courier., 1890-02-13
SMART FOXES.

How They Fool the Dogs and Hunters
-W1ly sold Tough's'' sad Fate.
IFrom the New York Sun.1
''No one who has never hunted foxes can
have any idea of the smart tricks Reynard
often calls to his aid to throw the dogs and
hunters off his trail" said Samuel Yohe, q
veteran fox hunter of Chester county, Pa.
Zone of the most amazing things ever
knew a fox to do occurred once during
hunt was in over in Lancaster county. By
the way, riding to the hounds in that part
of Pennsylvania has been a universal sport
ever since the region was settled, nearly 200
years ago. The preacher, the doctor. the
lawyer, the merchant, the farmer, and
everybody else over there engage as enthusi-
astically in the sport as their ancestors did.
Foxes are plenty, and to guard against their
getting scarce almost every rural district
has some one who raises foxes to keep up the
supply. Packs of fifty or more trained
farmers, inn keepers, or wealthy private
citizens In nearly every community, and un-
conventional meets are of almost daily OCCUR
renee.
ssThis smart fox that I mentioned had
been started early in the morning. There
were forty hounds and ten hunters on his
trail. We followed him for miles over all
kinds of country, and at last he led the
hounds away toward the Lancaster pike, near
Landis valley. The dogs followed the scent
until they got on the pike, and there it
abruptly ended. The pack worked and
mansuvred in all directions, but could not
strike the trail again. The angular part of
the matter was that the country was open
all along the road. The hounds had reached
the pike two or three minutes before the
hunters got there A man ON q load of hay,
which he was driving to the village market,
had stopped in the road few rods from
where the hounds had burst upon it, he
having heard their baying minute or more
before they came in sight The man watched
the hounds for long time and then drove on
his way. We finally had to give up the chase
of that fox, and went off and started another
one, which we captured.
"Ths man with the load of hay, as We af-
! terward learned, drove on mile or so, and
| meeting an acquaintance, stopped his team
to have talk with him. While they were
talking fox jumped ont of the hay at the
rear end of the wagon and trotted leisurely
| away across q field. That was the fox we
lost on The pike. It had reached the road
unperceived by the teamster, as the load Of
hay was passing, and minute or more In
1 advance of the hounds. Instinct or reason,
or whatever you may choose to call it, told
that fox that all he had to do to save himself
was to jump up and crawl out of sight in
the hay on the wagon, which would carry
him away from the scene Of danger. The
fox lost no time in doing 30. When the
teamster stopped to talk with his friend the
fox concluded that he was far enough beyond
the danger line, jumped from his hiding
place and logged back to the woods.
"Onoe fox that was close pressed by
hounds in a hunt was in turned into farm
yard, and sprang from the ground distance
of several feet into big Dutch oven, where
1t lay until the dogs and hunters had given
up the chase. A big fox that the hunters
had long given chase to in vain, and which
had received the name of 'Old Tough" got
the best Of the hunters and hounds one day
as usual, but came TO his death by doing it.
He had given us long chase, and at last led
us directly to the village OF Thornton. The
scent took the hounds to yard In the vii.
lege and there it was totally lost. A hall
hours manoeuvring failed to recover the
trail, and the hunt for Old Tough was a fail
ure for the hundredth time. A few minutes
after we left the premises the owner of them
discovered the fox under bed in q room ar
stairs in his house. He shut the fox in the
room and subsequently killed him with g
club. The only way that the fox could have
got into the house, and broken his trail al
the same time, was by q long leap from q
wall to ladder that was leaning against .
grape arbor. He must have run up the lad
der to the top of the arbor, along that to itl
further end, and then made another lonl
leap through a window that happened to b.
opened for airing room. A fox as smart u
that deserved q more fitting end than to b.
penned up in q bedroom and dubbed tx
, DEATH"