The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-09

A good dog is remarkably tenaciou
 when on the trail of a fox, It is not un
 common for an ordinary farm dog
 striking trail near the farm build
 ings, to run fox all night and to com
 home disconsolate next morning /
 high-bred dog has been known to rui
 one fox all day. all night and all tn
 next day, stopping only when so tire(
 and footsore that he could hardly walk
 A fox is tough little animal and ooca,
 sionally takes surprising amount o.
 killing. One of the foxes that escaped
 in the recent hunt at Westf1eld had c
 regular fusillade fired at him. Ons
 hunter had for four shots and avert
 that he knocked the fox down three
 times, but he picked himself up eact
 time and finally got away. A fox witt
 leg broken can give pack very re.
 spectable run, though his instinct leads him to seek his hole when wounded
 Many dead fox has been dug out of his burroW
 A great many "tall" fox-huntin sto- ries might be told-and are told when hunters get together-but the facts in
 a case where fox is concerned are apt
 to be good enough without embellish-
 ment. One of the most picturesque f1g-
 ures in the Westfield hunt was the vet
 eran John White, of Sutton, who Is one of the most experienced and skilful of of the fox hunters of the Worcester dis
 trict. He Is part owner of the Kin ney- White pack of hounds, which are among the best in the state. John-so {v,o- h n, wind and the blinding snow very calm ly, and with the philosophy of one who has spent many half day waiting for the fox that never came, prepared to make himself comfortable in cosey nook sheltered by clump of trees and a stone wall, where he could command clear view of the sloping clearing that was one of his favorite runways En- couraging burts of music from the hounds kept the party on the qui viye for time, but finally the chase swept around the mountain, and John pre- pared for long wait. kicking awaY the snow until he had exposed cushion Of dry, warm leaves Then he was ready to talk.
 Yes, sir,' he said, i've hunted a good many foxes in my day and they're always learning me something new My dogs once got after fox up North Or ange way that was a regular terror The ay was just ri Int for trailing, ground just moist enough so that you could see his toe marks when 1t was bare, but that fellow kept losing the dogs all the way. could hear the yap- ping up and down the ridge, every now and then shutting up as if they had lost the scent. I was up on top of big rock where I could see pretty well, and by and by down below saw MT. Fox come trotting alone brock. He kept jumping along In funny way. and finally saw that he was Jumping back and forth across the brook, making sort of zigzag track that would fool any dog. Finally he got to a shallow place, ! and durned if he didn't jump in and wade a ways. Then he got out and shook himself and sat down behind a stump where he could peek out and see he dogs working along the brook. l vas just starting after him when he got ' ID and sneaked along out of sight through the bushes.
 T put the dogs on his trail and they gave him hot drive for a time until l hey struck a rail fence, where the fox ost them again by jumping up on to he top rail. He ran h piece that way, perhaps 200 yards, and then jumped. I'll Jet twenty feet, over on to rock, and i he dogs didn't find the trail again for | fifteen minutes. Then the fox took a | un down the hill, and the next thing I | new the dogs were going lickety-splt | cross a ploughed field a mile or two way, with the scent so hot that it, airly sizzled. I waited there spell, nd then, not hearing anything. walked 4 own. By and by came across the ogs nosing around, and learned from
 farmer that the fox had given them
 slip by getting into manure pile nd rolling over and over and killing he scent. For a week after that I ouldn't get the dogs to run anything ut COWS"
 Are foxes often as clever as that?" he old hunter was asked
 Well don't know as they are, but hey're pretty all-fired smart, can tell ou Ever been up to North Orange? HtIl ye QOIl hllUW Hdl HlAl yer by that rock. Baird's great fox unter. I'm pretty sure this story is ;raight. He told me his dog Music lmped fox up there that was a daisy. Le gave the dogs hard run, but they ept the scent like good 'uns, but he nally gave them the slip, and how do ou think he did 1t? wouldn't have alieved it myself except that I know fl aird and I know foxes. That fox ran ,ross the tnael of skunk, and he fol- wed it till 1t got so hot that the hounds ,uldnt follow his. "The foxes know right we'll when a l ,g is on their trail, and they'll do any, ( ing to kill or hide the scent Quite a mmon trick is to run through cow I lrd and mix with the cattle. One of t @ Hartford men told me funny thing ( at happened down there once. One
 the electric roads runs through the g pods where they hunt sometimes, and ] fox got on to the rail where it some t mes crosses swamp, and walked 300 |
 AGO yards till he lost the dogs entire t I've known foxes to climb trees, t Id heard of one once that jumped I om tree to tree. like squirrel, but c yer really believed the story. But o ere are whole lot of fool foxes, too, r at Just run around till they get shot O
 else get Tagged out Then they a