The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-14
Squaring
the Circle
With
THE HOOSIER EDITOR


fox, and any hound that tries to
outsmart a good running fox is i'm
mediately ruled OUT on personal
fouls.
The worst thing any ore could
do would be to catch the fox, and
any one who so much as frightens
him is severely reprimanded and, if
he persists, is sent home to mama,
I had imagined, before talking to
Rep. H. H. Evans, the states cham
pion fox hunter, that the person or
dog who brought back the fox, was
tops for the day. But it's all a
game and here's the way dog and
fox and man join in.
The site is selected. Some local
hunter is found who knows the fox
runs; that is, where a fox goes
when he goes. The game always is
played on the fox home grounds,
and he's first and last at bat.
JUDGES are stationed at these
~ runs with score cards. Numbers
are painted on the sides of the
hounds, in red paint on a dark
hound and black paint on a light
hound.
Then they are loosed. They are
supposed to keep strict silence un-
til they scent the fox. If they bark
beforehand they break the rules
and are given talking to.
When they scent the fox the fox
usually is at a safe distance. They
bark, and the fox banks too. They
give chase. In the course of the
chase the fox leads them over his
familiar paths and this is past the
judges. The judges keep score that
way.
One fox often may run only 80
minutes at time. He's not a very
good fox and the hunt isn't so sue
ceSsful. But Mr.. Evans says he has
seen the time when one fox, winded
or leg weary, would run into pile
Of rails or something for a rest, and
another fox would run out and take
up where he left off.
TITO the fox the whole thing is a
J. game unless he gets scared. At
Morgantown, once, the hounds
chased fox through a crowd of
more than 1000 people. The people
started yelling and that scared the
fox.
The fox took off for Brown County
and late that afternoon a farmer IL
miles away came up to report that
while he was hauling wood, all of a
sudden it seemed to be raining dogs.
In front of them was the fox.
The fox took refuge under the
farmers wagon, but changed his
mind after a moment and ducked
down hole. When a fox ducks
down a hole the game is over. The
dogs can't get him.
If, by any chance, a fox can run
for three or four hours, he could
easily be elected to Congress if no
one but the hunters voted. They'd
no more think of killing that fox
than they would think of killing a
race horse because he won the Ken
lucky Derby.
XX7HEN a dog whose I. @. is
w rather good runs for four or
five years and begins to figure
things out, sometimes he uses Short
cuts. He listens to where the fox
is going and then cuts over to meet
him.
That's out. 1t spoils the hunt,
scares the fox, upsets scorekeepers
and generally plays havoc. That dog
is retired from the sport, in dis
grace
Rep. Evans says the kind of fox
hunting they do when large num-
Der of persons get in a big circle
and beat the bushes toward the
center usually yields only gray fox,
and they're no good for hunting
anyway. Red fox are good runners.
He doesn't think a red fox Is a
liability to a farmer. He thinks that
most of the chickens killed laid to
the fox are done by domeSticated
cats who have been taken out and
lost and have to make living some
way. Red fox eat moles, and mice
and grub worms and other such
enemies.
THE plural of fox is fox, not foxes
Il or fix or fleece. Fox are pretty
plentiful.
Mr.. Evans is president of the
Southern Indiana and State Fox
Hunting Association, Inc, and their
next meet is in October, II to II,
at Rockville. People live in tents
for the meets-last time there were
358 tents.
Any fox hunter who bags a fox
is subject to amendment by the
rules and bylaws committee, and
the greatest eating is fried chick
en- dinner. Fox have been known
to attend even the purely social
events.
That clears that up, except that
MI. Evans says the best hound
breeders in the state include Paul
Reynolds, New Albany; DIR. D. A..
Whaley, Vincennes; Essex brothers,
Edinburg; Dick Bradley, Loogootee !;
Jack walker, Marion; Brit O'Neal,
Rushville; Frank Moore. Rockville;
B. j. Bloom, Columbia City, and
many others.
Some people who don't even like
fox hunting go to the meets. They
just like to moon around among SO
many people.