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HORSE & HOUND March 2004
It is a guinea to
a gooseberry that, at the meet, some prune will come up to me and ask
if there will be a scent? My invariable response is: "Ask me this
evening." People think that because I am old and wizened and hunted
hounds for 25 years, I should know all these things. The only people
who know absolutely everything about hunting are fresh-faced 23 year
olds in an unsullied red coat. For every year you survive as a huntsman
you realise that you know a little less, until, when you finally hang
up your horn, you realise that you know bugger all - most especially
you know bugger all about scent. As Mr Jorrocks so delicately put it
- "there's nothing so queer as scent 'cept a woman." Now we
all know that hounds hunt a fox almost entirely by scent, but very few
people bother to find out what and why scent is. Nor can we ever predict
scent with accuracy. But there are certain signs that we can look out
for which may, MAY allow us an indication. I have a friend who always
used to claim that he could predict the scenting conditions by sniffing
his armpits first thing in the morning…well, maybe, but - "God
knows the noselessness of man." There are certain natural signs
that may give an indication. Hounds know of course - if they are keen
and on their toes as you hack on, then that is a good sign. Hounds rolling
at the meet is a bad sign. Foxes know - they live and die by scent.
On a good scenting day they "wait not upon the order of their going."
If you see a hunted fox dawdling along and stopping to scratch an ear,
it is because he knows that the scent is bad. The only country I know
where hounds will fly on an east wind is the Sinnington. A westerly
wind and a cloudy sky with 'enough blue to mend a Dutchman's breeches'
are promising signs. On a clear day when the hedges stand out black,
you will be well advised to check your girth and get your leathers the
right length before you leave the meet. A Blue haze is bad. The barometer
is important. A steady or rising glass is good, as the scent will lie.
A falling glass is a bad thing as it denotes wasted whisky, stormy weather
and the scent will be rising - if you can smell a fox up sitting on
your horse, then hounds will be denied that pleasure. Note the smoke
from cottage chimneys - if it goes straight up then harden your heart
and tighten your reins - you may be in for a scorcher. To have any hope
of predicting scent, you have to understand the 'Theory of Scent' and
for help with this I am indebted to my old friend and dog trainer extraordinary,
Graham Mabbutt. He writes that scent consists of tiny molecules. Rub
your hand on a wall and it will form an imprint of molecular particles.
The air, which comes in contact with the molecules, disperses them as
a gas. It is the gas that is the scent. If the ground is warmer than
the air, the gas will lie. This is why hounds run better in the evening
when the air is getting colder in relation to the ground temperature.
The gas lies better on damp ground, but is dispersed by heavy rain and
will dry up in the heat. Deer carry a stronger scent because they make
imprints with their slots where the gas can lie. Watch a pack of hounds
hunting and you will notice that certain hounds run to the front for
a time and then drop back a bit as others take the front. This is because
of 'nasal fatigue'. A hound concentrates through its nose. You will
know that if you are working on your computer or reading intensively,
after a bit your concentration starts to slip. You need to stop and
look around the room or out of the window to rest your eyes and / or
your brain and then you can concentrate again - as with you, so with
hounds - they need to rest their noses. When hounds are running hard
and pushing their fox, they are getting the body scent from the heated
fox. When you run, you sweat and give off a strong body scent - even
ladies who 'merely glow'. A running fox pants. If you ever see a beaten
fox, he is not panting, his mouth is shut and his brush is dragging,
closing the anal glands. This cuts off the body scent to his pursuers.
Huntsmen will tell you that this is the most difficult part of a hunt
and when most hunted foxes are lost. You have to really 'fiddle' as
one great man told me. The only scent hounds have then is the much weaker
'track scent' from the dragging brush. Body scent hangs in the air.
Track scent only exists from the animal's contact with the ground and
is easily lost - just like so many hunted foxes.
