Hard-Hunting Hounds

In England, fox hunting is a ready-made pastime. The tidy, trim fields and meadows offer running space for hound and horse, arid tricky as the fox is, he cannot disguise his scent, which hangs heavy in England's damp countryside. Transplanted to the U.S., the sport has become even sportier--for the fox--as was demonstrated last week at Fort Campbell, Ky., where some 700 hunters and 300 hounds gathered for the 60th National Fox Hunters' Association Field Trials. The 100,000-acre military reservation was tinder-dry with just 3 in. of rain since June; though both red and grey fox abounded, the U.S.'s top hounds had a terrible time following the trail.

Some of the hounds "babbled," i.e., bayed before the scent was picked up, and were promptly disqualified. Others were tossed out for "running cunning," i.e., working the wrong trail. Despite the dust that clogged hounds' noses and dissipated scents, the Futurity event (for pups whelped in 1952) was a success: two greys killed, a red cornered. The winner: Coburn Hill King, owned by Mrs. Clyde Smith of Peculiar, Mo.

In the grand-prize, all-age stakes, the hard-riding judges had trouble keeping up with the hill & dale scampering of the hard-hunting hounds. Owners gave chase, hopefully waiting for the moment when their hounds might "give tongue," i.e., lead or join the symphony of bays that signals a hot trail. The 15 judges were soberly concerned with keeping up with the leaders, marking the hounds on hunting, trailing, speed and drive, endurance. The panting hounds and horses (and judges) sometimes covered 35 miles a day in a five-hour chase.

The final of the three-day eliminations (in which the field was cut from 196 to 96) was the most exciting--and proved out a clear-cut winner: Eddie, a lop-eared black, white and tan hound owned by Frank Jacobs, an oil-rich Cherokee Indian from Oklahoma City.

One judge excitedly described the final hell-for-leather chase as "the greatest contest I have ever seen in a National ... At times, the fox was less than six inches from Eddie's nose. The entire pack was driving hard, but Eddie managed to maintain his position until the fox holed." Eddie, whose grandsire, Ringmaster, won three straight Nationals (1938-40), helped prove the old adage that blood will tell by beating the runner-up 375 judging points to 220.

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