Jeans and Jewels and Red Rock Hounds

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Barbara Smith

Barbara Smith photoHunting in sagebrush is a little like mogul skiing. You stay loose in the saddle, keep your eye on the horizon, and let your lower body just move with your horse. He can pick a better path than you through the dense brush and if you second-guess his choice, parting company is a distinct possibility.

I have just returned from five days of hunting with Red Rock Hounds in Reno, Nevada (emphasis on the A!). It is big hunting: endless sky, huge tracts of land, big horses, big belt buckles and big cowboy hats. Lynn Lloyd's Red Rock Hounds at Ross Creek is about one hour north of Reno. She ran out of gas 30 years ago in this valley and as she puts it, "God must have had a reason."  She stayed put and has built a wonderful hunt club and facility that the whole valley seems to enjoy.

Coyote Ice Fishing

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Gretchen Pelham

Gretchen Pelham photoThe first weekend in February of 2014 my Tennessee Valley Hunt was invited to bring our hounds east to North Carolina to hunt for two days with the Red Mountain Hounds. That first day of hunting the pack had to work for it. Garry and Ryan cast the pack for about three hours until the hounds hit.  And when those Penn-Marydels hit, they hit. The pack ran a coyote for about an hour and a half before it was over.
Garry Riggs, Joint Master and Huntsman for the Red Mountain Hounds, was leading my huntsman, Ryan Johnsey, down the steep cliff through thick cover. Below was the iced-over Flat River and a combined pack of eighteen and a half couple of Penn-Marydel hounds from both hunts.  They were in full cry as they bayed their coyote on the icy river bank.  

Belle Meade Christens "Grosvenor's Hill" for Tennessee Valley Joint Master

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Gretchen Pelham

Gretchen Pelham photoThis past January my Tennessee Valley Hunt went on the road for a Joint Meet with Belle Meade. We traveled with our professional huntsman Ryan Johnsey, ten couple of our Penn-Marydel hounds, four Joint Masters about a dozen members.  We went south to Georgia to hunt with Belle Meade and then off to the east over the Smoky Mountains to hunt with Red Mountain in the North Carolina.  Any time one travels to foxhunt then adventures will abound.  Due to these Joint Meets, I now have two new items to knock off my bucket list: 1) survived hunting in the pitch dark of night; and 2) was tutored on to how to fish for coyotes.

A Fan for Life: Virginia Hunt Week

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Gardner Howe

Gardner Howe photoThere was a steady rain falling as I left my home in our nation's capital to make my way to Virginia hunt country. Two of my friends, Jacob and Theresa, were visiting from Pennsylvania and had brought their horses with them to attend Virginia Hunt Week, as they do biannually. This year, it was held October 12-27, and 16 packs participated.

It didn’t take much persuading for me to join them this year. I had hunted a handful of times last season with Fairfax Hunt (now Loudoun Fairfax Hunt), so I was overjoyed by the invitation.

Moore County Performance Trials Kick Off a Centennial to Remember

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Jean Derrick

Cameron Sadler photoIn 1914 the Boyd brothers in Southern Pines, North Carolina founded Moore County Hounds as a private pack. In 1942, “Pappy” Moss took over the helm, aided by his legendary wife Virginia, who was Master until her death in 2006. Richard “Dick” Webb is at present the oldest serving Master of any pack in the MFHA, and he, aided by young, energetic Master Cameron Sadler, with her other joint Masters, Effie Ellis and Mike Russell, are intent in celebrating the centennial year of the Moore County Hounds.

The private Penn-Marydel pack hunts fox and coyote primarily in the 5,000 acre Walthour-Moss Foundation property, a rolling sandy tract of pine woods, cut through with broad trails and inviting jumps.