You’re never too young to start learning your way around the hunting field.
Three years ago, Katie Walker and Kirstie Grabosky of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds started a junior fox hunting camp. The camp lasts a week, is open to children between the ages of 5 and 15, and it is not necessary to be a hunt member. Attendance has grown from 10 to 30 children this year. Here, one participant shares his experiences.

Toward the end of the school year, my friends and I are usually inundating each other with the same enthusiastic question, “So what camps are you going to this year?”

My response that I was going to a foxhunting camp in Pennsylvania was met with a blank stare and then the Spanish Inquisition. “What is a foxhunting camp, and what do you do there?” I knew that it would obviously involve horseback riding, hounds, and other young equestrians, but other than that, I had not a clue.

I attended the junior foxhunting camp hosted by Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Unionville, Pa., in late June.

I was to bring shorts, paddock boots, a bathing suit, riding clothes, a button-down shirt and khakis, and—
oh yeah—my horse. I was prepared for anything.

When I arrived at the camp, the adults in charge said that this was a large group compared to the past few years. So to make things easier, they split us up into five groups. At first I was quite surprised at how young the other kids were—most were as young as 4 or 5!

Each group was named after a different breed of hound. This was designed to help us memorize the breeds of hound: Welsh, American, Penn Marydel, Black and Tan, and English. I was appointed as the leader of the esteemed “Black and Tans” group.

We were taught and quizzed on many different subjects relating to hounds, horses, and hunting such as: parts of the bridle, hunting etiquette, situations faced while hunting, hunting commands, etc.

They Taught Us All
They also had us memorize one more list of minor details—their names! They went by Niall Molloy, Kirstie Grabosky, Katie Walker, Mrs. Wendy Powell, Ivan Dowling, Anthony Jenks, and Mikey Ledyard.
Niall and Anthony are the whips at the Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds and Ivan is the huntsman. They helped out by doing all of the hound-related work and taught us how to work with the hounds, blow the horn and crack the whip.

Mrs. Powell is an emeritus member of the Cheshire Hunt. She was the quizmaster and taught us all of the basic and advanced knowledge that can come in handy when in the hunt field.

I was impressed with Mrs. Powell. She and her 13-year-old nephew, Mikey, babysat the younger children when no activities were under way. I remember how Mikey took one child, Walker Jones, under his wing. He was with him and others all the time, often giving piggy-back rides, and made many of the kids feel right at home.

I also enjoyed learning from Kirstie.

She must be an esteemed member of the Cheshire Hunt. A few years back, she decided to start a camp for young hunters. She did this with no motivation other than to give from her heart. She deserves 90 percent if not all the credit for the great fun that I and everyone else had because she was the head honcho.

She was in control of everything, but it was obvious that she also did her part and then some.

One thing that I enjoyed was watching Niall, Anthony, and Ivan compete at cracking whips, blowing horns, and overall hunt field knowledge. They were all three very skilled and evenly matched. From the impression that they made on me I would say that the three of them put together would make a very impressive hunting team.

You’re The Fox
Every morning we would all take the hounds for about a 1⁄2-mile walk down to a little bank jump where we would all sit and talk and play with the hounds. It seemed to me this was done solely for the purpose of all of us making friends and getting to know each other. I don’t think that I ever saw a kid that was left out and
lonely.

The camp organizers even provided for refreshments. Kirstie would bring some cookies and chips, and Lizzy Beer, who was my host and also a member of the hunt, would bring in two coolers full of lemonade and punch. People like Lizzy and Kirstie with all of their contributions, helped make an experience like this memorable.

One day Kirstie, Ivan, and the rest of the gang asked to speak to me in private. I was relieved to find that I was not in trouble, but rather had a fun task. I was to be the fox and the rest of the kids would act as the hounds in our own make-believe hunt.

I was given a five-minute head start to run into the woods while Ivan rounded up the “hounds.” I heard the horn, which brought 30-some bloodthirsty children hot on my tail. That was when I left the covert.

Niall, the whip, was waiting there for me and signaled to Ivan where I was. Ivan blew the “Gone Away” signal on the horn, and I was chased out it the open. I ran back to the camp and hid in a pile of straw. Ivan then called my pursuers off with the “Gone to Ground” call. Now I have an appreciation of what the fox endures.

On Wednesday and Thursday we all brought our horses to camp and went riding. Wednesday was a great ride through the surrounding fields, which gave me a good sense of what their country is like.

Thursday was a little more thrilling. We had a huge scavenger hunt that we all played on horseback. Each group leader was given a sheet of paper that had clues as to where to find the answers that were hidden throughout the field.

One of the activities of the hunt camp was to learn about the hounds. At the beginning of the week we were each given an individual hound that, over the course of the week, we bonded with and trained.

I remember my hound, Doubtful, was appropriately named. She was shy and scared, but with a few minutes every day became much more confident. At the end of the week we all competed in a dog show with our hounds. Now I understood why we had to bring our button-down shirts and khakis! We had to dress the part, of course!

This camp was a great experience that I enjoyed very much. It was five days of great hunting-related fun. It is a great way to learn and practice hunting skills, and I suggest this to all young hunters.

I was impressed at how well the foxhunting tradition is being kept alive and passed down through the generations in Southern Pennsylvania and how hospitable and generous the members of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds were.

Michael Muldoon, 14, is a member of the Fairfax Hunt (Va.).